Also stolen, and dissembled also - The anger of God and the heinousness of Israel’s sin are marked by the accumulation of clause upon clause. As a climax they had even appropriated to their own use the consecrated property purloined from God. read more
Accursed - Compare Joshua 6:17-18. read more
The Lord taketh - i. e. by lot. The Hebrew word for lot suggests that small stones, probably white and black ones, were used. These were probably drawn from a chest (compare the expressions in Joshua 18:11; Joshua 19:1). The lot was regarded as directed in its result by God (margin reference); and hence, was used on many important occasions by the Jews and by other nations in ancient times. For example:(1), for apportionment, as of Canaan among the twelve tribes Numbers 26:55; of the Levitical... read more
burnt with fire - i. e. after he had been put to death by stoning Joshua 7:25; Leviticus 20:14. read more
Give glory to the Lord - A form of solemn adjuration by which the person addressed was called upon before God to declare the truth. The phrase assumes that the glory of God is always promoted by manifestation of the truth (compare the marginal references). read more
A goodly Babylonian garment - literally, “a robe or cloak of Shinar,” the plain in which Babylon was situated Genesis 10:10. It was a long robe such as was worn by kings on state occasions Jonah 3:6, and by prophets 1 Kings 19:13; Zechariah 13:4. The Assyrians were in early times famous for the manufacture of beautiful dyed and richly embroidered robes (compare Ezekiel 23:15). That such a robe should be found in a Canaanite city is natural enough. The productions of the far East found their way... read more
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 ( Mat 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,... read more
Joshua 7:2-3. Go up and view the country They were not to go into the city of Ai, but into the country belonging to it, that they might understand the state of the place and people. Let two or three thousand go up and smite Ai There was no little self-confidence and presumption in this counsel: Ai, it appears, was strong by its situation, and guarded by twelve thousand men; so that there was no probability of taking it with two or three thousand. God, however, wisely permitted this advice... read more
Joshua 7:4. They fled before the men of Ai Not having courage, it seems, to strike a stroke, a plain evidence that God had forsaken them, and an instructive event, to show them what they were when God left them; that they did not gain their victories by their own valour, but that it was God that gave the Canaanites into their hands. And may we not hence conclude, however little it may be thought of, that victory or superiority in war between different nations, depends more upon the will of... read more
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Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joshua 7:10
God’s answer is given directly, and in terms of reproof. Joshua must not lie helpless before God; the cause of the calamity was to be discovered. read more