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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Joshua 7 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/joshua/7.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/joshua/7-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Joshua 7</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../joshua/6.htm" title="Joshua 6">◄</a> Joshua 7 <a href="../joshua/8.htm" title="Joshua 8">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-1.htm">Joshua 7:1</a></div><div class="verse">But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Committed a trespass in the accursed thing.</span> The word <span class="hebrew">מָעַל</span>, here used, signifies originally to <span class="accented">cover</span>, whence <span class="hebrew">מְעִיל</span> a garment. Hence it comes to mean to act deceitfully, or perhaps to steal (cf. the LXX. <span class="greek">ἐνοσφίσαντο</span>, a translation rendered remarkable by the fact that it is the very word used by St. Luke in regard to the transgression of Ananias and Sapphira. But the LXX. is here rather a paraphrase than a translation). It is clearly used here of some <span class="accented">secret</span> act. But in <a href="/leviticus/5-15.htm">Leviticus 5:15</a> it is used of an <span class="accented">unwitting</span> trespass, committed <span class="hebrew">בִּשְׁגָגָה</span>, in error of fact, but not of intention. <span class="cmt_word">Achan</span>. Called Achar in <a href="/1_chronicles/2-7.htm">1 Chronicles 2:7</a>, no doubt from a reference to the results of his conduct. He had "troubled Israel" (<span class="hebrew">עָכַר</span>), ver. 25, and the valley which witnessed his punishment obtained the name of Achor. The copies of the LXX. vary between the two forms, the Vatican Codex having Achar; the Alexandrian, Achan. <span class="cmt_word">Zabdi</span><span class="accented">. Zimri</span> in <a href="/1_chronicles/2-6.htm">1 Chronicles 2:6</a>. Such variations of reading are extremely common, and are increased in our version by the varieties of English spelling adopted among our translators (see Shemuel for Samuel in <a href="/1_chronicles/6-33.htm">1 Chronicles 6:33</a>). The LXX. has <span class="accented">Zambri</span> here. <span class="cmt_word">Took of the accursed thing.</span> Commentators have largely discussed the question how the sin of Achan could be held to extend to the whole people. But it seems sufficient to reply by pointing out the organic unity of the Israelitish nation. They were then, as Christians are now, the Church of the living God. And if one single member of the community violated the laws which God imposed on them, the whole body was liable for his sin, until it had purged itself by a public act of restitution (see <a href="/deuteronomy/21-1.htm">Deuteronomy 21:1-8</a>). So St. Paul regards the Corinthian Church as polluted by the presence of one single offender, until he was publicly expelled from its communion (see <a href="/1_corinthians/5-2.htm">1 Corinthians 5:2, 6, 7</a>). The very words "body politic" applied to a state imply the same idea - that of a connection so intimate between the members of a community that the act of one affects the whole. And if this be admitted to be the case in ordinary societies, how much more so in the people of God, who were under His special protection, and had been specially set apart to His service? In the history of Achan, moreover, we read the history of secret sin, which, though unseen by any earthly eye, does nevertheless pollute the offender, and through him the Church of God, by lowering his general standard of thought and action, enfeebling his moral sense, checking the growth of his inner and devotional life, until, by a resolute act of repentance and restitution towards God, the sin is finally acknowledged and put away. "A lewd man is a pernicious creature. That he damnes his own soule is the least part of his misehiefe; he commonly drawes vengeance upon a thousand, either by the desert of his sinne, or by the infection" (Bp. Hall). