Commentaria in Josue
Chapter 7
Achan steals from the spoils of Jericho, and therefore the Hebrews are cut down by the men of Hai; soon, verse 6, at the prayer of Josue God discovers Achan’s theft by lot, and therefore he, having confessed the theft, verse 20, is consumed by fire with his.
1. But the children of Israel transgressed the commandment, and took to their own use of the anathema: for Achan the son of Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare, of the tribe of Juda, took something of the anathema: and the Lord was angry against the children of Israel. 2. And when Josue sent men from Jericho against Hai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of the town of Bethel, he said to them: Go up, and view the country. And they fulfilling his commands, viewed Hai. 3. And returning, they said to him: Let not all the people go up, but let two or three thousand men go, and destroy the city: why should all the people be troubled in vain, against enemies that are very few? 4. There went up therefore three thousand fighting men: who immediately turned their backs, 5. And were beaten by the men of the city of Hai, and there fell of them six and thirty men: and the enemies pursued them from the gate as far as Sabarim, and defeated them in the descent: and the heart of the people was struck with fear, and melted like water. 6. But Josue rent his garments, and fell flat on the ground before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and all the ancients of Israel, and they put dust upon their heads. 7. And Josue said: Alas, O Lord God, why wouldst thou bring this people over the river Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and to destroy us? would God we had stayed beyond the Jordan as we began. 8. My Lord God, what shall I say, seeing Israel turning their backs to their enemies? 9. The Chanaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and being gathered together will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do to thy great name?
10. And the Lord said to Josue: Arise, why liest thou flat on the ground? 11. Israel hath sinned, and transgressed my covenant: and they have taken of the anathema, and have stolen, and lied, and hid it among their goods. 12. Israel cannot stand before his enemies, but shall flee from them: because he is defiled with the anathema: I will be no more with you, till you destroy him that is guilty of this wickedness. 13. Arise, sanctify the people, and say to them: Be ye sanctified against tomorrow: for thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: The anathema is in the midst of thee, O Israel, thou canst not stand before thy enemies, till he be destroyed out of thee that is defiled with this wickedness. 14. In the morning you shall come every one by your tribes: and what tribe soever the lot shall find, it shall come by its kindreds, and the kindred by its houses, and the house by the men. 15. And whosoever shall be found guilty of this deed, shall be burnt with fire with all his substance: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and hath done wickedness in Israel. 16. Josue therefore rising in the morning, made Israel come by their tribes, and the tribe of Juda was found: 17. Which being brought by its families, it was found to be the family of Zare: and bringing it by the houses, he found it to be Zabdi: 18. And bringing his house man by man, he found Achan the son of Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare, of the tribe of Juda. 19. And Josue said to Achan: My son, give glory to the Lord the God of Israel, and confess, and tell me what thou hast done, hide it not. 20. And Achan answered Josue, and said to him: Indeed I have sinned against the Lord the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. 21. For I saw among the spoils a scarlet garment, exceeding good, and two hundred sicles of silver, and a golden rule of fifty sicles: and I coveted them, and took them away, and hid them in the ground in the midst of my tent, and the silver I covered with the earth that I dug up. 22. Josue therefore sent ministers: who running to his tent, found all hid in the same place, together with the silver. 23. And taking them away out of the tent, they brought them to Josue, and to all the children of Israel, and threw them down before the Lord. 24. Josue therefore taking Achan the son of Zare, and the silver, and the scarlet garment, and the golden rule, his sons also and daughters, his oxen and asses, and sheep, and the tent, and all the furniture, and all Israel with him, brought them to the valley of Achor: 25. Where Josue said: Because thou hast troubled us, the Lord trouble thee in this day. And all Israel stoned him: and all that were his were consumed with fire. 26. And they gathered together over him a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this day. And the fury of the Lord was turned away from them. And the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor, until this day.
1. BUT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TRANSGRESSED THE COMMANDMENT, AND TOOK TO THEIR OWN USE of the spoils of Jericho, which were assigned to anathema, that is, to destruction and burning by God. Note: One Achan had done it; yet the sin of that one is attributed by synecdoche to the whole society and body, namely the people of Israel, of which he was a part, to show, First, how hateful and odious to God sin is, since committed by one it subjected so many to the anger and vengeance of God.
