Joshua 8:32

a copy of the law "Short declaracioun of the lawe of Moyses," Wyclif. This has been variously interpreted as meaning (a) the whole Law; (b) the Decalogue; (c) the Book of Deuteronomy; (d) the "commandments" proper, the "statutes" and "rights" contained in the Pentateuch, "six hundred and thirteen in number, according to the Jewish reckoning, not including all the narratives also, and warnings, admonitions, discourses, reasons, and the like."

he wrote in the presence The Law was probably "written upon or in the plaster with which these pillars were coated. This could easily be done; and such writing was common in ancient times. I have seen numerous specimens of it certainly more than two thousand years old, and still as distinct as when they were first inscribed on the plaster." Thomson's Land and the Book, p. 471. "The investigation of the Egyptian monuments has shewn that it was an ancient Egyptian custom first to plaster the stone walls of buildings, and also monumental stones that were to be painted with figures and hieroglyphics, with a plaster of lime and gypsum, into which the figures were worked; thus it was possible in Egypt to engrave on the walls the most extensive pieces of writing. And in this manner Deuteronomy 27:4-8 must be understood, and in this manner it was accomplished by Joshua." Oehler's Theology of the Old Testament, p. 121 n.