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CHAPTER 9 : Solemn Dedication of the Land and of Israel on Mounts Ebal
and Gerizim - The Deceit of the Gibeonites
(JOSHUA 8:30, 9:1-27)
BY the miraculous fall of Jericho God had, so to speak, given to His people the key to
the whole land; with the conquest of Ai they had themselves entered, in His strength,
upon possession of it. The first and most obvious duty now was, to declare, by a grand
national act, in what character Israel meant to hold what it had received of God. For, as
previously explained, it could never have been the Divine object in all that had been, or
would be done, merely to substitute one nation for another in the possession of
Palestine; but rather to destroy the heathen, and to place in their room His own
redeemed and sanctified people, so that on the ruins of the hostile kingdom of this
world, His own might be established. To mark the significance of the act by which
Israel was to declare this, it had before been prescribed by Moses as a first duty
(Deuteronomy 27:2), and detailed directions given for it (Deuteronomy 27). The act
itself was to consist of three parts. The law - that is, the commands, "statutes," and
"rights," contained in the Pentateuch - was to be written on "great stones," previously
covered with "plaster," in the manner in which inscriptions were made on the
monuments of Egypt.^92 Then sacrifices were to be offered on an altar of "whole
stones." The memorial stones were to be set up, and the sacrifices offered on Mount
Ebal. But the third was to be the most solemn part of the service. The priests^93 with the
Ark were to occupy the intermediate valley, and six of the tribes (Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin) - those which had sprung from the lawful wives of
Israel - were to stand on Mount Gerizim, while the other six (of whom five had sprung
from Leah's and Rachel's maids, Reuben being added to them on account of his great
sin, Genesis 49:4) were placed on Mount Ebal.
Then, as the priests in the valley beneath read the words of blessing, the tribes on
Mount Gerizim were to respond by an Amen; and as they read the words of the curses,
those on Mount Ebal were similarly to give their solemn assent - thus expressly taking
upon themselves each obligation, with its blessing in the observance, and its curse in the
breach thereof. An historical parallel here immediately recurs to our minds. As, on his
first entrance into Canaan, Abraham had formally owned Jehovah by rearing an altar
unto Him (Genesis 12:7), and as Jacob had, on his return, paid the vow which he had
recorded at Bethel (Genesis 35:7), so Israel now consecrated its possession of the land
by receiving it as from the Lord, by recording His name, and by taking upon itself all
the obligations of the covenant.
A glance at the map will enable us to realize the scene. From Ai and Bethel the direct
route northwards leads by Shiloh to Shechem (Judges 21:19). The journey would
occupy altogether about eleven hours. Of course, Israel could not have realized at the
(^)