Joshua 7:25

25 And Joshua said to Achar, Why hast thou destroyed us? the Lord destroy thee as at this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones.

Joshua 7:25 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 7:25

And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us?
&c.] 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 F18 an emphasis is laid on the phrase "this day", and it is observed,

``this day thou shalt be troubled, but thou shalt not be troubled in the world to come;''

suggesting that though temporal punishment was inflicted on him, yet his iniquity was forgiven, and he would be saved with an everlasting, salvation; and as it may be hoped from the ingenuous confession that he made, that he had true repentance for it, and forgiveness of it:

and all Israel stoned him with stones;
hence some gather, that only Achan himself suffered death, and not his sons and daughters:

and burnt them with fire after they had stoned them with stones;
which the Jewish commentators understand of his oxen, asses, and sheep; so Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and Abarbinel: likewise his tent, and household goods, the Babylonish garment, gold and silver, were burnt, and he himself also, for that is the express order, ( Joshua 7:15 ) ; the Jews say, as particularly Jarchi observes, that he was stoned because he profaned the sabbath, it being on the sabbath day that Jericho was taken, and stoning was the punishment of the sabbath breaker, and he was burnt on the account of the accursed thing; so Abendana.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 Sanhedrin ut supra. (Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 18. sect. 6.)

Joshua 7:25 In-Context

23 And they brought them out of the tent, and brought them to Joshua and the elders of Israel, and they laid them before the Lord.
24 And Joshua took Achar the son of Zara, and brought him to the valley of Achor, and his sons, and his daughters, and his calves, and his asses, and all his sheep, and his tent, and all his property, and all the people with him; and he brought them to Emec Achor.
25 And Joshua said to Achar, Why hast thou destroyed us? the Lord destroy thee as at this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones.
26 And they set up over him a great heap of stones; and the Lord ceased from his fierce anger. Therefore he called the place Emecachor until this day.

Footnotes 1

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.