in the city, both man and woman, An. Exod. Isr. young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the 40. Anno ante I. Olymp. 675. sword. 22 But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. 23 And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, "and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. 24 And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein only the silver, and : the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, Chap. ii. 14; Heb. xi. 31. W and her whole family. they put into the treasury of the A. M. 2553 B. C. 1451. An. Exod. Isr. 40. Anno ante 1. Olymp. 675. 25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 26 And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. 27 So the LORD was with Joshua; and a his fame was noised throughout all the country. - Chap. ii. 13.— Heb. families. See Matt. i. 5.- -y 1 Kings xvi. 34. Chap. i. 5.— Ch. w Ver. 19. ix. 1, 3. Verse 23. Brought out Rahab, and her father, &c.] Rahab having been faithful to her vow of secrecy, the Israelites were bound by the oath of the spies, who acted as their representatives in this business, to preserve her and her family alive. And left them without the camp] They were considered as persons unclean, and consequently left without the camp; (see Lev. xiii. 46; Num. xii. 14.) When they had abjured heathenism, were purified, and the males had received circumcision, they were doubtless admitted into the camp, and became incorporated with Israel. Verse 24. Only the silver, and the gold-they put into the treasury, &c.] The people were to have no share of the spoils, because they had no hand in the conquest. God alone overthrew the city; and into his treasury only the spoils were brought. This is one proof that the agitation of the air, by the sound of the people's voice, was not the cause of the fall of the city walls. Vessels of brass and of iron.—Instead of keley, VESSELS, the Septuagint, in the Alexandrian copy, evidently have read col, ALL, with the omission of the yod; for in ver. 19 they translate maç xahkoç kaι conpos, ALL the brass and iron: but this reading does not appear in any of Kennicott's or De Rossi's MSS. Verse 25. And she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day] This is one proof that the book was written in the time to which it is commonly referred; and certainly might have been done by the hand of Joshua himself, though doubtless many marginal notes may have since crept into the text, which, to superficial observers, give it the appearance of having been written after the days of Joshua. See the preface to this book. Verse 26. And Joshua adjured them at that time] It appears that he had received intimations from God that this idolatrous city should continue a monument of the Divine displeasure: and having convened the princes and elders of the people, he bound them by an oath that they should never rebuild it; and then, in their presence, pronounced a curse upon the person who should attempt it. The ruins of this city continuing would be a permanent proof, not only of God's displeasure against idolatry, but of the miracle which he had wrought in behalf of the Israelites; and for these reasons God willed that it should not be rebuilt: nevertheless, he left men to the operation of their own free will, and recorded the penalty which those must pay who should disobey him. He shall lay the foundation thereof, &c.] This is a strange execration; but it may rather be considered in the light of a prediction. It seems to intimate that he who should attempt to rebuild this city, should lose all his children in the interim, from laying the foundation to the completion of the walls;. which the author of 1 Kings xvi. 34 says was accomplished in Hiel the Beth-elite, who rebuilt Jericho under the reign of Ahaz, and laid the foundation of it in Abiram, his first-born, and set up it's gates in his youngest son Segub: this was 550 years after Joshua pronounced the curse. But we are not sure that this means that the children either died a natural or violent death on this occasion, for we may understand the history as relating to the slow progress of the work. Hiel having begun the work at the birth of his first-born, was not able to conclude before the birth of his last child, who was born many years after and as their names are mentioned, it is very likely that the distance of time between the birth of each was well known when this history was written; and that the extraordinary length of time spent in the work, in which a multitude of vexatious delays had taken place, is that to which the prophetic execration relates. Yet the first opinion is the most probable. We must not suppose that Jericho had been wholly neglected from its overthrow by Joshua to the days of Hiel; if it be the same with the We city of palm trees, mentioned Deut. xxxiv. 3. find it mentioned as an inhabited place in the beginning of Judg. i. 16, a short time after the death of Joshua: And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees, with the children of Judah, &c.; and this said city Observations on JOSHUA. the preceding chapter. (if the same with the city of palm trees) was taken | lot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, 3. On the curse pronounced by Joshua on those who should rebuild Jericho, it may be necessary to make a few remarks. In ancient history we have many instances of execrations against those who should re After Hiel had rebuilt this city, it became of considerable consequence in the land of Judea the courses of priests lodged there, who served in their turns at the temple; see Luke x. 30. . There was a school of the prophets there, which was visited by Elijah and Elisha, 2 Kings ii. 4, 5, 18; and it was at this city that our Lord miraculously healed blind Bartimeus, Mark x. 46; Luke xviii. 