Secondly, how much good or bad society avails, since in it, as there is a community of life and condition, so there is a community of vices and virtues and of all actions.
Thirdly, how presidents and superiors ought to watch over individuals in the congregation over which they preside, lest the sin of one overflow upon the whole congregation, nay creep on by its own contagion. For as one sheep rubs its scab on another, so a neighbour rubs his crime on his neighbour. So Origen here, homily 17. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 4 on the words of Isaias, I saw the Lord: “Sin,” he says, “is a kind of plague; let it be published and made known to all through the vengeance, lest it corrupt all, so that when they have learned how great threats one transgression has brought forth, they may flee vengeance; otherwise eternal vengeance would have to be taken on many.”
Fourthly, how each in his place ought to be solicitous out of charity; since their virtue or vice is rewarded or avenged by God not only on themselves but on the whole congregation. Wherefore St. Matthias the Apostle, as Clement of Alexandria testifies, book iii Stromata, used to say: “If the neighbour of an elect man has sinned, the elect man has sinned. For if he had so conducted himself as the word or reason commands, his neighbour would have so reverenced his life that he would not have sinned.” Hence Scripture so often repeats: “Take away the evil from the midst of you.”
FOR ACHAN, etc., TOOK SOMETHING OF THE ANATHEMA.—The Septuagint call Achan Achar, and so he is called by all in 1 Paralipomenon chapter ii, verse 7. Achan, therefore, was Achar, that is troubler, because by his theft he troubled the whole camp of Israel, so that they were cut down by the enemy men of Hai. Hence 1 Paralipomenon chapter ii, 7, the reason why he is called Achar is added, when it is said: “Who troubled Israel.” For the root achar signifies to trouble. Hence the place of punishment was called Achar, the valley of Achor, that is, the valley of trouble, as is clear from the last verse. Moreover this temptation of Achan was a human one: for it is difficult to restrain a victorious soldier from the spoils of the enemy; hence the same man often loses the victory which he has won. Hear St. Ambrose, book i On Duties, chapter xxxix: “Frequently, when the enemies have been routed and the line of the adversaries turned to flight, while the fighter is taken with the spoils of the slain, he lies down, to be pitied, among those very ones whom he laid low; and the legions, drawn by their triumphs, while they are taken up with spoils, have called back upon themselves the enemy who had fled.” How often have we seen this among Christians defeating the Turks?
THE SON OF ZABDI.—In 1 Paralipomenon ii, 7, he is called the son of Zamri. The grandfather of Achan, therefore, had two names, and was called both Zabdi and Zamri. This, then, was his genealogy: Juda begot Phares and Zare of Thamar, Zare begot Zabdi, Zabdi begot Charmi, Charmi begot this Achan, who therefore was the fourth from Juda; but from Juda to the theft of Achan there were at least 260 years; wherefore each of them must have begotten at the age of at least 65: for four times 65 make 260, but this was frequent at that age.
2. AND WHEN JOSUE SENT MEN AGAINST HAI.—This city, from St. Jerome, Josephus and others, Adrichomius describes thus in the Description of the Holy Land: “Hai, which is also Chai, and in Josephus Ada or Aina, in Jerome Agai and Ai, once a most beautiful city, and in the mountains, as Bredenbach says, was taken by Josue, burned, its king hanged and its people slain. In Isaias it is called Aiath, as Benedict notes, through which Sennacherib the king passed to assault Jerusalem, Isaias chapter x. Mention is made of it Jeremias xlix, 3; Esdras ii, 28; Esdras vii. In the time of Jerome scarcely small ruins remained, and only the place was shown. It is on the western side of Bethel, not much distant from it.”
WHICH IS BESIDE BETHAVEN, ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE TOWN OF BETHEL.—Hence it is clear that Bethaven was a place distinct from Bethel. Yet Bethel itself, that is, house of God, is also called Bethaven by Osee, chapter iv and following, that is house of an idol and of iniquity, on account of the golden calves set up in it by Jeroboam, which Israel adored as idols.