_A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451._ Directions given to Joshua concerning Jericho, Joshua 6:1. The people compass the city seven days, Joshua 6:6. The taking it, with the charge to destroy it utterly, Joshua 6:15. The preservation of Rahab and her relations, Joshua 6:22. A curse pronounced on any that should r... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jericho was straitly shut up_ They had shut up all their gates, and kept a very strict guard at them, for fear of the children of Israel. _And the Lord said unto Joshua_ There is great reason to believe, and indeed most commentators agree, that this was spoken by the divine person who is said in th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Round about the city once_ At a convenient distance, out of the reach of their arrows. _Six days_ Every day once. This and the following course might seem ridiculous and absurd, and is therefore prescribed by God, that they might learn to take new measures of things, and to expect success, not from... [ Continue Reading ]
_The wall_ Not all of it; which was unnecessary, and might have given the people better opportunity of escaping; but only a considerable part of it, where the Israelites might fitly enter: for Rahab's house was not overthrown, Joshua 6:22. _Flat_ Hebrew, _under it._ It was not battered down with eng... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of rams' horns_ Of the basest matter and the dullest sound, that the excellence of the power might be of God. The original words, however, here and Joshua 6:4, שׁופרות יובלום, _shoperoth jobelim_, may be properly rendered, _trumpets of jubilee;_ that is, such trumpets as were to be blown in the yea... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let him that is armed pass on_ God would have them armed, both for the defence of themselves and the ark, in case the enemies should make a sally upon them, and for the execution of the Lord's vengeance upon that city. _The rereward_ Which, being opposed to the armed men, may seem to denote the una... [ Continue Reading ]
_At the seventh time Joshua said, Shout_ To testify your faith in God's promise, and thankfulness for this glorious mercy; to encourage yourselves and brethren, and to strike a terror into your enemies. _The Lord hath given you the city_ It is given to you to be devoted to God, as the first (and per... [ Continue Reading ]
_The city shall be accursed to the Lord_ That is, devoted to destruction, by the right which God has to punish such as offend against him. This he speaks by direction from God, (see 1 Kings 16:34,) whose will it was that every thing in Jericho should be utterly destroyed, as well inanimate things by... [ Continue Reading ]
_Keep yourselves from the accursed thing_ It should rather be rendered, _the devoted thing_, meaning the spoils _devoted to the Lord._ These they were not to touch, on pain of being themselves devoted to death. _Lest ye make yourselves accursed_ Lest you draw upon yourselves the immediate curse of G... [ Continue Reading ]
_Vessels of brass and iron_ Except that of which images were made, which were utterly to be destroyed. _Unto the Lord_ Being first made to pass through the fire, Numbers 31:22. _Treasury of the Lord_ To be employed wholly for the uses of the tabernacle, not to be applied to the use of any private pe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Young and old_ Being commanded to do so by the sovereign Lord of every man's life; and being informed by God before that the Canaanites were abominably wicked, and deserved the severest punishments. As for the infants, they were at the disposal of their Creator; and it was a great favour to them to... [ Continue Reading ]
_The harlot's house_ Which, together with the wall upon which it leaned, was left standing, by a special favour of God to her. _Left them without the camp of Israel_ Till they were cleansed from the impurities of their Gentile state, and instructed in the Jewish religion, and solemnly admitted into... [ Continue Reading ]
_Joshua adjured them at that time_ Hebrew, ישׁבע, _jashbang, he made them to swear._ As soon as the city was destroyed, it seems, he convened the heads of the tribes, to signify to them that it was the will of God this idolatrous city should never be rebuilt, and then engaged them to take an oath th... [ Continue Reading ]
So _the Lord was with Joshua_ The Chaldee interprets it, _The Word of the Lord_ was with him, even Christ, the eternal Word, the same that was with Moses. Nothing makes a man more truly great than to have evidences that God is with him.... [ Continue Reading ]