The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 185

<'overed. The sin or en·or one() found out Ver. 14.-Ta.ketb, i.e., by lot, as iu 1 So.m, and put awRy, the combat may be renewed xiv. 42 (IS•1piJ make it fall; cf. 1 Sam. x. 20) and brought to R sucoessfnl issue. (cf. Jonah i. 7 ; also Prov. xviii. 18). Accord- ing to the famllles. 'l'he gmdu11l centering \"er. 11.-Israel ha.th s1nned. A simple of the suspicion upon the offender is one of bnt satisfactory explanation. H is not God the most striking features of the history. who changes. It is we who frustrate His The genealogies of the children of Israel counsels of lo-,,e and protection against our were very strictly kept, as the Books of enemies. We ha"<'e here another assertion Chronicles, Ezra, and Nelrnmiah show. of the principle that if one member suffer Achan 's name is carefully given in the all the members suffer with it. Achan's genealogy of Judah in 1 Uhron. ii. 7. sin was the sin of all Israel. So the sin of The subdivision of the tribes into families one man is still the sin of the whole Church. (or cla11s, Keil) and households (or, as And have &lso stolen. The accusation is we should perhaps say, families) was ,-nmulati"<'e. Israel, which was all involved for convenience .of enumeration, military in the sin of one among their number, had organisation, and perhaps of assess- 1 l) broken a solemn vow; (2) had stolen ment. Oehler, • Theologie des Alten Tes- ;v!Jat was not theirs ; (3) had acted deceit- taments,' Sec. 101, takes the same view fully (;;;rq \ ; and (4) had appropriated to as Keil. Th2 tribes, he says, were divided themsel,es what belonged to God, which, ns E:eil remarks, wn.s the last and gravest into rl1i1!:1170 T ; • or C•!:lS:-t I" T -: i.e., Geschlechter feature of their crime. This is strongly (LXX. 011µ0,, for which the best English brought out by the fiyefold repetition of equivalent is clan,, as above); these into !l} in the original. families or houses (C'l'lf), or fathers' ho,nses (r\1:1~ J"lJ)); and these again into single Ter. 12.-Therefore. This plain state- heads of a house (o•:i;~)- The principle, he ment disposes of the idea that the repulse adds of a. Mosaic family; is as follows: Every before Ai was simply the result of Joshua's rashness i.u sending so small a body of " family " forms a distinct whole, which as far as possible must be maintained in its troops. The ,ind narrative of the detection integrity. E,wh tribe, says Jahn(' Hebrew of Achan, olniously taken from contem- Co=onwealth,' Book II.), acknowledged 11 porn.ry records, precedes the account of the fins.! capture of the city, although Joshua, prince (~•~~) as its ruler. As its numbers who, n.s "<Ce ha,e seen, does not neglect to increased, there arose a subdivision of the emplny human means, re,;olv~s to take tribe into collections of families. Such a greater precautions before making a second collection was called a house of fathers, a attack. Kot a hint is dropped that the i1'?!;i~'t,) or clan, or a thousand. But this former number of men was insufficient, or explanation is not so satisfactory as that that Joshua bad been misled by the in- given above. Kurz remarks on the important formation brought by the reconnoitring part family life played among the Hebrews, party. In the mind of the hist?rian the with whom, in consequence of their descent defect is entirely owmg to the existence of from Abraham, and the importance they secr~t sin in tbe Israelitish camp. Except attached to it, the nation was developed out ye destroy the a.ccureed from among. of the family. See Introduction. Dr. :'.faclear, in the 'Cambridge Bible for :Schools,' calls attention to the fact that • Ver.15. Hethatlstakenwiththeaccureed 1 Cor. v. 13 is a quotation from the LXX. thing; or; according to Keil, "he on whom herf>, f:ubstituti.ng, however, Tbv 1ro1,1Jpbv for the ban falls. " He and all that he bath (cl. ,o UvU.'::qla. ver. 24). The opinion tbn.t Achan's family had in some way become participators in hie Yer. 13.-Sa.nctify the people. See note sin would seem preferable to the idea that his on eh. iii. 5. Thou canst not stand before sin had involved them in the ban (see Deut. thine enemies. Observe the singular number xxiv. 16, which qualifies Levit. xxvi. 39; so !,ere. iut@sifying the testimony of the whole Hengstenberg, 'History,' p. 218). The de- history to the fact that lsra,el was one body struction of their possessions is due to the fact l,dore the Lord. Aud observe, moreover, that all the family had come under the ban. how the existence of secret sin, even though unknown to and undetected by him in Folly ;,~;~ used of the heart BS well as the whom it lurks, has power to enfeeble the head (cf. ·Gen. xxxiv. 7: Deut. xxii. 21; soul in its conflid with its enemies. Hence J udg. xix. 23, 24, xx. 6; 2 Sam. xiii. 12; we learn the <luties of watchfulness and Paa. x.iv•.• l). The LXX. render by """l'TJ/la, careful exe.mi!llation of the soul by the light and the Vulgate by nefa,, but Tbeodotion of God's Word. renders by "4,poav1111. C1I, VII. 0-16.] THE BOOK OF JOSil'.UA. 123 -~--- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -