(30)Where the sun goeth down.--A memorable passage, as attesting the true position of the speaker, east of Jordan, over against Jericho. The sun has been seen by travellers from that very spot going down exactly in the remarkable gap between Ebal and Gerizim.
The plains of Moren.--Rather, the oaks or terebinths of Moreh. (See Genesis 12:6.)
11:26-32 Moses sums up all the arguments for obedience in two words, the blessing and the curse. He charged the people to choose which they would have. Moses then appointed a public and solemn proclamation of the blessing and curse, to be made upon the two mountains of Gerizim and Ebal. We have broken the law, and are under its curse, without remedy from ourselves. In mercy, the gospel again sets before us a blessing and a curse. A blessing, if we obey the call to repentance, to faith in Christ, and newness of heart and life through him; an awful curse, if we neglect so great salvation. Let us thankfully welcome these glad tidings of great joy; and let us not harden our hearts, but hear this voice of God while it is called to-day, and while he invites us to come to him upon a mercy-seat. Let us be diligent to make our calling and election sure.
Are they not on the other side Jordan,.... Opposite to that where Moses now was in the plains of Moab, even in Samaria; so in the Misnah (t) it is said,"as soon as Israel passed over Jordan, they came to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, which are in Samaria;''but those mountains were not near Jordan nor Jericho, to which the people of Israel came first, but sixty miles from thence; though they were, as Moses says, on the other side from the place they now were:
by the way wherewith the sun goeth down; or, as the Targum of Jonathan,"after the way of the sun setting;''following that, or taking their direction from thence, signifying that they lay to the west of Jordan:
in the land of the Canaanites; of that particular tribe or nation which were eminently called Canaanites, for these dwelt by the sea by the coast of Jordan, Numbers 13:29 or as further described:
that dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal; in the plain open champaign country opposite to Gilgal; not that Gilgal Joshua encamped at before he came to Jericho, which in Moses's time was not known by that name, but another, as Dr. Lightfoot (u) observes, and he thinks Galilee is meant:
beside the plains of Moreh; near to Shechem, Genesis 12:6 and that Gerizim, one of these mountains, was not far from Shechem, is evident from Judges 9:6 and so in the Misnah (w) it is said, that these mountains were on the side of Shechem, which is in the plains of Moreh, as in Deuteronomy 11:30 as the plains of Moreh here denote Shechem, so there: Benjamin of Tudela says (x) there is a valley between them, in which lies Shechem; and in his time there were on Mount Gerizim fountains and orchards, but Mount Ebal was dry like stones and rocks. The Targum of Jonathan here, instead of Moreh, reads Mamre; see Genesis 13:18.
(t) Sotah, c. 7. sect. 5. (u) Chorograph. Cent. c. 48. (w) Sotah, c. 7. sect. 5. (x) Itinerarium, p. 38, 40.
The plains of Moren.--Rather, the oaks or terebinths of Moreh. (See Genesis 12:6.)
by the way wherewith the sun goeth down; or, as the Targum of Jonathan,"after the way of the sun setting;''following that, or taking their direction from thence, signifying that they lay to the west of Jordan:
in the land of the Canaanites; of that particular tribe or nation which were eminently called Canaanites, for these dwelt by the sea by the coast of Jordan, Numbers 13:29 or as further described:
that dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal; in the plain open champaign country opposite to Gilgal; not that Gilgal Joshua encamped at before he came to Jericho, which in Moses's time was not known by that name, but another, as Dr. Lightfoot (u) observes, and he thinks Galilee is meant:
beside the plains of Moreh; near to Shechem, Genesis 12:6 and that Gerizim, one of these mountains, was not far from Shechem, is evident from Judges 9:6 and so in the Misnah (w) it is said, that these mountains were on the side of Shechem, which is in the plains of Moreh, as in Deuteronomy 11:30 as the plains of Moreh here denote Shechem, so there: Benjamin of Tudela says (x) there is a valley between them, in which lies Shechem; and in his time there were on Mount Gerizim fountains and orchards, but Mount Ebal was dry like stones and rocks. The Targum of Jonathan here, instead of Moreh, reads Mamre; see Genesis 13:18.
(t) Sotah, c. 7. sect. 5. (u) Chorograph. Cent. c. 48. (w) Sotah, c. 7. sect. 5. (x) Itinerarium, p. 38, 40.