Ver. 3. All the words of this law— But what law? it may be asked. They must have been immense stones to have contained the whole book of Deuteronomy, much more the whole Pentateuch: either therefore the ten commandments, or the blessings and curses, must be meant.
1. Mr. Locke says, all the words, &c. means the decalogue; and Dr. Kennicott also is for the ten commandments, that divine system of the moral law, which, he says, may be well called the law, by way of eminence. In this sense the word is used Acts 7:53. At our entrance upon this consideration, the propriety of engraving the ten commandments on this occasion strikes us at once; for, Had not the Israelites been brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand, to possess the land of Canaan, there to live as the servants and subjects of the one true God? Was there not a covenant expressly made with them for this purpose on their entering into the wilderness? Did not the ten commandments, delivered by God, and the promise of obedience made by the people, constitute the principal part of that solemn covenant? And therefore, upon their taking possession of the land thus promised, what so proper to engrave on stones, and fix up near the centre of that country for public inspection, as those ten commandments, which make the principal part of that law, of that divine charter, which was to secure that country to them, and to their posterity? See the note on ver. 26. The two tables, containing these commandments, were then in the ark; and as the ark was, doubtless, near Moses, while he was thus solemnly addressing his brethren, we may consider him as pointing to that very law, when he said all the words of this law. But further, the covenant is expressly asserted to be the ten commandments, chap. Deuteronomy 4:13 and Exodus 34:28 and if we allow the authority of the Samaritan text and version, we shall find in the addition of four verses between verses 10 and 11 of Exodus 20 that it expressly asserts, that the ten commandments were the law which was to be written upon the stones on this occasion. See Kennicott's 2nd Dissertation.
2. Josephus, however, understands the curses only at the end of this chapter to be meant, which curses, as will appear from the note on ver. 15 have a manifest reference to the ten commandments. Judges 8:34 appears, I think, decisive for the blessings and curses: for it is there said, speaking of Joshua's completing this injunction, that he read all the words of the law, the blessings and curses; where blessings and curses seem evidently in apposition with the words of the law. Be this as it may, it is certain, that before the invention of paper, the ancients, especially the Phoenicians and Egyptians, were accustomed to write upon stones those things whereof they were desirous to preserve the memory; various proofs of which may be found in Bishop Huet's Demonstr. Evang. prop. iv. c. 2.