Joshua 22:8

Jos 22:8 And he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.

Ver. 8. Return with much riches.] War is generally hateful - the poets fain that Mars, of all their gods, was most hated by Jupiter - and hurtful to mankind: yet the Hollanders are said to grow rich by it. These in the text did so, for a reward of their good service. "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life." {Pro 22:4}

Divide the spoil, &c.] Praecipit illis dilectionem proximi. Let those share with you, that, staying at home, tilled your grounds and safe-guarded your families. This was agreeable to a law made by Moses, {Num 31:27} and revived by David. {1Sa 30:24-25}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 22:8. Divide the spoil with your brethren — That is, with them who stayed beyond Jordan for the defence of their land, and wives, and children, who therefore were to have a share, though not an equal share with these. “Nothing could be more just,” says Dr. Dodd, “than this command; for, notwithstanding those who remained beyond Jordan had not shared in the dangers of the war, like those who had gone through it; yet they had, during that period, watched over the families of the latter, and defended their possessions against the inroads of their surrounding enemies. This seems to have been constantly the custom among the Israelites: those who were detached upon any military expedition, gave the rest of the army a share of the booty they had taken from the enemy; the pagans acted in like manner; God himself enjoined this practice after the war against the Midianites. Those who fought kept half the spoil of the enemy, and gave the other half to the rest of the people. Probably the same proportion was observed on this occasion. David, on his return from pursuing the Amalekites, changed this custom into a law, 1Sa 30:24-25.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22:8 The great wealth represented these tribes’ share of the spoils from the cities Israel had taken. • Share . . . with your relatives: While most of the fighting men assisted the rest of Israel, some men had remained to protect the women, children, and herds.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which remained at home and went not to the war, Num. 31:27; 1 Sam. 30:24.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches--in cattle, clothes, and precious metals.

divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren--(See on Num 31:25-39).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. Return with much riches] It appears they had their full proportion of the spoils that were taken from the Canaanites, and that these spoils consisted in cattle, silver, gold, brass, iron, and raiment.

Divide the spoil - with your brethren.] It was right that those who stayed at home to defend the families of those who had been in the wars, and to cultivate the ground, should have a proper proportion of the spoils taken from the enemy, for had they not acted as they did the others could not have safely left their families.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Return with much riches, etc As it was formerly seen that the greater part of the two tribes were left in their territories beyond the Jordan, when the others passed over to carry on the war, it was fair that, as they had lived in case with their families, or been only occupied with domestic concerns, they should be contented with their own livelihood and the produce of their own labor. And they certainly could not, without dishonesty, have demanded that any part of the booty and spoil should be distributed among them, when they had taken no share in all the toil and the danger. Joshua, however, does not insist on the strictly legal view, but exhorts the soldiers to deal liberally with their countrymen, by sharing the prey with them. Here some one may unseasonably raise the question, Whether or not the booty was common? For Joshua does not decide absolutely that it is their duty to do as he enjoins; he admonishes them that, after they have been enriched by the divine blessing, it would betray a want of proper feeling not to be liberal and kind towards their brethren, especially as it was not their fault that they did not take part in the same expedition. Moreover, when he bids them divide, he does not demand an equal partition, such as that which is usual among partners and equals, but only to bestow something that may suffice to remove all cause of envy and hatred.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

8. with your brethren] i.e. with the members of the tribes who had remained on the east side of the Jordan, to whom, according to Num_31:27, one half belonged.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, returned,.... First to the camp to take their substance, and then set forward to their own land:

and departed from the children of Israel; from the rest of them, for otherwise they were children of Israel also:

out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan; for here the camp of Israel was, as well as the tabernacle:

to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession,

whereof they were possessed; Gilead is put for the whole country on the other side Jordan, as the land of Jazer, and the kingdom of Bashan, which the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, were possessed of:

according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses; for when they moved to have that country, Moses, it seems, consulted the Lord about it, who declared it to be his will they should have it, on performing what they promised, see Num 32:1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Riches. Hebrew, Septuagint, &c., "cattle." --- Brethren. Grotius pretends that they were to keep what they had gotten. But his proofs rather shew that they were to follow the ancient custom and law, which prescribed that those who had remained at home to guard the country, should share the booty with those who had gone to battle, 1 Kings xxx. 24., and Numbers xxxi. 27. Some suppose that the booty was divided into equal parts, and the 40,000 would retain as much as all the rest of their brethren, who had been less exposed. The Israelites, however, made all alike, as other nations seem to have been, Exodus xv. 9., &c.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i.e. With them who staid beyond Jordan for the defence of their land, and wives, and children, who therefore were to have a share, though not an equal share, with these. See Num 31:27. But for them, 1Sa 30:24, their share was equal, because their danger was equal.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Much riches — Since the Canaanites were quite advanced in arts, manufactures, and agriculture, it is natural that they should have a large amount of the precious metals and costly articles embodying wealth.

Much raiment — Fashions in dress never change in the East. Hence the people make permanent investments of their wealth in dresses. Hence the Saviour’s exhortation, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where the moth doth corrupt,” evidently refers to accumulations of garments. Says a traveller in Palestine, “Not unfrequently one sees among the inhabitants of a wretched little hamlet, consisting of the merest hovels, a number of persons dressed in handsome silks.”

Divide the spoil — On a previous occasion (Num_31:27) Moses commanded that those who did service at home should share equally with those who had perilled their lives in battle, for the obvious reason that guarding the household and raising supplies for the army are just as necessary and as patriotic as hurling javelins and storming hostile cities.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Riches. The word here used is an uncommon one, and occurs only here and in the later Hebrew. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren. This was the just reward for their toils. And here, as elsewhere, we may observe the strict and scrupulous integrity of Joshua. The division of the spoil by other leaders has often been the cause of heart burnings and even of mutiny. Here each man has his due, and no room is left for reproach or dissatisfaction.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With your brethren -- that is, with them who stayed beyond Jordan for the defense of their land, and wives, and children, who therefore were to have a share, though not an equal share with these. But for them, 1 Sam. xxx, 24, their share was equal, because their danger was equal.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

[Divide the spoils] with your brothers— Referring to Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuvein. There are some who interpret “brothers” in referrence to those who remained behind to guard the cities and the women and children. [Even though] they did not cross the Jordan— with the armed division, nevertheless they received a share of the spoils.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.