A verse by verse commentary on Joshua 7 dealing with the sin of Achan, and then the judgment of losing a battle to the enemy in Ai. Achan and all he had was burned in the Valley of Achor.

1. JOSHUA 7 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Achan’s Sin
1 But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to
the devoted things[a]; Achan son of Karmi, the
son of Zimri,[b] the son of Zerah, of the tribe of
Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger
burned against Israel.
BAR ES, "Committed a trespass - (compare Lev_5:15 note), “acted
treacherously and committed a breach of faith.” This suitably describes the sin of Achan,
who had purloined and hidden away that which had been dedicated to God by the ban
Jos_6:19.
The “trespass” was the act of one man, yet is imputed to all Israel, who also share in
the penalty of it Jos_7:5. This is not to be explained as though all the people participated
in the covetousness which led to Achan’s sin Jos_7:21. The nation as a nation was in
covenant with God, and is treated by Him not merely as a number of individuals living
together for their own purposes under common institutions, but as a divinely-
constituted organic whole. Hence, the sin of Achan defiled the other members of the
community as well as himself. and robbed the people collectively of holiness before God
and acceptableness with Him. Israel had in the person of Achan broken the covenant
Jos_7:11; God therefore would no more drive out the Canaanites before them.
The accursed thing - Rather “in that which had been devoted or dedicated.” Achan
in diverting any of these devoted things to his own purposes, committed the sin of
sacrilege, that of Ananias and Sapphira. Act_5:2-3.
Achan or Achar - (the marginal reference) the “n” and “r” being interchanged,
perhaps for the sake of accommodating the name to ‫עכר‬ ‛âkar, “trouble” Jos_7:25. Zabdi
is generally identified with the Zimri of 1Ch_2:6. Zerah was twin brother of Pharez and
son of Judah Gen_38:30. In this genealogy, as in others, several generations are
omitted, most likely those which intervened between Zerah and Zabdi, and which
covered the space between the migration of Jacob’s household to Egypt and the Exodus.
(Num_26:5, see the note).

2. CLARKE,"The children of Israel committed a trespass - It is certain that one
only was guilty; and yet the trespass is imputed here to the whole congregation; and the
whole congregation soon suffered shame and disgrace on the account, as their armies
were defeated, thirty-six persons slain, and general terror spread through the whole
camp. Being one body, God attributes the crime of the individual to the whole till the
trespass was discovered, and by a public act of justice inflicted on the culprit the
congregation had purged itself of the iniquity. This was done to render every man
extremely cautious, and to make the people watchful over each other, that sin might be
no where tolerated or connived at, as one transgression might bring down the wrath of
God upon the whole camp. See on Jos_7:12 (note).
The accursed thing - A portion of the spoils of the city of Jericho, the whole of
which God had commanded to be destroyed.
For Achan, the son of Carmi, etc. - Judah had two sons by Tamar: Pharez and
Zarah. Zarah was father of Zabdi, and Zabdi of Carmi, the father of Achan. These five
persons extend through a period of 265 years; and hence Calmet concludes that they
could not have had children before they were fifty or fifty-five years of age. This Achan,
son of Zabdi, is called, in 1Ch_2:6, Achar, son of Zimrie; but this reading is corrected
into Achan by some MSS. in the place above cited.
GILL, "But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed
thing,.... Or concerning it, with respect to it, by taking part of what was devoted to
another use, and forbidden theirs: this was done, not by the whole body of the people,
only by one of them; but it not being discovered who it was, it was imputed to the whole,
on whom it lay to find out the guilty person and punish him, or else the whole must
suffer for it: this chapter begins with a "but", and draws a vail over the fame and glory of
Joshua, observed in Jos_6:27,
for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe
of Judah, took of the accursed thing; of what was devoted to the Lord and to
sacred uses; this he had taken to himself out of the spoil of the city of Jericho, for his
own use, contrary to the command of God: his descent is particularly described, that it
might be known of what family and tribe he was; and it is traced up to Zerah, who was a
son of Judah, Gen_38:30,
and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel; because
of the sin of Achan.
HE RY, "The story of this chapter begins with a but. The Lord was with Joshua,
and his fame was noised through all that country, so the foregoing chapter ends, and it
left no room to doubt but that he would go on as he had begun conquering and to
conquer. He did right, and observed his orders in every thing. But the children of Israel
committed a trespass, and so set God against them; and then even Joshua's name and
fame, his wisdom and courage, could do them no service. If we lose our God, we lose our
friends, who cannot help us unless God be for us. Now here is,
I. Achan sinning, Jos_7:1. Here is only a general mention made of the sin; we shall
afterwards have a more particular account of it from his own mouth. The sin is here said

3. to be taking of the accursed thing, in disobedience to the command and in defiance of
the threatening, Jos_6:18. In the sacking of Jericho orders were given that they should
neither spare any lives nor take any treasure to themselves; we read not of the breach of
the former prohibition (there were none to whom they showed any mercy), but of the
latter: compassion was put off and yielded to the law, but covetousness was indulged.
The love of the world is that root of bitterness which of all others is most hardly rooted
up. Yet the history of Achan is a plain intimation that he of all the thousands of Israel
was the only delinquent in this matter. Had there been more in like manner guilty, no
doubt we should have heard of it: and it is strange there were no more. The temptation
was strong. It was easy to suggest what a pity it was that so many things of value should
be burnt; to what purpose is this waste? In plundering cities, every man reckons himself
entitled to what he can lay his hands on. It was easy to promise themselves secrecy and
impunity. Yet by the grace of God such impressions were made upon the minds of the
Israelites by the ordinances of God, circumcision and the passover, which they had lately
been partakers of, and by the providences of God which had been concerning them, that
they stood in awe of the divine precept and judgment, and generously denied themselves
in obedience to their God. And yet, though it was a single person that sinned, the
children of Israel are said to commit the trespass, because one of their body did it, and
he was not as yet separated from them, nor disowned by them. They did it, that is, by
what Achan did guilt was brought upon the whole society of which he was a member.
This should be a warning to us to take heed of sin ourselves, lest by it many be defiled or
disquieted (Heb_12:15), and to take heed of having fellowship with sinners, and of being
in league with them, lest we share in their guilt. Many a careful tradesman has been
broken by a careless partner. And it concerns us to watch over one another for the
preventing of sin, because others' sins may redound to our damage.
JAMISO , "Jos_7:1. Achan’s trespass.
the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing — There
was one transgressor against the cherem, or ban, on Jericho, and his transgression
brought the guilt and disgrace of sin upon the whole nation.
Achan — called afterwards “Achar” (“trouble”) (1Ch_2:7).
Zabdi — or Zimri (1Ch_2:6).
Zerah — or Zarah, son of Judah and Tamar (Gen_38:30). His genealogy is given
probably to show that from a parentage so infamous the descendants would not be
carefully trained in the fear of God.
CALVI , "Verse 1
1.But the children of Israel committed, etc Reference is made to the crime, and
indeed the secret crime, of one individual, whose guilt is transferred to the whole
people; and not only so, but punishment is at the same time executed against several
who were innocent. But it seems very unaccountable that a whole people should be
condemned for a private and hidden crime of which they had no knowledge. I
answer, that it is not new for the sin of one member to be visited on the whole body.
Should we be unable to discover the reason, it ought to be more than enough for us
that transgression is imputed to the children of Israel, while the guilt is confined to
one individual. But as it very often happens that those who are not wicked foster the
sins of their brethren by conniving at them, a part of the blame is justly laid upon

4. all those who by disguising become implicated in it as partners. For this reason Paul,
(1 Corinthians 5:4) upbraids all the Corinthians with the private enormity of one
individual, and inveighs against their pride in presuming to glory while such a
stigma attached to them. But here it is easy to object that all were ignorant of the
theft, and that therefore there is no room for the maxim, that he who allows a crime
to be committed when he can prevent it is its perpetrator. I certainly admit it not to
be clear why a private crime is imputed to the whole people, unless it be that they
had not previously been sufficiently careful to punish misdeeds, and that possibly
owing to this, the person actually guilty in the present instance had sinned with
greater boldness. It is well known that weeds creep in stealthily, grow apace and
produce noxious fruits, if not speedily torn up. The reason, however, why God
charges a whole people with a secret theft is deeper and more abstruse. He wished
by an extraordinary manifestation to remind posterity that they might all be
criminated by the act of an individual, and thus induce them to give more diligent
heed to the prevention of crimes.
othing, therefore, is better than to keep our minds in suspense until the books are
opened, when the divine judgments which are now obscured by our darkness will be
made perfectly clear. Let it suffice us that the whole people were infected by a
private stain; for so it has been declared by the Supreme Judge, before whom it
becomes us to stand dumb, as having one day to appear at his tribunal. The stock
from which Achan was descended is narrated for the sake of increasing, and, as it
were, propagating the ignominy; just as if it were said, that he was the disgrace of
his family and all his race. For the writer of the history goes up as far as the tribe of
Judah. By this we are taught that when any one connected with us behaves himself
basely and wickedly, a stigma is in a manner impressed upon us in his person that
we may be humbled — not that it can be just to insult over all the kindred of a
wicked man, but first, that all kindred may be more careful in applying mutual
correction to each other, and secondly, that they may be led to recognize that either
their connivance or their own faults are punished.
A greater occasion of scandal, fitted to produce general alarm, was offered by the
fact of the crime having been detected in the tribe of Judah, which was the flower
and glory of the whole nation. It was certainly owing to the admirable counsel of
God, that a pre-eminence which fostered the hope of future dominion resided in that
tribe. But when near the very outset this honor was foully stained by the act of an
individual, the circumstance might have occasioned no small disturbance to weak
minds. The severe punishment, however, wiped away the scandal which might
otherwise have existed; and hence we gather that when occasion has been given to
the wicked to blaspheme, the Church has no fitter means of removing the
opprobrium than that of visiting offences with exemplary punishment.
TRAPP, " But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for
Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah,
took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the
children of Israel.