35, &c. At pre-build those cities which had been destroyed in war, sent, Jericho is almost entirely deserted, having but thirty or forty miserable cabins in it, which serve for a place of refuge to some wretched Moors and Arabs, who live there like beasts. The plain of Jericho, formerly so celebrated for its fertility, is at present uncultivated, producing nothing but a few wild trees, and some very indifferent fruits. See Calmet. Verse 27. So the Lord was with Joshua] Giving him miraculous assistance in all his enterprises; and this was what he was naturally led to expect from the communication made to him by the captain of the Lord's host, chap. v. 14, &c. 1. MANY attempts have been made either to deny the miracle in the fall of Jericho, or to account for it on natural causes. Reference has already been made to some of these in the note on ver. 20. But to those who believe the Divine authenticity of the New Testament, every objection of this kind is removed by the authority of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. xi. 30 By FAITH the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed about seven days. Hence we find that it was a miraculous interference; and that Joshua's faith in the promise made to him by the captain of the Lord's host, was the instrument which God chose to employ in the accomplishment of this important purpose. the revival of whose power and influence was dreaded; The Roman's made a decree full of execrations against those who should rebuild Carthage, which had been the rival of their empire; and which, from its advantageous situation, might again become formidable should it be rebuilt. See Zonaras, Anal. The Ionians, according to Isocrates, pronounced the most awful execrations on those who should rebuild the temples destroyed by the Persians, that they might remain to posterity an endless monument of the impiety of those barbarians; and that none might put confidence in a people who were so wicked as to make war on the gods themselves. The other Greeks who had suffered by the Persians acted in the same way, leaving the desolated temples as a public monument of the enmity that should ever subsist between the two na 2. The same is said of Rahab: By FAITH the har-tions. See Calmet, and see the notes on Num. xxii. 6. CHAPTER VII. The trespass of the Israelites, 1. Joshua sends men to view the state of Ai, 2. They return with a favourable report, 3. Three thousand men are sent against it, who are defeated, and thirty-six killed, 4, 5. Joshua is greatly distressed, prostrates himself, and inquires of the Lord the reason why he has abandoned Israel to their enemies, 6-9. The Lord raises him, and informs him that, contrary to the command, some of the people had secreted some of the spoils of Jericho, 10-12. He is directed how to discover the delinquent, 13-15. Joshua inquires in what TRIBE the guilt is found, and finds it to be in the tribe of Judah; in what FAMILY, and finds it to be among the Zarhites; in what HOUSEHOLD, and finds it to be in that of Zabdi; in what INDIVIDUAL, and finds it to be Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, 16-18. Joshua exhorts him to confess his sin, 19. He does so, and gives a circumstantial account, 20, 21. Joshua sends for the stolen articles, 22, 23. And Achan and all that belonged to him are brought to the valley of Achor, stoned and burnt, 24-26. Achan steals and secretes A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. An. Exod. Isr. 40. Anno ante BUT a CHAP. VII. b part of the spoils. A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. 40. Anno ante I. Olymp. 675. ⚫ and the children of Israel and smite Ai; and make not all committed a trespass in the the peopie to labour thither; for An. Exod. Isr. accursed thing for Achan, they are but few. I. Olymp. 675. the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. 2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up Chap. xxii. 20.1 Chron. ii. 7, Achar. 1 Chron. ii. 6.thousand men. Or, Zimri, Heb. about two thousand men, or about three e Lev. xxvi. 17; Deut. xxviii. 25. NOTES ON CHAP. VII. Verse 1. The children of Israel committed a trespass] It is certain that one only was guilty; and yet the trespass is imputed here to the whole congregation; and the whole congregation soon suffered shame and disgrace on the account, as their armies were defeated, thirty-six persons slain, and general terror spread through the whole camp. Being one body, God attributes the crime of the individual to the whole till the trespass was discovered, and by a public act of justice inflicted on the culprit the congregation had purged itself of the iniquity. This was done to render every man extremely cautious, and to make the people watchful over each other, that sin might be no where tolerated or connived at, as one transgression might bring down the wrath of God upon the whole camp. See on ver. 12. The accursed thing] A portion of the spoils of the city of Jericho, the whole of which God had commanded to be destroyed. For Achan, the son of Carmi, &c.] Judah had two sons by Tamar, Pharez and Zarah. Zarah was father of Zabdi, and Zabdi of Carmi, the father of Achan. These five persons extend through a period of 265 years; and hence Calmet concludes that they could not have had children before they were fifty or fiftyfive years of age. This Achan, son of Zabdi, is called, in 1 Chron ii. 6, Achar, son of Zimri; but this reading is corrected into Achan by some MSS. in the place above cited. Verse 2. Sent men from Jericho to Ai] This is the place called Hai, Gen. xii. 8. It was in the east of Beth-el, north of Jericho, from which it was distant about ten or twelve miles. From verses 4 and 5 it appears to have been situated upon a hill, and belonged to the Amorites, as we learn from ver. 7. It is very likely that it was a strong place, as it chose to risk a siege, notwithstanding the extraordinary destruction of Jericho which it had lately witnessed. Verse 4. About three thousand men] The spies sent to reconnoitre the place (ver. 3) reported that the town 4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men :. they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. 