Matthew Poole and continuators on Joshua 24:26

26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God , and took a great stone, and set it up there , under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD .

i. e. This Covenant or Agreement of the people with the Lord.

i. e. In that Volume which was kept in the Ark, Deut. 31. 9, 26. whence it was taken and put into this Book of Ioshua: This he did partly for the perpetual remembrance of this great and solemn Action; partly to lay the greater obligation upon the people to be true to their engagement; and partly as a Witness for God, and against the people, if afterwards he severely punished them for their defection from God, to whom they had so solemnly and freely obliged themselves.

As a witness and monument of this great transaction, according to the custom of those ancient times, as Gen. 28. 18. and 31. 45. and 35. 14. Exod. 24. 4. Deut. 27. 2. Ios. 4. 3. and 8. 32. Possibly this agreement was written upon this Stone, as was then usual.

i. e Near to the place where the Ark and Tabernacle then were; for though they were forbidden to plant a Grove of Trees near unto the Altar, Deut. 16. 21. as the Gentiles did, yet they might for a time set up an Altar, or the Ark, near a great Tree which had been planted there before.

Marginal references: See Judg. 9. 6.; Gen. 35. 4.