Following the renewal of the authority of Joshua and the obedience of the community, what could be more natural than a ceremony renewing the covenant, in keeping with the instructions found in the book of Deuteronomy? However, while this short passage appears at home in its present context on a narrative level, literary, textual, and geographical issues complicate its understanding.

At the literary level the transition to the next passage in Joshua 9 appears rough. That which stimulates the Canaanite kings in 9:1–2 is unlikely to have been this religious ceremony, as is mostly naturally inferred in the transition from 8:35 to 9:1, but rather the news of the complete destruction of Ai, which points back to 8:29. The Septuagint locates the present 8:30–35 after our 9:27, so that at least in antiquity one edition of the book directly connected the reaction of the kings of the central region to the defeat of Ai rather than to the covenant renewal ceremony. At this point the literary and textual matters merge: the “problem” of context in the Hebrew text is met by the arrangement of the Septuagint. With the discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts in cave 4, a further ancient edition of Joshua was unearthed. Known as 4QJoshᵃ (= 4Q47), this text preserves a fragment in which the last two verses of the present chapter 8 are continued not by chapter 9 but by chapter 5.75 The arrangement of the edition attested at Qumran also makes good narrative sense, at least in terms of sequence of action: the renewal of the covenant and its memorialization of the law on the stones of the altar follow naturally on Israel’s first entry into the land, with parallels in the literary features of the prominence of Moses’ name and the use of the memorial stones.

These textual scenarios share a complicating factor in the realm of geography: the ceremony takes place in the environs of Shechem, which will be the site of the final episode of the book—another ceremony renewing the covenant—in chapter 24. At that point the whole land has been conquered and the Israelite settlement completed. Shechem is a fairly central location, and so it makes good sense to gather there. But at the time of this ceremony the region is as yet unconquered. That Joshua with all the people should perform this ceremony at that location at such an early moment—whether it follows the crossing of the Jordan or the conquest of Ai—sits awkwardly at any point in this opening phase of the book but much more naturally in chapter 24.

And yet, here it is. An analogy from the Gospels may be helpful. Each of the four Evangelists organizes his story of Jesus’ earthly ministry according to his own purpose in writing. The same events are not always recorded in the same sequence. The different ordering of the temptations Jesus faces in the wilderness as presented by Matthew and by Luke is one simple example that serves for many. The same principle applies to the ancient editions of the book of Joshua, and the medieval Jewish commentator Rashi, for one, assumed the account to be nonchronological at this point.

The narrator sends strong signals that this event corresponds entirely with the commands given through Moses, found in two closely related passages: Deuteronomy 11:26–32 and Deuteronomy 27:1–8. Together these passages frame the laws of Deuteronomy 12–26 and thus bear an added weight at that level, enveloping the code that was to shape the life of the people in the land. In the first of these Moses instructs the people to “set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal” at the moment “when the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering” (Deut. 11:29). This comes with some notional geographic orientation and encouragement to obedience. The second includes more detailed instructions concerning the construction of the altar in connection with a set of plastered stones for offering sacrifice and writing a copy of the law. It is clear that this episode in Joshua is intended to fulfill this entry requirement. With the ceremony following on the stumbling and recovery of the people through the Ai encounter, the obedience Moses urged in both earlier passages takes on a deepened significance. The renewal of the covenant is not merely an optimistic moment after the Jordan crossing and before any attempt at “possession” (Deut. 11:29) has been broached. Rather, it takes place in the context of the lived experience of this company, who knows what it is to fail and also to be restored by its covenant God. Thus this early performance of the renewal of the covenant has a particular import, distinct from the related ceremony at the book’s conclusion.

  I.J.  The Covenant Renewed (8:30–35)

1.  Joshua Builds Altar, Copies Law (8:30–32)

2.  The Composition and Disposition of the People (8:33)

3.  Joshua Reads the Law to Israel (8:34–35)

As we now read this passage in its canonical context—the renewal of the covenant in the participation of the whole community gathered for worship, alongside Joshua’s declaring the covenant blessings and curses and “publishing” God’s word—it is this incident that, “as soon as all the kings who were beyond the Jordan . . . heard of this,” induces them to gather “as one to fight against Joshua and Israel” (9:1–2). There is a political logic here, as the covenant declarations assert God’s sovereignty over all nations.77 After three chapters of intense military activity, this account of all Israel gathered for worship provides a brief but clear moment of pause. The rightly ordered people, living in obedience to and fellowship with their covenant God, prove even more offensive to the watching nations than does their military prowess. It is impossible to miss the dynamic shared with the attitude of the kings of the earth hostile to the universal reign of God in Psalm 2.

The nature of this covenant community was explored above. This is an inclusive community, with a central feature of the account being the presence of women and children and—twice mentioned—the sojourners among them, in addition to the men of Israel and its officials. Origen’s ninth homily on Joshua treats this passage. His proclivity for allegorical interpretation inclines him in this sermon to associate the earthly stones of Joshua’s altar with the “living stones” (1 Pet. 2:5) of the church. The notion of building with stones takes him also to Ephesians 2:20, which describes how the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” Origen draws out the lesson: “In this edifice of the Church, there must also be an altar.”78 It is not his interest to note the wider setting of his Ephesians quotation, although it is particularly apt for reflection on this passage in Joshua. There Paul is setting out the “mystery” (Eph. 3:2–6) that one people of God has been made possible through the gospel of Christ Jesus as it has come to those who were both “far off” and “near” (Eph. 2:17), so that Gentiles have become fellow citizens with the “commonwealth of Israel” (Eph. 2:12). The gathering with Joshua at Ebal, incorporating the sojourner in the covenant community, is at least a hint toward the fuller realization of God’s purpose to draw to himself in worship every “nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev. 7:9).

The reading of the law in its entirety also attracts Origen’s attention. While for him the association is made through 2 Corinthians 3:15–16 to the difference it makes when Jesus reads the law,79 there is another, more simple lesson for the church here. The practice of the public reading of Scripture varies considerably between local churches; in my experience, however, the tendency is toward neglect. Those traditions that use a lectionary may be helped in this. But the careful, articulate, thoughtful reading of God’s Word among God’s people is a powerful thing. It can bring kings to their knees (2 Kings 22:10–11). Reading is active on the part of the reader, but so too is listening (Luke 8:18).