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-2.htm">Joshua 7:2</a></div><div class="verse">And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which <i>is</i> beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Ai</span>. <span class="hebrew">עַי</span> or <span class="hebrew">הָעַי</span> "the ruins" (cf. Iim and Ije-abarim, the ruins or heaps of Abarim, <a href="/numbers/33-44.htm">Numbers 33:44, 45</a>; and Iim, <a href="/joshua/15-29.htm">Joshua 15:29</a>. Probably it is the same as <span class="hebrew">הָעַוּים</span> which we find mentioned in conjunction with Bethel in <a href="/joshua/18-22.htm">Joshua 18:22, 23</a>. It becomes <span class="hebrew">עַיָּא</span> in <a href="/nehemiah/11-31.htm">Nehemiah 11:31</a>, and the feminine form is found in <a href="/isaiah/10-28.htm">Isaiah 10:28</a>. The latter, from the mention of Michmash in the route of Sennacherib immediately afterwards, is probably the same as Ai. Robinson and Hell - the former very doubtfully - place it at Turmus Aya, an eminence crowned with ruins above Deir Duwan. But Vandevelde contests this, and places it at Tell-el-Hajar, <span class="accented">i.e.</span>, the Tell or heap of ruins; and G. Williams and Capt. Wilson have independently fixed on the same spot, though they call it et-Tel, or "the heap," and suppose the "el-Hajar" to have been added in answer to the question, "what heap?" This situation seems best to suit the requirements of the narrative. For it is "on the southern brow of the Wady-el-Mutyah" (Vandevelde), near that "wild entanglement of hill and valley at the head of the Wady Harith," which "climbs into the heart of the mountains of Benjamin till it meets the central ridge of the country at Bethel" (Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 202). Its situation, unlike that of Turmus Aya, is calculated to give cover to an ambush of 5,000 men, and it also answers to the conditions in its nearness to Michmash, from which Turmus Aya is more than three hours' journey distant. The Tell is "covered with heaps of ruins" (Capt. Wilson, 'Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement,' 4. p. 124). Conder, however ('Handbook,' p. 254), identifies Ai with Haiyan, two miles from Bethel, in the same Wady, but why, he gives no hint. A fortress so situated was one which Joshua could not leave in his rear, and so its capture was a matter of necessity. By its position, if not from the number of its inhabitants, it was necessarily a very strong one. Ai is mentioned as early as <a href="/genesis/12-8.htm">Genesis 12:8</a>, and we find that it was inhabited down to the Captivity, for the "men of Bethel and Ai" are mentioned (and, it may be observed, in close proximity to those of Rama, Geba, and Michmash - see <a href="/isaiah/10-28.htm">Isaiah 10:28</a> above cited) in <a href="/ezra/2-28.htm">Ezra 2:28</a>. See also <a href="/nehemiah/11-31.htm">Nehemiah 11:31</a>, above cited. The name Ai, or ruins, found so early, implies that the aboriginal inhabitants had built a city in that almost inaccessible situation. Lieut. Conder gives a very vivid description of the site et-Tel in 'Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement,' April, 1874. There are, he says, "huge mounds of broken stone and shingle ten feet high. The town," he adds, "must have been pounded small, and the fury of its destruction is still evidenced by its completeness." He continues: "The party for the ambush, following the ancient causeway from Bethel to Jordan (which we have recovered throughout its entire length) as far as Michmash, would then easily ascend the great wady west of Ai, and arrive within a quarter of a mile of the city without having ever come in sight of it. Here, hidden by the knoll of Burjums and the high ground near it, a force of almost any magnitude might wait unsuspected. The main body in the meanwhile, without diverging from the road, would ascend the gently sloping valley and appear before the town on the open battlefield which stretches away to its east and south. From the knoll the figure of Joshua would be plainly visible to either party, with his spear stretched against the sky" [see ch Joshua 8:18). But the site still eludes investigation. Lieut. Kitchener, Mr. Birch, Mr. Guest, would place it at Kh-Haiy, or the rock Rimmon. When those who have visited the country are so divided in opinion, nothing but silence remains for those who have not. <span class="cmt_word">Beth-avern</span> (cf. <a href="/1_samuel/14-23.htm">1 Samuel 14:23</a>). This place has not yet been identified. It was close by Ai, and not far from Bethel, as the transference of its name to Bethel by Hosea (Hosea 4:15; 5:8; 10:5) shows. It could not have been a place of any importance, or the historian would not have found it necessary to explain where it was. Hosea has perhaps derived his knowledge of it from this passage. Some writers have identified it with Bethel. But this is obviously incorrect, since the literal rendering of the Hebrew here places Ai "in the immediate proximity of