CHAPTER 6
17. “And the city will be devoted to YHWH—it and everything that is in it; only Rahav the prostitute may remain alive (she and all who are with her in the house), because she hid the messengers whom we sent.
Devoted to YHWH: that is, off limits to everyone else. In this case it meant it would be completely destroyed, and everyone in it killed.
18. “But you, by all means keep [clear] of what is off limits, lest you make yourselves dedicated to destruction by taking from what is dedicated to destruction and you appoint the camp of Israel for destruction and bring calamity to it.
What one partakes of affects all of Israel. Appoint for destruction: the same term as “off limits”, “dedicated”, and “devoted” above. The term is herem, which means “set apart”, but with a difference in nuance from qadosh, which typically means permanently set apart, for YHWH Himself is called qadosh (holy). Herem is more “designated for a specific purpose”, or for a particular length of time. It is related to the more familiar word harem, which makes us think of desert palaces and belly dancers with veiled faces—because indeed the women in the harem are set apart for the sheikh’s pleasure, and off limits to everyone else. Hadassah (Esther) was part of Akhashwerosh’s harem, but she became qadosh—the set-apart among set-apart, as the queen and not just a concubine. But there are things we can bring into our “camp” that bring death or destruction—not just diseases, but attitudes about our rights or about authority, gossip, or even a spouse who does not share the same values and vision.
19. “But all silver and gold and articles of copper or iron, they are set apart for YHWH; they will go into YHWH’s treasury.”
In short, “there is nothing in this city for you”. Some things are strictly for YHWH; anything metal or that can be considered a treasure—anything of value--goes into His storehouse, but the rest is to be destroyed. You keep none of it in your own house. No one could even take a sword out. This was a season for destruction; they were going there to do nothing but tear down in this case. The pagan objects made from these metals could be melted down and their form changed completely. And the soldiers were not told to brig them to the storehouse; the Levites themselves, who would be in charge of the storehouses, would probably go retrieve it after the battle.
20. So the people shouted and blew the shofars, and it did turn out that when the people heard the sound of the shofar, the people raised a great shout, and the wall collapsed under it, and the people went up into the city, each directly in front of [where] he [was], and they captured the city!
21. And they dedicated everything that was in the city—including both men and women, from young to old, as well as ox and lamb and donkey—to the mouth of the sword.
22. Now to the two men who had explored the Land by foot, Y’hoshua said, “Go to the house of the woman—the prostitute—and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”
23. So the young men who had explored the Land on foot went in and brought out Rahav, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had—that is, they brought all her family [member]s and let them rest outside the camp of Israel.
24. Then they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver, gold, and articles of copper and iron they entrusted to the treasury of the House of YHWH.
The simplest way to retrieve them would be to wait until after the city was burned, because the fire would not be hot enough to destroy the metals, but might already melt down the idols so they were no longer in the same shape, but were just globs of raw material again.
25. And Y’hoshua allowed Rahav the prostitute, and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, to remain alive, and she dwells in the innermost part of Israel to this day, because she held back the messengers whom Y’hoshua had sent to go about Y’rikho on foot.
26. And at that time Y’hoshua made them swear, saying, “Cursed before YHWH is [any] man who may raise up and rebuilt this city, Y’rikho. May he lay the foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest may he stand its gates up!”
27. And YHWH came to be with Y’hoshua, and his fame went throughout all the Land.
CHAPTER 7
1. But the descendants of Israel committed a trespass in [regard to] what was off-limits [in that] Akhan the son of Karmi the son of Zavdi the son of Zerakh, for the tribe of Yehudah, took [some] of the things devoted [to YHWH], and the anger of YHWH grew heated against the descendants of Israel.
As a community they all were counted as having overstepped the boundary simply because one man among them had done so. It may be that no one else even knew about what he had done, let alone been an accomplice. Only one soldier out of hundreds of thousands disobeyed the command, yet at this point, all were held responsible and were still guilty in YHWH’s eyes.
