“built an altar to Yahweh...on Mount Ebal.” Both the topic and location shift quickly. Moses had commanded building the altar on Mount Ebal (Deut. 27:1-8). It was about a 20-mile trip from Ai to Mount Ebal. A puzzle is why nothing is mentioned of Shechem and what happened to the Canaanites there. Shechem is not one of the city-kingdoms conquered by Joshua (Josh. 12). Some scholars have suggested that this account comes after the account of Gibeon (Josh. 9) and that the people of Shechem were among the people around Gibeon who made peace with Israel. The account may have been moved to where it is in the text to emphasize Joshua’s obedience to what Moses commanded to do.