Beth-aven, <span class="accented">eastward</span> of Bethel." The LXX. omits all reference to Beth-aven. But there are many various readings. Bethel Formerly Luz (<a href="/genesis/28-19.htm">Genesis 28:19</a>; <a href="/genesis/35-7.htm">Genesis 35:7</a>; <a href="/judges/1-23.htm">Judges 1:23</a>). The last-cited passage seems to prove that Bethel was not among, the cities taken during Joshua's campaign; though this is extraordinary in the face of the fact that the inhabitants of Luz gave their assistance to the men of Ai in the battle (see <a href="/joshua/8-17.htm">Joshua 8:17</a>, where, however, it is remarkable that the LXX. omits all reference to Bethel). We may observe that there is no mention of the capture of Bethel, or the destruction of the inhabitants, and that this exactly agrees with <a href="/judges/1-22.htm">Judges 1:22-26</a>. This is an undesigned coincidence well worthy of note. We may also remark on the exact conformity between the situation of Bethel as described here and in <a href="/genesis/12-8.htm">Genesis 12:8</a>. The city to which the name Bethel was attached was not the place of Abraham's altar, as we learn from the passage just cited, but was in its immediate neighbourhood. The ruins which now mark its site are of a later date than the events recorded in Scripture. Its modern name is Beitin. <span class="cmt_word">Go up and view the country.</span> Rather, <span class="accented">spy</span> (or <span class="accented">reconnoitre</span>); literally, <span class="accented">foot</span> the country. Joshua does not refuse to avail himself of human expedients because he is under Divine guidance (see also ch. 2). The reasons for this reconnoitring expedition are made clear enough by the passage quoted from Lieut. Condor's survey above. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-3.htm">Joshua 7:3</a></div><div class="verse">And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; <i>and</i> make not all the people to labour thither; for they <i>are but</i> few.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Make not all the people to labour thither;</span> or, <span class="accented">weary not the people</span> with the journey <span class="accented">thither.</span> "Good successe lifts up the heart with too much confidence" (Bp. Hall). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-4.htm">Joshua 7:4</a></div><div class="verse">So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-5.htm">Joshua 7:5</a></div><div class="verse">And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them <i>from</i> before the gate <i>even</i> unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> <span class="cmt_word">Unto Shebarim.</span> LXX., <span class="greek">καὶ ἕως</span> <span class="greek">συνέτριψαν αὐτούς</span>, as though we had <span class="hebrew">שְׁבָרוּם</span> (or, as Masius suggests, <span class="hebrew">הַשְׁבִירִים</span>) from <span class="hebrew">שָׁבַר</span> to break in pieces. So the Syriac and Chaldee versions. But this is quite out of the question. The Israelites were not annihilated, for they only lost about 36 men. Nor is Shebarim a proper name, as the Vulgate renders it. It has the article, and must be rendered either with Keil, the stone quarries (literally, <span class="accented">the crushings</span> or <span class="accented">breakings</span>), or with Gesenius, <span class="accented">the ruins</span>, which, however, is less probable, since Ai (see above)has a similar signification. Munsterus mentions a view that it was so called in consequence of the slaughter of the Israelites. But this is very improbable. <span class="cmt_word">In the going down.</span> Ai stood in a strong position on the mountains. The margin "in Morad "is therefore not to be preferred. It means, as the Israelites and their antagonists descended from the gates. <span class="cmt_word">The hearts of the people melted and became as water.</span> This was not cowardice, but awe. The people had relied upon the strong hand of the Lord, which had been so wonderfully stretched out for them. From Joshua downwards, every one felt that, for some unknown reason, that support had been withdrawn. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> CHAPTER 7:6-15. JOSHUA'S PRAYER AND GOD'S ANSWER. - </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-6.htm">Joshua 7:6</a></div><div class="verse">And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - And Joshua rent his clothes. A token of grief usual among the Jews (see <a href="/genesis/37-29.htm">Genesis 37:29</a>, 84; 44:13, etc. Knobel cites <a href="/leviticus/21-10.htm">Leviticus 21:10</a>); and though Joshua was not the high priest, yet from his peculiar position he might be expected to adopt somewhat of the high priest's demeanour, and at least not to display this outward sign of grief without the strongest reason. The words "before the ark" are omitted in the LXX. <span class="cmt_word">And put dust on their heads.</span> A sign of still more abject humiliation. The head, the noblest part of man, was thus placed beneath the dust of the ground from whence he was taken (see <a href="/1_samuel/4-12.htm">1 Samuel 4:12</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/1-2.htm">2 Samuel 1:2</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/13-19.htm">2 Samuel 13:19</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/15-32.htm">2 Samuel 15:32</a>; <a href="/1_kings/20-38.htm">1 Kings 20:38</a>; <a href="/job/2-12.htm">Job 2:12</a>; <a href="/lamentations/2-10.htm">Lamentations 2:10</a>). It was a common custom among the Greeks. (See Lucian, De Luetu, 12). Homer mentions the custom (Iliad, 18). Pope's translation runs thus: - <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="accented">"Cast on the ground, with furious hands he spread<br />The scorching ashes o'er his graceful head.<br />His purple garments and his golden hairs,<br />Those he deforms with dust, and these he tears."<br />Lines 26-30.</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-7.htm">Joshua 7:7</a></div><div class="verse">And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Wherefore hast thou at all brought.</span> The LXX. seems in some way to have read <span class="hebrew">עבד</span> for <span class="hebrew">עבר</span>; they translate "why did thy servant cross?" But their rendering is a clear grammatical blunder, for the Masorites remark that the <span class="hebrew">ה</span> is to be preserved. <span class="cmt_word">Would to God we had been content.</span> Calvin makes some severe remarks on Joshua's folly and want of faith under this reverse. But it may be paralleled by the conduct of most Christians in adversity. How few are there who can bear even temporal calamity calmly and patiently, even though they have abundant reason to know that temporal affliction is not only no sign of the displeasure of God, but the reverse! And when, through allowing secret sin to lurk within the soul, the Christian is overcome and brought to shame by his spiritual enemies, how much more seldom it is that he has the courage to gird up the loins of his soul and renew the conflict, in full confidence that victory will be his in the end! How much more frequently does he despair of victory, wish he had never undertaken the Christian profession, give up his belief in the protecting care and guidance of God, and desist, at least for a time, from the good fight of faith, to his own serious injury and to the detriment of God's Church! "It is not," adds Calvin, "a new thing for pious minds, when they aspire to seek God with holy zeal, to obscure the light of faith by the vehemence and impetuosity of their affections. And in this way all prayers would be rendered valueless, did not the Lord in His boundless indulgence pardon them, and, wiping away all their stains, receive them as if they were pure. And yet while in thus freely expostulating they cast all their care upon God, this blunt simplicity, though it needs pardon, is yet far more acceptable than the feigned modesty and self restraint of the hypocrites." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-8.htm">Joshua 7:8</a></div><div class="verse">O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">What shall I say?</span> To encourage the people who will be downcast by this defeat, while their enemies will gather courage. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-9.htm">Joshua 7:9</a></div><div class="verse">For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear <i>of it</i>, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it.</span> The invariable argument of Moses (<a href="/exodus/32-12.htm">Exodus 32:12</a>; <a href="/numbers/14-13.htm">Numbers 14:13-16</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/9-28.htm">Deuteronomy 9:28</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/32-26.htm">Deuteronomy 32:26, 27</a>). The disgrace which the sin of man brings upon the cause of the Lord is a real and very terrible thing (cf. <a href="/2_samuel/12-14.htm">2 Samuel 12:14</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/36-23.htm">Ezekiel 36:23</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-10.htm">Joshua 7:10</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Get thee up.