5. Ver. 1. But the children of Israel committed.] All were involved, because of the same
body politic: and every man is bound to be his brother’s keeper, to see that the law
be not only observed but preserved: since one sinner may destroy much good.
[Ecclesiastes 9:18] Propter contagionem peccati. (a)
For Achan, the son of Carmi, &c.] He was well descended, but became a stain to his
ancestors by his covetousness, which was the worse in him, because he had, of his
own, oxen, asses, sheep, &c. [Joshua 6:24 Proverbs 6:30] The devil knew his temper,
felt which way his pulse beat, and accordingly fitted him with an object, set a prize
before him: hence he is called "the tempter" [Matthew 4:3]
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.] Who all
smarted for this one man’s sin: as the neck is seared and rowled oft for the rheum
that runneth down into the eyes: and as a vein is opened in the arm to turn the
course of the blood, or to ease the pain of the head.
PETT, "Verse 1
Chapter 7 The Sin of Achan and Failure at Ai.
Because of the sin of Achan, when they advanced on Ai, the children of Israel were
smitten and put to flight by ‘the men of Ai’. This gave Joshua and the elders of the
people great concern, both for Israel and for the name of YHWH. This was
expressed by Joshua in prayer to God, and when YHWH informed him of the
reason for it, He also gave him directions for discovering the guilty person, and for
the man’s punishment. Joshua followed these directions, and the person was
discovered, and confessed, upon which he and all he had, with the things he had
taken, were burnt with fire.
Joshua 7:1
‘But the children of Israel committed a trespass with regard to what was devoted,
for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of
Judah, took of what was devoted, and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against the
children of Israel.’
Before the story of Israel’s first defeat in the land we are given the reason for it. God
had been disobeyed in the most dreadful way. Achan had secretly stolen from
YHWH something from Jericho, something in other words that had been ‘devoted’
to Him by the whole of Israel, and the result was that there was ‘a devoted thing’ in
the camp of Israel for which the whole of Israel had to take blame. This was the
principle of community responsibility whereby the many must share the guilt of the
one (from our standpoint it would be on the grounds that his failure was due to their
wider failure in failing to provide the right moral background). It was their
responsibility to ensure that it did not happen and that YHWH received His due.
Thus the trespass was committed by the whole of Israel.

6. BE SO , "Joshua 7:1. But the children of Israel — That is, one of them. It is a
usual form of speech in the Holy Scriptures, to ascribe that to many indefinitely,
which properly belonged only to one or two of the same body or society. Thus
(Matthew 26:8) we find that to be ascribed to all the disciples which was done by
Judas alone: see John 12:4. Committed a trespass in the accursed thing — Offended
God by taking some of the spoils which were devoted to destruction, or
appropriated to God’s treasury, with a curse upon him who took them. Achan, the
son of Carmi — He is called Achar, (1 Chronicles 2:7,) a word that signifies, He
troubled. It is probable that as he had troubled Israel, (Joshua 7:25,) they changed
his name thus in after-times. Zabdi — Called also Zimri, 1 Chronicles 2:6. Zerah —
Or Zarah, who was Judah’s immediate son, (Genesis 38:30,) who went with his
father into Egypt when he was very young. And thus, for making up the two
hundred and fifty-six years that are supposed to come between that and this time,
we must allow Achan to be now an old man, and his three ancestors to have
begotten each his son at about sixty years of age; which at that time was not
incredible nor unusual. Against the children of Israel — Why did God punish the
whole society for this one man’s sin? All of them were punished for their own sins,
whereof each had a sufficient proportion; but God took this occasion to inflict the
punishment upon the society. 1st, Because divers of them might be guilty of this sin,
either by coveting to do what he actually did, or by concealing his fault, which, it is
probable, could not be unknown to others, or by not sorrowing for it, and
endeavouring to purge themselves from it: 2d, To make sin the more hateful, as
being the cause of such dreadful judgments: and, 3d, To oblige all the members of
every society to be more circumspect in ordering their own actions, and more
diligent to prevent the miscarriage of their brethren.
WHEDO , "1. But the children of Israel committed a trespass — Many have found
great difficulty here. There was but one personal sinner. How can the whole nation,
then, be charged with sin? Calvin, dissatisfied with the many different explanations,
advises that “we suspend our decisions till when the books are opened, and the
judgments, now holden in darkness, are clearly explained.” It is certain that the
crime of one had robbed the nation of that innocence which is pleasing to God. Such
are the relations of human society that a community is punished for the sins of a
part of its constituents. ational punishments are inflicted in this life because
nations do not exist after death. It follows, therefore, that while a nation may suffer
from the sin of an individual, that suffering is temporal, and not eternal, to those
who are not personally involved in the guilt. [“The Scriptures teach that a nation is
one organic whole, in which the individuals are merely members of the same body,
and are not atoms isolated from one another and the whole. The State is there
treated as a divine institution, founded upon family relationships, and intended to
promote the love of all to one another, and to the invisible Head of all. As all, then,
are combined in a fellowship established by God, the good or evil deeds of an
individual affect beneficially or injuriously the whole society.” — Keil. All this is
simply an admonitory form in which Jehovah places the divine administration of
justice. Each man who suffers is worthy of death for his own sin, and no wrong is
done to any. See note on Matthew 23:35.]

7. In the accursed thing — In appropriating to private use that which had been
solemnly consecrated to God, or devoted to destruction. See note, Joshua 6:17-18.
Achan — Called in 1 Chronicles 2:7, Achar, the troubler of Israel.
Son of Carmi — His genealogy is thus traced out in view of the method of his
detection. Compare Joshua 7:16-18. He seems to have been a descendant of Judah in
the fifth generation.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel — The entire
community has become infected with the guilt of one of its members.
Verses 1-26
THE TRESPASS A D PU ISHME T OF ACHA , Joshua 7:1-26.
[After the fall of Jericho the prestige of Israel was exceedingly great. The name of
Jehovah was a terror to the idolatrous nations of the land, and the chosen people,
glorying in his matchless power and their own wondrous triumphs, were in danger
of forgetting that his wrath burns against every appearance of evil, and would fall
as fiercely on an offender in the camp of Israel as on the armies of the aliens. Hence
the severe and solemn lesson taught by the sin and punishment of Achan.]
COFFMA , "Verse 1
THE DEFEAT AT AI
Contrasting sharply with the previous chapter, this one reveals a shocking setback
to Israel's progress, namely, the defeat at Ai. Many Bible students have been
impressed with the manner in which the experiences of Joshua parallel those of the
early church in the Book of Acts.
(1) The glorious success of Pentecost was soon followed by the shameful episode of
Ananias and his wife Sapphira. Here the great success at Jericho is quickly followed
by the shameful defeat at Ai.
(2) Secret sin was, in both cases, the cause of the sudden reversal of fortune - that of
Achan here, and that of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts.
(3) The capital punishment of the offenders was immediately enforced - that of
Achan by Joshua, and that of Ananias and Sapphira by the Lord.
(4) The punishment in each case was executed in the presence of all of God's
congregation.
(5) The original success of God's people was at once resumed in both cases.
(6) Greed, or covetousness on the part of the offenders was the cause of the trouble
in both cases.

8. "But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted thing; for Achan, the
son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the
devoted thing: and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the children of Israel."
Matthew Henry, and others, have pointed out that, "This chapter begins with a
"BUT."[1] That word, with all that is entailed, echoes like a sour note in a
symphony throughout the entire O.T. This also is echoed in the writings of the ew
Testament. The name "Herod" in Matthew 2:1, is exactly the same kind of change
as that noted here.
We are amazed at Jamieson's comment on Achan's ancestry, which he called
"infamous."[2] Yes, it is true enough that his ancestry is here traced back to the
incestuous union between Judah and Tamar, but apparently Jamieson overlooked
the fact that this is also the ancestry of the Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, we must
look to something else besides the ancestry of Achan to discover the cause of his sin.
There is no problem with the genealogy of Achan here, which contains only five
names to cover the period reaching all the way back to Judah and Tamar. "In this
genealogy (as in many others in the Bible) several generations are omitted."[3]
One of the significant things here is the fact that the sin of a SI GLE person could
bring down the wrath of God upon the WHOLE congregation of Israel.
COKE, "The Israelites are put to flight near Ai: the Lord raises up the prostrate
Joshua, and tells him, that some of the accursed thing had been taken; commands
him to inquire for the guilty person, and to condemn him when found; Achan is
found guilty, is stoned, and all belonging to him burnt in the fire.
Before Christ 1451.
Verse 1
Ver. 1. But the children of Israel— Though there was but one guilty, the historian
attributes to the whole society, whereof Achan was a member, the criminal action
which he had committed. This is the style of Scripture, and it is the language of
reason. See Calmet. A people, properly speaking, is only one moral person. The
common interest, which connects all the members of it together, warrants the
imputing to the whole nation what is done by the individuals who compose it, unless
it be expressly disavowed.
Committed a trespass in the accused thing— They committed a trespass, by keeping
back somewhat desecrated; or, as the LXX has it, by setting apart something of the
curse; of the booty which was made in the sacking of Jericho; though this was
forbidden under pain of incurring the most rigorous effects of the divine
malediction.
For Achan, the son of Carmi, &c.— He is called Achar, 1 Chronicles 2:7. This latter