6 And Joshua h 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 i put dust upon their heads. Or, in Morad. 14.- h Gen. xxxvii. xiii. 19; Neh. ix. 1; Chap. ii. 9, 11; Lev. xxvi. 36; Psa. xxii. 29, 34.1 Sam. iv. 12; 2 Sam. i. 2; Job ii. 12. was meanly garrisoned, and that two or three thousand men would be sufficient to take it. These were accordingly sent up, and were repulsed by the Amorites. Verse 5. They chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim] They seem to have presumed that the men of. Ai would have immediately opened their gates to them, and therefore they marched up with confidence; but the enemy appearing, they were put to flight, their ranks utterly broken, and thirty-six of them killed. ' Shebarim signifies breaches or broken places, and may here apply to the ranks of the Israelites, which were broken by the men of Ai; for the people were totally routed, though there were but few slain. They were panic-struck, and fled in the utmost confusion.` The hearts of the people melted] They were utterly discouraged; and by this gave an ample proof that without the supernatural assistance of God they could never have conquered the land. Verse 6. Joshua rent his clothes, &c.] It was not in consequence of this slight discomfiture, simply considered in itself, that Joshua laid this business so much to heart; but 1. Because the people melted, and became as water, and there was little hope that they would make any stand against the enemy; and ́2. Because this defeat evidently showed that God had turned his hand against them. Had it not been so, their enemies could not have prevailed. The Put dust upon their heads.] Rending the clothes, beating the breast, tearing the hair, pulting dust upon the head, and falling down'prostrate, were the usual marks of deep affliction and distress. Most nations have expressed their sorrow in a similar way. example of the distressed family of King Latinus, so affectingly related by Virgil, may be adduced in illustration of many passages in the history of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, &c. Regina ut lectis venientem prospicit hostem― m because the men of Ai prevailed. sembled also, and they have put A. M. 2553. I. Olymp. 675. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. u t 13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. 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? 14 In the morning therefore ye shall be 11 P Israel hath sinned, and they have also brought according to your tribes: and it shall transgressed my covenant which I commanded be, that the tribe which w the LORD taketh them; for they have even taken of the ac- shall come according to the families thereof; cursed thing, and have also stolen, and dis- and the family which the LORD shall take shall Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans. for complaint; something else is indispensably necessary to be done. Verse 11. Israel hath sinned] It is impossible that God should turn against his people, if they had not turned away from him. They have taken of the accursed thing, notwithstanding my severe prohibition. They have also stolen, supposing, if not seen by their brethren, I should either not see or not regard it. They have dissembled—pretended to have kept strictly the command I gave them; and have put it among their own stuff-considered it now as a part of their own property. Verse 12. Because they were accursed] From this verse it appears that the nature of the execration or Verse 7. Alas, O Lord God] Particles of excla- anathema was such, that those who took of the thing mations and distress, or what are called interjections, doomed to destruction fell immediately under the same are nearly the same in all languages; and the reason condemnation. The inhabitants of Jericho and all that is because they are the simple voice of nature. The they had were accursed; therefore they and all their Hebrew word which we translate alas is ahah. substance were to be destroyed. The Israelites took The complaint of Joshua in this and the following of the accursed thing, and therefore became accursed verses seems principally to have arisen from his deep with it. This was certainly understood when the curse concern for the glory of God, and the affecting interest was pronounced: Every man who touches this prohe took in behalf of the people: he felt for the thou-perty shall be involved in the same execration. Achan sands of Israel, whom he considered as abandoned to destruction and he felt for the glory of God, for he knew should Israel be destroyed God's name would be blasphemed among the heathen; and his expostulations with his Maker, which have been too hastily blamed by some, as savouring of too great freedom and impatience, are founded on God's own words, Deut. xxxii. 