Joshua 7:15

_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 IT EVEN AMONG THEIR OWN STUFF._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

10-15 God awakens Joshua to inquiry, by telling him that when this accursed thing was put away, all would be well. Times of danger and trouble should be times of reformation. We should look at home, into our own hearts, into our own houses, and make diligent search to find out if there be not some accursed thing there, which God sees and abhors; some secret lust, some unlawful gain, some undue withholding from God or from others. We cannot prosper, until the accursed thing be destroyed out of our hearts, and put out of our habitations and our families, and forsaken in our lives. When the sin of sinners finds them out, God is to be acknowledged. With a certain and unerring judgment, the righteous God does and will distinguish between the innocent and the guilty; so that though the righteous are of the same tribe, and family, and household with the wicked, yet they never shall be treated a...

BURNT WITH FIRE - i. e. after he had been put to death by stoning Joshua 7:25; Leviticus 20:14....

EXPOSITION JOSHUA'S PRAYER AND GOD'S ANSWER.— JOSHUA 7:6 And Joshua rent his clothes. A token of grief usual among the Jews (see Genesis 37:29, 84; Genesis 44:13, etc. Knobel cites Le Genesis 21:10); 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. And put dust o

AND IT SHALL BE, [THAT] HE THAT IS TAKEN WITH THE ACCURSED THING SHALL BE BURNT WITH FIRE,.... He that is taken by lot, and the accursed thing found with him, this should be the death, burning, one of the four capital punishments with the Jews: this was ordered in this case, because the city of Jericho, accursed or devoted, was burnt with fire, Joshua 6:24; HE AND ALL THAT HE HATH; the particulars of which are enumerated, Joshua 7:24; BECAUSE HE HATH TRANSGRESSED THE COVENANT OF THE LORD; Joshua 7:11; AND BECAUSE HE HATH WROUGHT FOLLY IN ISRAEL; as all sin and every transgression of the law is, and was the cause of Israel's turning their backs on their enemies; w

7. ACHAN'S SIN AND ISRAEL'S DEFEAT CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The defeat of Israel (Joshua 7:1)_ 2. The source of the defeat revealed (Joshua 7:6) 3. The transgressor found out (Joshua 7:16) 4. The judgment of Achan (Joshua 7:24) The insignificant place Ai brings defeat. Joshua sent men to view Ai. What authority was given to him to do so? There was no need to send spies once more, for the Lord had said, that the whole land was given to them. They report Ai a place without walls and recommend that only two or three thousand men be sent up. Defeat follows. Ai means “ruins.” It is mentioned for the first time in...

VII. ACHAN'S TRESPASS, ISRAEL'S DEFEAT, ACHAN'S PUNISHMENT. Joshua 7:1. The name should probably be Achar. The narrative presents no difficulties till the end of the chapter, where Achan's punishment is recorded. Joshua 7:2. Ai: probably 2 miles SE. of Bethel (p. 31). Joshua 7:9. And what wilt thou do for (or on account of) THY GREAT NAME? The meaning is that if Israel is destroyed there will be none to worship Yahweh; an interesting example of the ancient belief in the close connexion between the deity and his worshippers. Joshua 7:19. GIVE. LORD: _ i.e_., tell the truth, _cf._...

BURNT. burnt up, but not necessarily alive, Hebrew. _saraph._ See App-43....

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 "Joseph was not in the pit" (Genesis 37:29); of Jacob _rending his clothes_, and "mourning for his son many days" (Genesis 37:34); of Joseph's brethren that they _rent their clothes_, when they found the cup in Benjamin's sack (G

_Joshua's Complaint and the Lord's Answer Joshua 7:6-15_ 6 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. 7 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! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? 10 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which