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 have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) They have also transgressed my covenant.—The law is again brought prominently forward in this scene. “The words of the covenant, the ten commandments,” are first of all a pledge that Jehovah is the God of Israel. “I am Jehovah, thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” And He brought them out that He might bring them in—and He made them the executioners of His wrath against the idolaters. They must have no other gods but Him, and they must not treat the things that had been defiled by association with idolatry as their own spoil. The words which specially apply to this case are to be found in Deuteronomy 7:25-26 : “The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire (see Joshua 7:21) the silver or gold that is on them. . . . Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it.”

The whole spoil of Canaan was not so treated; but concerning that of Jericho there had been express orders, possibly because the city was especially defiled with idolatry. God had proclaimed it abomination. It was ahêrem—devoted or accursed—and no Israelite was to appropriate any of it, under penalty of becoming chêrem himself, and making his household chêrem. This Achan had done.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:10-15 God awakens Joshua to inquiry, by telling him that when this accursed thing was put away, all would be well. Times of danger and trouble should be times of reformation. We should look at home, into our own hearts, into our own houses, and make diligent search to find out if there be not some accursed thing there, which God sees and abhors; some secret lust, some unlawful gain, some undue withholding from God or from others. We cannot prosper, until the accursed thing be destroyed out of our hearts, and put out of our habitations and our families, and forsaken in our lives. When the sin of sinners finds them out, God is to be acknowledged. With a certain and unerring judgment, the righteous God does and will distinguish between the innocent and the guilty; so that though the righteous are of the same tribe, and family, and household with the wicked, yet they never shall be treated as the wicked.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Also stolen, and dissembled also - The anger of God and the heinousness of Israel's sin are marked by the accumulation of clause upon clause. As a climax they had even appropriated to their own use the consecrated property purloined from God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10-15. 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 (Ps 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 (De 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 of prosperity.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Israel; some or one of them, as before See Poole "Joshua 7:1".

Transgressed my covenant, i.e. broken the conditions of my covenant which I have commanded them, and they have promised to perform, viz. obedience to all my commands, Exodus 19:8 24:7, whereof this was one, not to meddle with the accursed thing.

Of the accursed thing, which I charged them not to meddle with.

And have also stolen, i.e. taken my portion which I had reserved, Joshua 6:19.

Dissembled; covered the fact with deep dissimulation, and a real, if not verbal, profession of their innocency. Possibly Achan might be suspected; and being accused, had denied it, or was resolved to deny it.

Put it even among their own stuff; converted it to their own use, and added obstinacy and resolvedness to the crime; thus he loads this sin with divers aggravations.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 covenant, though in general that was now broken, inasmuch as they then promised to hear and obey all that the Lord should say unto them, Exodus 24:7; but it particularly means the command given, Joshua 6:18; that they should take nothing of that which was devoted the Lord, and thereby make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it; and which shows that that was not a command given by Joshua of himself, but what he had from the Lord:

for they have even taken of the accursed thing; somewhat of that which was devoted to sacred uses:

and have also stolen; taken it away, not openly, but by stealth, as being conscious they ought not to have done what they did, and so sinned both against God and their own consciences:

and dissembled also; or "lied" (u); pretended they had not taken any of the accursed thing when they had; and it is probable that the people in general, each of the tribes, families, and houses, were examined by proper officers, whether they had taken any of the spoil, or not, to themselves, and they all denied they had, and he that had taken it among the rest; and perhaps was particularly asked the question, which he answered in the negative:

and they have put it even amongst their own stuff; their household stuff, mixed them with their own goods that they might not be known; or put them "in their own vessels" (w), for their own use and service.

(u) "mentiti sunt", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (w) "in vasis suis", Montanus.

Geneva Study Bible

Israel hath 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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - Israel hath sinned. A simple but satisfactory explanation. It is not God who changes. It is we who frustrate His counsels of love and protection against our enemies. We have here another assertion of the principle that if one member suffer all the members suffer with it. Achan's sin was the sin of all Israel. So the sin of one man is still the sin of the whole Church. And have also stolen. The accusation is cumulative. Israel, which was all involved in the sin of one among their number, had

(1) broken a solemn vow;

(2) had stolen what was not theirs;

(3) had acted deceitfully (כָּחַשַׁ); and

(4) had appropriated to themselves what belonged to God, which, as Keil remarks, was the last and gravest feature of their crime.

This is strongly brought out by the fivefold repetition of גַּם in the original. Joshua 7:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

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 Joshua 7:1). This sin was a breach of the covenant, being a transgression of the obligation into which the people had entered in their covenant with the Lord, to keep His commandments (Exodus 19:8; Exodus 24:7); yea, it was a grasping at the ban, and a theft, and a concealment, and an appropriation of that which was stolen to their own use. The first three clauses describe the sin in its relation to God, as a grievous offence; the three following according to its true character, as a great, obstinate, and reckless crime. "They have put it among their own stuff" (house furniture), viz., to use and appropriate it as their own property. As all that had been stolen was a property consecrated to the Lord, the appropriation of it to private use was the height of wickedness.