Joshua 7

Jos 7:1.

ACHAN'S

TRESPASS.

1. the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed

thing--There was one transgressor against the cherem, or ban, on

Jericho, and his transgression brought the guilt and disgrace of sin

upon the whole nation.

Achan--called afterwards "Achar" ("trouble")

(1Ch 2:7).

Zabdi--or Zimri

(1Ch 2:6).

Zerah--or Zarah, son of Judah and Tamar

(Ge 38:30).

His genealogy is given probably to show that from a parentage so

infamous the descendants would not be carefully trained in the fear of

God.

Jos 7:2-26.

THE

ISRAELITES

SMITTEN AT

AI.

2. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai--After the sacking of Jericho,

the next step was to penetrate into the hills above. Accordingly,

spies went up the mountain pass to view the country. The precise site

of Ai, or Hai, is indicated with sufficient clearness

(Ge 12:8; 13:3)

and has been recently discovered in an isolated tell, called by the

natives Tell-el-Hajar, "the mount of stones," at two miles', or

thirty-five minutes' distance, east southeast from Beth-el [VAN DE VELDE].

Beth-aven--("house of vanity")--a name afterwards given derisively

(Ho 4:15; 5:8; 10:5),

on account of its idolatries, to Beth-el, "house of God," but here

referred to another place, about six miles east of Beth-el and three

north of Ai.

3. Let not all the people go up, . . . for they are but few--As the

population of Ai amounted to twelve thousand

(Jos 8:25),

it was a considerable town; though in the hasty and distant reconnoitre

made by the spies, it probably appeared small in comparison to Jericho;

and this may have been the reason for their proposing so small a

detachment to capture it.

4, 5. they fled before the men of Ai--An unexpected resistance, and the

loss of thirty-six of their number diffused a panic, which ended in an

ignominious rout.

5. chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim--that is, unto

the "breakings" or "fissures" at the opening of the passes.

and smote them in the going down--that is, the declivity or slope of

the deep, rugged, adjoining wady.

wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water--It is

evident that the troops engaged were a tumultuary, undisciplined band,

no better skilled in military affairs than the Bedouin Arabs, who

become disheartened and flee on the loss of ten or fifteen men. But the

consternation of the Israelites arose from another cause--the evident

displeasure of God, who withheld that aid on which they had confidently

reckoned.

6-9. Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth . . . before the

ark . . . he and the elders--It is evident, from those tokens of

humiliation and sorrow, that a solemn fast was observed on this

occasion. The language of Joshua's prayer is thought by many to savor

of human infirmity and to be wanting in that reverence and submission

he owed to God. But, although apparently breathing a spirit of bold

remonstrance and complaint, it was in reality the effusion of a deeply

humbled and afflicted mind, expressing his belief that God could not,

after having so miraculously brought His people over Jordan into the

promised land, intend to destroy them, to expose them to the insults of

their triumphant enemies, and bring reproach upon His own name for

inconstancy or unkindness to His people, or inability to resist their

enemies. Unable to understand the cause of the present calamity, he

owned the hand of God.

10-15. the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up--The answer of the divine

oracle was to this effect: the crisis is owing not to unfaithfulness in

Me, but sin in the people. The conditions of the covenant have been

violated by the reservation of spoil from the doomed city; wickedness,

emphatically called folly, has been committed in Israel

(Ps 14:1),

and dissimulation, with other aggravations of the crime, continues to

be practised. The people are liable to destruction equally with the

accursed nations of Canaan

(De 7:26).

Means must, without delay, be taken to discover and punish the

perpetrator of this trespass that Israel may be released from the ban,

and things be restored to their former state of prosperity.

16-18. So Joshua rose up early, and brought Israel by their

tribes--that is, before the tabernacle. The lot being appealed to

(Pr 16:33),

he proceeded in the inquiry from heads of tribes to heads of families,

and from heads of households in succession to one family, and to

particular persons in that family, until the criminal was found to be

Achan, who, on Joshua's admonition, confessed the fact of having

secreted for his own use, in the floor of his tent, spoil both in

garments and money

[Jos 7:19-21].

How dreadful must have been his feelings when he saw the slow but

certain process of discovery!

(Nu 32:23).

19. Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give . . . glory to God--a form of

adjuration to tell the truth.

21. a goodly Babylonish garment--literally, "a mantle of Shinar." The

plain of Shinar was in early times celebrated for its gorgeous robes,

which were of brilliant and various colors, generally arranged in

figured patterns, probably resembling those of modern Turkish carpets,

and the colors were either interwoven in the loom or embroidered with

the needle.

two hundred shekels of silver--equivalent to £22

10s. sterling, according to the old Mosaic shekel, or the half

of that sum, reckoning by the common shekel.

a wedge of gold--literally, an ingot or bar in the shape of a

tongue.

22, 23. Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent--from

impatient eagerness not only to test the truth of the story, but to

clear Israel from the imputation of guilt. Having discovered the stolen

articles, they laid them out before the Lord, "as a token of their

belonging to Him" on account of the ban.

24-26. Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan--He with his

children and all his property, cattle as well as movables, were brought

into one of the long broad ravines that open into the Ghor, and after

being stoned to death

(Nu 15:30-35),

his corpse, with all belonging to him, was consumed to ashes by fire.

"All Israel" was present, not only as spectators, but active agents, as

many as possible, in inflicting the punishment--thus testifying their

abhorrence of the sacrilege, and their intense solicitude to regain the

divine favor. As the divine law expressly forbade the children to be

put to death for their father's sins

(De 24:16),

the conveyance of Achan's "sons and daughters" to the place of

execution might be only as spectators, that they might take warning by

the parental fate; or, if they shared his punishment

(Jos 22:20),

they had probably been accomplices in his crime, and, indeed, he could

scarcely have dug a hole within his tent without his family being aware

of it.

26. they raised over him a great heap of stones--It is customary to

raise cairns over the graves of criminals or infamous persons in the

East still.

the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor--("trouble"),

unto this day--So painful an episode would give notoriety to the spot,

and it is more than once noted by the sacred writers of a later age

(Isa 65:10;

Ho 2:15).