2. When Y’hoshua sent men from Y’rikho [to] the Ay that is with Beyth-Awen eastward from Beyth-El, and told them, “Go up and explore the territory on foot.” So the men went up and explored Ay on foot.
3. When they returned to Y’hoshua, they told him, “Not all the people should go up; about two or three thousand men can go up, and they can beat Ay. Don’t weary all the people with [the trouble of going] there, because they are [so] few.”
They did not need to bother making the whole army work so hard for a victory that a small percentage of them should have been easily able to accomplish.
4. So of the people about three thousand men went up there, but they would [end up] fleeing before the men of Ay.
5. The men of Ay even struck down about thirty-six men, and chased them from the gate as far as the Breaches, and started killing them on the steep slope. And the heart of the people melted and turned into water.
6. And Y’hoshua tore his clothing and fell on his face on the ground in front of the ark of YHWH [all the way] until evening—[both] he and the elders of Israel--and they put dust up on their heads.
7. And Y’hoshua said, “Alas, Master YHWH! Why did you even have us cross the Yarden at all, [if it is just] to hand us over to the Emorites and have us destroyed? O, if only we had been willing to stay on the other side of the Yarden!
8. “Please, Master, what can I say after Israel has turned her back before her enemies?
“Did You fool us? Lie to us? This cannot possibly be Your will!”
9. “When the Kanaanite and all the inhabitants of the Land hear, they will close in on us from around and cut off our name from the earth! So what will You do for Your great name?”
10. But YHWH told Y’hoshua, “Raise yourself up! Why are you fallen on your face [like] this?
This reminds us of when YHWH said to Moshe, “Why are you crying to Me? Tell the people to start walking!” If Y’hoshua had said, “What did we do to deserve this?”, he might have received a different response. But YHWH was upset because He had been blamed. No, of course this was not His will, but this was not a grand cosmic joke. It was not YHWH’s fault that things had gone wrong. If there was a problem, they had to look elsewhere for the source:
11. “Israel has sinned and also transgressed My covenant about which I gave them orders, in that they have even taken from what was off limits, and also stolen and also acted deceitfully, having actually put it among their own equipment,
It was Israel’s slackness that was to blame, not YHWH’s. Transgressed: literally, crossed a line. But a covenant is a two-sided agreement; when had they ever signed on, accepting the responsibility of dedicating anything to destruction? When they proceeded to attack Y’rikho as He had said. By entering into the work, they also took on the rules that applied to it. But the terms had been violated, and they were guilty. Y’hoshua did not know what had taken place, but somehow it appears he was expected to know. He was the leader. Should he have searched everyone who came off the battlefield to make sure they had no contraband? Maybe so, but he should have been able to trust them, after all YHWH had done for them and with the promises He had made of giving them the Land. But, sadly, Y’hoshua could not trust everyone after all. And someone else suffered. By joining in with the battle, Akhan made a tacit promise that he would not take anything, but his actions were lying because that is not how it turned out. He did not even have to give Y’hoshua a clue, but He did. Yet He gave him no details; all He let him know was that someone had done this. It was his problem to find out who. YHWH held him responsible to hold everyone else responsible.
12. “so the descendants of Israel have been unable to stand up to the faces of their enemies; they will turn their backs before their enemies, because they have come to be dedicated [to destruction]. I will not be with you again unless you eradicate from your midst what is off limits!
This is strong stuff! It is not lollipops, but Jack Daniels with Jim Beam as a chaser! Israel is now designated to lose every battle because something forbidden is in the camp. He said they could become dedicated to destruction, and now they are. And worst of all, YHWH will no longer be with them—they are on their own unless they take care of the problem. He will not do it for them. They are no longer protected. Would YHWH really do this to His people? No, they did it to themselves. He is a real father—like one who says to his son, “You got yourself into trouble; now you get yourself out.” If they fix what they broke, He might come back, but He will not be responsible for their screwup.