</span> Not puerile lamentation, but action, is ever the duty of the soldier of the Lord. If defeat assails either the individual or the cause, there is a reason for it, and this must be promptly searched out, and with God's aid be discovered. The sin or error once found out and put away, the combat may be renewed and brought to a successful issue. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-11.htm">Joshua 7:11</a></div><div class="verse">Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put <i>it</i> even among their own stuff.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Israel hath sinned.</span> A simple but satisfactory explanation. It is not God who changes. It is we who frustrate His counsels of love and protection against our enemies. We have here another assertion of the principle that if one member suffer all the members suffer with it. Achan's sin was the sin of all Israel. So the sin of one man is still the sin of the whole Church. <span class="cmt_word">And have also stolen.</span> The accusation is cumulative. Israel, which was all involved in the sin of one among their number, had <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> broken a solemn vow; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> had stolen what was not theirs; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> had acted deceitfully (<span class="hebrew">כָּחַשַׁ</span>); and <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(4)</span> had appropriated to themselves what belonged to God, which, as Keil remarks, was the last and gravest feature of their crime. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>This is strongly brought out by the fivefold repetition of <span class="hebrew">גַּם</span> in the original. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-12.htm">Joshua 7:12</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, <i>but</i> turned <i>their</i> backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Therefore</span>. This plain statement disposes of the idea that the repulse before Ai was simply the result of Joshua's rashness in sending so small a body of troops. The vivid narrative of the detection of Achan, obviously taken from contemporary records, precedes the account of the final capture of the city, although Joshua, who, as we have seen, does not neglect to employ human means, resolves to take greater precautions before making a second attack. Not a hint is dropped that the former number of men was insufficient, or that Joshua had been misled by the information brought by the reconnoitring party. In the mind of the historian the defect is entirely owing to the existence of secret sin in the Israelitish camp. <span class="cmt_word">Except ye destroy the accursed from among.</span> Dr. Maclear, in the 'Cambridge Bible for Schools,' calls attention to the fact that <a href="/1_corinthians/5-13.htm">1 Corinthians 5:13</a> is a quotation from the LXX. here, substituting, however, <span class="greek">τὸν πονηρὸν</span> for <span class="greek">το ἀνάθεμα</span>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-13.htm">Joshua 7:13</a></div><div class="verse">Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, <i>There is</i> an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Sanctify the people.</span> See note on Joshua 3:5. <span class="cmt_word">Thou canst not stand before thine enemies.</span> Observe the singular number here, intensifying the testimony of the whole history to the fact that Israel was one body before the Lord. And observe, moreover, how the existence of secret sin, even though unknown to and undetected by him in whom it lurks, has power to enfeeble the soul in its conflict with its enemies. Hence we learn the duties Of watchfulness and careful examination of the soul by the light of God's Word. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-14.htm">Joshua 7:14</a></div><div class="verse">In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, <i>that</i> the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families <i>thereof</i>; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Taketh</span>, <span class="accented">i.e.