Joshua 8:30-35--Joshua Renews the Covenant

Joshua 8:30-35
English Standard Version
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Joshua Renews the Covenant
30 At that time Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. 33 And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward 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. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

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To understand fully what is going on here in this passage, we will need to look back at Deuteronomy 11:26-32 and Deuteronomy 27:1-26 (the text of both passages is included below).


Deuteronomy 11:26-32
English Standard Version
​26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known. 29 And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh? 31 For you are to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it, 32 you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.


Deuteronomy 27
English Standard Version
The Altar on Mount Ebal
27 Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. 2 And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5 And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You shall wield no iron tool on them; 6 you shall build an altar to the LORD your God of uncut stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God, 7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God. 8 And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

Curses from Mount Ebal
9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the LORD your God. 10 You shall therefore obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”

11 That day Moses charged the people, saying, 12 “When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:

15 “‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

16 “‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

17 “‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

18 “‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

19 “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

20 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's nakedness.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

21 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

22 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

23 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

24 “‘Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

25 “‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

26 “‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’



Joshua and the people are doing exactly what the LORD commanded them to do here in Deuteronomy 11 and Deuteronomy 27.  The first order of business once they crossed over the Jordan was to renew the covenant.  God changed their plans slightly by having them consecrate themselves, enter into the covenant community by way of circumcision, and celebrate the Passover feast.  The only battles the LORD has had the people enter into are the city-states that were between the people and Mt. Ebal.

You may also know the other mountain mentioned in Deuteronomy 11 as the mountain which the Woman at the Well in John 4 asked Jesus about--the place where the Samaritans built their Temple because they said this was the place where their ancestors worshiped (probably referring back to this passage in Joshua that was the fulfillment of the commands in Deuteronomy 11 and Deuteronomy 27, and they believed this was the designated place of worship).  We'll see other places of worship ordained by the LORD, but this is always the place the people were to come back to when they were to read the blessings and curses of the Law.  It is interesting this place ended up in Samaria, a place the people avoided, and they no longer went there to renew the covenant as God had commanded them to do.  Perhaps if they had done so, and they had seen the words that were written that day, and each generation made sure that the words of the blessings and the curses stayed freshly written in the plaster and they were said and read aloud to each new generation, then maybe the people would have not fallen away into idolatry and all kinds of immorality so quickly.  Perhaps they may have even been more ready to see and recognize the one who was the Law Giver and the Law Keeper when He arrived as their Messiah.  Though they were commanded to make an altar there that would be a memorial for coming generations, they did not take care to make this a place they regularly visited or talked about with their children.  There was no great battle fought here, nor was there a great miracle like the crossing of the Jordan River associated with this monument or altar, but it was a more important battleground than either the Battle of Jericho or the Battle of Ai, for it was a battle for the hearts of the people.  Would they choose obedience and blessings or disobedience and the curses that come with those choices?  All of us have chosen the path of rebellion, and all of us are under the curses of the Law, which is why we are in need of a Savior who could fully obey the Law and give us His righteousness so that we might have the blessings that only He deserved.


2 Corinthians 5:21
English Standard Version
​21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.


Galatians 3:10-14
English Standard Version​
The Righteous Shall Live by Faith
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”-- 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

I hope that gives some picture as to why the LORD wanted the people to be concerned with the blessings and curses of the Law.  It was to be ever before them that they deserved the curses of the Law and could never earn the blessings of the Law.  The Law was not enough to make them righteous, but was a mirror that exposed their unrighteousness and need for forgiveness.  That is why they needed to build and altar and make blood sacrifices when they renewed the covenant here, "22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." (Hebrews 9:22).  God wanted this to be of first importance to them when they entered into the Land, even before conquering all the Canaanites, because their own sin and rebellion was their greatest enemy--the one that they could not defeat, and they would need to cry out to Him to defeat this enemy for them (just like the LORD defeated all the Canaanites).  One day the Father would send His own Son to fight this battle for them as He shed His own blood not just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles, if you read the fuller context of the passage from Galatians mentioned, so that the Abrahamic Covenant would truly be fulfilled, "In you, all the nations of the world will be blessed."

This is most certainly a strange military campaign if indeed that is supposed to be what we think of the book of Joshua, but I hope you see that it is not about military might of savvy but instead about the very name Joshua (which the name Jesus comes from) which means "The LORD Saves."  Certainly that is the story of the book of Joshua and of the gospel that the blessings and curses of the Law pointed towards.  Everyone--young, old, male or female, slave or free, citizen or sojourner--they all likewise were under the same blessings and curses of the Law.  Every one of them participated in this ceremony because every one of them that could hear and understood the words that were being said and could repeat those words to enter into this covenant this day knew they were under the curses of the Law, and not the blessings.  Every one of them would see the blood sacrifices and understand the blood was necessary to cover over the curses of the Law that had been written on the altar that day, and every one of them would hopefully become keenly aware that their greatest enemy and threat was not external, but internal.