Joshua 6:18 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 6:18
And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
thing
הַחֵ֔רֶםha.Che.rem
H2764
physical (as shutting in) a net (either literally or fi… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
accursed
תַּחֲרִ֖ימוּta.cha.Ri.mu
H2763
to seclude · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
take
וּלְקַחְתֶּ֣םu.le.kach.Tem
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
thing
הַחֵ֑רֶםha.Che.rem
H2764
physical (as shutting in) a net (either literally or fi… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
make
וְשַׂמְתֶּ֞םve.sam.Tem
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
camp
מַחֲנֵ֤הma.cha.Neh
H4264
an encampment (of travellers or troops) · noun, common feminine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
curse
לְחֵ֔רֶםle.Che.rem
H2764
physical (as shutting in) a net (either literally or fi… · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
trouble
וַעֲכַרְתֶּ֖םva.'a.khar.Tem
H5916
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Joshua 7:1 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 t…
Joshua 7:11-12 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and…
Joshua 7:25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them wit…
2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
1 Kings 18:17-18 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
Ecclesiastes 9:18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 6:17–end
The people had religiously observed the orders given them concerning the besieging of Jericho, and now at length Joshua had told them (Jos 6:16), "The Lord hath given you the city, enter and take possession." Accordingly in these verses we have,
I. The rules they were to observe in taking possession. God gives it to them, and therefore may direct it to what uses and intents, and clog it with what provisos and limitations he thinks fit. It is given to them to be devoted to God, as the first and perhaps the worst of all the cities of Canaan. 1. The city must be burnt, and all the lives in it sacrificed without mercy to the justice of God. All this they knew was included in those words, Jos 6:1…
and ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing--Generally they were at liberty to take the spoil of other cities that were captured (Deu 2:35; Deu 3:7; Jos 8:27). But this, as the first fruits of Canaan, was made an exception; nothing was to be spared but Rahab and those in her house [Jos 6:17]. A violation of these stringent orders would not only render the guilty persons obnoxious to the curse, but entail distress and adversity upon all Israel, by provoking the divine displeasure. These were the instructions given, or repeated (Deu 13:17; Deu 7:26), previous to the last act of the siege.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 6:17
The city shall be accursed - That is, it shall be devoted to destruction; ye shall take no spoils, and put all that resist to the sword. Though this may be the meaning of the word חרם cherem in some places, see the note on Lev 27:29, yet here it seems to imply the total destruction of all the inhabitants, see Jos 6:21; but it is likely that peace was offered to this city, and that the extermination of the inhabitants was in consequence of the rejection of this offer.
John Gill on Joshua 6:18
And you in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing,.... From laying hold on, secreting, and enjoying as their own, what was devoted to another use:
lest ye make yourselves accursed; or a "cherem", also devoted to destruction:
when ye take of the accursed thing; any part of it, be it what it will, gold or any other metal, or raiment, and the like:
and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it; for being done secretly, and not known who did it, the whole body of the people would be chargeable with it, and suffer on account of it, unless discovered and punished, and as more fully appears by an after instance.
The Church Fathers
But let us see what it is that is indicated in what follows. For Jesus says: "keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest perhaps you covet and take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of the children of Israel accursed, and crush yourselves and the whole synagogue of the Lord." Such is what is indicated in these words: see that you have nothing worldly in you, that you do not carry along with you into the church worldly ways, nor vices, nor the shiftiness of the world; but let all worldly conduct be "accursed" to you. Do not mix worldly things with divine, do not insert the business of the age into the secret things of the church. This is what John too sounds forth with the trumpet of his epistle, saying: "do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world." And Paul likewise: "do not," he says, "be conformed to this world." For those who do these things "take of the accursed thing." But also those who, for example, though they are Christians, celebrate the festivals of the nations, bring "the accursed thing" into the churches. Those who search out the lives and deeds of men from the courses of the stars, who inquire into the flights of birds and other things of this kind, which were formerly observed in the world, bring "the accursed thing" from Jericho into the church, and defile the camp of the Lord, and cause the people of God to be conquered. But there are also many other sins through which "the accursed thing" from Jericho is brought into the church; through which the people of God is conquered and laid low by its enemies. Or does not the Apostle also enjoin these very things when he says: "a little leaven corrupts the whole lump"?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jericho — Place of fragrance, a fenced city in the midst of a vast grove of palm trees, in the plain of Jordan, over against the place where that river was crossed by the Israelites (Josh. 3:16). Its site was…
Ark Of The Covenant · Miracles connected with: Fall of the walls of Jericho — Miracles connected with: Fall of the walls of Jericho
Miracles Wrought Through Servants Of God · Joshua: Jericho taken — Joshua: Jericho taken
Sieges · Mentioned in scripture: Jericho — Mentioned in scripture: Jericho
Trumpet · In the siege of — In the siege of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Joshua 6:1-19
Joshua 6:1-19
1. Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
1. Jericho autem erat clausa, et claudebatur propter filios Israel, nec poterat quisquam egredi, vel ingredi.
2. And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.
2. Dixitque Jehova ad Josuam, Ecce tradidi in manum tuam Jericho, et regem ejus, et virtute praestantes.
3. And you shall compass the city, all you men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shall thou do six days.
3. Circuibitis itaque urbem, omnes viri bellatores, circundando eam semel: sic facies sex diebus.
4. And seven pr…
Taking of Jericho. - In the account of this we have first of all a brief statement of the announcement of the divine message by Joshua to the priests and the people (Jos 6:6, Jos 6:7); then the execution of the divine command (Jos 6:8-20); and lastly the burning of Jericho and deliverance of Rahab (Jos 6:21-27).
Jos 6:6-7
In communicating the divine command with reference to the arrangements for taking Jericho, Joshua mentions in the first place merely the principal thing to be observed. The plural ויּאמרוּ ("they said"), in Jos 6:7, must not be altered, but is to be explained on the ground that Joshua did not make the proclamation to the people himself, but through the medium oft he shoteri…
completely destroyed: Joshua reminded his troops that the town and everything in it belonged to God as the firstfruits of their inheritance in the land of Canaan. See Lev 27:28-29; 1 Sam 15:3. • Rahab: See Josh 2:12-21.
Rashi on Joshua 6:18
And bring disturbance. This is an expression of disturbed waters.