13. “Get up, set the people apart, and say, ‘Set yourselves apart for tomorrow, because this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: “Something that is off limits is among you, Israel; you will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove what is off limits from your midst.”
This is part of the preparation for battle. If they do not remove what is not supposed to be there, they have no way of going to war and winning. For now, every one of them is considered guilty.
14. “‘So you will be approached in the morning by your tribes, and what will come about is that the tribe that YHWH catches will approach by clans, and the clan that YHWH catches must approach by households, and the household that YHWH catches must approach [man] by man,
15. “‘and it will turn out that the one who is caught with the thing that is devoted [to YHWH] must be burned with fire—himself and all who belong to him, because he has transgressed YHWH’s covenant and because he has acted disgracefully in Israel.’”
Why burned? Because that is what was done to Y’rikho. If you bring something from Y’rikho, you become part of Y’rikho in YHWH’s eyes. This is not the flowery and sweet side of YHWH; this is strong meat for the mature. If you bring part of Y’rikho with you, its lot becomes yours. If you brig something from outside into the camp, the camp becomes part of what is outside in YHWH’s eyes.
16. So Y’hoshua rose up early [and shouldered the burden] in the morning and presented Israel by its tribes, and the tribe of Yehudah was caught,
He did not delay, but got it done as quickly as he could.
17. so he had the clan[s] of Yehudah approach, and he caught the Zarkhite clan, so he had the clan of Zarkhi approach [man] by man, and Zavdi was caught,
18. so he had his household approach [man] by man, and Akhan, the son of Karmi, the son of Zavdi, the son of Zerakh, was caught for the tribe of Yehudah.
We are not told how they whittled this down and identified who it was. It would probably be done by casting lots, but maybe someone had seen something suspicious and whispered about it. Somehow Y’hoshua literally came close to each one. Maybe he asked just the right questions and could tell when he was “getting close” because of discrepancies that arose in the story. A tree is known by its fruit. Where was the fruit of most affected? Maybe this family became disproportionately sick. In any case, instead of just pointing out who the culprit was, YHWH heightened the suspense so each would be searching his own heart and taking inventory of what he might have done, to make sure the problem was not in his household. Undoubtedly many people repented for lesser sins in the process, such as speaking against Y’hoshua for some petty reason. Though most of them could breathe a sigh of relief when the lot did not fall to them, they would still all be able to identify with what the tribe that was “caught” was going through. They all got a taste of the fear, and of course the families of those who were killed were suffering. The fear of YHWH in each heart would be strengthened. Akhan’s name means “troublemaker.” It may have reflected a slight change from his original name, as was sometimes done with Hebrew names, as from Ben Kosiba to Bar Kochba, once it became known that he was responsible for what took place. His forefathers are mentioned, for what he did reflected on them as well as bringing disgrace to Y’hoshua and guilt to all of Israel corporately. But with such a reputation among ancestors with such wonderful names like “my vineyard” (Karmi), someone should have been keeping an eye on him wherever he went. The most logical people to do so would be his own family, because they were the ones who would also pay the ultimate price for his actions. He has apparently caused trouble before this, yet no one took responsibility to make sure he behaved.
19. So Y’hoshua said to Akhan, “My son, please direct honor to YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, and make confession before Him, and please make known to me what you have done; do not conceal [it] from me!”
Direct honor: i.e., show that you really believe He is Elohim, and tell the truth.
20. So Akhan answered Y’hoshua, and said, “It’s true; I have sinned against YHWH the Elohim of Israel, and like this, like this I have done:
21. “When I saw among the spoils a robe [from] Shinar--a nice one, 200 sheqels of silver, and a tongue of gold—one with its weight fifty sheqels—I wanted them, and I snatched them up, and there they are, hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver under it.”