9. name, which signifies trouble, was evidently given him in allusion to the reproof that
Joshua gave him previous to his being stoned, of having troubled Israel, ver. 25.
Zabdi is the same who, in 1 Chronicles 2:6 is called Zimri. Zerah, the son of Judah,
came into Egypt with his father very young. It is not said that he had any children
there; and we cannot suppose him to be less than seventy years old when he became
father of Zabdi. If, as Bonfrere thinks, Zabdi was as old when Carmi was born, and
Carmi as old when he begat Achan, the latter must have been above fifty at the
taking of Jericho; an age at which many men begin to be over-attached to the things
of the world, and set too high a value upon them.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled, &c.— The crime of one member of this
body drew down marks of the divine indignation on all the Israelites, (who in other
respects, doubtless, deserved it,) in order to stir them up to search out the guilty,
and inflict upon him the just punishment of the danger to which he had exposed
them. We may further observe, 1. That there were, perhaps, many Israelites guilty,
in their desires, of the crime of Achan, and who would actually have committed it,
had they dared; and others who knew it, but had given themselves no concern on
that account, and had not even deigned to inform Joshua of it. 2. That by chastising
the whole body for the faults of one, or of several individuals, God proposed to
render all the Israelites more circumspect, more attentive to each other's conduct,
and more careful to remove from sinners every occasion of doing evil. 3. That by
this severity he designed to render sin more odious to the whole nation.
CO STABLE, ""But" very significantly introduces this chapter. Chapter6 is a
record of supernatural victory, but chapter7 describes a great defeat.
Even though Achan was the individual who sinned, and even though his sin was
private, God regarded what he did as the action of the whole nation. This was so
because he was a member of the community of Israel and his actions affected the
rest of the Israelites. The Hebrew word translated "unfaithfully" (maal) means
"treacherously" or "secretly."
Achan had not just taken some things that did not belong to him. This would have
been bad in itself. He stole what was dedicated to God, and he robbed the whole
nation of its innocence before God. The Lord"s blazing anger against Israel fell on
Achan and literally consumed him ( Joshua 7:25; cf. Hebrews 12:29).
K&D, "At Jericho the Lord had made known to the Canaanites His great and holy
name; but before Ai the Israelites were to learn that He would also sanctify Himself on
them if they transgressed His covenant, and that the congregation of the Lord could only
conquer the power of the world so long as it was faithful to His covenant. But
notwithstanding the command which Joshua had enforced upon the people (Jos_6:18),
Achan, a member of the tribe of Judah, laid hands upon the property in Jericho which
had been banned, and thus brought the ban upon the children of Israel, the whole
nation. His breach of trust is described as unfaithfulness (a trespass) on the part of the
children of Israel in the ban, in consequence of which the anger of the Lord was kindled
against the whole nation. ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ָ‫,מ‬ to commit a breach of trust (see at Lev_5:15),

10. generally against Jehovah, by purloining or withholding what was sanctified to Him,
here in the matter of the ban, by appropriating what had been banned to the Lord. This
crime was imputed to the whole people, not as imputatio moralis, i.e., as though the
whole nation had shared in Achan's disposition, and cherished in their hearts the same
sinful desire which Achan had carried out in action in the theft he had committed; but as
imputatio civilis, according to which Achan, a member of the nation, had robbed the
whole nation of the purity and holiness which it ought to possess before God, through
the sin that he had committed, just as the whole body is affected by the sin of a single
member.
(Note: In support of this I cannot do better than quote the most important of the
remarks which I made in my former commentary (Keil on Joshua, pp. 177-8, Eng.
trans.): “However truly the whole Scriptures speak of each man as individually an
object of divine mercy and justice, they teach just as truly that a nation is one organic
whole, in which the individuals are merely members of the same body, and are not
atoms isolated from one another and the whole, since the state as a divine institution
is founded upon family relationship, and intended to promote the love of all to one
another and to the invisible Head of all. As all then are combined in a fellowship
established by God, the good or evil deeds of an individual affect injuriously or
beneficially the welfare of the whole society. And, therefore, when we regard the state
as a divine organization and not merely as a civil institution, a compact into which
men have entered by treaty, we fail to discover caprice and injustice in consequences
which necessarily follow from the moral unity of the whole state; namely, that the
good or evil deeds of one member are laid to the charge of the entire body. Caprice
and injustice we shall always find if we leave out of sight this fundamental unity, and
merely look at the fact that the many share the consequences of the sin of one.”)
Instead of Achan (the reading here and in Jos_22:20) we find Achar in 1Ch_2:7, the
liquids n and r being interchanged to allow of a play upon the verb ‫ר‬ ַ‫כ‬ ָ‫ע‬ in Jos_7:25.
Hence in Josephus the name is spelt Acharos, and in the Cod. Vat. of the lxx Achar,
whereas the Cod. Al. has Achan. Instead of Zabdi, we find Zimri in 1Ch_2:6, evidently a
copyist's error. Zerah was the twin-brother of Pharez (Gen_38:29-30). Matteh, from ‫ה‬ ָ‫ט‬ָ‫,נ‬
to spread out, is used to denote the tribe according to its genealogical ramifications;
whilst shebet (from an Arabic root signifying “uniform, not curled, but drawn out
straight and long with any curvature at all”) was applied to the sceptre or straight staff of
a magistrate or ruler (never to the stick upon which a person rested), and different from
matteh not only in its primary and literal meaning, but also in the derivative meaning
tribe, in which it was used to designate the division of the nation referred to, not
according to its genealogical ramifications and development, but as a corporate body
possessing authority and power. This difference in the ideas expressed by the two words
will explain the variations in their use: for example, matteh is used here (in Jos_7:1 and
Jos_7:18), and in Jos_22:1-14, and in fact is the term usually employed in the
geographical sections; whereas shebet is used in Jos_7:14, Jos_7:16, in Jos_3:12; Jos_
4:2, and on many other occasions, in those portions of the historical narratives in which
the tribes of Israel are introduced as military powers.
BI, "But the children of Israel committed a trespass
Corporate responsibility

11. This is here attributed to the whole people, which was really the act of but one man or
one family.
This is not because of any guilty participation in this trespass by others; there is no
intimation that any others of the people were involved in a like crime. Nor is there any
implication that others were privy to the crime of Achan, and by concealment of the fact
became its abettors and sharers in its guilt. In all probability his act was not known or
suspected beyond the limits of his own family. Nevertheless, Israel was one people, and
it is here dealt with as one corporate body. There was criminality in the midst of them.
And it was necessary that it should be disavowed and punished, in order that the people
might be freed from all complicity and connection with it. (W. H. Green, D. D.)
Destruction a duty
Many a thing which is attractive in itself ought to be destroyed; and if it ought to be
destroyed, it ought not to be preserved. The contents of a saloon, or of a gambling-
house, books and pictures which are harmful in themselves, which are, by their owners
or by the public authorities, devoted to destruction, ought to be destroyed. To preserve
any portion of them, under such circumstances, would be a wrong on the part of him
whose duty it was to destroy them. To preserve a private letter which is entrusted to one
to destroy is not in itself an act of theft, but it is an inexcusable breach of trust; and if no
one else in the world is ever harmed by it, the one who preserves the letter is the worse
for so doing. The destroying of that which ought to be destroyed is as clearly one’s duty
in its place, as the preserving of that which ought to be preserved. (H. C. Trumbull.)
PULPIT, "THE DEFEAT BEFORE AI.—
Joshua 7:1
Committed a trespass in the accursed thing. The word ‫ַל‬‫ע‬ָ‫מ‬, here used, signifies
originally to cover, whence ‫ִיל‬‫ע‬ְ‫מ‬ a garment. Hence it comes to mean to act
deceitfully, or perhaps to steal (cf. the LXX. ἐνοσφίσαντο, a translation rendered
remarkable by the fact that it is the very word used by St. Luke in regard to the
transgression of Ananias and Sapphira. But the LXX. is hare rather a paraphrase
than a translation). It is clearly used here of some secret act. But in Le Joshua 5:15 it
is used of an unwitting trespass, committed ‫ָה‬‫ג‬ָ‫ג‬ ְ‫ִשׁ‬‫בּ‬, in error of fact, but not of
intention. Achan . Called Achar in 1 Chronicles 2:7, no doubt from a reference to
the results of his conduct. He had "troubled Israel" ( ‫ַר‬‫כ‬ָ‫ע‬(,1 Chronicles 2:25, and
the valley which witnessed his punishment obtained the name of Achor. The copies
of the LXX. vary between the two forms, the Vatican Codex having Achar; the
Alexandrian, Achan. Zabdi. Zimri in 1 Chronicles 2:6. Such variations of reading
are extremely common, and are increased in our version by the varieties of English
spelling adopted among our translators (see Shemuel for Samuel in 1 Chronicles
6:33). The LXX. has Zambri here. Took of the accursed thing. Commentators have
largely discussed the question how the sin of Achan could be held to extend to the
whole people. But it seems sufficient to reply by pointing out the organic unity of the

