Joshua 7:17

Verse 17. And he brought the family of Judah] Dr. Kennicott observes, "All Israel came near by TRIBES, and one tribe was fixed on; then that tribe came by its FAMILIES, and one family was fixed on; then came that family by its HOUSEHOLDS, and one household was fixed on, and then that household, coming MAN by MAN, one man was fixed on. Yet according to the present text, in the execution of this command, all Israel came, and the tribe of Judah was fixed on; secondly came the families of Judah, and the family of the Zarhites was fixed on; thirdly came the family of the Zarhites MAN by MAN, and Zabdi was fixed on; and fourthly came the household of Zabdi MAN by MAN, and Achan was fixed on. So that in the third article the word for by households is most certainly left out; and the fourth article, man by man, is improperly expressed twice. Instead of לגברים laggebarim, MAN by MAN, in Jos 7:17, the true word לבתים labbottim, by HOUSEHOLDS, is preserved in six Hebrew copies, and the Syriac version. By this method was discovered Achan, as he is here five times called, though the valley in which he was stoned is called Achor. He is also called Achar in the text, and in all the versions, in 1Ch 2:7. He is called Achar in the five places of Joshua in the Syrian version; also in all five in the Greek of the Vatican MS., and twice in the Alexandrian MS., and so in Josephus." - Kennicott's Observat.

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

Jos 7:17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:

Ver. 17. And Zabdi was taken.] Yet all this while Achan repenteth not, confesseth not his fault. The devil had gagged him, and his heart was hardened by the deceitfulness of that cursed sin of covetousness, the property whereof is first to turn men’s hearts into earth and mud, and afterwards to freeze and congeal them into steel and adamant.

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 7:17. The family — Either, 1st, The tribe or people, as the word family sometimes signifies; or, 2d, The families, as Jos 7:14, the singular number being put for the plural, the chief of each of their five families, Num 26:20-21. Man by man — Not every individual person, as is evident from Jos 7:18, but every head of the several houses or lesser families of that greater family of the Zarhites, of which see 1Ch 2:6.

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

And he brought the family of Judah,.... That is, the tribe of Judah, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it, (z); or rather, the several families in that tribe, even the heads of them:

and he took the family of the Zarhites: which descended from Zerah the son of Judah; that was taken by lot:

and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and cast lots on them:

and Zabdi was taken: that part of the family of the Zarhites which sprung from Zabdi, a son of Zerah.

(z) So R. Sol. Ohel Moed, fol. 94. 2.

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

The family of Judah; either,

1. The tribe or people, as the word family sometimes signifies, as Jdg 13:2; Zec 12:13; Amo 3:1; Act 3:25, compared with Rev 1:7. Or,

2. The families, as Jos 7:14, the singular number for the plural, the chief of each of their five families, Num 26:20,21.

Man by man; not every individual person, as is evident from Jos 7:18, but every head of the several houses or lesser families of that greater family of the Zarhites, of which see 1Ch 2:6.

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

17. The family of Judah — Some codices read families of Judah, but the singular is to be preferred. The meaning is the tribe, or collective family.

He took the family of the Zarhites — The lot, under Divine guidance, designated this division of Judah as containing the criminal.

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

The family - Either,

1. the tribe or people, as the word family sometimes signifies, or,

2. the families, as ver. 14, the singular number for the plural, the chief of each of their five families, Num. xxvi, 20, 21. Man by man - Not every individual person, as is evident from ver. 18, but every head of the several houses, or lesser families of that greater family of the Zarhites, of which see 1 Chron. ii, 6.

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

And when he brought near the family of Yehudah. To the initial casting of lots he brought the heads of families near, one man from each family, and they cast lots [to see] on whom it would fall. Afterwards lots were cast on each household— one man from each household came to the casting of lots, and then came all the men of that particular household.

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.