Afterward After the altar was built, and the stones plastered and written upon; he read That is, he commanded the priests or Levites to read, Deuteronomy 27:14. Blessings and cursings
Which words come in, not by way of explication, as if the words of the law were nothing else besides the blessings and curses; but by way of addition, to denote that these were read, over and above the words of the law. There was not a word which Joshua read not Therefore, he read not the blessings and curses only, as some think, but the whole law, as the manner was when all Israel, men and women, were assembled together. The strangers that were among them Who were proselytes, for no others can be supposed to have been with them at this time. Thus, after Joshua had gained these victories, and had had such manifest proofs that God was with the Israelites, and was fighting for them, he laboured the more earnestly to set before them the whole of their duty, and to engage them to walk therein, that they might in that way testify their thankfulness to God at the same time when he was fulfilling his promises to them. Reader, learn from his example thy duty to those whom God hath committed to thy care and government, and endeavour that thy own faith and confidence in the divine goodness, as well as theirs, may thus work by love!