</span>, by lot, as in <a href="/1_samuel/14-42.htm">1 Samuel 14:42</a> (<span class="hebrew">הַפִילוּ</span> make it <span class="accented">fall</span>; cf. <a href="/1_samuel/10-20.htm">1 Samuel 10:20</a>) (cf. <a href="/jonah/1-7.htm">Jonah 1:7</a>; also <a href="/proverbs/18-18.htm">Proverbs 18:18</a>). According to the families. The gradual centering of the suspicion upon the offender is one of the most striking features of the history. The genealogies of the children of Israel were very strictly kept, as the Books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah show. Achan's name is carefully given in the genealogy of Judah in 1 Chronicles if. 7. The subdivision of the tribes into families (or <span class="accented">clans</span>, Keil) and households (or, as we should perhaps say, <span class="accented">families</span>) was for convenience of enumeration, military organisation, and perhaps of assessment. Oehler, 'Theologie des Allen Testaments,' Sec. 101, takes the same view as Keil. The tribes, he says, were divided into <span class="hebrew">מִשְׁפָהות</span> or <span class="hebrew">׃ך׃ך אֲלָפִים</span>, Geschlechter (LXX. <span class="greek">δημοι</span>, for which the best English equivalent is <span class="accented">clans</span>, as above); these into families or houses (<span class="hebrew">בָּתִּים</span>), or fathers' hours (<span class="hebrew">בֵּת אָבות</span>); and these again into single heads of a house (<span class="hebrew">גְבָרִים</span>). The principle, he adds of a Mosaic family, is as follows: Every <span class="accented">"family"</span> forms a distinct whole, which as far as possible must be maintained in its integrity. Each tribe, says Jahn ('Hebrew Commonwealth,' Book II.), acknowledged a prince (<span class="hebrew">כָשִׂיא</span>) as its ruler. As its numbers increased, there arose a subdivision of the tribe into collections of families. Such a collection was called a house of fathers, a <span class="hebrew">מִשְׁפְחָה</span> or clan, or a thousand, rut this explanation is not so satisfactory as that given above. Kurz remarks on the important part family life played among the Hebrews, with whom, in consequence of their descent from Abraham, and the importance they attached to it, the nation was developed out of the family. See Introduction. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-15.htm">Joshua 7:15</a></div><div class="verse">And it shall be, <i>that</i> he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> <span class="cmt_word">He that is taken with the accursed thing;</span> or, according to Keil, "he on whom the ban falls." <span class="cmt_word">He and all that he hath</span> (cf. ver. 24). The opinion that Achan's family had in some way become participators in his sin would seem preferable to the idea that his sin had involved them in the ban (see <a href="/deuteronomy/24-16.htm">Deuteronomy 24:16</a>, which qualifies <a href="/leviticus/26-39.htm">Leviticus 26:39</a>; so Hengstenberg, 'History,' p. 218). The destruction of their possessions is due to the fact that all the family had come under the ban. <span class="cmt_word">Folly</span> <span class="hebrew">נְבָלָה</span> used of the heart as well as the head (cf. <a href="/genesis/34-7.htm">Genesis 34:7</a>: <a href="/deuteronomy/22-21.htm">Deuteronomy 22:21</a>; <a href="/judges/19-23.htm">Judges 19:23, 24</a>; <a href="/judges/20-6.htm">Judges 20:6</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/13-12.htm">2 Samuel 13:12</a>; <a href="/psalms/14-1.htm">Psalm 14:1</a>). The LXX. render by <span class="greek">ἀνόμημα</span>, and the Vulgate by <span class="accented">herae</span>, but Theodotion renders by <span class="greek">ἀφροσύνη</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> CHAPTER 7:16-26. THE DISCOVERY OF ACHAN'S SIN. - </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-16.htm">Joshua 7:16</a></div><div class="verse">So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The family of Judah.</span> The expression <span class="hebrew">מִשְׁפַתַת</span> is remarkable. Many commentators would read <span class="hebrew">מִשְׁפְחֹת</span>, not without some MSS. authority. Keil objects that the Chaldee and Syriac have the singular. But the LXX. has <span class="greek">κατὰ δήμους</span>, and the Vulgate <span class="accented">juxta familias.</span> On the whole it seems more probable that as <span class="hebrew">מִשְׁפַחַת</span> occurs twice in this passage, it has been so pointed where the same letters occur for the third time, than that, with Peele, it means tribe (so also Gesenius and Winer); or that, as others suggest, it is used for <span class="accented">omnes</span> or <span class="accented">singulas genres.