Deuteronomy 27:3

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.