Joshua 7:10

We have here God's answer to Joshua's address, which, we may suppose, came from the oracle over the ark, before which Joshua had prostrated himself, v. 6. Those that desire to know the will of God must attend with their desires upon the lively oracles, and wait at wisdom's gates for wisdom's dictates, Pro 8:34. And let those that find themselves under the tokens of God's displeasure never complain of him, but complain to him, and they shall receive an answer of peace. The answer came immediately, while he was yet speaking (Isa 65:24), as that to Daniel, Dan 9:20, etc.

I. God encourages Joshua against his present despondencies, and the black and melancholy apprehensions he had of the present posture of Israel's affairs (Jos 7:10): "Get thee up, suffer not thy spirits to droop and sink thus; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?" No doubt Joshua did well to humble himself before God, and mourn as he did, under the tokens of his displeasure; but now God told him it was enough, he would not have him continue any longer in that melancholy posture, for God delights not in the grief of penitents when they afflict their souls further than as it qualifies them for pardon and peace; the days even of that mourning must be ended. Arise, shake thyself from the dust, Isa 53:2. Joshua continued his mourning till eventide (Jos 7:6), so late that they could do nothing that night towards the discovery of the criminal, but were forced to put it off till next morning. Daniel (Dan 9:21), and Ezra (Ezr 9:5, Ezr 9:6), continued their mourning only till the time of the evening sacrifice; that revived them both: but Joshua went past that time, and therefore is thus roused: "Get thee up, do not lie all night there." Yet we find that Moses fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, to make intercession for Israel, Deu 9:18. Joshua must get up because he has other work to do than to lie there; the accursed thing must be discovered and cast out, and the sooner the better; Joshua is the man that must do it, and therefore it is time for him to lay aside his mourning weeds, and put on his judge's robes, and clothe himself with zeal as a cloak. Weeping must not hinder sowing, nor one duty of religion jostle out another. Every thing is beautiful in its season. Shechaniah perhaps had an eye to this in what he said to Ezra upon a like occasion. See Ezr 10:2-4.

II. He informs him of the true and only cause of this disaster, and shows him wherefore he contended with them (Jos 7:11): Israel hath sinned. "Think not that God's mind is changed, his arm shortened, or his promise about to fail; no, it is sin, it is sin, that great mischief-maker, that has stopped the current of divine favours and has made this breach upon you." The sinner is not named, though the sin is described, but it is spoken of as the act of Israel in general, till they have fastened it upon the particular person, and their godly sorrow have so wrought a clearing of themselves, as theirs did, Co2 7:11. Observe how the sin is here made to appear exceedingly sinful. 1. They have transgressed my covenant, an express precept with a penalty annexed to it. It was agreed that God should have all the spoil of Jericho, and they should have the spoil of the rest of the cities of Canaan; but, in robbing God of his part, they transgressed this covenant. 2. They have even taken of the devoted thing, in contempt of the curse which was so solemnly denounced against him that should dare to break in upon God's property, as if that curse had nothing in it formidable. 3. They have also stolen; they did it clandestinely, as if they could conceal it from the divine omniscience, and they were ready to say, The Lord shall not see, or will not miss so small a matter out of so great a spoil. Thus thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thyself. 4. They have dissembled also. Probably, when the action was over, Joshua called all the tribes, and asked them whether they had faithfully disposed of the spoil according to the divine command, and charged them, if they knew of any transgression, that they should discover it, but Achan joined with the rest in a general protestation of innocency, and kept his countenance, like the adulterous woman that eats and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no wickedness. Nay, 5. They have put the accursed thing among their own goods, as if they had as good a title to that as to any thing they have, never expecting to be called to an account, nor designing to make restitution. All this Joshua, though a wise and vigilant ruler, knew nothing of, till God told him, who knows all the secret wickedness that is in the world, which men know nothing of God could at this time have told him who the person was that had done this thing, but he does not, (1.) To exercise the zeal of Joshua and Israel, in searching out the criminal. (2.) To give the sinner himself space to repent and make confession. Joshua no doubt proclaimed it immediately throughout the camp that there was such a transgression committed, upon which, if Achan had surrendered himself, and penitently owned his guilt, and prevented the scrutiny, who knows but he might have had the benefit of that law which accepted of a trespass-offering, with restitution, from those that had sinned through ignorance in the holy things of the law? Lev 5:15, Lev 5:16. But Achan never discovering himself till the lot discovered him evidenced the hardness of his heart, and therefore he found no mercy.

III. He awakens him to enquire further into it, by telling him, 1. That this was the only ground for the controversy God had with them, this, and nothing else; so that when this accursed thing was put away he needed not fear, all would be well, the stream of their successes, when this one obstruction was removed, would run as strong as ever. 2. That if this accursed thing were not destroyed they could not expect the return of God's gracious presence; in plain terms, neither will I be with you any more as I have been, except you destroy the accursed, that is, the accursed person, who is made so by the accursed thing. That which is accursed will be destroyed; and those whom God has entrusted to bear the sword bear it in vain if they make it not a terror to that wickedness which brings these judgments of God on a land. By personal repentance and reformation, we destroy the accursed thing in our own hearts, and, unless we do this, we must never expect the favour of the blessed God. Let all men know that it is nothing but sin that separates between them and God, and, if it be not sincerely repented of and forsaken, it will separate eternally.

IV. He directs him in what method to make this enquiry and prosecution. 1. He must sanctify the people, now over-night, that is, as it is explained, he must command them to sanctify themselves, Jos 7:13. And what can either magistrates or ministers do more towards sanctification? They must put themselves into a suitable frame to appear before God and submit to the divine scrutiny, must examine themselves, now that God was coming to examine them, must prepare to meet their God. They were called to sanctify themselves when they were to receive the divine law (Ex. 19), and now also when they were to come under the divine judgment; for in both God is to be attended with the utmost reverence. "There is an accursed thing in the midst of you, and therefore sanctify yourselves," that is, Let all that are innocent be able to clear themselves, and be the more careful to cleanse themselves. The sin of others may be improved by us as furtherances of our sanctification, as the scandal of the incestuous Corinthian occasioned a blessed reformation in that church, Co2 7:11. 2. He must bring them all under the scrutiny of the lot (Jos 7:14); the tribe which the guilty person was of should first be discovered by lot, then the family, then the household, and last of all the person. The conviction came upon him thus gradually that he might have some space given him to come in and surrender himself; for God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Observe, The Lord is said to take the tribe, and family, and household, on which the lot fell, because the disposal of the lot is of the Lord, and, however casual it seems, is under the direction of infinite wisdom and justice; and to show that when the sin of sinners finds them out God is to be acknowledged in it; it is he that seizes them, and the arrests are in his name. God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants, Gen 44:16. It is also intimated with what a certain and unerring judgment the righteous God does and will distinguish between the innocent and the guilty, so that though for a time they seem involved in the same condemnation, as the whole tribe did when it was first taken by the lot, yet he who has his fan in his hand will effectually provide for the taking out of the precious from the vile; so that though the righteous be of the same tribe, and family, and household, with the wicked, yet they shall never be treated as the wicked, Gen 18:25. 3. When the criminal was found out he must be put to death without mercy (Heb 10:28), and with all the expressions of a holy detestation, Jos 7:15. He and all that he has must be burnt with fire, that there might be no remainders of the accursed thing among them; and the reason given for this severe sentence is because the criminal has, (1.) Given a great affront to God: He has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, who is jealous particularly for the honour of the holy covenant. (2.) He has done a great injury to the church of God: He has wrought folly in Israel, has shamed that nation which is looked upon by all its neighbours to be a wise and understanding people, has infected that nation which is sanctified to God, and troubled that nation of which he is the protector. These being crimes so heinous in their nature, and of such pernicious consequence and example, the execution, which otherwise would have come under the imputation of cruelty, is to be applauded as a piece of necessary justice. It was sacrilege; it was invading God's rights, alienating his property, and converting to a private use that which was devoted to his glory and appropriated to the service of his sanctuary - this was the crime to be thus severely punished, for warning to all people in all ages to take heed how they rob God.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Jos 7:10 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?

