Joshua 7:1-5. The Sin of Achan, and Assault on Ai 1. _committed a trespass_ The word used here in the Septuagint Version is very striking. It is the same as that employed in Acts 5:1-2 to describe the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. They _took for themselves, appropriated to themselves, sequestered fr... [ Continue Reading ]
_from Jericho to Ai_ The country of Canaan seems in the time of Joshua to have been broken up into a number of small territories, each governed by an independent chief or "king," who extended his rule from his fortified citadel to the district round. In Joshua 12:7-24, we find mention of no less tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_unto Shebarim_ So called, perhaps, from THE MINES, or STONE QUARRIES, which lay in the neighbourhood. The LXX. translates "_till they had crushed_or _annihilated them_." _in the going down_ Or, as in the margin, _in Morad_. If we retain the translation in the text, "the going down" would point to... [ Continue Reading ]
The Defeat before Ai. Joshua's Prayer 6. _And Joshua rent his clothes_ in token of sorrow and distress (comp. Leviticus 10:6; Leviticus 21:10). The clothes were torn in front over the breast, yet for not more than a handbreadth. In Patriarchal times we read of Reuben _rending his clothes_, because ... [ Continue Reading ]
_would to God we had been content_ Or perhaps better as the LXX. have rendered it, "would that we had remained and dwelt on the other side Jordan.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Get thee up_ Joshua might well infer that the people had incurred the Divine displeasure, but it was no time for unavailing remorse he must be up and trying to detect and put away the sin.... [ Continue Reading ]
_except ye destroy the accursed from among you_ The LXX. translate, "Except ye remove the accursed thing, the Anathema, from among you," using the identical word for _remove_that St Paul uses respecting the incestuous Corinthian, "therefore _put away from among yourselves_that wicked person," 1 Cori... [ Continue Reading ]
_sanctify the people_ "Rise, halwe the puple," Wyclif. Compare the instructions to Moses before the giving of the Law, Exodus 19:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_according to your tribes_ Each tribe was divided into _families_; each family into _houses_; each house into _persons_. _the tribe which the Lord taketh_ i.e. by the sacred lot. We find the lots used (_a_) for the detection of a criminal here, and in the case of Jonathan (1 Samuel 14:42, and Jonah... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall be burnt with fire_ Achan by his conduct had become _cherem_or _devoted_, and is so called in Joshua 7:12, and everything devoted to punishment for the reparation of the Divine honour was to be burnt. Comp. Leviticus 20:14; Leviticus 21:9; Joshua 6:24; 2 Kings 23:16. _folly_ Or, as in margin... [ Continue Reading ]
The Discovery and Punishment of Achan 16. _brought Israel by their tribes_ Joshua first caused the heads of the tribes to come before the Ark, and lots were cast for them, and the lot fell upon Judah; then the heads of the clans of Judah were brought, and the lot fell upon the Zarhites; then the he... [ Continue Reading ]
_and Achan … was taken (a_) Sometimes in taking the sacred lot dice were thrown; comp. the expression "_to cast lots_" (Joshua 18:10); to "_throw_" them (Joshua 18:6); "the _lot falls_" (Jonah 1:7; Ezekiel 24:6); (_b_) sometimes _tesseræ_were flung into a vessel and then drawn out; comp. the express... [ Continue Reading ]
_My son_ "Not said ironically but earnestly, _My son_; an example of the pity for the Sinner which Justice feels even in punishing the sin." Bp Wordsworth. _give … glory_ Comp. 1 Samuel 6:5, "Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye _shall giv... [ Continue Reading ]
_a goodly Babylonish garment_ Literally, A GOODLY MANTLE OF SHINAR, i.e. Babylonia. Comp. Genesis 11:2, "They found a plain in the land of _Shinar_, and they dwelt there," 9, "therefore is the name of it called _Babel_." The word here translated "garment," means a long robe, such as was worn by king... [ Continue Reading ]
_laid them out_ Literally, POURED THEM OUT. _before the Lord_ i.e. before the ark of Jehovah, where He was enthroned. Comp. Joshua 6:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
_son of Zerah_ Strictly, his great-grandson. _and his sons, and his daughters_ Some have thought they were brought to the valley merely as spectators, that they might have a terrible warning: others think they must have been accomplices in his sin, and as he by his own act had placed himself under... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why hast thou troubled us_?] Compare the question of Ahab to Elijah, "Art thou he that _troubleth_Israel?" (1 Kings 18:17). "For thou disturblidist us, the Lord schall disturble the in this dai," Wyclif. _And all Israel stoned him_ The use of the singular here and in the following verse is deservi... [ Continue Reading ]
_a great heap of stones_ As a memorial and a warning of his sin and its punishment. The custom of casting stones on certain graves was not unknown among other nations also, as the Arabs and the Romans. Compare Propertius 4:5. 74. _So the Lord turned_ "Even to Achan himself," remarks Bp Wordsworth,... [ Continue Reading ]