Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 8:31
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 hath lifted up [any] iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
31. an altar of whole (or, “unhewn”) stones ] Thus the Law required in general (Exo 20:25), and in this case it had been specially ordained.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
31. an altar of wholestonesaccording to the instructions given to Moses (Exo 20:25;Deu 27:5).
over which no man hath liftedup any ironthat is, iron tool. The reason for this was thatevery altar of the true God ought properly to have been built ofearth (Ex 20:24); and if it wasconstructed of stone, rough, unhewn stones were to be employed thatit might retain both the appearance and nature of earth, since everybloody sacrifice was connected with sin and death, by which man, thecreature of earth, is brought to earth again [KEIL].
they offered thereon burntofferings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offeringsThishad been done when the covenant was established (Ex24:5); and by the observance of these rites (De27:6), the covenant was solemnly renewedthe people werereconciled to God by the burnt offering, and this feast accompanyingthe peace or thank offering, a happy communion with God was enjoyedby all the families in Israel.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses,….
De 27:5;
an altar of whole stones, on which no man hath lift up [any] iron;
[See comments on Ex 20:25],
[See comments on De 27:5], and,
[See comments on De 27:6]:
and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings; by way of thanksgiving for the good land they were introduced into, and this was what they were ordered to do by Moses,
De 27:6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
31. An altar of whole stones That is, stones on which no tool of iron had been used to chisel down or polish. According to the law of Exo 20:25, a stone altar must not be built of hewn stones, for the touch of an iron tool upon it was regarded as a pollution. And an unhewn stone would the better symbolize that Living Stone, (1Pe 2:4.) cut out of the mountain without hands, (Dan 2:45,) which has become the head of the corner, (Eph 2:20,) and certainly owes none of its excellence to human culture or polish.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jos 8:31 a
‘As Moses the servant of YHWH had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of hewn stones on which no man had lifted up any iron.’
Joshua was carefully carrying out the instructions that he had received from Moses. The altar of unhewn stones was as instructed in Exo 20:25. The forbidding here of iron probably represents iron as a foreign and ‘new’ metal, not native to Israel. But in fact all tools were forbidden.
Jos 8:31 b
‘And they offered on it burnt offerings to YHWH, and sacrificed peace offerings.’
Having built the altar, worship was now offered, both in the form of dedicatory, atoning whole burnt offerings (Leviticus 1), and in atoning sacrifices in a form in which the people could participate by eating of the peace offerings (Leviticus 3; Lev 7:11-18). This was both in thanksgiving for victory and in preparation for renewal of the covenant, and acceptance into it of the people of Shechem (Deu 27:6-7).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 31. And they offered thereon burnt-offerings, &c. They renewed for the third time the covenant with God, as has been elsewhere observed. See on Deu 27:10.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The Reader will find this command twice given. Deu_11:29-30; Deu_27:2 . And what day so proper, as the day made remarkable by a plenitude of mercies!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“… an altar of whole stones, aver which no man hath lift up any iron.” Jos 8:31
This is a point in the spiritual education of man. We must think ourselves back to the time when such mechanical exactitude was part of personal and national religion. The uses of such studies may be to show how far we have advanced, and to inquire into the methods by which our progress has been realised. We do not advance from those points unless we have really been at them ourselves, either literally or sympathetically. It is not enough to know that the Israelites were at the point of literal detail, such as is indicated in the text; we must ourselves have been at that point in some clearly recognised sense; we do not descend upon great spiritual privileges, but we work up to them through processes of subservience; we are not born into this household of grace and liberty, but are brought into it by long processes of self-rebuke, self-chastisement, and self-denial; all men must begin at the alphabet, and pursue their way into the delights of literature. It is the same with religion as it is with education. We are born into a great literary estate, full of philosophy, poetry, history, and imagination; yet though we are born into this inheritance and have certain rights to it, we can only claim the inheritance by becoming patient inquirers and students: when the philosopher leaves his philosophy to the world, even his own children must begin at the alphabet, and toil up the ascent upon which the great fortune stands. Passages of this kind rebuke the idea that religion now is a merely off-handed exercise, a pleasure that can be taken up or laid down: a species of luxury which may be languidly enjoyed or languidly declined. To build the altar is not to create the God. To build the church is not to unfold the revelation. There is a wonderful co-operation in the whole process of religion. God will, so to say, be met half-way. He will come to the top of the mountain, and meet us at the end of our opportunity. A beautiful thought is this, that God sometimes will come no further down than to the top of the mountain; if he remained one league above it, we could not reach him; but it is in accord with his mercy that he begins where man ends; man toils to the top of the mountain, and cannot proceed one step further, and it is in this extremity that God creates his own opportunity. Although altar-building may now have been done away, and much of mechanical process may have been abrogated, yet still there remains the great fact that man must always make some preparation to meet God and enter into the full enjoyment of religious privileges. The preparation indicates the spirit of the worshipper. When called upon to offer hospitality to a king, we prepare according to the dignity of the guest; when summoned to the presence of some great one, all our preparations are made with a view to the greatness of the man whom we have to meet. We have only to apply these facts in a religious direction to discover what we ought to do when we are called upon to commune with Heaven.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Jos 8:31 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 hath lift up [any] iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
Ver. 31. Over which no man hath llft up any iron. ] To polish or garnish it; for this was to defile it. Exo 20:25 Deu 27:5 In God’s service we must neither be curious nor careless. Holy things must be handled Sancte magis quam scite, neither is it for men to worship God as they please.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Moses the servant of the LORD. See note on Deu 34:5.
children = sons.
as = according as.
Book of the Law. See note on Exo 17:14; Exo 24:4; and App-47. So that Joshua had a copy of Deuteronomy.
whole stones. Compare Exo 20:25. Deu 27:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
as it is: Jos 8:34, Jos 8:35, Jos 1:8, 2Ki 14:6, 2Ki 22:8, 2Ch 25:4, 2Ch 35:12, Ezr 6:18, Neh 13:1, Mat 12:26
altar: Exo 20:24, Exo 20:25, Deu 27:5, Deu 27:6, 1Ki 18:31, 1Ki 18:32
and they offered: Exo 18:12, Exo 24:5, Deu 27:6, Deu 27:7
Reciprocal: Jos 11:12 – as Moses Heb 3:5 – as