תלמוד על יהושע 4:7

You may say that there were three kinds of stones¹⁵³Tosephta 8:6, Babli 35b.: The stones of the resting place¹⁵⁴Jos. 4:3,8,20., and the stones which Joshua put under the soles of the feet of the Cohanim¹⁵⁵Jos. 4:9., and the steles¹⁵⁶Greek στήλη. For the use of steles in ancient synagogues, cf. י. בראבד, ״איצטלין״, לשוננו 32 תשכח-1968 ע׳ 276. that Moses had given them¹⁵⁷This is explained in the Babli, 35b. In Deut. 1:5 it is stated that Moses explained the Torah. In 27:8 it is commanded to copy the Torah on the stones, well explained. Since in the latter cases, “explained” means “engraved in stone”, it follows that in the first case “explained” also must mean engraved in stone.. Rebbi Ḥaninan said, it is obvious to us that there were four kinds of stones¹⁵⁸That the stones on which the Torah was written translated into 70 languages were none of the above three kinds. This opinion is not mentioned in Babli/Tosephta.. Rebbi Simon ben Zebid said, that is correct. If you would say, they were the stones of the resting place; these were temporary and were hidden¹⁵⁹This is difficult to understand since the stones should be there as a permanent memorial, Jos. 4:21–24. In any case, the verses make it clear that these stones were not to be used to be written on.. If you would say, the stones which Joshua put under the soles of the feet of the Cohanim; these were submerged in the water. If you would say, the steles that Moses had given them; they already had moved with them into the Land¹⁶⁰Even if they had taken the steles with them, the Torah already was written on them and they could not be those on which the Torah was written anew.. But we must deal with the stones that Joshua put up for them on the banks of the Jordan.