21 and I see among the spoil a goodly robe of Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and one wedge of gold, whose weight `is' fifty shekels, and I desire them, and take them; and lo, they `are' hid in the earth, in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.'
Love not ye the world, nor the things in the world; if any one doth love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that `is' in the world -- the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the ostentation of the life -- is not of the Father, but of the world,
having forsaken a right way, they did go astray, having followed in the way of Balaam the `son' of Bosor, who a reward of unrighteousness did love,
And he said unto them, `Observe, and beware of the covetousness, because not in the abundance of one's goods is his life.'
Wo `to' those going deep from Jehovah to hide counsel, And whose works have been in darkness. And they say, `Who is seeing us? And who is knowing us?'
`The graven images of their gods ye do burn with fire; thou dost not desire the silver and gold on them, nor hast thou taken `it' to thyself, lest thou be snared by it, for the abomination of Jehovah thy God it `is';
but I -- I say to you, that every one who is looking on a woman to desire her, did already commit adultery with her in his heart. `But, if thy right eye doth cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast from thee, for it is good to thee that one of thy members may perish, and not thy whole body be cast to gehenna.
and those wishing to be rich, do fall into temptation and a snare, and many desires, foolish and hurtful, that sink men into ruin and destruction, for a root of all the evils is the love of money, which certain longing for did go astray from the faith, and themselves did pierce through with many sorrows;
Put to death, then, your members that `are' upon the earth -- whoredom, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and the covetousness, which is idolatry --
and whoredom, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as becometh saints;
What, then, shall we say? the law `is' sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said: `Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness -- for apart from law sin is dead.
And the woman seeth that the tree `is' good for food, and that it `is' pleasant to the eyes, and the tree is desirable to make `one' wise, and she taketh of its fruit and eateth, and giveth also to her husband with her, and he doth eat;
Wo `to' him who is gaining evil gain for his house, To set on high his nest, To be delivered from the hand of evil,
Wo `to' those devising iniquity, And working evil on their beds, In the light of the morning they do it, For their hand is -- to God. And they have desired fields, And they have taken violently, And houses, and they have taken away, And have oppressed a man and his house, Even a man and his inheritance.
Because ye have said: `We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a provision, An overflowing scourge, when it passeth over, Doth not meet us, Though we have made a lie our refuge, And in falsehood have been hidden.'
Troubled for wealth `is' the man `with' an evil eye, And he knoweth not that want doth meet him.
Above every charge keep thy heart, For out of it `are' the outgoings of life.
A covenant I made for mine eyes, And what -- do I attend to a virgin?
And Gehazi, servant of Elisha the man of God, saith, `Lo, my lord hath spared Naaman this Aramaean, not to receive from his hand that which he brought; Jehovah liveth; surely if I have run after him, then I have taken from him something.' And Gehazi pursueth after Naaman, and Naaman seeth one running after him, and alighteth from off the chariot to meet him, and saith, `Is there peace?' And he saith, `Peace; my lord hath sent me, saying, Lo, now, this, come unto me have two young men from the hill-country of Ephraim, of the sons of the prophets; give, I pray thee, to them, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.' And Naaman saith, `Be pleased, take two talents;' and he urgeth on him, and bindeth two talents of silver in two purses, and two changes of garments, and giveth unto two of his young men, and they bear before him; and he cometh in unto the high place, and taketh out of their hand, and layeth up in the house, and sendeth away the men, and they go. And he hath come in, and doth stand by his lord, and Elisha saith unto him, `Whence -- Gehazi?' and he saith, `Thy servant went not hither or thither.' And he saith unto him, `My heart went not when the man turned from off his chariot to meet thee; is it a time to take silver, and to take garments, and olives, and vines, and flock, and herd, and men-servants, and maid-servants? yea, the leprosy of Naaman doth cleave to thee, and to thy seed, -- to the age;' and he goeth out from before him -- leprous as snow.
And it cometh to pass, after these things, a vineyard hath been to Naboth the Jezreelite, that `is' in Jezreel, near the palace of Ahab king of Samaria, and Ahab speaketh unto Naboth, saying, `Give to me thy vineyard, and it is to me for a garden of green herbs, for it `is' near by my house, and I give to thee in its stead a better vineyard than it; if good in thine eyes, I give to thee silver -- its price.'
And David sendeth unto Joab, `Send unto me Uriah the Hittite,' and Joab sendeth Uriah unto David; and Uriah cometh unto him, and David asketh of the prosperity of Joab, and of the prosperity of the people, and of the prosperity of the war. And David saith to Uriah, `Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet;' and Uriah goeth out of the king's house, and there goeth out after him a gift from the king, and Uriah lieth down at the opening of the king's house, with all the servants of his lord, and hath not gone down unto his house. And they declare to David, saying, `Uriah hath not gone down unto his house;' and David saith unto Uriah, `Hast thou not come from a journey? wherefore hast thou not gone down unto thy house?' And Uriah saith unto David, `The ark, and Israel, and Judah, are abiding in booths, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, on the face of the field are encamping; and I -- I go in unto my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife! -- thy life, and the life of thy soul -- if I do this thing.' And David saith unto Uriah, `Abide in this `place' also to-day, and to-morrow I send thee away;' and Uriah abideth in Jerusalem, on that day, and on the morrow, and David calleth for him, and he eateth before him, and drinketh, and he causeth him to drink, and he goeth out in the evening to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, and unto his house he hath not gone down. And it cometh to pass in the morning, that David writeth a letter unto Joab, and sendeth by the hand of Uriah; and he writeth in the letter, saying, `Place ye Uriah over-against the front of the severest battle, and ye have turned back from after him, and he hath been smitten, and hath died.' And it cometh to pass in Joab's watching of the city, that he appointeth Uriah unto the place where he knew that valiant men `are'; and the men of the city go out and fight with Joab, and there fall `some' of the people, of the servants of David; and there dieth also Uriah the Hittite.
`Thou dost not desire the house of thy neighbour, thou dost not desire the wife of thy neighbour, or his man-servant, or his handmaid, or his ox, or his ass, or anything which `is' thy neighbour's.'
And the first part of his kingdom is Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Joshua 7
Commentary on Joshua 7 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 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).