Robe: the root word reveals that it was wide and majestic. In Scripture robes are symbolic of our works. When Yeshua speaks of keeping our garments (Rev. 16:15), he does not mean fancy attire. Those who do not “soil their garments” will walk with him in white.” (Rev. 3:3ff) To buy from him white garments (3:17ff) speaks of our service to Israel, because white robes were worn by the priesthood when on duty. Just as their garments should tell us something about what they do (much like modern military or police uniforms), what covers us is idiomatic of our actions or deeds. But Shinar is where the tower of Bavel was built. (Gen. 11) The builders used substitutionary building materials because they wanted to make the building flood-proof in case YHWH should decide to send judgment again. There was a unity there, but it was of such a nature that each person was pursuing his own interests. Thus they were united for the sake of finding ways around keeping YHWH’s commands and doing things their own way. This is what caught his eye—because he may not have liked the way things were being run. Babylonian ways feel great on one’s body, until one realizes that he is really poor, wretched, and naked. With a garment like this, one could pretend he was a king, but he would have to soothe his flesh with it when no one was looking. It was the hidden things that brought defeat and shame. A “tongue of gold” may have been broken off a golden idol. But it is a “golden tongue” that enables us to keep things hidden, always having an excuse available to justify our sins. Akhan does confess his sin, but seemed to be explaining why he really was not guilty rather than truly taking responsibility. But why would private security be needed if he was under the pillar of fire with all Israel, walking where he was meant to walk? The truth will eventually come out, so why persist in a lie when its only end can be death?
22. So Y’hoshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and indeed it was hidden in his tent with the silver under it.
The silver was not part of “it”, and it was buried deepest, indicating that he valued it more highly than the rest. Silver was always the means of exchange used in payment for human life or blood, and that of some animals as well. (Yeshua was sold for silver.) A person can either be ransomed by silver or by blood. So silver symbolizes his cherishing of his own life. But Yeshua says, “He who wants to save his life will lose it.” (Mat. 16:35) Thinking of one’s own “blood”—valuing his kindred and family—above YHWH’s interests is the source of much trouble in returning Israel. Yeshua tried to warn us, saying it was inevitable that many families would be divided when some prioritized following him (Mat. 10:34) and that one must regard those who do YHWH’s will as his true family. (Mat. 12:46) Thus the three things he wanted can be summed up as “Doing it my way”, “Taking care of me and mine”, and “I can explain this…”
23. So they took them from inside the tent and brought them to Y’hoshua and to all the descendants of Israel, and they poured them out before YHWH.
24. So Y’hoshua seized Akhan the son of Zerakh, and the silver and the robe and the tongue of gold, along with his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his donkeys and his sheep, as well as his tent and everything that he had. And [he] and all Israel with him brought them up to the Valley of Akhor,
25. and Y’hoshua said, “How you have brought calamity on us! YHWH will bring calamity on you this day!” And all of Israel executed him [with] stone, then they burned them with fire when they had pelted them with stones.
He probably thought he could conceal his cache easily and get away with it, or that it was only a small thing. But the tares mixed in with the wheat are gathered first to be burned. (Mat. 13) Yet YHWH later promised to make the Valley of Akhor a doorway of hope (Hos. 2:14-15) and a place for flocks to lie down and rest (Yeshayahu 65:8-10), possibly because sin was dealt with in a final way there.
26. And they raised over him a large round [heap] of stones [that have remained there] until this day. Then YHWH turned back from the heat of His anger. On account of this the name of that place is called the Valley of Akhor to this day.
His name is remembered only for evil, and casts shame all the way back to his ancestor Yehudah, not to mention costing the lives of others who had nothing to do with him, because that is what it means to be a camp or community. When we hide forbidden things in our “tents”, we hurt other people. What are you hiding away for yourself at the expense of all Israel? Dig them up and turn them over before He asks for them, and certainly before Israel’s next battle! Otherwise none of us can enjoy our inheritance.
Commentary on
Y'hoshua 6:17 - 7:26
What's Hidden
in
Your Tent?