26, 27, and on the practice of Moses himself, who had used similar expressions on a similar occasion; see Exod. v. 22, 23; Num. xiv. 13-18. therefore was sufficiently aware of the risk he ran in taking any part of the anathematized thing; and when viewed in this light, the punishment inflicted on him will appear to be perfectly just and proper. Verse 13. Up, sanctify the people] Joshua, all the time that God spake, lay prostrate before the ark; he is now commanded to get up, and sanctify the people, i. e., cause them to wash themselves, and get into a proper disposition to hear the judgment of the Lord relative to the late transactions. Verse 14. Ye shall be brought according to your tribes] It has been a subject of serious inquiry in what manner and by what means the culpable tribe, family, household, and individual, were discovered. The Jews 16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken : 17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken : * See 1 Sam. xiv. 38, 39.——y Ver. 11.-Gen. xxxiv. 7; Judg. xx. 6.—————a Or, wickedness.-b1 Sam. xiv. 42. See 1 Sam. tre. have many conceits on the subject; the most rational is, that the tribes being, in their representatives, brought before the high priest, the stone on the breastplate gave immediate intimation by suddenly losing its lusAccording to them, this is what is termed consulting God by Urim and Thummim. It is however most probable that the whole was determined by the lot; and that God chose this method to detect the guilty tribe, next the family, thirdly the household, and lastly the individual. This was nearly the plan pursued in the election of Saul by Samuel. "Now therefore," says he, " present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands. And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken. When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken," 1 Sam. x. 19, 20. If the lot was used in the one case it was doubtless used in the other also, as the procedure in the main was entirely similar. The same mode was used to find out who it was that transgressed the king's command, when it was found that Jonathan had eaten a little honey, 1 Sam. xiv. 40-43. It is well known that the promised land was divided by lot among the Israelites; (see Num. xxvi. 55; xxxiii. 54; Deut. i. 38, &c. ;) and that the courses of the priests were regulated by lot in the days of David, 1 Chron. xxiv. 5, &c. That this was a frequent mode of determining difficult questions, and appointed by God himself, is evident from Lev. xvi. 8; Psa. xxii. 18; Prov. xvi. 33; xviii, 18; Acts i. 26. Verse 17. And he brought the family of Judah] Dr. Kennicott observes, "All Israel came near by TRIBES, and one tribe was fixed on; then that tribe came by its FAMILIES, and one family was fixed on; then came that family by its HOUSEHOLDS, and one household was fixed on; and then that household, coming MAN by MAN, one man was fixed on. Yet according to the present text, in the execution of this command, all Israel came, and the tribe of Judah was Achan confesses his guilt. A. M. 2553.` B. C. 1451. 18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, An. Exod. Isr. the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. с b d 40. Anno ante I. Olymp. 675. 19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. e 20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done : f 21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels vi. 5; Jer. xiii. 16; John ix. 24.- d Num. v. 6, 7; 2 Chron. xxx. 22; Psa. li. 3; Dan.ix. 4. e 1 Sam. xiv. 43. Heb. tongue. -lag לגברים Instead of fixed on; secondly came the families of Judah, and the family of the Zarhites was fixed on; thirdly came the family of the Zarhites MAN by MAN, and Zabdi was fixed on; and fourthly came the household of Zabdi MAN by MAN, and Achan was fixed on. So that in the third article the word for by households is most certainly left out; and the fourth article, man by man, is improperly expressed twice. gebarim, MAN by MAN, in ver. 17, the true word 'nh labbottim, by HOUSEHOLDS, is preserved in six Hebrew copies, and the Syriac version. By this method was discovered Achan, as he is here five times called, though the valley in which he was stoned is called Achor. He is also called Achar in the text, and in all the versions, in 1 Chron. ii. 7. He is called Achar in the five places of Joshua in the Syriac version; also in all five in the Greek of the Vatican MS., and twice in the Alexandrian MS., and so in Josephus."Kennicott's Observat. Verse 19. My son, give-glory to the Lord God] The person being now detected, Joshua wishes him to acknowledge the omniscience of God, and confess his crime. And doubtless this was designed, not only for the edification of the people, and a vindication of the righteous judgment of God, but in reference to his own salvation; for as his life. was now become forfeited to the law, there was the utmost necessity of humiliation before God that his soul might be saved. Give glory to God signifies the same as, Make a thorough confession as in the presence of God, and disguise no part of the truth. In this way and in these very. words the Jews adjured the man who had been born blind that he would truly tell who had healed him; for they pretended to believe that Christ was such a sinner that God would not work a miracle by him, John ix. 24. Verse 20. I have sinned against the Lord God] This seems a very honest and hearty confession, and there is hope that this poor culprit escaped perdition. Verse 21. A goodly Babylonish garment] w 8 addereth shinar, a splendid or costly robe of Shinar |