Joshua 7:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 7:15
And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.
to catch (in a net · definite article + verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
thing
בַּחֵ֔רֶםba.Che.rem
H2764
physical (as shutting in) a net (either literally or fi… · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
burnt
יִשָּׂרֵ֣ףyi.sa.Ref
H8313
to be (causatively · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fire
בָּאֵ֔שׁba.'Esh
H784
fire (literally or figuratively) · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
transgressed
עָבַר֙'a.Var
H5674
to cross over · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
covenant
בְּרִ֣יתbe.Rit
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
wrought
עָשָׂ֥ה'a.Sah
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
folly
נְבָלָ֖הne.va.Lah
H5039
foolishness · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Israel
בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽלbe.Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · preposition + proper noun, a place name
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
Genesis 34:7 And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought f…
Judges 20:6 And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committe…
1 Samuel 14:38-39 And Saul said, Draw ye near hither, all the chief of the people: and know and see wherein this sin hath been this day.
Deuteronomy 13:15-16 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cat…
Joshua 7:25-26 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…
Joshua 7:11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and…
1 Samuel 26:21 Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: b…
2 Samuel 13:13 And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 7:10-15
We have here God's answer to Joshua's address, which, we may suppose, came from the oracle over the ark, before which Joshua had prostrated himself, v. 6. Those that desire to know the will of God must attend with their desires upon the lively oracles, and wait at wisdom's gates for wisdom's dictates, Pro 8:34. And let those that find themselves under the tokens of God's displeasure never complain of him, but complain to him, and they shall receive an answer of peace. The answer came immediately, while he was yet speaking (Isa 65:24), as that to Daniel, Dan 9:20, etc.
I. God encourages Joshua against his present despondencies, and the black and melancholy apprehensions he had of the present…
the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up--The answer of the divine oracle was to this effect: the crisis is owing not to unfaithfulness in Me, but sin in the people. The conditions of the covenant have been violated by the reservation of spoil from the doomed city; wickedness, emphatically called folly, has been committed in Israel (Psa 14:1), and dissimulation, with other aggravations of the crime, continues to be practised. The people are liable to destruction equally with the accursed nations of Canaan (Deu 7:26). Means must, without delay, be taken to discover and punish the perpetrator of this trespass that Israel may be released from the ban, and things be restored to their former state…
Ye shall be brought according to your tribes - It has been a subject of serious inquiry in what manner and by what means the culpable tribe, family, household, and individual, were discovered. The Jews have many conceits on the subject; the most rational is, that the tribes being, in their representatives, brought before the high priest, the stone on the breastplate gave immediate intimation by suddenly losing its lustre. According to them, this is what is termed consulting God by Urim and Thummim. It is however most probable that the whole was determined by the lot; and that God chose this method to detect the guilty tribe, next the family, thirdly the household, and lastly the individual.…
The Church Fathers
We can rightly ask why Joshua ordered the people to stone the individual who was surprised at having broken the anathema, when the Lord had commanded that, if it were discovered, he should be handed over to the fire. Or perhaps it was fitting that he should die, like Joshua, who was closer to the Lord, could he understand the words of the Lord who commanded him? No other, in fact, could understand them more easily. Therefore, we must ask why the Lord calls fire to stoning before thinking that Joshua did something different from what the Lord sent him. Because there could not be another wiser to understand the words of the Lord or anyone more obedient than him to fulfill them. Therefore, the Scripture testifies in Deuteronomy that, under the name of fire, the punishment could be indicated, when it is said to the children of Israel: "And I brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt." Here, evidently, the Scripture wanted to mean a hard tribulation. Two reasons occur to me - not because they fit the two, but only one of them - to say why Akar was not burned with all his things by a visible fire. If the Lord judged that his sin was of such a nature that, atoned for by that torment, he would not punish it eternally, the penalty would very appropriately be called fire by his own atonement and purification. No one would be led to think this if a fire visible in its own right had burned him. Everyone would rather stop to think about what they clearly saw done and no one else would ask another reason. Now, since it is reasonably said that the stoning was also a fire, because of the words of God and the performance of Joshua, it is elegantly recognized that man was purified by that punishment, so that he would not perish later because of that sin In the same way, in Leviticus, the utensils that are purged by fire are also meant (Cf Lv 13,52) But if the sin was of such a nature that such a man was worthy of gehenna, because of that sin, even after this life, Joshua would have wanted to stone him precisely to warn that in what the Lord had said: he will be delivered to the fire (Jos 7,15), you had to understand not what they did, but what the Lord was going to do. Well, if the Lord had said: You will give it to the fire with all its things, there would be no possibility for this sense. But as the sentence is set so that it seems that God foretold what would happen to…
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
Ark · .An oracle of God — .An oracle of God
Communion · .Joshua — .Joshua
Discipline · Of armies, for di — Of armies, for di
Dishonesty · .Achan hi — .Achan hi
Intercession · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Lot, The · Achan’s guilt ascertained by — Achan’s guilt ascertained by
Nation · Involved in the sins of other individuals, as Achan — Involved in the sins of other individuals, as Achan
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).
And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire,.... He that is taken by lot, and the accursed thing found with him, this should be the death, burning, one of the four capital punishments with the Jews: this was ordered in this case, because the city of Jericho, accursed or devoted, was burnt with fire, Joshua 6:24,
he and all that he hath; the particulars of which are enumerated, Joshua 7:24,
because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord; See Gill on Joshua 7:11,
and because he hath wrought folly in Israel; as all sin and every transgression of the law is, and was the cause of Israel's turning their backs on their enemies; which, as Abarbin…
Joshua 7:10-18
10. And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
10. Tunc dixit Jehova ad Josuam, Surge. Ut quid tu ita procidis super faciem tuam?
11. Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.
11. Peccavit Israel, atque adeo transgressi sunt pactum meum quod praecepi illis, atque etiam tulerunt de anathemate, atque etiam furati sunt, atque etiam mentiti, atque etiam reposuerunt in vasa sua.
12. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, b…
The answer of the Lord, which was addressed to Joshua directly and not through the high priest, breathed anger against the sin of Israel. The question, "Wherefore liest thou upon thy face?" ("fallest," as in Deu 21:1) involved the reproof that Joshua had no reason to doubt the fidelity of the Lord. Instead of seeking for the cause of the calamity in God, he ought to seek it in the sin of the people.
Jos 7:11
Israel had sinned, and that very grievously. This is affirmed in the clauses which follow, and which are rendered emphatic by the repetition of גּם as an expression of displeasure. The sin of one man was resting as a burden upon the whole nation in the manner explained above (on Jos 7:1)…
God had commanded that all the stolen goods were to be destroyed by fire. Now they would be, because Achan and everything he had would be burned with fire. Breaking the covenant of the Lord was treason, a capital offense (e.g., Exod 22:20; Deut 4:25-27).
Rashi on Joshua 7:15
Burned with fire. His tent and movable property [shall be burned].
He and all that he possesses. [This should be understood] according to the law explained below— he and his livestock [are put to death] by stoning.8See below v. 25. The zakeif accent, appearing over the word, בָּאֵשׁ indicates that the word בָּאֵשׁ (with fire) is separated from the word אוֹתוֹ, (he). We find other verses in which the accent divides the verse, such as, ‘אַחַרֵי דֶרֶך מְבוֹא הַשֶׁמֶשׁ’9Devorim 11:30. See Rashi and Sifsei Chachomim there. (Far past the Jordan, the direction in which the sun sets). The word אַחַרֵי is separated from the word דֶרֶך by virtue of the [pashta] accent. Thus the interpretation of our…
