Joshua 6:17

the city shall be accursed "be this cyte cursid" (Wyclif), or, as in margin, devoted. The verb from which the word comes denotes (i) to cut off, (ii) to devote, to withdraw from common use and consecrate to God = sacrare. (i) The word itself, used actively, means the devotement of anything by Jehovah, His putting it under a ban, the result of which is destruction; comp. 1 Kings 20:42, "Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction;" Isaiah 34:5, "Behold, it (my sword) shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment;" Zechariah 14:11, "there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited." (ii) And passively, the word denotes the thing devoted, doomed, laid under the ban, i.e. devoted to Jehovah without the possibility of being redeemed; comp. Leviticus 27:21, "But the field, when it goeth out in the jubilee, shall be holy unto the Lord, as a field devoted;" Leviticus 27:29, "None devoted, which shall be devotedof men, shall be redeemed." The word is used here in the latter sense, and in Joshua 6:17-18, with which compare Joshua 7:1, "Achan … took of the accursedthing," and 1 Samuel 15:3-9. The Greek word with the same meaning, Anathema, frequently occurs in St Paul's writings, comp. Romans 9:3, "I could wish that myself were accursedfrom Christ for my brethren;" 1 Corinthians 16:22, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema;" comp. also 1 Corinthians 12:3; Galatians 1:9. We find similar instances of devotion to utter destruction amongst other nations; comp. (a) the Ver sacrumof the Romans, so frequently alluded to in Liv y, as 22:9-10; 34:44; (b) Cæ sar's testimony concerning the Gauls, Bell. Gall. vi. 17, "Huic (Marti), cum prælio dimicare constituerunt, ea quæ bello ceperint, plerumque devovent; cum superaverunt, animalia capta immolant;" (c) Tacitus (Ann. 13:57) tells us of the Hermunduri that they were successful in a war against the Catti, "quia victores diversam aciem Marti ac Mercurio sacravere, quo voto equi, viri, cuncta victa occidioni dantur;" (d) Livy 3:55 mentions a law passed under the consuls L. Valerius and M. Horatius, "ut qui tribunis plebis, ædilibus, judicibus, decemviris nocuisset, ejus caput Jovi sacrum esset; familia ad ædem Cereris Liberi Liberæque venum iret."

only Rahab the harlot See above, Joshua 2:1; Joshua 2:18-19.