12. Israelitish nation. They were then, as Christians are now, the Church of the living
God. And if one single member of the community violated the laws which God
imposed on them, the whole body was liable for his sin, until it had purged itself by
a public act of restitution (see Deuteronomy 21:1-8). So St. Paul regards the
Corinthian Church as polluted by the presence of one single offender, until he was
publicly expelled from its communion (see 1 Corinthians 5:2, 1 Corinthians 5:6, 1
Corinthians 5:7). The very words "body politic" applied to a state imply the same
idea—that of a connection so intimate between the members of a community that
the act of one affects the whole. And if this be admitted to be the case in ordinary
societies, how much more so in the people of God, who were under His special
protection, and had been specially set apart to His service? In the history of Achan,
moreover, we read the history of secret sin, which, though unseen by any earthly
eye, does nevertheless pollute the offender, and through him the Church of God, by
lowering his general standard of thought and action, enfeebling his moral sense,
checking the growth of his inner and devotional life, until, by a resolute act of
repentance and restitution towards God, the sin is finally acknowledged and put
away. "A lewd man is a pernicious creature. That he damnes his own soule is the
least part of his misehiefe; he commonly drawes vengeance upon a thousand, either
by the desert of his sinne, or by the infection" (Bp. Hall).
EBC, "ACHA 'S TRESPASS.
Joshua 7:1-26.
A VESSEL in full sail scuds merrily over the waves. Everything betokens a
successful and delightful voyage. The log has just been taken, marking an
extraordinary run. The passengers are in the highest spirits, anticipating an early
close of the voyage. Suddenly a shock is felt, and terror is seen on every face. The
ship has struck on a rock. ot only is progress arrested, but it will be a mercy for
crew and passengers if they can escape with their lives.
ot often so violently, but often as really, progress is arrested in many a good
enterprise that seemed to be prospering to a wish. There may be no shock, but there
is a stoppage of movement. The vital force that seemed to be carrying it on towards
the desired consummation declines, and the work hangs fire. A mission that in its
first stages was working out a beautiful transformation, becomes languid and
advances no further. A Church, eminent for its zeal and spirituality, comes down to
the ordinary level, and seems to lose its power. A family that promised well in
infancy and childhood fails of its promise, its sons and daughters waver and fall. A
similar result is often found in the undertakings of common life. Something
mysterious arrests progress in business or causes a decline. In "enterprises of great
pith and moment," "the currents turn awry, and lose the name of action."
In all such cases we naturally wonder what can be the cause. And very often our
explanation is wide of the mark. In religious enterprises, we are apt to fall back on
the sovereignty and inscrutability of God. "He moves in a mysterious way, His

13. wonders to perform." It seems good to Him, for unknown purposes of His own, to
subject us to disappointment and trial. We do not impugn either His wisdom or His
goodness; all is for the best. But, for the most part, we fail to detect the real reason.
That the fault should lie with ourselves is the last thing we think of. We search for it
in every direction rather than at home. We are ingenious in devising far-off theories
and explanations, while the real offender is close at hand - "Israel hath sinned."
It was an unexpected obstacle of this kind that Joshua now encountered in his next
step towards possessing the land. Let us endeavour to understand his position and
his plan. Jericho lay in the valley of the Jordan, and its destruction secured nothing
for Joshua save the possession of that low-lying valley. From the west side of the
valley rose a high mountain wall, which had to be ascended in order to reach the
plateau of Western Palestine. Various ravines or passes ran down from the plateau
into the valley; at the top of one of these, a little to the north of Jericho, was Bethel,
and farther down the pass, nearer the plain, the town or village of Ai. o remains of
Ai are now visible, nor is there any tradition of the name, so that its exact position
cannot be ascertained. It was an insignificant place, but necessary to be taken, in
order to give Joshua command of the pass, and enable him to reach the plateau
above. The plan of Joshua seems to have been to gain command of the plateau about
this point, and thereby, as it were, cut the country in two, so that he might be able to
deal in succession with its southern and its northern sections. If once he could
establish himself in the very centre of the country, keeping his communications open
with the Jordan valley, he would be able to deal with his opponents in detail, and
thus prevent those in the one section from coming to the assistance of the other.
either Ai nor Bethel seemed likely to give him trouble; they were but insignificant
places, and a very small force would be sufficient to deal with them.
Hitherto Joshua had been eminently successful, and his people too. ot a hitch had
occurred in all the arrangements. The capture of Jericho had been an unqualified
triumph. It seemed as if the people of Ai could hardly fail to be paralysed by its fate.
After reconnoitering Ai, Joshua saw that there was no need for mustering the whole
host against so poor a place - a detachment of two or three thousand would be
enough. The three thousand went up against it as confidently as if success were
already in their hands. It was probably a surprise to find its people making any
attempt to drive them off. The men of Israel were not prepared for a vigorous
onslaught, and when it came thus unexpectedly they were taken aback and fled in
confusion. As the men of Ai pursued them down the pass, they had no power to rally
or retrieve the battle; the rout was complete, some of the men were killed, while
consternation was carried into the host, and their whole enterprise seemed doomed
to failure.
And now for the first time Joshua appears in a somewhat humiliating light. He is
not one of the men that never make a blunder. He rends his clothes, falls on his face
with the elders before the ark of the Lord till even, and puts dust upon his head.
There is something too abject in this prostration. And when he speaks to God, it is
in the tone of complaint and in the language of unbelief. ''Alas, O Lord God,
wherefore hast Thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the

14. hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt
on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs
before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall
hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and
what wilt Thou do unto Thy great name?" Thus Joshua almost throws the blame on
God. He seems to have no idea that it may lie in quite another quarter. And very
strangely, he adopts the very tone and almost the language of the ten spies, against
which he had protested so vehemently at the time: "Would God that we had died in
the land of Egypt, or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore
hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our
children should be a prey?" What has become of all your courage, Joshua, on that
memorable day? Is this the man to whom God said so lately, "Be strong, and of
good courage; as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor
forsake thee"? Like Peter on the waters, and like so many of ourselves, he begins to
sink when the wind is contrary, and his cry is the querulous wail of a frightened
child! After all he is but flesh and blood.
ow it is God's turn to speak. "Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy
face?" Why do you turn on Me as if I had suddenly changed, and become forgetful
of My promise? Alas, my friends, how often is God slandered by our complaints!
How often do we feel and even speak as if He had broken His word and forgotten
His promise, as if He had induced us to trust in Him, and accept His service, only to
humiliate us before the world, and forsake us in some great crisis! o wonder if God
speak sharply to Joshua, and to us if we go in Joshua's steps. o wonder if He refuse
to be pleased with our prostration, our wringing of our hands and sobbing, and calls
us to change our attitude. ''Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?"
Then comes the true explanation - "Israel hath sinned." Might you not have divined
that this was the real cause of your trouble? Is not sin directly or indirectly the
cause of all trouble? What was it that broke up the joy and peace of Paradise? Sin.
What brought the flood of waters over the face of the earth to destroy it? Sin. What
caused the confusion of Babel and scattered the inhabitants over the earth in hostile
races? Sin. What brought desolation on that very plain of Jordan, and buried its
cities and its people under an avalanche of fire and brimstone? Sin. What caused the
defeat of Israel at Hormah forty years ago, and doomed all the generation to perish
in the wilderness? Sin. What threw down the walls of Jericho only a few days ago,
gave its people to the sword of Israel, and reduced its homes and its bulwarks to the
mass of ruins you see there? Again, sin. Can you not read the plainest lesson? Can
you not divine that this trouble which has come on you is due to the same cause with
all the rest? And if it be a first principle of Providence that all trouble is due to sin,
would it not be more suitable that you and your elders should now be making
diligent search for it, and trying to get it removed, than that you should be lying on
your faces and howling to me, as if some sudden caprice or unworthy humour of
mine had brought this distress upon you?
''Behold, the Lord's ear is not heavy that it cannot hear, nor His arm shortened that
it cannot save. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God."

15. What a curse that sin is, in ways and forms, too, which we do not suspect! And yet
we are usually so very careless about it. How little pains we take to ascertain its
presence, or to drive it away from among us! How little tenderness of conscience we
show, how little burning desire to be kept from the accursed thing! And when we
turn to our opponents and see sin in them, instead of being grieved, we fall on them
savagely to upbraid them, and we hold them up to open scorn. How little we think if
they are guilty, that their sin has intercepted the favour of God, and involved not
them only, but probably the whole community in trouble! How unsatisfactory to
God must seem the bearing even of the best of us in reference to sin! Do we really
think of it as the object of God's abhorrence? As that which destroyed Paradise, as
that which has covered the earth with lamentation and mourning and woe, kindled
the flames of hell, and brought the Son of God to suffer on the cross? If only we had
some adequate sense of sin, should we not be constantly making it our prayer -
''Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if
there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting"?
The peculiar covenant relation in which Israel stood to God caused a method to be
fallen on for detecting their sin that is not available for us. The whole people were to
be assembled next morning, and inquiry was to be made for the delinquent in God's
way, and when the individual was found condign punishment was to be inflicted.
First the tribe was to be ascertained, then the family, then the man. For this is God's
way of tracking sin. It might be more pleasant to us that He should deal with it more
generally, and having ascertained, for example, that the wrong had been done by a
particular tribe or community, inflict a fine or other penalty on that tribe in which
we should willingly bear our share. For it does not grieve us very much to sin when
every one sins along with us. ay, we can even make merry over the fact that we are
all sinners together, all in the same condemnation, in the same disgrace. But it is a
different thing when we are dealt with one by one. The tribe is taken, the family is
taken, but that is not all; the household that God shall take shall come man by man!
It is that individualizing of us that we dread; it is when it comes to that, that
"conscience makes cowards of us all." When a sinner is dying, he becomes aware
that this individualizing process is about to take place, and hence the fear which he
often feels. He is no longer among the multitude, death is putting him by himself,
and God is coming to deal with him by himself. If he could only be hid in the crowd
it would not matter, but that searching eye of God - who can stand before it? What
will all the excuses or disguises or glosses he can devise avail before Him who "sets
our iniquities before Him, our secret sins in the light of His countenance"? " either
is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; for all things are naked, and
opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Happy, in that hour, they
who have found the Divine covering for sin: ''Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."
But before passing on to the result of the scrutiny, we find ourselves face to face
with a difficult question. If, as is here intimated, it was one man that sinned, why
should the whole nation have been dealt with as guilty? Why should the historian, in
the very first verse of this chapter, summarise the transaction by saying: "But the