Ver. 10. Get thee up: wherefore liest thou? &c., ] q.d., It is well to pray thus, but it is not all; something else is to be done. Ora et labora, pray and search, pray and fight, up and be doing, for "I will surely be with thee." {Exo 14:14} Our Edward I, A.D. 1299, leading his army forth against the Scots, his horse, as he was putting foot in the stirrup, threw him to the earth, and striking with the hinder heels, brake two of his ribs: who nevertheless upon the same horse proceeded in person to the battle, and overthrew them at Falkirk: {a} so did Joshua, the men of Ai; being rather wakened than weakened by his late loss: and this was the fruit of prayer.

{a} Speed, p. 656.

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_7:10-15

Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?

Get thee up

To trust God is manifestly our duty. We are commanded to put our trust in Him. Trust in God is also a crowning means of safety and prosperity. Exceedingly great and precious promises are made to confidence in God. Watch over and cherish your trust in God. Cherish it by the study of the promises of your God. Cherish it by intercourse with God; and make this trust in God strong by giving it plenty of work to do. The more you exercise this principle, the stronger will it become. Trust in God is a manifest duty. But there are other obligations. We are under obligations to personal exertion. To trust is one duty; to exert ourselves is another: and although some persons would think that these two things cannot work together, they not only can, but they do work together in the experience and in the life of every man who is really walking with his God. Joshua, as you know, was leading the people forward to the entire conquest of Canaan. God has shown Israels captain marvellous deliverances, and, as is common in our own life, after these wonderful deliverances there comes a check. And so entirely does this prostrate him, that God his helper has to rebuke him, and say to him in the language of rebuke, Get thee up: wherefore liest thou upon thy face? Now, it strikes me that there are not a few who are in the position of Joshua.

1. In the first place, there is the doubter, depressed and paralysed by his doubts. I say to that man, Get up--get thee up, and inquire--get thee up, and call upon God--get thee up and search the book of God--get thee up and think, and meditate--get thee up and converse with sober, intelligent, wise, kind-hearted, Christlike disciples. Follow out your beliefs, and speak of that which you know. Then deal with your doubts. Do not let these doubts tarry. Do not let them become normal and constitutional. Regard them as a something to be taken away from your heart if possible.

2. We might, also, address these words to those who have fainted under the struggles of life. The words of those who have fainted in the day of adversity are such words as these, All things are against me. I shall one day fall by the hand of mine enemy. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. Well, under depressing thoughts like these, those who have become weary in the struggle of life sink into prostration; and we say to such, Get thee up. Out of most troubles there is a present way of escape, and a future way out of them all. Your trouble may be poverty. Why conclude that God means you to be poor all your days? Get up, and look if there be a way out of that poverty. Your trouble may be bodily weakness and sickness. Why conclude that you are to be an invalid all your days? Get thee up, and look. See if there be a way of escape from this bodily infirmity. Out of many of our troubles there is, I say, a way of escape; but we require to get up, and to look for the way of escape. All that we require in such circumstances is strength to wait. The working together of the various events of life is of course a process. That very idea of working together involves a succession of effects and of results. The good must come.

3. Perhaps, too, there is that class of person known by the common name of backslider. It is a serious thing to go back. But the man who has gone back is not in a hopeless state. He ought not to despair. Thanks be to God, I can appeal to your hope. I can in the name of God say, Return unto the Lord, and He will return to you. He will heal your backsliding; He will love you freely; He will be as the dew to you, and you shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine. Only, only, return to the Lord.

4. Those who are hindered and disheartened in their godly enterprises, as were many of the companions of Nehemiah, in connection with the work of rebuilding the city and rebuilding the temple. Now God sent Haggai to say to the people, in substance, just what He said to Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?--for by His prophet God spake thus: Is it time for you to dwell in coiled houses while Gods house lies waste? Get thee up: wherefore liest thou upon thy face? Now, just see that self-prostration and inertness are wrong. For, in the first place, it is God who speaks to us thus: Get thee up; God, whose power is almighty; God, whose resources are unsearchable riches; God, who is ever working to keep us up, and to lift us up, and who, when He has helped us ten thousand times, has His hands stretched out to help us still; God, who proffers His interposition to the weak and to the needy. And He speaks, observe, to our will, and to our hearts. By the use of these words He is seeking to work confidence, resolution, and determination. Get thee up. He is appealing to our hopes, that He may comfort us by hope. There is no evil for which there is no remedy. The position, therefore, of a man of God is not that of prostration. Even when he is confessing his sins, his position is not that of prostration. Prostration is not his posture. His right position is to stand up like a man before God. Oh! do not thus lie prostrate on your faces. Do not yield to your despondency and despair. I speak to you men of God, and I may say to you, All is right. All is right in Heaven concerning you: and if there be things wrong down here, Heaven can set them right. It may be, too, that there is some accursed thing that is producing your present perplexities and your present difficulties. I know not what that accursed thing may be. Perhaps it is sinful trust in yourselves; perhaps it is undue reliance on your fellow-creatures; perhaps you have done wrong ill endeavouring to obtain an instrumentality to assist you that is not holy, and that is not heaven-approved. What the accursed thing may be a little honest inquiry will soon discover. By the power of God, I say, get rid of it; but, even before you get rid of it, get up. You cannot see the accursed thing while you are thus spiritually prostrate. You cannot see what you ought to do while you are thus spiritually prostrate. Whatever may be the cause of your present difficulty and depression, it is your duty to get up, and stand before God upright as a man. (S. Martin.)

Gods voice to the desponding

I. Despondency sometimes overtakes the greatest men.

1. Examples: Jacob, Elijah, David, &c.

2. The causes of despondency are numerous: remorse, disappointment, forebodings, failure, &c.

II. Despondency must be struggled against: Get thee up.

1. Regrets for the past are useless. What is done cannot be undone.

2. There is urgent work to do. Resolute, earnest activity is required.

3. Despondency exhausts strength and unfits for work. Despair unstrings nerves, relaxes muscles, prostrates energies.

4. Effort will shake off the oppressive load, and give fresh energy to your soul. (Homilist.)

Israel hath sinned, . . . stolen and dissembled.--

The sinfulness of sin

I. The successive stages of sin. When Achan longed, he ought to have resisted; when he planned, he ought to have stopped before taking; when he had taken, he should have cast it away instead of stealing; when he had stolen, he should have freely confessed it; and when it was buried he ought to have dug it up again.

II. The aggravated guilt of sin.

1. It was a transgression of righteousness: Israel hath sinned.

2. It was a transgression of the law of gratitude. Achan ignored the covenant altogether.

3. It was a transgression of Gods word: Which I commanded them.

4. It was the transgression of good faith. Under the specific condition of not touching the spoil, the victory had been granted, and Achan had even taken of the cherem.

5. It was a transgression of honesty and truth: They have stolen and dissembled also.

6. It was a transgression of Achans own conscience. Had he not felt it wrong to put the devoted things among his own stuff, he would not have hidden them.

III. The wide-reaching evil of sin.

IV. The connection between sin and unbelief. Achan had no real faith--

1. In Divine omniscience. Had he really believed that God saw him, he could not have taken of the spoil.

2. In Divine punishment. Had he been convinced that he would have been devoted, he would have resisted the temptation.

3. In the Divine Word. To disbelieve in the punishment was to disbelieve Him who had threatened to destroy. (F. G. Marchant.)

Secret sin

We have a mournful interest in sin. Three characteristics of sin are seen in Achan--

1. Sin is secret; that is, from men, not from God.

2. Sin is gradual. Captivates the senses: I saw. Captivates the desires: I coveted. Captivates the soul: I took.

3. Sin is the herald of a curse: The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked. Note its effects.

I. On Joshua--the leader.

1. Changed the hero into a coward. His heart became as water.

2. Changed the man of faith to a doubter (verse 7).

3. This in spite of his Divine call and his great ability. So secret sin affects the leaders of the Church to-day.

II. On Israel--the church.

1. Changed victors into victims. They fled from before At. Sin is weakness as well as wicked ness. Sin deters the progress of the Church.

