Joshua 24:26 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 26. And Joshua wrote these words in the book, &c.— To perpetuate the memory of this renewal of the covenant; to convince the Israelites of the reverence due to that obligation which they had assembled to enforce; and to leave such an immortal testimony as might witness against them for the Lord, in case they forsook his holy religion; Joshua caused a particular account of all that had passed to be written down, and added to the book of the law which Moses had ordered to be kept in the side of the ark. Deuteronomy 31:26. Possibly, he caused a copy of it to he transcribed at the same time into the book of the law which was to remain in the hands of the princes of Israel for the use of the tribes, ch. Joshua 17:18. To this monument Joshua added a second, to eternize the remembrance of the covenant renewed. He set up a great stone under an oak; and in all probability ordered an inscription to be engraven thereon, referring to the august solemnity, the memory of which he was desirous to perpetuate. People, from the earliest ages of the world, used to rear stones for the like purpose in the case of important events. We find an instance of it in the history of Jacob, Genesis 28:18 and another in the history of Joshua himself, ch. Joshua 6:3; Joshua 6:20-21. But what sanctuary of the Lord was this, placed by, or under an oak? The learned Mede answers, it certainly could not be the tabernacle, by reason of the laws specified so particularly Deuteronomy 16:21-22 and which are too positive for Joshua to have thought of controverting them by placing the tabernacle near an oak, and by setting up by it a pillar or monument of stone. The question then is, to know whether these laws (calculated to divert the Israelites from the delusions of the Gentiles, who thought that the Deity dwelt in forests, and who consequently reverenced the places where the ark had a settled residence) concerned also those places in which the ark was but occasionally deposited, and for a very little while? Be this as it may, our able critic concludes from these laws, that the sanctuary here mentioned was nothing more than an oratory or house of prayer, erected in this place by the Ephraimites; and he apprehends, that they had chosen this spot in preference to any other, as the place of their devotions, because there the Lord had appeared to Abraham, and promised to give the land of Canaan to his posterity. Our author goes on to say, that there were from all antiquity, besides the tabernacle, and, in later time, the temple, two sorts of buildings consecrated to religious worship; namely, synagogues in cities, and oratories in the fields; that the former were regular buildings, covered like houses at the top; but that the others were mere inclosures, commonly formed by trees, or under their shade. But for more on this subject we refer to Mede, b. 1: dis. 18 observing, that, in the original, this is one of those transpositions familiar to the Hebrew language, and probably should be translated thus: And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, which was in the sanctuary of the Lord: and he took a great stone and set it up there under an oak; for an instance of such transposition, see Genesis 13:10 where, instead of translating, and Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered, &c.—as thou comest unto Zoar; it should evidently be translated, and Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, as thou comest unto Zoar, that it was well watered, &c. See Kennicott's Dissert. vol. 2: