Joshua 7

. Heb. fol. 87. E. {p} Baumgarten. Peregrinatio, l. 3. c. 1. p. 105. Joshua 7:3 Ver. 3. And they returned unto Joshua, and said unto him, let not all the people go up,.... After they had reconnoitred the place, they came back to their general, and gave it as their opinion, that there was no need for the whole army to go up against the city: but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; such a number they judged were sufficient to take it: [and] make not all the people to labour thither; carrying their tents, bearing their armour, and going up hill: for they [are but] few; the inhabitants of Ai, men and women making but twelve thousand; Joshua 8:25. Joshua 7:4 Ver. 4. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men,.... Joshua detached from the army the largest number proposed, that there might be strength enough to take the place; and those he sent under proper officers to Ai, who went up to the very gate of the city, as appears from Joshua 7:5: and they fled before the men of Ai; for upon their appearing at the gate of their city, they came out with all their forces against them, and as soon as they did, the children of Israel durst not face them, but without engaging with them fled at once: God having forsaken them, their courage failed, the dread of their enemies falling on them. Joshua 7:5 Ver. 5. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men,....

Joshua 7:1 INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 7 For the trespass of Achan the children of Israel were smitten and put to flight by the men of Ai, Joshua 7:1; which gave him and the elders of the people great concern, both for Israel and for the name of the Lord, which was expressed by Joshua in prayer to God, Joshua 7:6; when the Lord informed him of the reason of it, and gave him directions for finding out the guilty person, and for the punishment of him, Joshua 7:10; which directions Joshua followed, and the person was found out, who being urged to a confession made one, Joshua 7:16; upon which he and all he had, with the things he had taken, were burnt with fire, Joshua 7:22. Ver. 1. But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing,....

But the children of Israel were a little discomfited by the men of Ai, and see how Joshua lost the sight of the promise; in Joshua 7:6, 7, "Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face, before the ark of the Lord, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads, and said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content to dwell on the other side Jordan." Oh, what unbelief is here! what discouragement is here! how had he lost the promise! O Lord, saith he, what shall I say, when Israel turn their backs before their enemies: and oh, what shall we say, when Joshua turned his back upon the promise' But so it was with Joshua here, he had lost the sight of the promise which once he had. And as for the threatening, you know how it was with David; having sinned greatly in the matter of Uriah, the Lord threatens him, "that the sword should never depart from his house;" and the threatening did take hold upon him, and David was under the stroke of the threatening. But was not Joshua godly; and was not David godly? So, then, a godly man may possibly lose the sight of the promise, and have a threatening set on his soul too. But if a promise, given out by the Lord, shall never be reversed, and a threatening may be repealed; then you have no cause to fear in this respect. Now a threatening is therefore given, that it may not be fulfilled