2. This in spite of the Divine covenant. That covenant was to give the land to the true sons of Abraham- the faithful: If ye be willing and obedient, &c.

3. This, too, in spite of previous victory at Jericho. They won at Jericho, for they were all sanctified. They failed at Ai, for there was sin in the camp. One secret sinner may ruin a Churchs worth.

III. On achan--the sinner. Did not sin gain for him much spoil? Yes--and more. He got gold and brave apparel, but he also got for his secret sin--

1. Public shame.

2. Public punishment. Sad as are the effects on others, the secret sinner feels them most of all.

The remedy is--

1. Not inactive grief: Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? (verse 10).

2. Active search for hidden sin (verse 13).

3. Entire sanctification of all (verse 13). (James Dunk.)

Secret sin discovered

Sin as a rule is committed under a false and pernicious impression, namely--

(1) That it will never be known, or

(2) if found out, in some way punishment will be avoided.

If sinners did not deceive themselves on these points there would not be half the sin in the world there is.

I. There is and can be no secret thing in Gods universe. Every sin, though no human eye or ear takes cognisance of it, is seen as soon as conceived by the all-seeing eye. That sin a secret when high Heaven knows it all!

II. There is in sin itself the element of exposure and retribution. Sin, like every other natural and moral force, works out certain results, physical, spiritual, and moral, and those results are not under mans control; they are the developments of law. The transgressor is impotent. He cannot stay the Almighty Hand, which, by means of the law of cause and effect, has its firm grip upon him. He is no longer master of himself, much less of his secret. And a thousand influences are working upon him and closing in upon him, all tending to disclosure and final retribution.

III. All the laws of Gods universe are put in requisition to expose sin and bring it in due time to punishment.

1. His physical laws. They even cry out against sin, as in the case of the inebriate, the glutton, the adulterer, &c. The heavens and the earth conspire to track and fasten guilt upon the murderer.

2. His moral law. Under its flashes and thunder peals many a guilty soul has quaked and been driven to confession or suicide. Conscience, echoing Gods law, makes cowards of sinners; makes life an insupportable burden, drives them from home and makes them wanderers on the earth, as Cain was.

3. His providential law. A thousand agencies and forces are set to work to expose and punish transgression as soon as it is committed. Earth, air and water, science, art, and human law, all furnish evidence to point out and convict the criminal and bring him to judgment. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)

The punishment of sin

1. How necessary to Christian success is the presence of God.

2. When that presence is withheld, there is generally a cause.

3. When the presence of God is withheld, the Christian should be humbled and make inquiry before God.

4. Sin is the cause of the Divine displeasure, and must be searched out.

5. Mark the progress of sin. He who parleys with sin is half-way towards embracing it.

6. Behold the fatal termination of sin. (J. G. Breay, B. A.)

Sin a reproach and hindrance

Sin, that accursed thing which God hates is a hindrance and a reproach to any people, viewed either as a nation or as individuals.

I. Let us look at the sin of the jews, as a nation, in persisting to despise and reject Jesus of Nazareth. Now, what a shame and reproach are the Jews exposed to for their sin in rejecting Christ, the anointed of God! From what rich blessings also are they excluded in consequence of their not admitting Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Saviour of the world! What an accursed thing, too, is the sin of idolatry to any nation! Those people who are ignorant of the one living and true God, through Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, and who are bowing down to stocks and to stones, are in the lowest state of misery and degradation. But further. Those nations which are professedly Christian nations are frequently seen to encourage some great evil, which operates against their prosperity, and which is a reproach to them. In no country which is called a Christian country should any laws be enacted which are likely to be detrimental to the religion of Christ. Now, whenever this is the case, it is a reproach to any people, and a great hindrance to their prosperity and comfort.

II. We come now to A closer application of our subject, and to consider it in reference. To individuals. You are all Christians by profession. But remember, He is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Are ye living in the commission of gross sins and scandalous vices, while ye claim, in virtue of your baptism, to be the children of God, and heirs according to the promise? Ye are a reproach to the Lords people, and a cause to them of much sorrow and anguish of heart. Remember that a day is coming when He, who is at present waiting, on thy true repentance, to be gracious unto thee and to save thee, will appear as thy terrible adversary to destroy thee. But further. May not sin, the accursed thing, in some degree be found among the real servants of God as well as among His enemies? How important, then, and necessary is it that believers should be continually aiming to mortify the remains of inbred corruption, and to be fortifying themselves against the inroads of sin by following after righteousness and holiness of life. (W. Battersby, M. A.)

Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

Gods part in the war

I. Success in war is a blessing which is given by God. By this I mean that it does not depend only on the armaments which are fitted out, or the perfection of our war machinery, or the number of our troops, or the sagacity of our leaders, or the power of our enemy, whether we shall be successful in the end. It is clearly told us in Scripture--so clearly that there is no excuse for the man who disbelieves it--that God keeps the ultimate results of war entirely in His own hand. Perhaps there is no other department of human affairs in which Jehovah has so frequently in Scripture asserted His prerogative as that of war. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. And once more we find that Jehovah retains for Himself the name of Commander over all the armies of the earth.

II. So long as we cherish sin, we cannot expect God to grant us success in war. I do not mean to say that success is always given to the holiest--that victory is the guarantee of rectitude and defeat the sign of sin; for God ofttimes tries His people by afflictions, and permits the wicked for a time to prosper. We are not sufficient judges of these things. But the only ground on which we can well expect the blessing of success from God is, surely, that of walking uprightly before Him; and when we cherish sin wilfully and consciously within our breasts, neither this nor any other blessing can we expect Jehovah to bestow upon us. It was the sin of one man in the camp. It is the same with us. For public and national sins we are indeed called to mourn this day. They form a long black roll. They are too many for enumeration. But we have also our private, our individual sins to mourn. They are concerned in our disasters. There has been a vainglorious boasting--a self-sufficient confidence in the prowess of our soldiers, and the irresistible force of our arms, as if we could not fail. We thought we were presenting to the world an unequalled spectacle. We have not been relying, as a nation, upon the help and sufficiency of Jehovah. Until we come to a more fitting state of heart--till our self-confidence be less--till our recognition of Jehovah be more--till we feel that we are less than nothing and vanity--till we feel that all our sufficiency is of God--we can by no means look that the Omnipotent should scatter our foes before us and humble them in the dust. (J. E. Cumming, D. D.)

Covetousness in the Church

I. A heinous transgression was committed. Some pursue the acquisition of wealth with quiet plodding industry, not appearing to be the subjects of much excitement, but associating greediness with wariness and caution, never permitting themselves to swerve from the contemplation of the end, or the employment of the means for attaining to it. Others, again, in the emphatic language of Scripture, have hasted to be rich. The appetite has been suddenly and uncontrollably kindled, either by a combination of internal suggestions or by the fatal facilities and opportunities which of late have been so signally multiplied. It must, however, here be remembered that there are other forms of covetousness besides that which consists in the craving and the pursuit of wealth. The love of fame, the love of power, and the love of sensual pleasure--all these constitute covetousness; and such covetousness also we conceive to have intruded itself much into the hearts of the professing people of God.