16. children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted thing: for Achan, the son of
Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zevsihy of the tribe of Judah, took of the
devoted thing; and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of
Israel"? Why visit the offence of Achan on the whole congregation, causing a
peculiarly humiliating defeat to take place before an insignificant enemy,
demoralizing the whole host, driving Joshua to distraction, and causing the death of
six-and-thirty men?
In dealing with a question of this sort, it is indispensable that we station ourselves at
that period of the world's history; we must place before our minds some of the ideas
that were prevalent at the time, and abstain from judging of what was done then by
a standard which is applicable only to our own day.
And certain it is that, what we now call the solidarity of mankind, the tendency to
look on men rather as the members of a community than as independent
individuals, each with an inalienable standing of his own, had a hold of men's minds
then such as it has not to-day, certainly among Western nations. To a certain extent,
this principle of solidarity is inwoven in the very nature of things, and cannot be
eliminated, however we may try. Absolute independence and isolation of individuals
are impossible. In families, we suffer for one another's faults, even when we hold
them in abhorrence. We benefit by one another's virtues, though we may have done
our utmost to discourage and destroy them. In the Divine procedure toward us, the
principle of our being a corporate body is often acted upon. The covenant of Adam
was founded on it, and the fall of our first parents involved the fall of all their
descendants. In the earlier stages of the Hebrew economy, wide scope was given to
the principle. It operated in two forms: sometimes the individual suffered for the
community, and sometimes the community for the individual. And the operation of
the principle was not confined to the Hebrew or to other Oriental communities.
Even among the Romans it had a great influence. Admirable though Roman law
was in its regulation of property, it was very defective in its dealings with persons.
''Its great blot was the domestic code. The son was the property of the father,
without rights, without substantial being, in the eye of Roman law. . . . The wife
again was the property of her husband, an ownership of which the moral result was
most disastrous."*
*See Mozley's "Ruling Ideas in the Early Ages," p. 40.
We are to remember that practically the principle of solidarity was fully admitted in
Joshua's time among his people. The sense of injustice and hardship to which it
might give rise among us did not exist. Men recognised it as a law of wide influence
in human affairs, to which they were bound to defer.
Hence it was that when it became known that one man's offence lay at the
foundation of the defeat before Ai, and of the displeasure of God toward the people
at large, there was no outcry, no remonstrance, no complaint of injustice. This could
hardly take place if the same thing were to happen now. It is hard to reconcile the
transaction with our sense of justice. And no doubt, if we view the matter apart and

17. by itself, there may be some ground for this feeling. But the transaction will assume
another aspect if we view it as but a part of a great whole, of a great scheme of
instruction and discipline which God was developing in connection with Israel. In
this light, instead of a hardship it will appear that in the end a very great benefit
was conferred on the people.
Let us think of Achan's temptation. A large amount of valuable property fell into
the hands of the Israelites at Jericho. By a rigorous law, all was devoted to the
service of God. ow a covetous man like Achan might find many plausible reasons
for evading this law. "What I take to myself (he might say) will never be missed.
There are hundreds of Babylonish garments, there are many wedges of gold, and
silver shekels without number, amply sufficient for the purpose for which they are
devoted. If I were to deprive another man of his rightful share, I should be acting
very wickedly; but I am really doing nothing of the kind. I am only diminishing
imperceptibly what is to be used for a public purpose. obody will suffer a whit by
what I do, - it cannot be very wrong."
ow the great lesson taught very solemnly and impressively to the whole nation was,
that this was just awfully wrong. The moral benefit which the nation ultimately got
from the transaction was, that this kind of sophistry, this flattering unction which
leads so many persons ultimately to destruction, was exploded and blown to shivers.
A most false mode of measuring the criminality of sin was stamped with deserved
reprobation. Every man and woman in the nation got a solemn warning against a
common but ruinous temptation. In so far as they laid to heart this warning during
the rest of the campaign, they were saved from disastrous evil, and thus, in the long
run, they profited by the case of Achan.
That sin is to be held sinful only when it hurts your fellow-creatures, and especially
the poor among your fellow-creatures, is a very common impression, but surely it is
a delusion of the devil. That it has such effects may be a gross aggravation of the
wickedness, but it is not the heart and core of it. And how can you know that it will
not hurt others? ot hurt your fellow countrymen, Achan? Why, that secret sin of
yours has caused the death of thirty-six men, and a humiliating defeat of the troops
before Ai. More than that, it has separated between the nation and God. Many say,
when they tell a lie, it was not a malignant lie, it was a lie told to screen some one,
not to expose him, therefore it was harmless. But you cannot trace the consequences
of that lie, any more than Achan could trace the consequences of his theft, otherwise
you would not dare to make that excuse. Many that would not steal from a poor
man, or waste a poor man's substance, have little scruple in wasting a rich man's
substance, or in peculating from Government property. Who can measure the evil
that flows from such ways of trifling with the inexorable law of right, the damage
done to conscience, and the guilt contracted before God? Is there safety for man or
woman except in the most rigid regard to right and truth, even in the smallest
portions of them with which they have to do? Is there not something utterly fearful
in the propagating power of sin, and in its way of involving others, who are perfectly
innocent, in its awful doom? Happy they who from their earliest years have had a
salutary dread of it, and of its infinite ramifications of misery and woe!

18. How well fitted for us, especially when we are exposed to temptation, is that prayer
of the psalmist: "Who can understand his errors? cleanse Thou me from secret
faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have
dominion over me: then shall I be perfect, and I shall be clear of great
transgression."
CHAPTER XV.
ACHA 'S PU ISHME T.
Joshua Ch. 7.
"BE sure your sin will find you out." It has an awful way of leaving its traces
behind it, and confronting the sinner with his crime. ''Though he hide himself in the
top of Carmel, I will search and take him out thence; and though he be hid from My
sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite
him" (Amos 9:3). ''For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret
thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil " (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
When Achan heard of the muster that was to take place next morning, in order to
detect the offender, he must have spent a miserable night. Between the
consciousness of guilt, the sense of the mischief he had done, the dread of detection,
and the foreboding of retribution, his nerves were too much shaken to admit the
possibility of sleep. Weariedly and anxiously he must have tossed about as the hours
slowly revolved, unable to get rid of his miserable thoughts, which would ever keep
swimming about him like the changing forms of a kaleidoscope, but with the same
dark vision of coming doom.
At length the day dawns, the tribes muster, the inquiry begins. It is by the sure,
solemn, simple, process of the lot that the case is to be decided. First the lot is cast
for the tribes, and the tribe of Judah is taken. That must have given the first pang to
Achan. Then the tribe is divided into its families, and the family of the Zarhites is
taken; then the Zarhite famity is brought out man by man, and Zabdi, the father of
Achan, is taken. May we not conceive the heart of Achan giving a fresh beat as each
time the casting of the lot brought the charge nearer and nearer to himself? The
coils are coming closer and closer about him; and now his father's family is brought
out, man by man, and Achan is taken. He is quite a young man, for his father could
only have been a lad when he left Egypt. Look at him, pale, trembling, stricken with
shame and horror, unable to hide himself, feeling it would be such a relief if the
earth would open its jaws and swallow him up, as it swallowed Korah. Look at his
poor wife; look at his father; look at his children. What a load of misery he has
brought on himself and on them! Yes, the way of transgressors is hard.
Joshua's heart is overcome, and he deals gently with the young man. "My son, give,
I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell

19. me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me." There was infinite kindness in
that word "my son." It reminds us of that other Joshua, the Jesus of the ew
Testament, so tender to sinners, so full of love even for those who had been steeped
in guilt. It brings before us the Great High Priest, who is touched with the feeling of
our infirmities, seeing He was in all things tempted like as we are, yet without sin. A
harsh word from Joshua might have set Achan in a defiant attitude, and drawn
from him a denial that he had done anything amiss. How often do we see this! A
child or a servant has done wrong; you are angry, you speak harshly, you get a flat
denial. Or if the thing cannot be denied, you get only a sullen acknowledgment,
which takes away all possibility of good arising out of the occurrence, and embitters
the relation of the parties to each other.
But not only did Joshua speak kindly to Achan, he confronted him with God, and
called on him to think how He was concerned in this matter. "Give glory to the Lord
God of Israel." Vindicate Him from the charge which I and others have virtually
been bringing against Him, of proving forgetful of His covenant. Clear Him of all
blame, declare His glory, declare that He is unsullied in His perfections, and show
that He has had good cause to leave us to the mercy of our enemies. o man as yet
knew what Achan had done. He might have been guilty of some act of idolatry, or of
some unhallowed sensuality like that which had lately taken place at Baal-peor; in
order that the transaction might carry its lesson, it was necessary that the precise
offence should be known. Joshua's kindly address and his solemn appeal to Achan
to clear the character of God had the desired effect. "Achan answered Joshua, and
said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I
done: when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred
shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, 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."
The confession certainly was frank and full; but whether it was made in the spirit of
true contrition, or whether it was uttered in the hope that it would mitigate the
sentence to be inflicted, we cannot tell. It would be a comfort to us to think that
Achan was sincerely penitent, and that the miserable doom which befell him and his
family ended their troubles, and formed the dark introduction to a better life.
Where there is even a possibility that such a view is correct we naturally draw to it,
for it is more than our hearts can well bear to think of so awful a death being
followed by eternal misery.
Certain it is that Joshua earnestly desired to lead Achan to deal with God in the
matter. "Make confession," he said, "unto Him." He knew the virtue of confession
to God. For ''he that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and
forsaketh them shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). ''When I kept silence; my bones
waxed old through my roaring all the day. ... I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and
mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord;
and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin" (Psalms 32:3; Psalms 32:5). It is a
hopeful circumstance in Achan's case that it was after this solemn call to deal with
God in the matter that he made his confession. One hopes that the sudden

