Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Joshua
Book: Joshua
Chapter: 7
Overview:
The Israelites smitten at
Ai.
(1-5) Joshua's humiliation and
Prayer.
(6-9) God instructs
Joshua what to do.
(10-5) Achan is
detected, He is destroyed.
(16-26)
1-5 Achan took some of the spoil of
Jericho. The
Love of the
world is that root of bitterness, which of all others is most
hardly rooted up. We should take heed of
Sin ourselves, lest
By
it many be defiled or disquieted, Heb 12:15; and take heed of
having
Fellowship with sinners, lest we share their guilt. It
concerns us to watch over one another to prevent
Sin, because
others' sins may be to our damage. The easy conquest of
Jericho
excited contempt of the enemy, and a disposition to expect the
Lord to do all for them without their using proper means. Thus
men abuse the doctrines of Divine
Grace, and the promises of
God, into excuses for their own sloth and self-indulgence. We
are to work out our own
Salvation, though it is
God that
Works
in us. It was a dear victory to the
Canaanites, whereby
Israel
was awakened and reformed, and reconciled to their
God, and the
people of
Canaan hardened to their own ruin.
6-9 Joshua's concern for the honour of
God, more than even for
the fate of
Israel, was the language of the
Spirit of
Adoption.
He pleaded with
God. He laments their defeat, as he feared it
would reflect
On God's
Wisdom and power, his
Goodness and
faithfulness. We cannot at any time urge a better plea than
this,
Lord, what wilt thou do for thy great name? Let
God be
glorified in all, and then welcome his whole will.
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.
16-26 See the folly of those that promise themselves secrecy in
Sin. The righteous
God has many ways of bringing to
Light the
hidden
Works of
Darkness. See also, how much it is our concern,
when
God is contending with us, to find out the cause that
troubles us. We must pray with holy
Job,
Lord, show me wherefore
thou contendest with me.
Achan's
Sin began in the
Eye. He saw
these fine things, as
Eve saw the forbidden
Fruit. See what
comes of suffering the
Heart to walk after the eyes, and what
need we have to make this
Covenant with our eyes, that if they
wander they shall be sure to weep for it. It proceeded out of
the
Heart. They that would be kept from sinful actions, must
mortify and check in themselves sinful desires, particularly the
desire of worldly wealth. Had
Achan looked upon these things
with an
Eye of
Faith, he would have seen they were accursed
things, and would have dreaded them; but looking
On them with an
Eye of sense only, he saw them as goodly things, and coveted
them. When he had committed the
Sin, he tried to hide it. As
soon as he had got this plunder, it became his
Burden, and he
dared not to use his ill-gotten treasure.
So differently do
objects of
Temptation appear at a distance, to what they do when
they have been gotten. See the deceitfulness of
Sin; that which
is pleasing in the commission, is
Bitter in the reflection. See
how they will be deceived that rob
God.
Sin is a very
troublesome thing, not only to a sinner himself, but to all
about him. The righteous
God will certainly recompense
Tribulation to them that trouble his people.
Achan perished not
alone in his
Sin. They lose their own, who grasp at more than
their own. His sons and daughters were
Put to
Death with him. It
is probable that they helped to hide the things; they must have
known of them. What fatal consequences follow, even in this
world, to the sinner himself, and to all belonging him! One
sinner destroys much good. What, then, will be the wrath to
come? Let us flee from it to
Christ Jesus as the sinner's
Friend. There are circumstances in the
Confession of
Achan,
marking the progress of
Sin, from its first entrance into the
Heart to its being done, which may serve as the history of
almost every
Offence against the
Law of
God, and the
Sacrifice
of
Jesus Christ.