II. A mournful consequence was incurred.

1. Observe the consequence, as relating to the individual himself. God, by virtue of His essential omniscience, was aware of the perpetration of the sin; notwithstanding its concealment He saw it done, and He instantly arranged a series of events, by which, in the most impressive manner, there might be immediate detection, and then condign and adequate punishment. There is nothing but what is naked and manifest before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do; and as God knows the sin, so also God punishes the sin. Sometimes He punishes covetousness, when it is remarkably revolting in its operations, by judgments similar to the one which is recorded here--the abrupt termination of life, either by the hands of men or by judgments from His own power, which cannot be misapprehended or mistaken. Or, frequently, God punishes covetousness by mental anxiety and dissatisfaction; by the loss of that for which they have craved, so that it becomes to them as though it had never been; by social disgrace, contempt and dishonour; by the ruin of bodily and intellectual health, and by an abandonment to remorse and despair. Always God punishes covetousness, when it constitutes and is cherished to the last as a master passion, by an exclusion from His favour, and from the abodes of His celestial glory. Ye professing Christians see to it that, under the cloak of your religion, you hide nothing and cherish nothing of a spirit which is deadly wherever it is indulged. And let us all endeavour, with constant anxiety, to remember that God will not be mocked; and that it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands.

2. Again, we are also to trace the consequences, as relating to the community to which the individual belonged. For important reasons, the welfare of the whole people of Israel was affected by the individual transgression. You will now be prepared for the statement we have simply to advance--that the prosperity of the Christian Church has been much checked, and that its progress has been grievously retarded, by the covetousness and by the worldly conformity of those who have professed to be connected with it.

III. A momentous duty was required. It was that the people should put away the accursed thing from them.

1. There is comprehended here uncompromising separation from all that is polluted and pernicious.

2. There must also be devoted engagement in direct effort for the advancement of the Divine glory. There ought to be, throughout the whole of the Christian Church, one spirit of devoted, unwearied, and incessant activity in the proclamation of the unsearchable riches of Christ. And, in connection with personal labour, there must be pecuniary contribution. The property which has been vouchsafed to man as a stewardship is to be taken away from the service of mammon, and devoted to the service of the Saviour, is to be taken away from the service of Satan and devoted to the service of God, and of souls, and of salvation. There must also be prayerfulness--incessant and persevering prayerfulness--prayer involving matters as wide as the universe can supply; that our own souls may be spiritually established, and may prosper; that the souls of our fellow-saints may be aroused, revived, and preserved. (James Parsons.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 7:10-12. Wherefore liest thou upon thy face? — This business is not to be done by inactive supplication, but by vigorous endeavours for reformation. Israel hath sinned — Some or one of them. They have transgressed my covenant — That is, broken the conditions of my covenant, which they promised to perform, whereof this was one, not to meddle with the accursed thing. And have also stolen — Taken what I had reserved for myself, Jos 6:19. And dissembled also — Covered the fact with deep dissimulation. Probably Joshua after the destruction of Jericho, had made inquiry whether the silver and gold, &c., were brought into the treasury, and whether they had destroyed all the other things as God commanded; and they all answered in the affirmative. Possibly, too, Achan might be suspected of purloining something, and, being accused, had denied it. Among their own stuff — Converted it to their own use, and added obstinacy to their crime. Because they were accursed — By having a man among them who is fallen under my curse. Thus they have put themselves out of my protection, and therefore are liable to the same destruction which belongs to the Canaanites. Except ye destroy the accursed — Now they knew that such a crime had been committed among them, they would have been as guilty as Achan if they had not punished it.

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

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Jos_7:11. Have also stolen and dissembled, etc.] To steal devoted things was solemnly sinful; every moment of hiding was a moment in which the guilt of theft was perpetuated and repeated in the conscience, in addition to which all Israel was being deceived and wronged; but the sin mentioned last, as though that were the greatest sin of all, was that of putting the devoted things “even among their own stuff,” and thus shewing a determination to appropriate to private uses what was under the awful ban of God.

Jos_7:14. Brought according to your tribes] Heb.,” be brought near,” probably near to the Ark—near to the Divine Presence. Jehovah Himself would solemnly discover the offender. The tribe which the Lord taketh, etc.] This is the process of election by lot, and was frequently pursued, sometimes for widely different purposes than that of discovering the guilty (cf. 1Sa_10:20-22; 1Sa_14:40-43; 1Ch_24:5; Act_1:26). The land of Canaan was divided in this manner among the tribes, and Jonah was discovered similarly, when he fled to Tarshish.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_7:10-15

GOD DEALING WITH HUMAN SIN

In this chapter we see God dealing

(1) with sin,

(2) with an individual sinner,

(3) with a sinner’s family,

(4) with a sinner’s possessions,

(5) and with a community having a sinner for one of its members. This paragraph shews us the mind of Jehovah concerning sin and the forgiveness of sin.

I. Sin not only brings a need for the prayer of suffering and tears; but while sin is unforgiven it limits the influence of prayer. God says to Joshua, “Get thee up.” The power of unforgiven sin in limiting the power of prayer is here very emphatically marked.

1. The prayer of the unforgiven is not refused a hearing, or even an answer. God comes to Joshua. True, He does not come till eventide; Joshua and the elders of the people have to lie all day ere He draws nigh to attend to this prayer of suffering; but God does come, and to a certain extent He answers this cry of the needy. So far this is very merciful; it is like God. If men really pray, He keeps not silent, even though prayer come up to His ear from the lips of the unforgiven. God, who answered not “by prophets nor by dreams,” spake nevertheless through Samuel to unforgiven Saul in his agony; and had Saul truly repented, even though Gilboa might still have received its royal victim, the pains of death would have been soothed with the thought of Divine pardon. No man can truly pray and God not hear. The breath of real prayer is not a mere electric current which rings a bell and moves the hands on a dial in front of the throne and before the eyes of a God who sometimes refuses to attend; it is a current of troubled desire in man which moves in the heart of God as a compassionate, wise, and holy sympathy. We may be sure that when we pray importunately from our heart, sooner or later God draws nigh to see if we are in a right mind to profit by help from on high.

2. But the prayer of the unforgiven can only secure God’s attention in respect to the sin which is not put away. The Lord comes to Joshua, and virtually says, “Get thee up: all that I will hear thee upon is this matter of sin.” He will speak on nothing else. He will consider nothing else than this matter of sin. Mark the holy irony of the question, “Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?” As if prayer were not God’s own appointment! As if lowly humiliation were not His own ordained method of approach to the mercy-seat! As if Abraham and Moses and others had not been answered, till lowly prayer had become known, even through the Divine response, as a mighty power! But in this case there was this difference, Joshua and the elders of the people, in common with all Israel, were held to be guilty of Achan’s sin—not personally guilty, yet corporately guilty. That is why this question is asked, and that is why Joshua is bidden to get up, and to desist from his particular pleading, while God speaks with him on this question of sin. (a) Humiliation is nothing when it is not humiliation for the unforgiven sin. In this sharply defined picture, God shews us that it is useless to humble ourselves for adversity, and leave out any unforgiven sin which may have had to do with the adversity. It is so in national fasts; in personal trials, etc. Rent garments, prostrate forms, dust and ashes and sackcloth, are nothing to God, if we take no account of sin. (b) Grief is nothing, if it be not grief for the guilt. A man may feel his heart broken at the consequences of sin, and cry out of that broken heart to God; and God will hear him on the question of the sin, but not on the question of consequences till the sin itself is put away. If a man lose a situation through ill-temper or idleness, squander a fortune by prodigality, incur physical disease through intemperance, it is useless to plead the sorrow till he have first communed with God in sincere repentance on the matter of the transgression. Joshua may mourn his thirty and six slain, and the shame and pain which have come through defeat: God thinks it in good time to consider these when the camp has been cleansed from its impurity. (c) The plea of future consequences is nothing, if the unforgiven do not find the most disastrous consequence of all in the wrong done to God. God says in effect, “Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face to tell me of Amorites and Canaanites to be feared, of Israelites who turn their backs to the enemies, or of a national name to be cut off from the earth? Wherefore concernest thou thyself with the honour of My great name? What is that to thee, thou unforgiven leader of an unforgiven people? Get thee up.” So may an unpardoned man plead for his future peace and honour, for his family, for the church with which he stands connected: God declines to consider these sorrows to come, just as much as sorrows that are, till sin be put away. The consequence which the guilty should mourn as most unbearable, is the wrong done to God,—the wrong done to His nature, His past mercies, His unfailing goodness and love.