20. appearance on the scene of the God whom he had so sadly forgotten, led him to see
his sin in its true light, and drew out the acknowledgment, - ''Against Thee, Thee
only, have I sinned." For no moral effect can be greater than that arising from the
difference between sin covered and sin confessed to God. Sin covered is the fruitful
parent of excuses, and sophistries, and of all manner of attempts to disguise the
harsh features of transgression, and to show that, after all, there was not much
wrong in it.
Sin confessed to God shows a fitting sense of the evil, of the shame which it brings,
and of the punishment which it deserves, and an earnest longing for that forgiveness
and renewal which, the gospel now shows us so clearly, come from Jesus Christ. For
nothing becomes a sinner before God so well as when he breaks down. It is the
moment of a new birth when he sees what miserable abortions all the refuges of lies
are, and, utterly despairing of being able to hide himself from God in his filthy rags,
unbosoms everything to Him with whom "there is mercy and plenteous redemption,
and who will redeem Israel from all his transgressions."
It is a further presumption that Achan was a true penitent, that he told so frankly
where the various articles that he had appropriated were to be found. ''Behold, they
are hid in the midst of my tent." They were scalding his conscience so fearfully that
he could not rest till they were taken away from the abode which they polluted and
cursed. They seemed to be crying out against him and his with a voice which could
not be silenced. To bring them away and expose them to public view might bring no
relaxation of the doom which he expected, but it would be a relief to his feelings if
they were dragged from the hiding hole to which he had so wickedly consigned
them. For the articles were now as hateful to him as formerly they had been
splendid and delightful. The curse of God was on them now, and on him too on their
account. Is there anything darker or deadlier than the curse of God?
And now the consummation arrives. Messengers are sent to his tent, they find the
stolen goods, they bring them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel, and they
lay them out before the Lord. We are not told how the judicial sentence was arrived
at. But there seems to have been no hesitation or delay about it. "Joshua and all the
children of Israel took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and
the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and
his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of
Achor. And Joshua said. Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee
this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned him with fire, after
they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones
unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the
name of that place was called. The valley of Achor, unto this day."
It seems a terrible punishment, but Achan had already brought defeat and disgrace
on his countrymen, he had robbed God, and brought the whole community to the
brink of ruin. It must have been a strong lust that led him to play with such
consequences. What sin is there to which covetousness has not impelled men? And,
strange to say, it is a sin which has received but little check from all the sad

21. experience of the past. Is it not as daring as ever today? Is it not the parent of that
gambling habit which is the terror of all good men, sapping our morality and our
industry, and disposing tens of thousands to trust to the bare chance of an unlikely
contingency, rather than to God's blessing on honest industry? Is it not sheer
covetousness that turns the confidential clerk into a robber of his employer, and
uses all the devices of cunning to discover how long he can carry on his infamous
plot, till the inevitable day of detection arrive and he must fly, a fugitive and a
vagabond, to a foreign land? Is it not covetousness that induces the blithe young
maiden to ally herself to one whom she knows to be a moral leper, but who is high in
rank and full of wealth? Is it not the same lust that induces the trader to send his
noxious wares to savage countries and drive the miserable inhabitants to a deeper
misery and degradation than ever? Catastrophes are always happening: the ruined
gambler blows out his brains; the dishonest clerk becomes a convict, the unhappy
young wife gets into the divorce court, the scandalous trader sinks into bankruptcy
and misery. But there is no abatement of the lust which makes such havoc. If the old
ways of indulging it are abandoned, new outlets are always being found. Education
does not cripple it; civilization does not uproot it; even Christianity does not always
overcome it. It goeth about, if not like a roaring lion, at least like a cunning serpent
intent upon its prey. Within the Church, where the minister reads out "Thou shalt
not covet," and where men say with apparent devoutness, "Lord, have mercy upon
us, and incline our hearts to keep this law" - as soon as their backs are turned, they
are scheming to break it. Still, as of old, "love of money is the root of all evil, which
while some coveted after they erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows."
Achan's sin has found him out, and he suffers its bitter doom. All his visions of
comfort and enjoyment to be derived from his unlawful gain are rudely shattered.
The pictures he has been drawing of what he will do with the silver and the gold and
the garment are for ever dispersed. He has brought disaster on the nation, and
shame and ruin on himself and his house. In all coming time, he must stand in the
pillory of history as the man who stole the forbidden spoil of Jericho. That
disgraceful deed is the only thing that will ever be known of him. Further, he has
sacrificed his life. Young though he is, his life will be cut short, and all that he has
hoped for of enjoyment and honour will be exchanged for a horrible death and an
execrable memory. O sin, thou art a hard master! Thou draggest thy slaves, often
through a short and rapid career, to misery and to infamy!
evertheless, the hand of God is seen here. The punishment of sin is one of the
inexorable conditions of His government. It may look dark and ugly to us, but it is
there. It may create a very different feeling from the contemplation of His love and
goodness, but in our present condition that feeling is wholesome and necessary. As
we follow unpardoned sinners into the future world, it may be awful, it may be
dismal to think of a state from which punishment will never be absent; but the
awfulness and the dismalness will not change the fact. It is the mystery of God's
character that He is at once infinite love and infinite righteousness. And if it be
unlawful for us to exclude His love and dwell only on His justice, it is equally
unlawful to exclude His justice and dwell only on His love. ow, as of old, His

22. memorial is, ''The Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, longsuffering and
abundant in mercy and truth, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that
will by no means clear the guilty."
But if it be awful to contemplate the death, and the mode of death of Achan, how
much more when we think that his wife and his sons and his daughters were stoned
to death along with him! Would that not have been a barbarous deed in any case,
and was it not much more so if they were wholly innocent of his offence?
To mitigate the harshness of this deed, some have supposed that they were privy to
his sin, if not instigators of it. But of this we have not a tittle of evidence, and the
whole drift of the narrative seems to show that the household suffered in the same
manner and on the same ground as that of Korah ( umbers 16:31-33). As regards
the mode of death, it was significant of a harsh and hard-tempered age. either
death nor the sufferings of the dying made much impression on the spectators. This
callousness is almost beyond our comprehension, the tone of feeling is so different
now. But we must accept the fact as it was. And as to the punishment of the wife and
children, we must fall back on that custom of the time which not only gave to the
husband and father the sole power and responsibility of the household, but involved
the wife and children in his doom if at any time he should expose himself to
punishment. As has already been said, neither the wife nor the children had any
rights as against the husband and father; as his will was the sole law, so his
retribution was the common inheritance of all. With him they were held to sin, and
with him they suffered. They were considered to belong to him just as his hands and
his feet belonged to him. It may seem to us very hard, and when it enters, even in a
modified form, into the Divine economy we may cry out against it. Many do still,
and ever will cry out against original sin, and against all that has come upon our
race in consequence of the sin of Adam.
But it is in vain to fight against so apparent a fact. Much wiser surely it is to take the
view of the Apostle Paul, and rejoice that, under the economy of the gospel, the
principle of imputation becomes the source of blessing infinitely greater than the
evil which it brought at the fall. It is one of the greatest triumphs of the Apostle's
mode of reasoning that, instead of shutting his eyes to the law of imputation, he
scans it carefully, and compels it to yield a glorious tribute to the goodness of God.
When his theme was the riches of the grace of God, one might have thought that he
would desire to give a wide berth to that dark fact in the Divine economy - the
imputation of Adam's sin. But instead of desiring to conceal it, he brings it forward
in all its terribleness and universality of application; but with the skill of a great
orator, he turns it round to his side by showing that the imputation of Christ's
righteousness has secured results that outdo all the evil flowing from the imputation
of Adam's sin. "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were
made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made
righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound; but where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound: that, as sin reigned in death, even so might

23. grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord"
(Romans 5:18-21).
Very special mention is made of the place where the execution of Achan and his
family took place. "They brought them unto the valley of Achor, . . . and they raised
over him a great heap of stones, . . . wherefore the name of that place is called, The
valley of Achor, unto this day." Achor, which means trouble seems to have been a
small ravine near the lower part of the valley in which Ai was situated, and
therefore near the scene of the disaster that befell the Israelites. It was not an old
name, but a name given at the time, derived from the occurrence of which it had just
been the scene. It seemed appropriate that poor Achan should suffer at the very
place where others had suffered on his account. It is subsequently referred to three
times in Scripture. Later in this book it is given as part of the northern boundary of
the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:7); in Isaiah (Isaiah 65:10) it is referred to on account
of its fertility; and in Hosea (Hosea 2:15) it is introduced in the beautiful allegory of
the restored wife, who has been brought into the wilderness, and made to feel her
poverty and misery, but of whom God says, "I will give her vineyards from thence,
and the valley of Achor for a door of hope." The reference seems to be to the evil
repute into which that valley fell by the sin of Achan, when it became the valley of
trouble. For, by Achan's sin, what had appeared likely to prove the door of access
for Israel into the land was shut; a double trouble came on the people - partly
because of their defeat, and partly because their entrance into the land appeared to
be blocked. In Hosea's picture of Israel penitent and restored, the valley is again
turned to its natural use, and instead of a scene of trouble it again becomes a door of
hope, a door by which they may hope to enter their inheritance. It is a door of hope
for the penitent wife, a door by which she may return to her lost happiness. The
underlying truth is, that when we get into a right relation to God, what were
formerly evils become blessings, hindrances are turned into helps. Sin deranges
everything, and brings trouble everywhere. The ground was cursed on account of
Adam: not literally, but indirectly, inasmuch as it needed hard and exhausting toil,
it needed the sweat of his face to make it yield him a maintenance. "We know" says
the Apostle, "that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now." "For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of
Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered out of
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
o man can tell all the "trouble" that has come into the world by reason of sin. As
little can we know the full extent of that deliverance that shall take place when sin
comes to an end. If we would know anything of this we must go to those passages
which picture to us the new heavens and the new earth: "In the midst of the street of
it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve
manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of
God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall
see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night
there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth
them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever."

