Charles Ellicott Commentary Joshua 7

Achan ... of the tribe of Judah. —The tribe of Judah is distinguished in sacred history both for great crimes and great achievements. (See Names on the Gates of Pearl. —Judah.)

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai. —Why Ai should be the next town selected for attack after Jericho is a question which perhaps we cannot answer with certainty.

But we may observe that the next step after the capture of Ai, before the further conquest of the country, was to set up the Ten Commandments in Mount Ebal, in the heart of the country, and to pronounce there the blessing and the curse which are the sanction of the law of God.

It may well be that the course of the first military operations was directed to this end. The capture of Ai would put the Israelites in possession of the main road running north and south through Palestine and enable them to reach the center immediately.

Thus, the character of the war, which was no mere human enterprise, is maintained; and it is probable that the Divine reason for the movement is that which we are intended to observe.

For the first mention of Ai, see Genesis 12:8. It is noticeable that Abram first pitched his tent there after his return to Canaan out of Egypt. (See also on Joshua 8:1.)

Note also that Beth-aven and Bethel are distinct, although adjacent, places. The one is not a later name of the other, as has sometimes been supposed, although one is “the house of vanity” (i.e., perhaps of idols) and the other “the house of God.”

Do not make all the people labor there. —In these words we see, by a sort of side-glance, the (not unnatural) comment of Israel on the seven days’ march around Jericho. They thought it useless labor, and were unable to appreciate the lesson which it taught.

Again our attention is directed to the peculiar character of the warfare. It was not that kind of war which men would naturally have been disposed to wage. But the narrative is consistent throughout. (See Note on Joshua 2:1.)

They fled before the men of Ai. —A very natural reaction from overweening confidence to utter dismay is exhibited in this incident and its effect (Joshua 7:5), the heart of the people melted and became as water. The demoralisation of Israel was a suitable penalty for their assumption, quite apart from its supernatural cause. It was absolutely necessary that the character of the conquest of Canaan should be vindicated, at whatever cost.

Shebarim —i.e., the crevices, or ravines. A short distance below Ai the road passes the head of steep glens, which open into the plain of Jordan.

In the going down — i.e., until they escaped into these ravines.