II. Sin is not only limitation and weakness to urgent prayer; it is, in itself, full of injustice and wrong. The eleventh verse contains six allegations; the first two dealing with the sin in its relation to God, and the remaining four describing the character of the transgression. Two of these four descriptions, the taking and the stealing, seem to be synonymous, unless the taking be intended to refer to the secret appropriation of the heart, and the stealing to the outward act of the hand. Probably, however, the verse should be read as a succession of cumulative utterances, rising to a climax in the natural rhetoric of strong emotion, rather than as containing that philosophically exact analysis of the sin, more suitable to calmness of heart and thought. Taking the terms of description as three, rather than four, we see that:

1. Sin is theft. And this description of the particular sin of Achan has far more general truth in it than some imagine. Sin is taking something from another. It is always that, and never less than that, let the sin be what it may. The murderer takes life; the burglar and the pickpocket take goods; and the theft in transgressions of this kind is manifest. But the liar is also a thief; the drunkard, the vain man, the ambitious, the false-hearted, each deprives his fellows of valuable possessions. Each takes from the purity of the moral atmosphere which surrounds his neighbour, and thus takes away from his neighbour’s means of maintaining a healthy tone of life. Each, moreover, robs his fellow of the good example which every living man owes to those about him.

2. Sin is deceitful. Achan stole not only the gold and the garment; but he robbed the Israelites of God’s favour; he made the camp of Israel to become devoted, and then by hiding both the stolen goods and the knowledge of the curse brought upon his people, he suffered them to go ignorantly up to their defeat. Achan stole the devoted things from God; he stole from Israel God’s smile and help, victory over the men of Ai, and thirty-six lives; and he dissembled about the theft even in the presence of the slain. Thus sin does yet other injury in the deception with which it is ever accompanied. It leads the innocent unsuspectingly into danger, and, it may be, to death.

9. Sin is misappropriation for personal advantages. “They have put it even among their own stuff.” The sinful seek personal gain and pleasure at the expense of others. Like Achan, however, who presently has to restore all, and more than all that he had taken, no man ever sins without having to feel ultimately that transgression always costs more than it yields.

III. Sin is not merely a wrong in itself; it is a rejection and a breaking of God’s covenant. “They have also transgressed my covenant.” The breaking of the covenant is put as an additional and distinct feature of the sin. If it be said that Achan made no personal covenant with Jehovah, it is enough to reply that the covenant made with the host was binding on him individually. He was a member of the community, and he had stayed with the people, and enjoyed with them the common privileges of the covenant for many years previously. Thus Achan had voluntarily become a party to the covenant. In addition to this, no man is at liberty to ignore any covenant of the Lord. For Jehovah to proffer Himself to man in anything, is for man to stand bound.

1. The covenant made with men in Christ is binding on all men. Hence, the Gospel leaves no man where it finds him. It is the “savour” of something to everybody,—“of death unto death, or of life unto life.” Every man comes into life under this “New Covenant.” It is because of this, and not because of some specific act of mercy lying outside of the plan of salvation, that children dying in infancy are saved. The child of a Hottentot, or a Maori, or a Greenlander, dying ere it comes to years of responsibility, is saved because of God’s covenant with the human race. When Paul says, “As in Adam all die,” he means everybody; there is no exception. Equally does the apostle mean everybody when he says, “Even so in Christ shall all be made alive;” there is no single exception in the case of the life, any more than in the case of the death. Every one comes into life under the covenant with the race made through Christ, and if nothing were done to forfeit that life, thus forensically secured in the Redeemer, every one would be saved. But no one comes into life regenerate. The judicial life is one thing, the principle of the new life is another. In Adam all have died, not only judicially, but morally, and hence it is written to all men, “Ye must be born again.” Yet it is true that till every child becomes responsible for his acts he is under the covenant of life, and till actual sin be committed, he has the promise of life. Were it otherwise, we should be absolutely forced to accept the monstrous creed of elect babies and lost babies. There would be no logical alternative but the absurdly fanciful conclusion that all the babies who have died in their infancy, would, had they been spared, have grown up to become Christians; or that they came into the covenant of grace by the mere act of dying before a given day, after which they would have been personally responsible, when the act of dying would no longer have been efficacious. If all children who are saved, are saved by the work of Christ for the human race; and if all children are not in Christ by virtue of being members of that race; then, either some children are lost, or they must come into Christ by the mere act of dying at a given time, or only such children as are elected to life ever die as children The first of these alternatives is not only unlike God, but inhuman; the remaining two are simply frivolous. If this be so, then every child begins this life completely justified by the work of Christ; every child is under the covenant.

2. Every adult living in sin is not merely a being who has not accepted the covenant, but a being who, having been under the covenant, has ignored and rejected it. It is this that makes the position of each intelligent transgressor so unspeakably solemn. It is not that unbelieving men merely refuse to accept Christ; such, having begun life under the shelter of Christ’s work, absolutely reject Christ. Like Achan, who had partaken of covenant privileges, they presently treat the covenant as of less concern than the things which tempt them to transgress.

3. The most aggravated form of human sin now, is the rejection of the covenant made with them in Christ. It is a rejection of God’s love, of the Saviour’s sacrifice, of the past mercy which shielded them as helpless children.

IV. Sin has not only these aggravated forms of guilt in itself, but weakness, and injury, and many other evil results in its train (Jos_7:12).

1. Sin brings weakness. God is not with sinners, and every transgression is so much loss of a man’s own moral strength.

2. Weakness brings defeat. The weakness that comes through sin is not a mere sentiment of the pulpit; it is something more than ecclesiastical poetry. History, whether national, family, or individual, has many battle-fields of failure and flight and shame and loss, to expound the reality of the weakness.

3. Such defeat may stand connected with death. Not only before Ai are there thirty and six slain; many, yea countless, are the broken-hearted, and other dead, who have gone down to their graves unable to bear the defeat which has been wrought by some one’s transgression.

V. Sin is not only at the time of transgression, but till the time of repentance. “Neither will I be with you any more,” etc. The heart repeats the guilt through every moment in which it refuses to repent. A state of unrepentance is not negative, but positive; the heart refuses to think repentance a present necessity. The heart thus virtually certifies the guilt afresh, and, in spirit, commits it over again. In this light,

(1) think of the importance of prompt repentance;

(2) think of the aggravated guilt, and of the solemn position of an aged unbeliever.

VI. The forgiveness of sin requires not only separation from the transgression, but some adequate acknowledgment of its guilt.

1. Forgiveness of sin requires separation from the sin. “Sanctify yourselves.” The formal sanctification of the people was meant to be the outward expression of a heartfelt antipathy to Achan’s transgression.

2. Forgiveness of sin requires an adequate protest against the evil of sin “He shall be burnt,” etc. Ere the Israelites were forgiven, they were to express in some suitable way their disavowal and detestation of the offence. This expression of feeling was imperatively necessary for the Israelites themselves. If a child sin against his father, a wise father will not recklessly forgive, but will, for his child’s sake, require some expression of contrition and disavowal which shall be, so far as possible, commensurate with the magnitude of the offence. It is not because of any longing to honour the abstract principles of justice that a wise father would make such a demand; justice would furnish the ground for that demand; but it is the father’s love to his child, his love to his other children, and his sense of duty towards society generally, which would make the demand imperative and the father inflexible. In a modified form, the same feelings would actuate a good governor or judge in dealing with criminals, and, allowing a sufficiency of power, a good and wise nation in dealing with the offence of some other nation. Justice is passive, and does but furnish the license of right to proceed; it is the sense of duty to others, or the feeling of love to them, which is active and urgent in its demand that the offender suitably express contrition. It was God’s love to Israel that made Achan’s prospect of pardon so hopeless; the offence had been great, and nothing less than the life of the more immediate offenders would be understood by Israel, and therefore be taken by God, as a suitable and sufficient acknowledgment of the guilt. So it was God’s love to men, and not His hunger for justice, that made the cross of Christ so absolutely imperative. Either man, the offender, or God who wished to pardon, must for the sake of the world at large, perhaps for the sake of the intelligent universe, suitably recognise the guilt of human sin. Man could only do this in his own ruin; to save him from that ruin, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This “power to forgive sins,” without disordering the moral forces which influence sinners, is the most wonderful manifestation of power ever displayed even by God. Thus the narrative of the cross is greater than the record in the opening chapter of Genesis; the glory of Calvary transcends the majesty of creation.

OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Jos_7:10.—THE RELATION OF PRAYER TO WORK.

I. In times of new perplexity and distress, the natural order is first to pray, and then to work. It was not till eventide that the Lord said, “Get thee up.” Although it would have been useless to pray after that, God does not rebuke Joshua for praying before that.

1. Prayer brings light upon the difficulty itself. Without this humble and persevering petition, Joshua must apparently have remained ignorant of the sin which had been committed.

2. Prayer secures the Lord’s guidance. The petition that brings God to our side cannot be useless. Jehovah guided His servant (a) to know that sin had been the cause of the defeat, (b) to understand fully the nature of the sin, (c) to the assurance that sin must be put away before He would again be with Israel, (d) to discover the sinner, (e) and to the way in which the Divine presence could once more be secured. When God begins to enlighten His people, He guides them, not merely to know the measure of their difficulty, but entirely through that difficulty. He gives the light of the law to reveal sin, the light of the cross to shew how sin can be put away, and the light of precious promises to assure us of His personal presence till the last enemy shall be destroyed.

3. Prayer brings strength for work. It was no light task which Joshua had to perform. For the first time in his capacity as leader, he was called on to inflict the judgment of death. The prayer, the words of the Lord, and the solemn process of discovering the offender, would prepare both Joshua and the people for this dreadful task.

II. In times of distress, work should never be willingly allowed to precede prayer. Difficulty may overtake men in the midst of work, when there is little opportunity for prayer. It was so when Joshua first saw the beginning of the defeat at Ai. Excepting momentary supplication, there would have been little time for Joshua to think of anything but the battle, and the management of the retreat. But, in times of emergency, work should not precede prayer from choice. Had Joshua renewed the battle with a greater force, he would probably have sustained a fresh defeat. Defeat would have been added to defeat, and distress to distress. He who pursues work that has failed, when he should be asking help from the Lord, can only expect to add sorrow unto sorrow.

III. Work should never be neglected for prayer. While Joshua merely prayed,

(1) sin could not be put away,

(2) God would not come to the help of the people,

(3) and the Canaanites would exult in their recent victory.

“The question: ‘Wherefore fallest thou thus upon thy face?’ is one of reproof, implying that Joshua had no reason to doubt the faithfulness of the Lord, or to implore its continuance; since it was not to God, but to the sin of the people, that he must trace the calamity which had befallen Israel. The reproof does not of course apply to the mere fact of Joshua’s turning to the Lord and prostrating himself in prayer, nor even to the tone of complaint against the Lord observable in the words of his prayer, but to the disposition, which he manifested, to seek the cause of his misfortune in God and His superintendence, whereas it was to be found altogether in the transgression of the people.” [keil.]

Jos_7:11.—THE SINFULNESS OF SIN.

I. The successive stages of sin. “When Achan longed, he ought to have resisted; when he planned, he ought to have stopped before taking; when he had taken, he should have cast it away instead of stealing; when he had stolen, he should have freely confessed it; and when it was buried, he ought to have dug it up again.” [S. Schmidt.]

II. The aggravated guilt of sin.

1. It was a transgression of righteousness. “Israel hath sinned.”

2. It was a transgression of the law of gratitude. God had graciously entered into covenant with them, under that covenant they had already received mercies for forty years, and recently these mercies had been wonderful beyond conception. Forgetful of all this, and in the very hour of a miraculous victory under the covenant, Achan ignored the covenant altogether.

3. It was a transgression of God’s word. “Which I commanded them.”

4. It was the transgression of good faith. Under the specific condition of not touching the spoil, the victory had been granted, and Achan had “even taken of the cherem.”

5. It was a transgression of honesty and truth. “They have stolen and dissembled also.”

6. It was a transgression of Achan’s own conscience. Had he not felt it wrong to put the devoted things “among his own stuff,” he would not have hidden them.

III. The wide-reaching evil of sin. God held that “Israel” had done this wickedness. Through each of the six charges contained in the verse, the sin is ascribed to all the people: “They have also transgressed,” etc.

IV. The connection between sin and unbelief. Achan had no real faith:

1. In Divine omniscience. Had he really believed that God saw him, he could not have taken of the spoil.

2. In Divine punishment. Had he been convinced that he would have been “devoted,” he would have resisted the temptation.

3. In the Divine word. To disbelieve in the punishment was to disbelieve Him who had threatened to destroy. The man evidently believed concealment from his brethren a much more important matter than concealment from Jehovah. Thus does unbelief in God usually lie at the root of all transgression.

Jos_7:12.—THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNFORGIVEN GUILT.

I. To be without forgiveness is to be without God. II. To be without God is to be without strength (cf. Joh_15:5). III. To be without strength is to be without courage. IV. To be without repentance for the sin which works results like these, is to be without hope.

“The oracle of God, which told Joshua that a great offence was committed, yet reveals not the person. It would have been as easy for God to have named the man as the crime.” [Bp. Hall.]

Jos_7:13-15.—GETTING READY TO BE SANCTIFIED.

I. Human preparation for putting away sin. What Jehovah teaches Israel, we should learn as necessary for ourselves. There are no superfluities in the Divine teaching, and human hearts are as weak now as they were three thousand years ago. In order to be sanctified indeed, the Lord teaches us the following things:

1. To get a deep consciousness of sin’s existence and guilt. “There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee.” There will be no question of sin’s presence in us if we wait long in the Divine presence. We are to feel that sin justly makes every one who entertains it worthy to be devoted.

2. To maintain an unwavering conviction that sin works misery and ruin. “Thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until,” etc. He who suffers himself to entertain the smallest hope that sin can ultimately bring anything but loss and misery, is hindering his sanctification. If we would be made holy, sin must be regarded in its results, as well as in its nature, as an unmixed evil.

3. To undertake deliberate and specific acts tending to sanctification. It is only the forms, and never the moral principles of the old dispensation, which are abolished in the N. T. We also need the help of a deliberate purpose to be sanctified, and of outward things in which we can manifestly act in that direction. Regular times for private examination, meditation, prayer, and the reading of the Scriptures, are helps which no man can dispense with for long without becoming irregular in holiness. For special times of departure, fasting and humiliation, in secresy before God, should not be despised. Most men are more in danger on the side of worldliness, than on the side of superstitious asceticism.

II. Divine help for putting away sin. The Lord would discover the way in which sin entered into the camp, the person who had introduced it, and the place where the proofs of it lay hidden. This discovery:

1. Supposes omniscience by its boldness. The proposal was to single out one person from two or three millions. A charlatan, relying on effrontery in himself, and superstition in his victims, has sometimes ventured to assert his power to detect a thief from among half a dozen ignorant and credulous people, one of whom has been known to be guilty of stealing; and, owing to the timidity which accompanies transgression, he has occasionally succeeded. It would be a widely different thing for a man to gravely propose to unfailingly detect one thief from among all the inhabitants of London, and that by means of considering the people, in their absence, under some systematic division of the multitude into classes. It required God, calm in the consciousness of infinite discernment, to announce that He would, with invisible hand, unfailingly guide the lot past the myriad names of Israel to the name of him who was guilty of the crime.

2. Is impartial in its spirit. Prejudice had no place whatever in the enquiry.

3. Is deliberate in its method. God moves to judgment slowly, that the guilty may have opportunity to repent and confess.

