Joshua 7 "What are you doing down on your face"

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Joshua 7:6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! 8 Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 9 The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?”

10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.​

This is from the easy English site.

Joshua and the leaders of the people showed how unhappy they were. They tore their clothes and they put dirt on their heads. This was the usual way to show how sad you were. Joshua and the leaders of the people lay down in front of the ark. This was to show God that they were sorry.

God told Joshua the real reason for the defeat at Ai. Someone had taken some of the valuable things that he found in Jericho. It was important for the Israelites to obey God. God could not give them good things if they did not obey him.

I got this from Bible.org. I had to share it... sometimes these commentaries have some vivid descriptions.

Today, we do not usually tear our clothes, fall face down on the ground, and put dust on our heads. But we too have our own ways of showing our consternation, pain, and doubt. We may fall on our knees or put our face in our hands and sob. If there are feelings of self-pity and depression, most people become inactive, sometimes sullen; they mope around and wear a face long enough to pick watermelon seeds out of a tall ketchup bottle. But these responses do not remove the pain or solve the problem. They do, however, enable us to grow through the experience.​

Finally, this is from the blueletterbible.org site.

For Joshua and the elders of Israel, this defeat was a national calamity. They do not take this defeat in stride; there is no "win a few, lose a few" mentality at work. They know that every battle matters, and there is always a reason for defeat, it doesn't "just happen."

God says that Israel had sinned, not only one man. It is staggering to think that the whole nation was found guilty, and thirty-six men were dead, all for the sin of one man and his family.

In this sense, the acceptance and toleration of the sin is worse than the sin itself, so it must be dealt with strictly.​

So, because one man decided to steal a little idol, the leaders are sitting in torn clothes with ashes on their heads. There are thirty six men dead, needing a burial. After the men tend to the dead, they will have to do a ritual cleansing in order to get back into camp. On top of that, the soldiers themselves were afraid. The last verse from yesterday was " melted in fear and became like water." How in the world were they going to conquer Canaan with a bunch of scared men?

Can't you just hear God's voice saying "Stand Up!"? Can't you just hear God speaking "What are you doing down on your face?". It was a rhetorical question! God already knew why Joshua and the leaders were grieving. Now it's time to do something about it.

:coffee:
 
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