Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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.
15. shall be burnt with fire ] Achan by his conduct had become cherem or devoted, and is so called in Jos 7:12, and everything devoted to punishment for the reparation of the Divine honour was to be burnt. Comp. Lev 20:14; Lev 21:9; Jos 6:24; 2Ki 23:16.
folly ] Or, as in margin, wickedness; “and hath do sacrilege in Ysrael,” Wyclif.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
burnt with fire – i. e. after he had been put to death by stoning Jos 7:25; Lev 20:14.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Burnt with fire, as persons and things accursed were to be. See Num 15:30,35; Deu 13:16. All that he hath; his children and goods, as is noted, Jos 7:24, according to the law, Deu 13:6.
He hath wrought folly; so sin is oft called in Scripture, as Gen 34:7; Jdg 20:6, &c., in opposition to the idle opinion of sinners, who commonly esteem it to be their wisdom and interest.
In Israel, i.e. among the church and people of God, who had such excellent laws to direct them, and such an all-sufficient and gracious God to provide for them, without any such indirect and unworthy practices.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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, Jos 6:24;
he and all that he hath; the particulars of which are enumerated, Jos 7:24;
because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord;
[See comments on Jos 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 Abarbinel says, was folly, and made the people of Israel look foolish, mean, and contemptible: the word has also the signification of a dead carcass, and may possibly have respect, to the thirty six men whose death he was the occasion of, Jos 7:5, and therefore justly ought to die himself.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
15. He shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath As the anathema was to be executed by fire, and as the guilty man has made himself and all his possessions anathema, he is to be destroyed with fire. See note on Jos 7:24. The body, rendered lifeless by stoning, (Jos 7:25,) and not the living man, was to be burned. Burning alive is not found in the Mosaic law.
Wrought folly in Israel Folly is a very appropriate name for sin, since every sin proceeds from real intellectual stupidity, short-sightedness, and fatuity, which the Greeks expressed by a word signifying missing the mark. In the eye of true reason the devil himself is a simpleton, and all his followers doltishly reject divine instruction, and stupidly go down to hell, imagining that God does not see their sins, and will not punish the guilty.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“ And it shall be that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of YHWH, and because he has wrought folly in Israel.”
Anything devoted had to be burnt with fire. By taking the devoted thing the culprit had made himself and all that he had part of ‘that which was devoted’. Thus all must be burnt with fire to remove contamination from Israel, and to remove the devoted thing from the camp of Israel. Sadly that may have included not only all his possessions but also his close blood relations (Jos 7:24). They would share his tent and it is doubtful whether he could have dug a hole and hidden what he did in the tent without them knowing. They would therefore be seen as guilty through complicity.
Note the two charges. He had broken the covenant of YHWH and he had wrought folly in Israel. It was wrong both towards God and towards man, both religiously and morally. ‘Wrought folly in Israel’ was a standard phrase for a heinous and grievous wrong (Gen 34:7; Deu 22:21; Jdg 20:10).
While we do not have to defend the actions of God, especially in such a pivotal and vital situation as this, it should be noted that ‘all that he has’ was open to interpretation. Joshua and Israel interpreted it to include all blood relations because that would be the interpretation put on it by the custom of the times, and because they would be seen as guilty of complicity in the crime, but that is not strictly what YHWH said. In these cases God’s purpose is often expanded on by man’s own ideas. However we must recognise that by his action Achan had allied himself with Jericho, and thus condemned his blood relations just as Rahab had aligned herself with YHWH, thus saving not only herself but also her blood relations. It is interesting that his wife or wives were not said to be included, although it may be she was already dead.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“He hath wrought folly in Israel.” Jos 7:15
The charge seems to be a two-fold one. The first is that “He hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord;” and the second is that “He hath wrought folly.” Look upon sin as being not only criminal but foolish. The sinner is not only a criminal, but a fool. He plays with fire, and burns himself. He trifles with edged instruments, and maims himself. He tampers with eternal forces, and thus in every way disables and impoverishes himself. It is pitiful to think that at the end the sinner will stand forth as a fool, and not as a hero. He mistakes the relations of things; the values of things; the consequences of actions. A great French statesman was blamed because he pronounced a certain policy not only as a crime, but worse than a crime a blunder. Crime does not touch one side of the character alone, for then under some conditions it might claim somewhat of heroic importance, and be invested with a kind of transient grandeur. According to the Christian conception the universe is a great moral constitution; not an infinite vastness of matter, but a symbol and expression of something within tenderly sensitive and ineffably pure: he, therefore, who operates in a manner contrary to its law and purpose undertakes to supersede Omniscience, and to re-create creation: at the end he stands forth in pitiable weakness: a man who is not only regarded as foolish, but who is constrained to call himself a fool. Some men are more touched by the contempt which follows upon folly, than by the censure which follows upon crime; their pride is affected, their sense of dignity is lowered. God thus attacks the sinner at every point; he shows that in the very act of playing the great man the sinner becomes a foolish man, and is obliged at last to confess that his conception of life has been a profound and pitiable mistake. Folly has but a short day. The time of its revelation is always at hand. No sinner has ever proved himself to have been both a genius and a criminal in the moral sense: genius there may have been in the conception of the crime as a merely mechanical or social act, but the folly of it has been demonstrated by its consequences. It may be for this reason that God pities the sinner: he sees what a fool the sinner is; he sees to what fate of contempt and shame the sinner is hastening; he knows it is hard for the sinner to kick against the pricks. On every ground God hates the sin and pities the sinner.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Jos 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.
Ver. 15. Shall be burnt with fire. ] After that he is first stoned with stones as a presumptuous offender, Num 15:30 ; Num 15:35 who is a kind of blasphemer, Eze 20:37 and his sin such, as is not to be expiated by sacrifice.
He and all that he hath.
And because he hath wrought folly.
In Israel.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
burnt = burnt up, but not necessarily alive, Hebrew. saraph. See App-43.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he that is: Jos 7:25, Jos 7:26, Deu 13:15, Deu 13:16, 1Sa 14:38, 1Sa 14:39
he hath: Jos 7:11
wrought: Gen 34:7, Jdg 20:6, 1Sa 26:21, 2Sa 13:13
folly: or, wickedness
Reciprocal: Lev 20:14 – burnt Lev 21:9 – she shall be burnt Deu 17:2 – in transgressing Jos 6:18 – lest ye make Jdg 19:23 – do not this folly Act 23:12 – under a curse
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:15 And it shall be, [that] he that is {h} 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.
(h) That is found guilty, either by lots, or by the judgment of Urim. Num 27:21.