Scripture Daily

Context No. 723 of 4322 · Joshua

Context · Reflection

Joshua 8:30-35: in context

30Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31as 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 uncut stones, on which no one had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings. 32He wrote there on the stones a copy of Moses’ law, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. 33All Israel, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the LORD’s covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel. 34Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua didn’t read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who were among them.

With Jericho and Ai behind them, Joshua stops the campaign to do something Moses had commanded long before. On Mount Ebal he builds an altar of uncut stones, stones no iron tool has touched, offers sacrifices, and writes a copy of the law of Moses on the stones for everyone to see. Then he stages the ceremony Moses laid out: all Israel drawn up in two halves, one facing Mount Gerizim and one facing Mount Ebal, the ark and the priests between them, for the blessing and the curse.

And then Joshua reads. He reads all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, and the text underlines two things about how he does it. He leaves nothing out; there was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua did not read. And he reads it to everyone; the assembly named here includes the elders and officers, but also the women, the little ones, and the foreigners living among them. The word is not handed to a few specialists to be doled out in pieces. The whole of it, mercy and warning together, is read aloud to the whole people, and no one standing there is too young or too foreign to be counted among the hearers.

Joshua read the whole word, nothing edited out, to everyone, including the children and the outsiders. What parts of the truth do I quietly leave out, and who do I decide does not need to hear it?

Sources