Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 7:14
In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, [that] the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families [thereof]; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.
14. according to your tribes ] Each tribe was divided into families; each family into houses; each house into persons.
the tribe which the Lord taketh ] i.e. by the sacred lot. We find the lots used ( a) for the detection of a criminal here, and in the case of Jonathan (1Sa 14:42, and Jon 1:7); ( b) in the choice of men for an invading force (Jdg 1:1; Jdg 20:10); ( c) in the partition of land (Num 26:55; Jos 18:10; 1Ma 3:36 ); ( d) in the assignment to foreigners or captors of spoils or prisoners (Joe 3:3; Nah 3:10); ( e) in the selection of the scapegoat on the day of Atonement (Lev 16:8); ( f) in the settlement of doubtful questions (Pro 16:33; Pro 18:18). The custom was of great antiquity and widely spread, and “recommended itself as a sort of appeal to the Almighty, secure from all influence of passion or bias.” In Homer we find it employed by the gods themselves ( Il. 22:209; Cic. de Div. 1. 34, 11. 41), and the Romans had their lots in divisions ( sortes divisori) and elections ( sors urbana and peregrina) in the choice of a prtor.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord taketh – i. e. by lot. The Hebrew word for lot suggests that small stones, probably white and black ones, were used. These were probably drawn from a chest (compare the expressions in Jos 18:11; Jos 19:1). The lot was regarded as directed in its result by God (margin reference); and hence, was used on many important occasions by the Jews and by other nations in ancient times. For example:
(1), for apportionment, as of Canaan among the twelve tribes Num 26:55; of the Levitical cities (Jos 21:4 ff); of spoil or captives taken in war Joe 3:3.
(2) for detection of the guilty, as in the case if Achan, Jonathan 1Sa 14:42, and Jonah Jon 1:7.
(3) for determining the persons to undertake a dangerous or warlike enterprise Jdg 20:10.
(4) for making appointment to important functions (Lev 16:8 ff; Act 1:26); or for sharing the duties or privileges of an office among those concerned 1Ch 24:31; Luk 1:9.
The casting of lots before Haman Est 3:7 seems to have been with a view of determining the lucky day for his undertaking against the Jews. One passage Pro 18:18 perhaps points also to the employment of the lot to decide litigation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. Ye shall be brought according to your tribes] It has been a subject of serious inquiry in what manner and by what means the culpable tribe, family, household, and individual, were discovered. The Jews have many conceits on the subject; the most rational is, that the tribes being, in their representatives, brought before the high priest, the stone on the breastplate gave immediate intimation by suddenly losing its lustre. According to them, this is what is termed consulting God by Urim and Thummim. It is however most probable that the whole was determined by the lot; and that God chose this method to detect the guilty tribe, next the family, thirdly the household, and lastly the individual. This was nearly the plan pursued in the election of Saul by Samuel. “Now therefore,” says he, “present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands. And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken. When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken,” 1Sa 10:19-20. If the lot was used in the one case it was doubtless used in the other also, as the procedure in the main was entirely similar. The same mode was used to find out who it was that transgressed the king’s command, when it was found that Jonathan had eaten a little honey, 1Sa 14:40-43. It is well known that the promised land was divided by lot among the Israelites; (see Nu 26:55; Nu 33:54; De 1:38, c.); and that the courses of the priests were regulated by lot in the days of David, 1Ch 24:5, c. That this was a frequent mode of determining difficult questions, and appointed by God himself, is evident from Le 16:8; Ps 51:18; Pr 16:33; Pr 18:18; Ac 1:26.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Which the Lord taketh; which shall be discovered or declared guilty by the lot, which is disposed by the Lord, Pro 16:33, and which was to be cast in the Lords presence before the ark. Of such use of lots, see 1Sa 14:41,42; Jon 1:7; Act 1:26.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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] the tribe which the Lord taketh; how a tribe and so a family or household were taken is differently understood; what some of the Jewish writers say deserves no regard, as the detention of persons by the ark, or of the dulness of the stones in the Urim and Thummim: it seems best to understand the whole affair as done by casting lots x; so Josephus y and Ben Gersom; and they might in this way be said to be taken by the Lord, because the disposition of the lot is by him, Pr 16:33; now it is said, that the tribe that should be taken, as Judah was, from what follows,
shall come according to the families [thereof]; that is, the families in that tribe, meaning the heads of them, as Kimchi well observes; these were to come to the place where the lots were cast:
and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; on whatsoever family in the tribe the lot should fall, the heads of households in that family should appear and have lots cast on them: and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man; that household that should be taken by lot, the men thereof, the heads of the house, should come each of them and have lots east on them, that the particular man that sinned might be discovered.
x Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. Samaritan. Chronic. apud Hottinger. Smegma. Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 505. Jarchi in loc. y Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(14) The tribe which the Lord taketh.There is nothing in the language of the passage, when closely considered, which would lead us to suppose that the discovery of the criminal was by casting lots. The parallel passageviz., the selection of King Saul from the tribes of Israel (1Sa. 10:20-21)shows that the oracle of God was consulted. They inquired, and the Lord answered. So it was, perhaps, in the case of Achan. We seem to see the High Priest of Israel asking counsel for Joshua after the judgment of Urim before the Lord, as it had been foretold in Num. 27:21; and the elders of Israel standing by, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. The representatives of the tribes enter the sacred enclosure in succession, and pass before the High Priest, in awful silence, broken only by the voice of Jehovah, who pronounces it intervals the names of Judah, Zarhite, Zabdi, Carmi, Achan. It must have been a terrible ordeal. But all present must have felt that no human partiality, or private animosity, was seeking its victim. The Judge of all the earth was doing judgment. And when the accusation of Jehovah was followed by the explicit confession of the criminal, and this again by the discovery of the stolen spoil of Jericho, which was brought in by the messengers, and poured out before the Lord, and when this discovery was followed by the execution of the awful sentence, all who were present must have received a lesson, which it was impossible to forget, as to the reality of the covenant of God. And if, as seems most probable, the voice of the oracle was uttered from the inner sanctuary, from between the cherubim, but heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God, when He speaketh (Eze. 10:5), we learn once more the majesty of the law given to Israel. The arrest of Jordan, the overthrow of Jericho, and the discovery of Achan, are all manifestations of power proceeding from the same source.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(14-18) In the morning therefore ye shall be brought.That is, brought near, or presented. The word used here, and throughout the passage, is the same that is commonly used for the presentation of an offering.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Ye shall be brought according to your tribes God could have disclosed to Joshua the sinner as well as the sin. by direct revelation, without this review of the whole camp. But he chose the latter method as far more impressive, since it awakened the interest of all the people, exhibited the magnitude of the crime, and clearly set forth the omniscience of Jehovah, and their personal amenability to him. Representatives of each tribe were to come to the tabernacle, or to pass in review before the ark.
The tribe which the Lord taketh The word taketh, as we may see from 1Sa 14:42, is the technical term used for decision by lot. “The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.” Pro 16:33. White pebbles and one black one may have been cast into a sack or urn, and some man from each tribe appointed to draw them out the black pebble indicating the tribe, clan, family, or individual whom the Lord designated. Decision by lot is mentioned frequently in the Old Testament, and once in the New. Act 1:24-26. It recommends itself as a sort of appeal to the Almighty, free from all influence of passion or bias.
Families households The tribes, says Keil, were founded by the twelve sons of Jacob and the two sons of Joseph, who were placed on an equality with them by adoption. Whenever Levi was reckoned, Joseph was counted as one tribe; whenever Levi was omitted, Joseph was counted as two. The tribes were divided into clans, of which the sons, grandsons, or great grandsons of the twelve were the heads. The clans were again divided into groups of families Heb, fathers’ houses taking their name from the sons, grandsons, etc., of the heads of the clans. This last division was subdivided into households, composed of individuals. The distinction between the clans and fathers’ houses was not very definitely preserved.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“ In the morning therefore you will be brought near by your tribes, and it shall be that the tribe which YHWH selects shall come near by families, and the family which YHWH shall select shall come near by households, and the household which the Lord shall take shall come near man by man.”
