Joshua 8

24. all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword--the women, children, and old persons left behind, amounting, in all, to twelve thousand people [ Joshua 8:25 ].

26. Joshua drew not his hand back--Perhaps, from the long continuance of the posture, it might have been a means appointed by God, to animate the people, and kept up in the same devout spirit as Moses had shown, in lifting up his hands, until the work of slaughter had been completed--the ban executed.

28. Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever--"For ever" often signifies "a long time" ( Genesis 6:3 ). One of the remarkable things with regard to the tell we have identified with Ai is its name--the tell of the heap of stones--a name which to this day remains [VAN DE VELDE].

Joshua 8:29 . THE KING HANGED.

29. The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide--that is, gibbeted. In ancient, and particularly Oriental wars, the chiefs, when taken prisoners, were usually executed. The Israelites were obliged, by the divine law, to put them to death. The execution of the king of Ai would tend to facilitate the conquest of the land, by striking terror into the other chiefs, and making it appear a judicial process, in which they were inflicting the vengeance of God upon His enemies.
take his carcass down . . . and raise thereon a great heap of stones--It was taken down at sunset, according to the divine command ( Deuteronomy 21:23 ), and cast into a pit dug "at the entering of the gate," because that was the most public place. An immense cairn was raised over his grave--an ancient usage, still existing in the East, whereby is marked the sepulchre of persons whose memory is infamous.

Joshua 8:30 Joshua 8:31 . JOSHUA BUILDS AN ALTAR.

30,31. Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in twenty miles from Ai. The march through a hostile country and the unmolested performance of the religious ceremonial observed at this mountain, would be greatly facilitated, through the blessing of God, by the disastrous fall of Ai. The solemn duty was to be attended to at the first convenient opportunity after the entrance into Canaan ( Deuteronomy 27:2 ); and with this in view Joshua seems to have conducted the people through the mountainous region that intervened though no details of the journey have been recorded. Ebal was on the north, opposite to Gerizim, which was on the south side of the town Sichem (Nablous).

31. an altar of whole stones--according to the instructions given to Moses ( Exodus 20:25 , Deuteronomy 27:5 ).
over which no man hath lifted up any iron--that is, iron tool. The reason for this was that every altar of the true God ought properly to have been built of earth ( Exodus 20:24 ); and if it was constructed of stone, rough, unhewn stones were to be employed that it might retain both the appearance and nature of earth, since every bloody sacrifice was connected with sin and death, by which man, the creature of earth, is brought to earth again [KEIL].
they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings--This had been done when the covenant was established ( Exodus 24:5 ); and by the observance of these rites ( Deuteronomy 27:6 ), the covenant was solemnly renewed--the people were reconciled to God by the burnt offering, and this feast accompanying the peace or thank offering, a happy communion with God was enjoyed by all the families in Israel.

32. he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of that is, the blessings and curses of the law. Some think that the stones which contained this inscription were the stones of the altar: but this verse seems rather to indicate that a number of stone pillars were erected alongside of the altar, and on which, after they were plastered, this duplicate of the law was inscribed.

33. all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side--One half of Israel was arranged on Gerizim, and the other half on Ebal--along the sides and base of each.
before the priests the Levites--in full view of them.

34. afterward he read all the words of the law--caused the priests or Levites to read it ( Deuteronomy 27:14 ). Persons are often said in Scripture to do that which they only command to be done.

35. 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 ( Deuteronomy 4:44 , 6:9 , 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 awfully solemn must have been the assemblage and the occasion! The eye and the ear of the people being both addressed, it was calculated to leave an indelible impression; and with spirits elevated by their brilliant victories in the land of promise, memory would often revert to the striking scene on mounts Ebal and Gerizim, and in the vale of Sychar.