And he wrote there upon the stones; i.e; upon the plaster, as we read in Deuteronomy 27:2, Deuteronomy 27:4. "The wall destined to receive the picture," and it was just the same with inscriptions—was covered with a coating of lime and gypsum plaster.
The outline was then sketched with red chalk, and afterwards corrected and filled in with black. Thomson says that he has seen writings in plaster which could not have been less than two thousand years old.
This passage shows that our author had Deuteronomy 28:2, Deuteronomy 28:3 in his mind. The stones of the altar, which alone have been mentioned, are clearly not meant here, but the erection of plastered stone on which the law was to be written.
A copy of the law of Moses, "Deuteronomium legis," Vulgate. So also LXX. Not the whole law, nor yet the Book of Deuteronomy, for time would not permit,but the decalogue, as the word מִשְׁנֶה duplicate, from whence the word Mishna comes, signifies.
It is to be observed that the word is definite, the copy, not a copy, of the law. This (Deuteronomy 5:22) was what was written on the two tables of stone, which (Exodus 24:12, Exodus 31:18) God gave to Moses.
Yet it is possible that, as some commentaters suggest, and as verse 34 may be held to imply, what is meant is the curses and blessings mentioned in Deuteronomy 27:1-26, and Deuteronomy 28:1-68. The formal setting up of this memorial was intended to remind the Israelites, by a perpetual standing witness, of the conditions on which they held the land of Canaan.
And it is to be observed that the moral, rather than the positive, precepts of the law were thus solemnly enjoined on them, since neglect of the moral law of God is the invariable source of national degradation and decay.
Which he wrote. Namely, Joshua.