Joshua 7:25

25 Joshua said to Achan, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today." Then all of the people killed Achan by throwing stones at him. They also killed the rest of his family with stones. They burned all of them up.

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 They brought the things out of the tent. They took them to Joshua and all of the people of Israel. And they spread them out in the sight of the Lord.
24 Then Joshua and all of the people grabbed hold of Achan, the son of Zerah. They took the silver, the robe and the gold bar. They took Achan's sons and daughters. They took his cattle, donkeys and sheep. They also took his tent and everything he had. They took all of it to the Valley of Achor.
25 Joshua said to Achan, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today." Then all of the people killed Achan by throwing stones at him. They also killed the rest of his family with stones. They burned all of them up.
26 They placed a large pile of rocks on top of Achan's body. The place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since. That pile is still there to this very day. After the people killed Achan, the LORD turned his burning anger away from them.
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