</span> See, however, <a href="/judges/13-2.htm">Judges 13:2</a>, where it is unquestionably used in the sense of <span class="accented">tribe.</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-17.htm">Joshua 7:17</a></div><div class="verse">And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-18.htm">Joshua 7:18</a></div><div class="verse">And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-19.htm">Joshua 7:19</a></div><div class="verse">And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide <i>it</i> not from me.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">My son.</span> This is no mere hypocritical affectation of tenderness. Joshua feels for the criminal, even though he is forced to put him to death. So in cur own day the spectacle is not uncommon of a judge melted to tears as he passes sentence of death on the murderer. The expression seems almost to imply a belief that, though Achan must undergo the extremest penalty of the law in this world, Joshua entertained a hope that he might be forgiven in the next. It certainly proves that, stern as the law of Moses was, it was felt, at least in those early days, to be rather against the sin than the sinner that its severity was directed. In commenting upon the severity of the Mosaic covenant, whether towards offenders against its provisions or against the Canaanites, we must remember Bishop Butler's caution, that in this world we see but a very small portion of the whole counsel of God. Give glory to the Lord Cod of Israel, and make confession unto Him. Literally, <span class="accented">offer</span> (or <span class="accented">impute</span>) <span class="accented">glory to the Lord God of Israel, </span> and <span class="accented">give</span> confession (or <span class="accented">praise</span>) unto Him (cf. <a href="/john/9-24.htm">John 9:24</a>). The meaning is to give honour to God as the all-seeing God, the revealer of secrets, by an open confession before men of what is already known to Him. It may have been a common formula of adjuration, though Masius thinks otherwise. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-20.htm">Joshua 7:20</a></div><div class="verse">And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-21.htm">Joshua 7:21</a></div><div class="verse">When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they <i>are</i> hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">A goodly Babylonish garment</span>. Literally, "a <span class="accented">mantle of Shinar, one goodly</span> one." Babylon was in the "land of Shinar" (see <a href="/genesis/11-2.htm">Genesis 11:2</a>; <a href="/genesis/14-1.htm">Genesis 14:1</a>; <a href="/isaiah/11-11.htm">Isaiah 11:11</a>; <a href="/zechariah/5-11.htm">Zechariah 5:11</a>). The <span class="hebrew">אַדרֶת</span> derived from <span class="hebrew">אדר</span> great, glorious, was an ample cloak, sometimes of hair or fur (<a href="/genesis/25-25.htm">Genesis 25:25</a>; cf. <a href="/1_kings/19-13.htm">1 Kings 19:13, 19</a>; <a href="/2_kings/2-13.htm">2 Kings 2:13, 14</a>; <a href="/jonah/3-6.htm">Jonah 3:6</a>, etc.). The Babylonish mantle was famed for its beauty (<span class="greek">ποικίλη</span>, LXX.), and was, no doubt, worked artistically with figures of men and animals. "Of all Asiatic nations, the Babylonians were the most noted for the weaving of cloth of divers colours. Into these stuffs gold threads were introduced into the woof of many hues. Amongst those who traded in 'blue clothes and embroidered work' with Tyro were the merchants of Asshur, or Assyria; and that the garments of Babylon were brought into Syria and greatly esteemed at a very early period, we learn from their being classed amongst the most precious articles of spoil, even with gold, in the time of Joshua" (Layard, 'Nineveh,' II. 413). From this, among other passages, we may infer the early date of the Book of Joshua. It marks an early stage of civilisation when an embroidered garment can be considered as in any degree equivalent to gold. The Israelites, it must be remembered, were not unaccustomed in Egypt to the highest degree of civilisation then known. "Nam Persarum, finitimarumque gentium luxum eo se ostentare solere vel ex eo constat quod captis ab Alexandro Magno Susis illicinventa fuerit 10 millia pondo, sive talents purpurae Hermionicae, teste Plutarcho in Alexandro" (Corn. a Lapide). <span class="cmt_word">A wedge of gold.