We do not know quite how the method of selection would proceed but in one way or another they would be brought near before YHWH in the Tabernacle (compare Exo 22:8-9; 1Sa 10:19-21). This may have been by the use of Urim and Thummim, or some other method of sacred lot (Pro 16:33, compare 1Sa 14:41-42), possibly by names written on lots (see also Num 17:1-8). Or Joshua may have received personal illumination. It was clearly a method that required gradual application. Presumably the ‘coming near’ was in the person of the leaders, first of the tribes, then of the sub-tribes in that tribe, then of the wider families, then of the family household (the ‘thousands, hundreds and tens?’). Once the family household was reached each member would be required to come near before YHWH until the culprit was discovered.
The whole of Israel would stand round the Tabernacle watching in awe and waiting as the decisions were reached and the priest, or Joshua, moved in and out.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 14. In the morning, therefore, ye shall be brought, &c. “Persons deputed from each tribe to represent it, shall successively come, to appear before me, and to receive my orders.”
Andthe tribe which the Lord taketh, shall come, &c. We see clearly from these things what was to happen; first, that God would make known the tribe, then the family of that tribe, then the house or branch of that family, and, lastly, the particular person of that branch, in whose hands was the accursed thing. But it is not so easy to determine how this designation was to be made; that is to say, how the taking was to be. There are only conjectures respecting it, and those of the rabbis are commonly the least probable. We shall not stop to quote them. Josephus, Rabbi Levi Ben Gersom, and almost all the Christian interpreters, presume that, upon this occasion, the tribe, family, house, and particular offender, were determined by lot. It matters little how it was cast. What Masius observes of it is very clear, who thinks that twelve tickets were first put into an urn, on each of which was the name of a tribe; that then they cast as many tickets as there were families in the tribe whose name was drawn, then as many as there were houses in that family; and, lastly, as many as there were heads in that house. However this matter may be, it cannot be denied, either that the method of discovering hidden things by lot was in use among the Jews (1Sa 20:21.) and Pagans, (Jon 1:7.) or that it was very lawful; having been ordained by God in more cases than one, (1Ch 5:7; 1Ch 5:26. Lev 16:8.) and practised by the apostles; Act 24:26.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jos 7:14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, [that] the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families [thereof]; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.
Ver. 14. The tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to their families. ] Christ, at last day, will do, saith a divine, as Joshua here did: there were many brought together, and all to find out one. So shall all then appear: out of them a small number deducted that have heard of Christ; out of them, those that have professed him; and out of them, those that have professed in sincerity; a small few.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
taketh = taketh [by lot], i.e. by the Urim and Thummim. Sec note on Exo 28:30 and Num 26:55. The Urim stone bringing to “light” the guilty, and the Thummim declaring the “perfection” or innocence.
man = geber. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the tribe: Jos 7:17, Jos 7:18, 1Sa 10:19-21, 1Sa 14:38-42, Pro 16:33, Jon 1:7, Act 1:24-26
Reciprocal: Exo 12:3 – an house Jos 7:16 – and brought
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 7:14-15. The tribe which the Lord taketh Which shall be declared guilty by the lot, which is disposed by the Lord, (Pro 16:33,) and which was to be cast in the Lords presence before the ark. Of such use of lots, see 1Sa 14:41; 1Sa 14:52; Jon 1:7; Act 1:26. Shall be burnt with fire As persons and things accursed were to be. All that he hath His cattle and goods, as is noted Jos 7:24, according to the law, Deu 13:16. Wrought folly So sin is often called in Scripture, in opposition to the idle opinion of sinners, who commonly esteem it to be their wisdom. In Israel That is, 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 unworthy practices. It was sacrilege, it was invading Gods rights, and converting to a private use that which was devoted to his glory, which was to be thus severely punished, for a warning to all people in all ages to take heed how they rob God.