And thou shall write upon them all the words of this law,.... Not the whole book of Deuteronomy, as some think, at least not the historical part of it, only what concerns the laws of God; and it may be only a summary or abstract of them, and perhaps only the ten commandments.
Josephus is of opinion that the blessings and the curses after recited were what were written on them:when thou art passed over; that is, the river Jordan:that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land flowing with milk and honey; this account of the land of Canaan is so frequently observed, to imprint upon their minds a sense of the great goodness of God in giving them such a fruitful country, and to point out to them the obligation they lay under to observe the laws of God ordered to be written on plastered stones, as soon as they came into it:as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee; Ex 3:8.
Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect.