Deuteronomy 27:3

27:3 this whole body of instruction (literally all the words of this torah): This phrase could refer to the entire book of Deuteronomy, but considering the small surface (27:2) on which the text was to be inscribed, it probably just refers to the Ten Commandments.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

God would that his Law should be set up in the borders of the land of Canaan, that all that looked thereon might know that the land was dedicated to his service.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law--It might be, as some think, the Decalogue; but a greater probability is that it was "the blessings and curses," which comprised in fact an epitome of the law (Jos 8:34).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. All the words of this law] After all that has been said by ingenious critics concerning the law ordered to be written on these stones, some supposing the whole Mosaic law to be intended, others, only the decalogue, I am fully of opinion that the (תורה torah) law or ordinance in question simply means the blessings and curses mentioned in this and in the following chapter; and indeed these contained a very good epitome of the whole law in all its promises and threatenings, in reference to the whole of its grand moral design. See at the end of this chapter. See Clarke on De 27:26.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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 (q) 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; Exo 3:8.

(q) Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 44.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

All the words of this law - i. e. all the laws revealed from God to the people by Moses, regarded by the Jews as 613 (compare Num 15:38 note). The exhibition of laws in this manner on stones, pillars, or tables, was familiar to the ancients. The laws were probably graven in the stone (“very plainly,” Deu 27:8 is by some rendered “scoop it out well”), as are for the most part the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the “plaister” being afterward added to protect the inscription from the weather.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

That, &c. Hebrew and Septuagint, "And thou shalt write upon them (stones) all the words of," &c. (Haydock) --- This law, the decalogue, (Masius in Josue viii. 32,) or all the laws of Moses, leaving out the historical parts of his work, or the 20th and three following chapters of Exodus, or the discourses of Moses in this book, &c. Josue, in effect, wrote upon stones the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which Josephus explains of the curses and blessings inscribed upon the two sides of the monument, as an abridgment of the whole law. (Calmet) --- The Jordan is not in Hebrew expressly, but in the Septuagint. After the Israelites had crossed this river, they were thus to make a solemn profession of their adherence to the law of God, (Haydock) as they did (ver. 12,) after they had taken Hai; though Josephus insinuates, that they deferred for five years the accomplishment of what is here required. (Tirinus)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

All the words of this law; either,

1. All the words of this Book of Deuteronomy. But that seems too large for this place. Or,

2. The blessings and curses here following. But they are mentioned as a different thing. Or,

3. The law properly so called, i.e. the sum and substance of the precepts or laws of Moses, especially such as were moral and general, as may be guessed from the following part of the chapter, where the curses pronounced against all that confirm not all the words of this law to do them are particularly applied unto the transgressors of moral laws only, Deu 27:15,16, &c. And especially the decalogue, which oft goes under that name. Compare Jos 8:32, &c.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Thou shalt write upon them — Before the cement put upon the stones became dry the words could be inscribed; or, on the smooth surface after it had become hard they could be traced, as we find in some ancient tombs.

All the words of this law — How large a portion of the requirements was to be written is uncertain. Some think only the Decalogue; others, that the blessings and the cursings were to be inscribed. Some of the rabbins held that the substance of the entire law, including its six hundred and thirteen enactments, was to be written on the stones. The object of setting up this stone was probably not so much for the purpose of handing down the law to the coming generations as it was to have a monument in the centre of the land which would be a public acknowledgment of the law of Jehovah on the part of the nation. It is useless to speculate as to the special words of the law that were to be written on this monument. It may have been the entire code. “The Behistun inscription in its triple form is twice as long as this entire code carved in bold characters in the solid rock.” — Presbyterian Review, January, 1882, p. 113. For a description of this celebrated inscription see Encyclopaedia Britannica, ninth edition, under “Behistun.” Compare GREEN’S Moses and the Prophets.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All the words of this law; i.e. all the purely legislative parts of the Mosaic institute. By the "Law" here cannot be intended merely the blessings and the curses afterwards mentioned (vers. 14-26); nor is there any reason why this term should be restricted to the precepts of this Book of Deuteronomy, as if they only were to be inscribed on the stones: the term must be extended so as to cover all that Moses had at any time delivered to Israel as a law from God. It is not necessary, however, to suppose that all the reasons and exhortations with which the delivery of these, as recorded in the Pentateuch, was accompanied were to be inscribed along with the Law; still less that the historical details amidst which the record of these laws is embedded should be given. It may be questioned even whether each and all of the legislative enactments of the Torah, reckoned by the Jews to be 613, were to be recorded; for it might be deemed enough that the substance and essence of the Law should be thus presented. But even if the whole was to be inscribed, there would be no serious difficulty in the way of carrying this into effect, seeing there is no limitation as to the number of the stones to be set up.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

AND THOU SHALT WRITE UPON THEM ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote in the name of the Gaon that “they wrote upon the stones a list of the commandments like those written down in the ‘Hilchoth Gedoloth,’ contained in the Torah. The listing is in the preface to his work “Hilchoth Gedoloth”. His concept was utilized by the Paitanim, the writers of liturgical poetry who wrote various Azharoth (Exhortations), liturgical poems containing the Divine Commandments. — It should be noted that while the “Hilchoth Gedoloth” contains the first historical record in our possession of an attempt at enumerating the individual commandments, there is no doubt that the author drew upon older sources of such lists, and as Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon writes here, such “a list of the commandments” was written upon the stones by Moses. in the form of Azharoth (‘Exhortations’ of the liturgical poets). And the meaning of the expression ‘ba’eir heiteiv’ (very plainly) refers to the writing” [i.e., that it be in legible script, but it does not mean “well explained,” since only a brief list of the commandments rather than a detailed rendering was inscribed upon the stones].And our Rabbis have said [that ‘ba’eir heiteiv’ means] in the seventy languages [of the peoples of the world]. Now, we find in the Book of Tagin (crownlets) that the entire Torah was written on them [i.e., the stones] — from the beginning of Bereshith to in the sight of all Israel — with its crownlets and its flourishes, and from there all the crownlets in the entire Torah were copied. It is likely that either these stones were huge, or it was a miraculous event [for, otherwise, it would have been impossible to inscribe so much on a few stone tablets].

SO THAT THOU MAYEST GO IN UNTO THE LAND. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that it means “that G-d will help you [to come into the Land] if you begin keeping His commandments, for this was the first commandment [that they were to observe] upon coming into the Land.” In my opinion the expression so that thou mayest go in unto the Land alludes to all the words of the Torah, the verse stating that you are to write upon the stones all the words of this Law when thou art passed over the Jordan immediately so that thou mayest go into the Land, for it was for the sake of the Torah that you will have come there. Similarly, so that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt which means: “let your manservant and your maidservant rest like you so that you shall remember that you were servants in the land of Egypt.” (so that …) as the effect of an event although the intent thereof is really for the cause of the event. Thus in the verse before us the order of the words is: And thou shalt write upon them … ‘so that thou mayest’ go in unto the Land. From this it would appear that the cause is the writing upon the stones, and the effect is the coming into the Land. Ramban points out that the real thought of the verse is: you are coming into the Land so that you may write G-d’s Torah upon the stones. Thus the cause is the coming into the Land and the effect is the writing upon the stones. The word ‘l’ma’an’ (so that) although written with reference to the coming into the Land refers to the writing upon the stones. A similar case is the verse referring to the Sabbath where the word ‘l’ma’an’ (so that) appears with the cause [so that your servants may rest] but should be interpreted with the effect, the remembering of your being a servant. Therefore, the sense of the text is, let your servants rest so that you will remember that you too, were servants in the land of Egypt. Or it may be that the meaning of the verse is as follows: “you shall write upon the stones all the words of this Law to serve you as a remembrance so that you may come into the Land and conquer it and drive out all these peoples, [a conquest that will be yours only] when you will remember the Torah and keep all its commandments.”

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.