4. Is solemn in its steady progress. Jacob, under no special accusation, felt the very presence of God to fill him with awe: surely when Achan watched the ever-narrowing and unerring procession of the lot, which pointed out successively his tribe and his family, he must have been ready to anticipate the last selection, and to cry out in an intenser fear than the patriarch, “How dreadful is this place!”

5. Is certain and convincing in, its result. Probably no single person in the host had, any more than Joshua (Jos_7:19), the smallest doubt that Achan was the offender. Then, what God so unerringly shews, and his brethren without exception believe, the guilty man unavoidably confesses. So bold, and fair, and solemn is the judgment of the Lord; so terrible, to the guilty, is its issue.

III. Characteristic features in the putting away of sin. If we would be sanctified in heart, as well as outwardly, we must deal severely with that which offends (Jos_7:15).

1. No necessary sacrifice must be withheld. Sin may call for extreme measures, but the Saviour said for our guidance, who live in this dispensation, “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off.”

2. No weak hesitation is to be suffered. “In the morning ye shall be brought,” etc., and after that each step is prompt and firm to the bitter end.

3. No room for sympathy with transgression is to be left. Achan, and all that he had, were to be destroyed. No opportunity was left to mourn with “the bereaved,” and thus get gentler thoughts of the sin in fellowship with the sufferers. The transgressor and his family, who might have been privy to his guilt, were to be alike “stoned with stones, and burned with fire.” He who would fight manfully against sin, must leave no way of retreat into the regions of transgression.

Jos_7:10-15.—I. Prayer and humiliation are of no ultimate account without repentance.

II. Repentance avails nothing without sanctification.

III. Sanctification is impossible without abhorrence of sin really felt and unmistakably expressed.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

7:10-11 Get up! God’s command was abrupt, stern, and outwardly unsympathetic. For Israel to regain God’s favor, Joshua needed to act swiftly and decisively.

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

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 (Psa 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 (Deu 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.

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 10. Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?] It is plain there was nothing in Joshua's prayer or complaint that was offensive to God, for here there is no reprehension: Why liest thou thus? this is no time for complaint; something else is indispensably necessary to be done.

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

10. And the Lord said unto Joshua, etc God does not reprimand Joshua absolutely for lying prostrate on the ground and lamenting the overthrow of the people, since the true method of obtaining pardon from God was to fall down suppliantly before him; but for giving himself up to excessive sorrow. The censure, however, ought to be referred to the future rather than to the past; for he tells him to put an end to his wailing, just as if he had said, that he had already lain too long prostrate, and that all sloth must now be abandoned, as there was need of a different remedy. But he first shows the cause of the evil, and then prescribes the mode of removing it. He therefore informs him that the issue of the battle was disastrous, because he was offended with the wickedness of the people, and had cast off their defense.

We formerly explained why the punishment of a private sacrilege is transferred to all; because although they were not held guilty in their own judgment or that of others, yet the judgment of God, which involved them in the same condemnation, had hidden reasons into which, though it may perhaps be lawful to inquire soberly, it is not lawful to search with prying curiosity. At the same time we have a rare example of clemency in the fact, that while the condemnation verbally extends to all, punishment is inflicted only on a single family actually polluted by the crime. What follows tends to show how enormous the crime was, and accordingly the particle גם is not repeated without emphasis; as they might otherwise have extenuated its atrocity. Hence, when it is said that they have also transgressed the covenant, the meaning is, that they had not sinned slightly. The name of covenant is applied to the prohibition which, as we saw, had been given; because a mutual stipulation had been made, assigning the spoils of the whole land to the Israelites, provided He received the first fruits. Here, then, he does not allude to the general covenant, but complains that he was defrauded of what had been specially set apart; and he accordingly adds immediately after, by way of explanation, that they had taken of the devoted thing, and that not without sacrilege, inasmuch as they had stolen that which he claimed as his own. The term lying is here used, as in many other passages, for frustrating a hope entertained, or for deceiving. The last thing mentioned, though many might at first sight think it trivial, is set down, not without good cause, as the crowning act of guilt, namely, that they had deposited the forbidden thing among their vessels. Persons who are otherwise not wholly wicked are sometimes tempted by a love of gain; but in the act of hiding the thing, and laying it up among other goods, a more obstinate perseverance in evil doing is implied, as the party shows himself to be untouched by any feelings of compunction. In the last part of the 12th verse, the term anathema is used in a different sense for execration; because it was on account of the stolen gold that the children of Israel were cursed, and almost devoted to destruction.

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.

(10) Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?—“Why is this, that thou art fallen upon thy face? Israel hath sinned.” The pronoun “thou” is emphatic.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Get thee up] Joshua might well infer that the people had incurred the Divine displeasure, but it was no time for unavailing remorse—he must be up and trying to detect and put away the sin.

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 Lord said unto Joshua, get thee up,.... From the ground where he lay prostrate, with his face to it: this he said, not as refusing his supplication to him, but rather as encouraging and strengthening him; though chiefly he said this in order to instruct him, and that he might prepare for what he was to do:

wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? in this manner, so distressed and dejected; or for this thing, as the Targum, for this defeat of the army; something else is to be done besides prayer and supplication.

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

God’s answer is given directly, and in terms of reproof. Joshua must not lie helpless before God; the cause of the calamity was to be discovered.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This business is not to be done by unactive supplication, but by vigorous endeavours for reformation.

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

10. Get thee up — The tone of this answer indicates the divine indignation at Israel’s sin, and implies that entreaty for Jehovah’s favour, before putting away that sin, is impertinence, and an offence to him, as sacrifices and supplications of impenitent sinners always are. Pro_15:8. Israel is here viewed as an unrepentant sinner; Joshua is the head of Israel, hence the tone of anger in which he is addressed. The spirit of God’s reply is, “This is no time for prayer, but for purifying the camp. Look for the cause of your defeat not in my sovereignty but in your sin.”

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

Get thee up. Not puerile lamentation, but action, is ever the duty of the soldier of the Lord. If defeat assails either the individual or the cause, there is a reason for it, and this must be promptly searched out, and with God"s aid be discovered. The sin or error once found out and put away, the combat may be renewed and brought to a successful issue.

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

Upon thy face - This business is not to be done by inactive supplication, but by vigourous endeavours for reformation.

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

The answer of the Lord, which was addressed to Joshua directly and not through the high priest, breathed anger against the sin of Israel. The question, "Wherefore liest thou upon thy face?" ("fallest," as in Deu 21:1) involved the reproof that Joshua had no reason to doubt the fidelity of the Lord. Instead of seeking for the cause of the calamity in God, he ought to seek it in the sin of the people.

Jos 7:11

Israel had sinned, and that very grievously. This is affirmed in the clauses which follow, and which are rendered emphatic by the repetition of גּם as an expression of displeasure. The sin of one man was resting as a burden upon the whole nation in the manner explained above (on Jos 7:1). This sin was a breach of the covenant, being a transgression of the obligation into which the people had entered in their covenant with the Lord, to keep His commandments (Exo 19:8; Exo 24:7); yea, it was a grasping at the ban, and a theft, and a concealment, and an appropriation of that which was stolen to their own use. The first three clauses describe the sin in its relation to God, as a grievous offence; the three following according to its true character, as a great, obstinate, and reckless crime. "They have put it among their own stuff" (house furniture), viz., to use and appropriate it as their own property. As all that had been stolen was a property consecrated to the Lord, the appropriation of it to private use was the height of wickedness.

Jos 7:12

On account of this sin the Israelites could not stand before their foes, because they had fallen under the ban (cf. Jos 6:18). And until this ban had been removed from their midst, the Lord would not help them any further.

