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…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 6:24
burned the city . . . and all . . . therein--except the silver, gold, and other metals, which, as they would not burn, were added to the treasury of the sanctuary.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 6:24
Only the silver, and the gold - they put into the treasury, etc. - The people were to have no share of the spoils, because they had no hand in the conquest. God alone overthrew the city; and into his treasury only the spoils were brought. This is one proof that the agitation of the air, by the sound of the people's voice, was not the cause of the fall of the city walls.
Vessels of brass and of iron - Instead of כלי keley, Vessels, the Septuagint, in the Alexandrian copy, evidently have read כל col, All, with the omission of the י yod; for in Jos 6:19 they translate πας χαλκος και σιδηρος, All the brass and iron: but this reading does not appear in any of Kennicott's or De Rossi's MSS.
John Gill on Joshua 6:24
And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein,.... As Babylon the great, of which this city was an emblem, as has been observed; see Gill on Joshua 6:20; will be burnt with fire also, Revelation 18:8,
only the silver and the gold, and the vessels of brass and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord; See Gill on Joshua 6:19.
