682 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the Canaanites,.... Those that dwell on the east and on the west of the land, see Joshua 11:3; who were one of the seven nations: and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear [of it]; of this defeat; not only the Amorites, among whom they now were, and the Canaanites before mentioned, but the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Joshua, get thee up,.... From the ground where he lay prostrate, with his face to it: this he said, not as refusing his supplication to him, but rather as encouraging and strengthening him; though chiefly he said this in order to instruct him, and that he might prepare for what he was to do: wherefore liest thou thus upon...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Israel hath sinned,.... For though one only had committed the sin, others might have known of it, and connived at it; however, there was sin committed among them, and it must be discovered, the guilt charged, and punishment inflicted: and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them; not the law given on Mount Sinai, called the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies,.... Being forsaken of God for the sin committed among them: [but] turned [their] backs before their enemies: had not courage to face them, but fled as soon as they appeared: because they were accursed; of God for the accursed thing that had been taken, as was threatened would...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Up, sanctify the people,.... The word "up" not only signifies getting up from the ground on which he lay, but to bestir himself, and to be active in what he would now be enjoined and directed to do, and in the first place to "sanctify the people", that is, by giving them orders to do it themselves: and say, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes,.... One or more of every tribe, according to the number of them, were to be brought the next morning before Joshua and the elders of Israel, the sanhedrim and council of the nation, and very probably the tabernacle, where they assembled for this purpose: and it shall be, [that]...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Joshua rose up early in the morning,.... Which showed his readiness and diligence to obey the command of God; and as there was much work to do, it required that he should rise early: and brought Israel by their tribes: before the Lord, at the tabernacle, where he and the high priest and elders attended; each tribe was thither brought by their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he brought the family of Judah,.... That is, the tribe of Judah, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it, (z); or rather, the several families in that tribe, even the heads of them: and he took the family of the Zarhites: which descended from Zerah the son of Judah; that was taken by lot: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he brought his household man by man,.... The household of Zabdi, the heads of each house therein: and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken; the lot fell upon him, and he was laid hold on, and detained.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Joshua said unto Achan, my son,.... Treating him in a very humane, affectionate, and respectable manner, though so great a criminal, being a subject of his, and of the same religion and nation: give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, by acknowledging his omniscience, justice, power, truth, and faithfulness; as in his promises so in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Achan answered Joshua, and said,.... He made a free and open confession of his sin: indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel; against him who had been so good to Israel in many instances, and particularly in delivering Jericho into their hands in so extraordinary a manner; against a law of his, respecting the spoil of that city,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment,.... One, as the Targum adds, for no more was taken; a garment made of Babylonish wool, as Jarchi; or a valuable garment made in Babylon, called "Shinar", for that is the word in the text, so Kimchi and Abarbinel; and Babylonian garments were in great esteem in other nations: Pliny says (c)...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Joshua sent messengers,.... Directly to Achan's tent, to see if it was as he had said, and to bring the things with them: and they ran unto the tent; either for joy that the iniquity was discovered, as Kimchi; or that none of the tribe of Judah or of Achan's family or relations should get there before them, and take them from thence and make...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah,.... Joshua and all Israel are mentioned, to show the perfect agreement between Joshua and the heads of the people in this affair of Achan, and in the nature and manner of his punishment: and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold; which, though devoted to sacred uses,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us?.... Been the occasion of so much trouble to us, by committing this sin: the Lord shall trouble thee this day; by the destruction of him and all that belonged to him: this is said to show that his punishment was of God, and according to his will: in the Misnah (r) an emphasis is laid on the phrase "this...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day,.... That is, at the place where he suffered, or where they laid his ashes, they heaped up a pile of stones over him, as a monument whereby it might be known hereafter where he was executed and was buried; and which pile continued to the writing of this history: such sort of funeral...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Joshua 8 Joshua is encouraged to go up and take Ai, and is directed what method to make use of, Joshua 8:1; accordingly he set an ambush on the west side of it, and, he and the rest of the army went up before it, Joshua 8:3; which, when the king of Ai saw, he and all his forces came cut against them, and the Israelites making a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Joshua,.... Immediately after the execution of Achan, the fierceness of his anger being turned away: fear not, neither be thou dismayed; on account of the defeat of his troops he had sent to take Ai: take all the people of war with thee; all above twenty years of age, which, with the forty thousand of the tribes on the other...