Matthew Henry on Joshua 7:16–end
We have in these verses,
I. The discovery of Achan by the lot, which proved a perfect lot, though it proceeded gradually. Though we may suppose that Joshua slept the better, and with more ease and satisfaction, when he knew the worst of the disease of that body of which, under God, he was the head, and was put into a certain method of cure, yet he rose up early in the morning (Jos 7:16), so much was his heart upon it, to put away the accursed thing. We have found Joshua upon other occasions an early riser; here it shows his zeal and vehement desire to see Israel restored to the divine favour. In the scrutiny observe, 1. That the guilty tribe was that of Judah, which was, and was to be, of al…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 7:22
Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent--from impatient eagerness not only to test the truth of the story, but to clear Israel from the imputation of guilt. Having discovered the stolen articles, they laid them out before the Lord, "as a token of their belonging to Him" on account of the ban.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 7:21
A goodly Babylonish garment - אדרת שנער addereth shinar, a splendid or costly robe of Shinar; but as Babylon or Babel was built in the plain of Shinar, the word has in general been translated Babylon in this place. It is very probable that this was the robe of the king of Jericho, for the same word is used, Jon 3:6, to express the royal robe, of the king of Nineveh which he laid aside in order to humble himself before God. Bochart and Calmet have shown at large that Babylonish robes were very splendid, and in high reputation. "They are," says Calmet, "generally allowed to have been of various colors, though some suppose they were woven thus; others, that they were embroidered with the needle…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill on Joshua 7:23
And they took them out of the midst of the tent,.... Out of the place, hole, or pit in which they were hid:
and brought them to Joshua and to the children of Israel; to Joshua as the chief ruler, and to the elders and heads of the tribes assembled together:
and laid them out before the Lord; or "poured them out" (o); the golden wedge, out of the garment in which it was wrapped, and the two hundred shekels of silver found under it: it seems as if these were poured or laid out separately upon the ground before the tabernacle, where the ark of the Lord was, they belonging to the spoils which were devoted to him; as well as hereby they were plainly seen by the Israelites, that these were the v…
