Joshua 8:35 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 8:35
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
to walk (in a great variety of applications · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
among
בְּקִרְבָּֽםbe.kir.Bam
H7130
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 31:12 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may l…
Nehemiah 8:2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the firs…
Jeremiah 26:2 Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s hou…
Deuteronomy 29:11 Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:
Ezra 10:1 Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out…
Joel 2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom…
Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of s…
Acts 21:5 And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 8:30–end
This religious solemnity of which we have here an account comes in somewhat surprisingly in the midst of the history of the wars of Canaan. After the taking of Jericho and Ai, we should have expected that the next news would be of their taking possession of the country, the pushing on of their victories in other cities, and the carrying of the war into the bowels of the nation, now that they had made themselves masters of these frontier towns. But here a scene opens of quite another nature; the camp of Israel is drawn out into the field, not to engage the enemy, but to offer sacrifice, to hear the law read, and to say Amen to the blessings and the curses. Some think this was not done till af…
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not--It appears that a much larger portion of the law was read on this occasion than the brief summary inscribed on the stones; and this must have been the essence of the law as contained in Deuteronomy (Deu 4:44; Deu 6:9; Deu 27:8). It was not written on the stones, but on the plaster. The immediate design of this rehearsal was attained by the performance of the act itself. It only related to posterity, in so far as the record of the event would be handed down in the Book of Joshua, or the documents which form the groundwork of it [HENGSTENBERG]. Thus faithfully did Joshua execute the instructions given by Moses. How awfull…
With the women and the little ones - It was necessary that all should know that they were under the same obligations to obey; even the women are brought forward, not only because of their personal responsibility, but because to them was principally intrusted the education of the children. The children also witness this solemn transaction, that a salutary fear of offending God might be early, diligently, and deeply impressed upon their hearts. Thus every precaution is taken to ensure obedience to the Divine precepts, and consequently to promote the happiness of the people; for this every ordinance of God is remarkable, as he ever causes the interest and duty of his followers to go hand in han…
The Church Fathers
Attend, therefore, more diligently to the words of Scripture, which says: "There was not any word out of all that Moses commanded which Jesus did not read in the ears of the whole assembly of the children of Israel." And it adds also: "to the women and the children and the proselytes." Our Lord Jesus knows that there are other ears besides these fleshly ones, which he requires for the hearing of his words and for the hearing of the law. Hence also in the Gospel, after he had instructed them about the individual things that were needful, he adds and says: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" And surely, if he had said this of fleshly ears, it would seem superfluous; for no one who did not have ears had assembled to hear his words. But since he knew that the things which were said ought to be received in the ears of the inner man, that is, in the understanding of the heart — for what does it profit to hear the word, if it is not retained and kept in the heart? — therefore he demanded ears of the hearers. This, then, even now, whether when the Scriptures are read in the church, or when the word of explanation is delivered to the people, following the authority of Scripture we say: see, the words of the law are indeed read by Jesus, but for very many they are not read; because Jesus reads the law to those "who have ears to hear." But as for what he joined to the church of the Lord — also "the women and the children and the proselytes" — if indeed we understand "the women and the children and the proselytes" separately and consider them to be as it were a kind of appendage of the church, since "in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of clay," we say that to the strong men strong food is handed over, namely to those of whom the Apostle says: "But solid food is for the perfect," from whom he prepares for himself "a church not having spot, or wrinkle, or any of these things"; but those whom he separates out under the name of "women" or "children" or "proselytes," let us understand to be those who "still need milk" or who, as it were "weak," as "women" are, "feed on vegetables." But if the whole church be taken together, then "the men" are understood to be those who "in all things, being perfect, know how to stand armed against the wiles of the devil"; while the "women" are those who do not yet of themselves perform…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ebal — Stony. (1.) A mountain 3,076 feet above the level of the sea, and 1,200 feet above the level of the valley, on the north side of which stood the city of Shechem (q.v.). On this mountain six of the…
Gerizim — A mountain of Samaria, about 3,000 feet above the Mediterranean. It was on the left of the valley containing the ancient town of Shechem (q.v.), on the way to Jerusalem. It stood over against Mount…
Heap — When Joshua took the city of Ai (Josh. 8), he burned it and “made it an heap [Heb. tel] for ever” (8:28). The ruins of this city were for a long time sought for in vain. It has been at length,…
Tabernacle — (1.) A house or dwelling-place (Job 5:24; 18:6, etc.). (2.) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24) containing the image of Moloch (Amos 5:26; marg. and R.V., “Siccuth”). (3.) The human body (2 Cor.…
Commandments · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Law · .Engraved upon mo — .Engraved upon mo
Law Of Moses, The · Publicly read: By Joshua — Publicly read: By Joshua
Strangers In Israel · Laws respecting: To have the law read to them — Laws respecting: To have the law read to them
Woman · Were required to hear and obey the law — Were required to hear and obey the law
Women · Required to attend to the reading of the law of Moses — Required to attend to the reading of the law of Moses
Word Of God · To be read publicly — To be read publicly
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not,.... So punctually, precisely, and exactly did he observe the instructions and commands that were given him by Moses; and this he did in the most public manner:
before all the congregation of Israel; who were on this occasion called together, and not before the men only, but
with the women, and little ones: who all had a concern in the things that were read to them: yea, even
and the strangers that were conversant among them; not the proselytes of righteousness only, but the proselytes of the gate, that dwelt, walked, and conversed with them.
John Calvin on Joshua 8:30–end
Joshua 8:30-35
30. Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
30. Tunc aedificavit Josue altare Jehovae Deo Israel in monte Ebal,
31. As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man has lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
31. Quemadmodum praeceperat Moses servus Jehovae filiis Israel: sicut scriptum est in libro legis Mosis, altare ex lapidibus integris, super quos non levaverant ferrum: et immolaverunt super illud holocausta Jehovae, et sacrificaverunt hostias prosperitatum.
32.…
Blessings and Curses upon Gerizim and Ebal. - After the capture of Ai, Israel had gained so firm a footing in Canaan that Joshua was able to carry out the instructions of Moses in Deut 27, that, after crossing the Jordan, he was to build an altar upon Mount Ebal for the setting up the covenant. The fulfilment of these instructions, according to the meaning of this solemn act, as a symbolical setting up of the law of the Lord to be the invariable rule of life to the people of Israel in the land of Canaan (see at Deut 27), was not only a practical expression of thanksgiving on the part of the covenant nation for its entrance into this land through the almighty assistance of its God, but also a…
Old Testament religion was not just for the men of Israel; the entire assembly included the women and children. • The foreigners who lived among the Israelites included people who came out of Egypt with Israel in the Exodus (Exod 12:38, 48-49). These converts had accepted the Lord as their God and joined Israel when they saw the great things God had done for Israel.
Rashi on Joshua 8:33
To bless the people of Yisroel first. To pronounce the blessings before the curses,12When all the tribes were assembled (as described in Devorim 27:12,13,) the Levi’im began to recite the blessings and the curses. Although the Torah mentions only the curses, each curse was actually preceded by a corresponding blessing. (See Rashi to Devorim 27:12). “Blessed is the man who will not make a statue or a molten image.”