24. MACLARE , "ACHA ’S SI , ISRAEL’S DEFEAT
Joshua 7:1 - Joshua 7:12.
This passage naturally parts itself into-1. The hidden sin [Joshua 7:1]; 2. The
repulse by which it is punished [Joshua 7:2 - Joshua 7:5]; 3. The prayer of
remonstrance [Joshua 7:6 - Joshua 7:9]; and 4. The answer revealing the cause
[Joshua 7:10 - Joshua 7:12]. We may briefly note the salient points in these four
divisions, and then consider the general lessons of the whole.
I. Observe, then, that the sin is laid at the doors of the whole nation, while yet it was
the secret act of one man. That Is a strange ‘for’ in verse 1-the people did it; ‘for’
Achan did it. Observe, too, with what bitter particularity his descent is counted
back through three generations, as if to diffuse the shame and guilt over a wide
area, and to blacken the ancestors of the culprit. ote also the description of the sin.
Its details are not given, but its inmost nature is. The specification of the
‘Babylonish garment,’ the ‘shekels of silver,’ and the ‘wedge of gold,’ is reserved for
the sinner’s own confession; but the blackness of the deed is set forth in its principle
in Joshua 7:1. It was a ‘breach of trust,’ for so the phrase ‘committed a trespass’
might be rendered. The expression is frequent in the Pentateuch to describe Israel’s
treacherous departure from God, and has this full meaning here. The sphere in
which Achan’s treason was evidenced was ‘in the devoted thing.’ The spoil of
Jericho was set aside for Jehovah, and to appropriate any part of it was sacrilege.
His sin, then, was double, being at once covetousness and robbing God. Achan, at
the beginning of Israel’s warfare for Canaan, and Ananias, at the beginning of the
Church’s conquest of the world, are brothers alike in guilt and in doom. ote the
wide sweep of ‘the anger of the Lord,’ involving in its range not only the one
transgressor, but the whole people.
II. All unconscious of the sin, and flushed with victory, Joshua let no grass grow
under his feet, but was prepared to push his advantage to the utmost with soldierly
promptitude. The commander’s faith and courage were contagious, and the spies
came back from their perilous reconnaissance of Ai with the advice that a small
detachment was enough for its reduction. They had not spied the mound in the
middle of Achan’s tent, or their note would have been changed. Three thousand, or
three hundred, would have been enough, if God had been with them. The whole
army would not have been enough since He was not. The site of Ai seems to have
been satisfactorily identified on a small plateau among the intricate network of wild
wadys and bare hills that rise behind Jericho. The valley to the north, the place
where the ambush lay at the successful assault, and a great mound, still bearing the
name ‘Et Tel’ {the heap}, are all there. The attacking force does not seem to have
been commanded by Joshua. The ark stayed at Gilgal, The contempt for the
resistance likely to be met makes the panic which ensued the more remarkable.
What turned the hearts of the confident assailants to water? There was no serious
fighting, or the slaughter would have been more than thirty-six. ‘There went up . . .
about three thousand and they’-did what? fought and conquered? Alas, no, but
‘they fled before the men of Ai,’ rushing in wild terror down the steep pass which
they had so confidently breasted in the morning, till the pursuers caught them up at
some ‘quarries,’ where, perhaps, the ground was difficult, and there slew the few

25. who fell, while the remainder got away by swiftness of foot, and brought back their
terror and their shame to the camp. As the disordered fugitives poured in, they
infected the whole with their panic. Such unwieldy undisciplined hosts are
peculiarly liable to such contagious terror, and we find many instances in Scripture
and elsewhere of the utter disorganisation which ensues. The whole conquest hung
in the balance. A little more and the army would be a mob; and the mob would
break into twos and threes, which would get short shrift from the Amorites.
Ill. Mark, then, Joshua’s action in the crisis. He does not try to encourage the
people, but turns from them to God. The spectacle of the leader and the elders prone
before the ark, with rent garments and dust-bestrewn hair, in sign of mourning,
would not be likely to hearten the alarmed people; but the defeat had clearly shown
that something had disturbed the relation to God, and the first necessity was to
know what it was. Joshua’s prayer is perplexed, and not free from a wistful,
backward look, nor from regard to his own reputation; but the soul of it is an
earnest desire to know the ‘wherefore’ of this disaster. It traces the defeat to God,
and means really, ‘Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me.’ o doubt it runs
perilously near to repeating the old complaints at Kadesh and elsewhere, which are
almost verbally reproduced in its first words. But the same things said by different
people are not the same; and Joshua’s question is the voice of a faith struggling to
find footing, and his backward look is not because he doubts God’s power to help,
or hankers after Egypt, but because he sees that, for some unknown reason, they
have lost the divine protection. His reference to himself betrays the crushing weight
of responsibility which he felt, and comes not from carefulness for his own good
fame so much as from his dread of being unable to vindicate himself, if the people
should turn on him as the author of their misfortunes. His fear of the news of the
check at Ai emboldening not only the neighbouring Amorites {highlanders} of the
western Palestine, but the remoter Canaanites {lowlanders} of the coast, to make a
combined attack, and sweep Israel out of existence, was a perfectly reasonable
forecast of what would follow. The naive simplicity of the appeal to God, ‘What wilt
Thou do for Thy great name?’ becomes the soldier, whose words went the shortest
way to their aim, as his spear did. We cannot fancy this prayer coming from Moses;
but, for all that, it has the ring of faith in it, and beneath its blunt, simple words
throbs a true heart.
IV. The answer sounds strange at first. God almost rebukes him for praying. He
gives Joshua back his own ‘wherefore’ in the question that sounds so harsh,
‘Wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face?’ but the harshness is only apparent,
and serves to point the lesson that follows, that the cause of the disaster is with
Israel, not with God, and that therefore the remedy is not in prayer, but in active
steps to cast out ‘the unclean thing.’ The prayer had asked two things,-the
disclosure of the cause of God’s having left them, and His return. The answer lays
bare the cause, and therein shows the conditions of His return. ote the indignant
accumulation of verbs in Joshua 7:11, describing the sin in all its aspects. The first
three of the six point out its heinousness in reference to God, as sin, as a breach of
covenant, and as an appropriation of what was specially His. The second three
describe it in terms of ordinary morality, as theft, lying, and concealment; so many
black sides has one sin when God’s eye scrutinises it. ote, too, the attribution of the
sin to the whole people, the emphatic reduplication of the shameful picture of their

26. defeat, the singular transference to them of the properties of ‘the devoted thing’
which Achan has taken, and the plain, stringent conditions of God’s return.
Joshua’s prayer is answered. He knows now why little Ai has beaten them back. He
asked, ‘What shall I say?’ He has got something of grave import to say. So far this
passage carries us, leaving the pitiful last hour of the wretched troubler of Israel
untouched. What lessons are taught here?
First, God’s soldiers must be pure. The conditions of God’s help are the same to-day
as when that panic-stricken crowd ignominiously fled down the rocky pass, foiled
before an insignificant fortress, because sin clave to them, and God was gone from
them. The age of miracles may have ceased, but the law of the divine intervention
which governed the miracles has not ceased. It is true to-day, and will always be
true, that the victories of the Church are won by its holiness far more than by any
gifts or powers of mind, culture, wealth, eloquence, or the like. Its conquests are the
conquests of an indwelling God, and He cannot share His temples with idols. When
God is with us, Jericho is not too strong to be captured; when He is driven from us
by our own sin, Ai is not too weak to defeat us. A shattered wall keeps us out, if we
fight in our own strength. Fortifications that reach to heaven fall flat before us when
God is at our side. If Christian effort seems ever fruitless, the first thing to do is to
look for the ‘Babylonish garment’ and the glittering shekels hidden in our tents.
ine times out of ten we shall find the cause in our own spiritual deficiencies. Our
success depends on God’s presence, and God’s presence depends on our keeping His
dwelling-place holy. When the Church is ‘fair as the moon,’ reflecting in silvery
whiteness the ardours of the sun which gives her all her light, and without such
spots as dim the moon’s brightness, she will be ‘terrible as an army with banners.’
This page of Old Testament history has a living application to the many efforts and
few victories of the churches of to-day, which seem scarce able to hold their own
amid the natural increase of population in so-called Christian lands, and are so
often apparently repulsed when they go up to attack the outlying heathenism.
‘His strength was as the strength of ten,
Because his heart was pure,’
is true of the Christian soldier.
Again, we learn the power of one man to infect a whole community and to inflict
disaster on it. One sick sheep taints a flock. The effects of the individual’s sin are not
confined to the doer. We have got a fine new modern word to express this solemn
law, and we talk now of ‘solidarity,’ which sounds very learned and ‘advanced.’ But
it means just what we see in this story; Achan was the sinner, all Israel suffered. We
are knit together by a mystical but real bond, so that ‘no man,’ be he good or bad,
‘liveth to himself,’ and no man’s sin terminates in himself. We see the working of
that unity in families, communities, churches, nations. Men are not merely
aggregated together like a pile of cannon balls, but are knit together like the myriad
lives in a coral rock. Put a drop of poison anywhere, and it runs by a thousand
branching veins through the mass, and tints and taints it all. o man can tell how
far the blight of his secret sins may reach, nor how wide the blessing of his modest
goodness may extend. We should seek to cultivate the sense of being members of a
great whole, and to ponder our individual responsibility for the moral and religious
health of the church, the city, the nation. We are not without danger from an
exaggerated individualism, and we need to realise more constantly and strongly that