</span> Literally, "a <span class="accented">tongue</span> of gold." Some derive our word ingot from the French <span class="accented">lingot</span>, or little tongue. But others derive it with greater probability from the Dutch <span class="accented">ingieten</span> the same as the German <span class="accented">einqiesen</span>, to pour in. "Si ergo invenias spud philosophos perversa dogmata luculenti sermonis assertionibus decorata, <span class="accented">ista eat lingua aurea.</span> Sed vide, nete decipiat fulgor operis, ne te rapiat sermonis aurei pulchritudo: memento, quia Jesus anathema jussit esse omni aurum quod in Jericho fuerit inventum. Si poetam legeris modulatis versibus et praefulgido carmine Deos Deasque texentem, ne delecteris eloquentiae suavitate. <span class="accented">Lingua aurea est:</span> si eam sustuleritis, et posueris in tabernaculo tuo: polluis omnem ecclesiam Domini" (Orig., Hom. 7 on Joshua). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-22.htm">Joshua 7:22</a></div><div class="verse">So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, <i>it was</i> hid in his tent, and the silver under it.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-23.htm">Joshua 7:23</a></div><div class="verse">And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 23.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Laid them out before the Lord.</span> This shows the directly religious nature of the proceeding. God had directed the lot, the offender was discovered, and now the devoted things are solemnly laid out one by one (for so the Hebrew seems to imply, though in <a href="/2_samuel/15-24.htm">2 Samuel 15:24</a> it has the sense of planting firmly, as molten matter hardens and becomes fixed) before Him whose they are, as a confession of sin, and also as an act of restitution. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-24.htm">Joshua 7:24</a></div><div class="verse">And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 24.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Took Achan, the son of Zerah.</span> Great-grandson in reality (see ver. 1; cf. <a href="/1_kings/15-2.htm">1 Kings 15:2, 10</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And his sons and his daughters</span> (see note, ver. 15). <span class="cmt_word">Brought them</span>. Hebrew, "brought them <span class="accented">up."</span> The valley of Achor was above Jericho, whether higher up the valley or on higher ground is not known. <span class="cmt_word">The valley of Achor</span> (see <a href="/joshua/15-7.htm">Joshua 15:7</a>; <a href="/isaiah/65-10.htm">Isaiah 65:10</a>; <a href="/hosea/2-15.htm">Hosea 2:15</a>). <span class="accented">Achor</span> means trouble (see note on Joshua 6:18). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-25.htm">Joshua 7:25</a></div><div class="verse">And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 25.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Stoned him with stones.</span> The word here is not the same as in the last part of the verse. It has been suggested that the former word signifies to stone a living person, the second to heap up stones upon a dead one; and this derives confirmation from the fact that the former word has the signification of piling up, while the latter rather gives the idea of the weight of the pile. Some have gathered from the use of the singular here, that Achan only was stoned; but the use of the plural immediately afterwards implies the contrary, unless, with Knobel, we have recourse to the suggestion that "them" is a "mistake of the Deuteronomist" for "him." It is of course possible that his family were only taken there to witness the solemn judgment upon their father. But the use of the singular and plural in Hebrew is frequently very indefinite (see <a href="/judges/11-17.htm">Judges 11:17, 19</a>; <a href="/psalms/66-6.htm">Psalm 66:6</a>. See note above, on Joshua 6:25). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/joshua/7-26.htm">Joshua 7:26</a></div><div class="verse">And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 26.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And the Lord turned from the heat of His anger.</span> There is no contradiction between this and such passages as <a href="/1_samuel/15-29.htm">1 Samuel 15:29</a>; <a href="/james/1-17.htm">James 1:17</a>. It is not God, but we who turn. Our confession and restitution, by uniting our will with His, of necessity turn His wrath away. Yet of course it is through Jesus Christ alone that such confession and restitution is possible, and they are accepted simply because by faith they are united with His. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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