Altar Erected on Ebal, the Law Inscribed and Read. This comes in a strange place. The middle of Canaan has not yet been conquered, so that such a proceeding was impossible if our narrative is complete. On this account most scholars take it that Joshua 8:30-35 is the end of an account which narrated the conquest of the middle of the country, and that for some reason or other the editor omitted it. The passage is Deuteronomic, and the objection that it violates the law of the single sanctuary rests on a misconception. According to the Deuteronomic view, the single sanctuary was to be set up when Yahweh hath given you rest from your enemies round about. This refers to the reign of Solomon: until then a multiplicity of altars was regarded as legitimate, as is seen from the fact that Samuel is not considered to have done wrong by sacrificing at various places, while the kings and people who did so after the erection of Solomon's Temple are spoken of with disapproval.
Joshua 8:30. Ebal: pp. 30f.
Joshua 8:31. an altar. iron: see Exodus 20:25; Deuteronomy 27:5 f. It is another example of the conservatism of the religious instinct (see Joshua 5:2 f.*). Iron came into use for implements last of the metals, and there was a dread for long after of using it in religious rites. Religion remains in the Bronze Age after ordinary life has passed into the Iron Age. Iron may, however, be used as a protective against spirits or fairies (thus the horse-shoe brings luck), since they have an aversion to the new-fangled metal (see HDB, iv. 833; Frazer, The Magic Art, pp. 225- 236). A. S. P.].
Joshua 8:33. Gerizim: p. 30.