27. we are but threads in a great network, endowed with mysterious vitality and power
of transmitting electric impulses, both of good and evil.
Again, we have one more illustration in this story of the well-worn lesson,-never too
threadbare to be repeated, until it is habitually realised,-that God’s eye sees the
hidden sins. obody saw Achan carry the spoil to his tent, or dig the hole to hide it.
His friends walked across the floor without suspicion of what was beneath. o
doubt, he held his place in his tribe as an honourable man, and his conscience traced
no connection between that recently disturbed patch on the floor and the helter-
skelter flight from Ai; but when the lot began to be cast, he would have his own
thought, and when the tribe of Judah was taken, some creeping fear would begin to
coil round his heart, which tightened its folds, and hissed more loudly, as each step
in the lot brought discovery nearer home; and when, at last, his own name fell from
the vase, how terribly the thought would glare in on him,-’And God knew it all the
while, and I fancied I had covered it all up so safely.’ It is an awful thing to hear the
bloodhounds following up the scent which leads them straight to our lurking-place.
God’s judgments may be long in being put on our tracks, but, once loose, they are
sure of scent, and cannot be baffled. It is an old, old thought, ‘Thou God seest me’;
but kept well in mind, it would save from many a sin, and make sunshine in many a
shady place.
Again, we have in Achan a lesson which the professing Christians of great
commercial nations, like England, sorely need. I have already pointed out the
singular parallel between him and Ananias and Sapphira. Covetousness was the sin
of all three. It is the sin of the Church to-day. The whole atmosphere in which some
of us live is charged with the subtle poison of it. Men are estimated by their wealth.
The great aim of life is to get money, or to keep it, or to gain influence and notoriety
by spending it. Did anybody ever hear of church discipline being exercised on men
who committed Achan’s sin? He was stoned to death, but we set our Achans in high
places in the Church. Perhaps if we went and fell on our faces before the ark when
we are beaten, we should be directed to some tent where a very ‘influential member’
of Israel lived, and should find that to put an end to his ecclesiastical life had a
wonderful effect in bringing back courage to the army, and leading to more
unmingled dependence on God. Covetousness was stoned to death in Israel, and
struck with sudden destruction in the Apostolic Church. It has been reserved for the
modern Church to tolerate and almost to canonise it; and yet we wonder how it
comes that we are so often foiled before some little Ai, and so seldom see any walls
falling by our assault. Let us listen to that stern sentence, ‘I will not be with you any
more, except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you.’
2 ow Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which

28. is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told
them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men
went up and spied out Ai.
BAR ES, "Ai, Bethel - See Gen_12:8 note. (Modern travelers place the former at
Khan Haiy, in the neighborhood of Deir Diwan.)
CLARKE,"Sent men from Jericho to Ai - This is the place called Hai, Gen_12:8.
It was in the east of Beth-el, north of Jericho, from which it was distant about ten or
twelve miles. From Jos_7:4, Jos_7:5 it appears to have been situated upon a hill, and
belonged to the Amorites, as we learn from Jos_7:7. It is very likely that it was a strong
place, as it chose to risk a siege, notwithstanding the extraordinary destruction of
Jericho which it had lately witnessed.
GILL, "And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai,.... Which was the next city of
importance, though not so large as Jericho, and was, as the Jews say (l), three miles
distant from it; Abarbinel says (m) four miles, and so Bunting (n); Jerom (o) says, that
in his times very few ruins of it appeared, only the place was shown where it stood:
which is beside Bethaven; a name by which Bethel in later times was called, Hos_
4:15; but here it is manifestly a distinct place from it; just hard by or near to this place,
as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it, was the city of Ai: Bethaven seems to have been the
suburbs of it, or however was very near unto it:
on the east side of Bethel; near to which Abraham built an altar, as did Jacob also,
and which in former times was called Luz, Gen_12:8; and was well known in later ages
by the name of Bethel; it was reckoned about a mile from Ai: the situation of this city is
so particularly described to distinguish it from another city of this name, Ai of the
Amorites, Jer_49:3; and is here called "that Ai", that well known Ai, as Kimchi observes:
and spake unto them; at the time he sent them, when he gave them their orders to go
thither:
saying, go up and view the country; the mountainous part of it; for they were now
in a plain, where Jericho was seated; and observe what place was most proper to attack
next, and which the best way of coming at it:
and the men went up and viewed Ai; what a sort of a city it was, how large, and
what its fortifications, and what avenues were to it: by this it appears that Ai was built

29. upon a hill, or at least was higher than Jericho and its plains; and with this agrees what a
traveller says (p) of it, it is a village full of large ruins (in this he differs from Jerom) and
from hence are seen the valley of Jericho, the dead sea, Gilgal, and Mount Quarantania,
and many other places towards the east.
HE RY 2-5, " The camp of Israel suffering for the same: The anger of the Lord was
kindled against Israel; he saw the offence, though they did not, and takes a course to
make them see it; for one way or other, sooner or later, secret sins will be brought to
light; and, if men enquire not after them, God will, and with his enquiries will awaken
theirs. man a community is under guilt and wrath and is not aware of it till the fire
breaks out: here it broke out quickly. 1. Joshua sends a detachment to seize upon the
next city that was in their way, and that was Ai. Only 3000 men were sent, advice being
brought him by his spies that the place was inconsiderable, and needed no greater force
for the reduction of it, Jos_7:2, Jos_7:3. Now perhaps it was a culpable assurance, or
security rather that led them to send so small a party on this expedition; it might also be
an indulgence of the people in the love of ease, for they will not have all the people to
labour thither. Perhaps the people were the less forward to go upon this expedition
because they were denied the plunder of Jericho; and these spies were willing they
should be gratified. Whereas when the town was to be taken, though God by his own
power would throw down the walls, yet they must all labour thither and labour there
too, in walking round it. It did not bode well at all that God's Israel began to think much
of their labour, and contrived how to spare their pains. It is required that we work out
our salvation, though it is God that works in us. It has likewise often proved of bad
consequence to make too light of an enemy. They are but few (say the spies), but, as few
as they were, they were too many for them. It will awaken our care and diligence in our
Christian warfare to consider that we wrestle with principalities and powers. 2. The
party he sent, in their first attack upon the town, were repulsed with some loss (Jos_7:4,
Jos_7:5): They fled before the men of Ai, finding themselves unaccountably dispirited,
and their enemies to sally out upon them with more vigour and resolution than they
expected. In their retreat they had about thirty-six men cut off: no great loss indeed out
of such a number, but a dreadful surprise to those who had no reason to expect any
other in any attack than clear, cheap, and certain victory. And now, as it proves, it is well
there were but 3000 that fell under this disgrace. Had the body of the army been there,
they would have been no more able to keep their ground, now they were under guilt and
wrath, than this small party, and to them the defeat would have been much more
grievous and dishonourable. However, it was bad enough as it was, and served, (1.) To
humble God's Israel, and to teach them always to rejoice with trembling. Let not him
that girdeth on the harness boast as he that putteth if off. (2.) To harden the Canaanites,
and to make them the more secure notwithstanding the terrors they had been struck
with, that their ruin, when it came, might be the more dreadful. (3.) To be an evidence of
God's displeasure against Israel, and a call to them to purge out the old leaven. And this
was principally intended in their defeat. 3. The retreat of this party in disorder put the
whole camp of Israel into a fright: The hearts of the people melted, not so much for the
loss as for the disappointment. Joshua had assured them that the living God would
without fail drive out the Canaanites from before them, Jos_3:10. How can this event
be reconciled to that promise? To every thinking man among them it appeared an
indication of God's displeasure, and an omen of something worse, and therefore no
marvel it put them into such a consternation; if God turn to be their enemy and fight
against them, what will become of them? True Israelites tremble when God is angry.

30. JAMISO , "Jos_7:2-26. The Israelites smitten at Ai.
Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai — After the sacking of Jericho, the next step
was to penetrate into the hills above. Accordingly, spies went up the mountain pass to
view the country. The precise site of Ai, or Hai, is indicated with sufficient clearness
(Gen_12:8; Gen_13:3) and has been recently discovered in an isolated tell, called by the
natives Tell-el-Hajar, “the mount of stones,” at two miles’, or thirty-five minutes’
distance, east southeast from Beth-el [Van De Velde].
Beth-aven — (“house of vanity”) - a name afterwards given derisively (Hos_4:15;
Hos_5:8; Hos_10:5), on account of its idolatries, to Beth-el, “house of God,” but here
referred to another place, about six miles east of Beth-el and three north of Ai.
CALVI , "2.And Joshua sent men from Jericho, etc To examine the site of the city
and reconnoiter all its approaches was an act of prudence, that they might not, by
hurrying on at random through unknown places, fall into an ambuscade. But when
it would be necessary shortly after to advance with all the forces, to send forward a
small band with the view of taking the city, seems to betray a want of military skill.
Hence it would not have been strange that two or three thousand men, on a sudden
sally were panic-struck and turned their backs. And it was certainly expedient for
the whole body that twenty or thirty thousand should have spread in all directions
in foraging parties. We may add, that even the act of slaying, though no resistance
were offered, was of itself sufficient to wear out a small body of troops. Therefore,
when the three thousand or thereabouts were repulsed, it was only a just
recompense for their confidence and sloth. The Holy Spirit, however, declares that
fewness of numbers was not the cause of the discomfiture, and ought not to bear the
blame of it. The true cause was the secret counsel of God, who meant to show a sign
of his anger, but allowed the number to be small in order that the loss might be less
serious. And it was certainly a rare display of mercy to chastise the people gently
and without any great overthrow, with the view of arousing them to seek an instant
remedy for the evil. Perhaps, too, the inhabitants of Ai would not have dared to
make an attack upon the Israelites had they advanced against the city in full force.
The Lord therefore opened a way for his judgment, and yet modified it so as only to
detect the hidden crime under which the people might otherwise have been
consumed as by a lingering disease.
But although there is nothing wonderful in the defeat of the Israelites, who fought
on disadvantageous terms on lower ground, it was, however, perfectly obvious that
they were vanquished by fear and the failure of their courage before they came to
close quarters; for by turning their backs they gave up the higher ground and
retired to the slope of a valley. The enemy, on the other hand, showed how
thoroughly they despised them by the confidence and boldness with which they
ventured to pursue the fugitives at full speed in the direction of their camp. In the
camp itself, such was the trepidation that all hearts melted. I admit, indeed, that
there was cause for fear when, after having gained so many victories as it were in
sport, they saw themselves so disgracefully defeated. In unwonted circumstances we
are more easily disturbed. But it was a terror from heaven which dismayed them
more than the death of thirty men and the flight of three thousand.