Jos 7:13-15

Joshua was to take away this ban from the nation. To discover who had laid hands upon the ban, he was to direct the people to sanctify themselves for the following day (see at Jos 3:5), and then to cause them to come before God according to their tribes, families, households, and men, that the guilty men might be discovered by lot; and to burn whoever was found guilty, with all that he possessed. נקרב, "to come near," sc., to Jehovah, i.e., to come before His sanctuary. The tribes, families, households, and men, formed the four classes into which the people were organized. As the tribes were divided into families, so these again were subdivided into houses, commonly called fathers' houses, and the fathers' houses again into men, i.e., fathers of families (see the remarks on Exo 18:25-26, and by Bibl. Archaeology, 140). Each of these was represented by its natural head, so that we must picture the affair as conducted in the following manner: in order to discover the tribe, the twelve tribe princes came before the Lord; and in order to discover the family, the heads of families of the tribe that had been taken, and so on to the end, each one in turn being subjected to the lot. For although it is not distinctly stated that the lot was resorted to in order to discover who was guilty, and that the discovery was actually made in this way, this is very evident from the expression אשׁר־ילכּדנּה (which the Lord taketh), as this was the technical term employed, according to Sa1 14:42, to denote the falling of the lot upon a person (see also Sa1 10:20). Moreover, the lot was frequently resorted to in cases where a crime could not be brought home to a person by the testimony of eye-witnesses (see Sa1 14:41-42; Jon 1:7; Pro 18:18), as it was firmly believed that the lot was directed by the Lord (Pro 16:33). In what manner the lot was cast we do not know. In all probability little tablets or potsherds were used, with the names written upon them, and these were drawn out of an urn. This may be inferred from a comparison of Jos 18:11 and Jos 19:1, with Jos 18:6, Jos 18:10, according to which the casting of the lot took place in such a manner that the lot came up (עלה, Jos 18:11; Jos 19:10; Lev 16:9), or came out (יצא, Jos 19:1; Jos 19:24; Num 33:54). בּחרם הנּלכּד, the person taken in (with) the ban, i.e., taken by the lot as affected with the ban, was to be burned with fire, of course not alive, but after he had been stoned (Jos 7:25). The burning of the body of a criminal was regarded as heightening the punishment of death (vid., Lev 20:14). This punishment was to be inflicted upon him, in the first place, because he had broken the covenant of Jehovah; and in the second place, because he had wrought folly in Israel, that is to say, had offended grievously against the covenant God, and also against the covenant nation. "Wrought folly:" an expression used here, as in Gen 34:7, to denote such a crime as was irreconcilable with the honour of Israel as the people of God.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Achan Found Guilty and Punished

v. 10. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? This direct answer of Jehovah implied that Joshua had no reason to doubt the faithfulness of the Lord, but that the fault lay with the people.

v. 11. Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. It was Israel that had broken faith by setting aside the obligations of the covenant of Jehovah; for they have even taken of the accursed thing, thus far have they forgotten themselves, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, acting a lie before Jehovah, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Since the stolen goods were devoted to Jehovah by His express command, their being taken for private use was the height of blasphemous violence. The language of the Lord is very dramatic, laden with the most intense emotion.

v. 12. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed, lying under the ban of Jehovah, destined for destruction unless the cause were removed; neither will I be with you any more except ye destroy the accursed from among you, the person actually guilty, who had involved the entire people in his guilt.

v. 13. Up, sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, as in Jos 3:5; for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing, something under Jehovah’s ban, in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

v. 14. In the morning, therefore, ye shall be brought, into the presence of Jehovah, before the Tabernacle, according to your tribes; and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man. So lots were to be cast, first upon the tribes, then upon the clans into which the guilty tribe was divided, then upon the houses of the fathers, the groups of families under one patriarchal ancestor, and finally upon the heads of the households included in the guilty house of the fathers.

v. 15. And it shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, after having been stoned to death. Lev 20:14, he and all that he hath, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he hath wrought folly in Israel, moral foolishness and iniquity, resulting in trouble for the entire people.

v. 16. So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken, declared to be the guilty one by the falling of the lots, under the direction of Jehovah.

v. 17. And he brought the family of Judah, the various clans into which the tribe of Judah was divided; and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family, or clan, of the Zarhites man by man, the heads of the various houses of the fathers; and Zabdi was taken;

v. 18. and he brought his household man by man, all the heads of the individual families; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken, declared to be the guilty man by the testimony of the lots, whose falling or drawing was directed by Jehovah.

v. 19. And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, a very solemn formula of adjuration, and make confession unto Him; by admitting the truth Achan was to give praise to God, declaring His judgments to be righteous, also in the matter of his own punishment; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. Achan should confess his sin in order to clear the rest of the people and to receive forgiveness for himself, although he had outwardly fallen under the irrevocable sentence of God.

v. 20. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed I have sinned. against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:

v. 21. when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, a very precious, skillfully woven mantle, such as were made in Babylon and sold far and wide in the neighboring countries, and two hundred shekels of silver (about $128), and a wedge of gold, a piece of jewelry in the form of a tongue, of fifty shekels’ weight (worth about $480); then. I coveted them and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. That is the progress of sin: seeing, coveting, taking, hiding, dissembling.

v. 22. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran into the tent; and, behold, it, the stolen mantle, was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.

v. 23. And they took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them unto Joshua and unto all the children of Israel, as they were assembled before the Lord, and laid them out before the Lord, probably in the court of the Tabernacle.

v. 24. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, the detailed enumeration serving to emphasize his guilt, and his sons, and his daughters, since they shared in their father’s guilt by concealing his theft, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had, all his possessions coming under the curse; and they brought them unto the Valley of Achor.

v. 25. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us, brought misfortune upon us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day. Achan, as the chief transgressor, is addressed. And all Israel stoned him with stones, this form of punishment signifying that Achan had by his robbery violated the honor of God, in the same way as blasphemers did, and burned them, his sons and daughters with him, with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

v. 26. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day, commemorating his disgrace and serving as a warning for many years, until this account was embodied in the book. So the Lord, after the punishment of the guilty, turned from the fierceness of His anger, which includes the certainty that His assistance was assured for the future. Wherefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Achor (trouble) unto this day. The story of Achan contains an earnest lesson; for, although he was truly repentant, yet he had to suffer the penalty of his transgression. Thus a repentant sinner may be assured of the forgiveness of God and yet be obliged to suffer the punishment which was set upon his transgression. It is in this connection that a false sentimentalism is working more harm than good and making hypocrites out of many criminals who learn to play upon men’s feelings.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Yahweh tells Joshua why Israel is cursed.

Why are you lying there on your face?

God used this question to rebuke Joshua for lying there on his face. AT: "Stop lying there with your face in the dirt!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

the things that were set apart

These are the things "marked for destruction" from Joshua 6:18-19. AT: "the cursed things" or "those things which God has cursed"

They have stolen and then also hidden their sin

Hiding their sin represents trying to keep others from knowing that they have sinned. AT: "They have stolen those things, and then they tried to keep people from knowing that they sinned" (See: Metaphor)

cannot stand before their enemies

Standing before their enemies represents fighting successfully against their enemies. AT: "cannot fight successfully against their enemies" or "cannot defeat their enemies" (See: Metonymy)

They turned their backs from their enemies

Doing this represents running away from their enemies. AT: "They ran away from their enemies" (See: Metonymy)

I will not be with you any more

Being with Israel represents helping Israel. AT: "I will not help you any more" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

Yahweh

Joshua

Israel

sin

covenant

command

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Get yourself up. [Even though we read the word as קֻם], it is written קם [which could be read קָם]. [The explanation therefore would be as follows]: Your prayers to Me have stood up for you, and [everything] you mentioned. Another explanation: you stood yourself in the camp and did not go out with them, and I had said, ‘Who will take them out [to war] and who will bring them [back].’ ‘For you will bring the Bnei Yisroel— and I will be with you.’ ‘For he will cross over before this people, and he will spur them on to inherit.’ If you go before them, they will succeed, and if not, they will not succeed. Another explanation: Get yourself up, it is your fault [because of you] that this has happened to them. I did not tell you to sanctify the booty of the city.

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.