Joshua 6:20-25

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 6:17-27

The people had religiously observed the orders given them concerning the besieging of Jericho, and now at length Joshua had told them (Josh. 6:16), ?The Lord hath given you the city, enter and take possession.? Accordingly in these verses we have, I. The rules they were to observe in taking possession. God gives it to them, and therefore may direct it to what uses and intents, and clog it with what provisos and limitations he thinks fit. It is given to them to be devoted to God, as the first... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:20

So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets ,.... As Joshua had charged them, Joshua 6:16 , and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet , and the people shouted with a great shout ; that is, gave a loud shout, on hearing the long blast of the trumpets blown by the priests the seventh time, as they were no doubt directed by Joshua, agreeably to the order given to him; see Joshua 6:5 , that the wall fell down flat ; the wall of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:21

And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city ,.... All the inhabitants of it, by the direction of Joshua, and according to the order of the Lord, Deuteronomy 7:1 ; being guilty of capital crimes, which deserved death, as idolatry, incest, &c.; both men and women, young and old ; neither sex nor age were spared: and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword ; in which creatures chiefly lay the substance of the eastern people; see Job 1:3 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:22

But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country ,.... Whom he had sent on that errand, Joshua 2:1 ; and what follows he had said unto them before the people entered into the city, and perhaps before the walls of it fell; and indeed from Joshua 6:16 , it appears to have been said at the time he gave the people orders to shout: go into the harlot's house : he does not mention her name but they full well knew who he meant: and bring out thence the woman, and all... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:23

And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab ,.... Not only went into the city, but into Rahab's house, which they knew again by the scarlet thread hung out at the window of it. But here a difficulty occurs, how they could be said to go into her house, when it was built on the town wall, Joshua 2:15 ; and that was now fallen down flat. Abarbinel thinks that when the spies went round the city, they saw the scarlet thread in the window of her house, and set their eyes on... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:24

And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein ,.... As Babylon the great, of which this city was an emblem, as has been observed; see Gill on Joshua 6:20 ; will be burnt with fire also, Revelation 18:8 , only the silver and the gold, and the vessels of brass and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord ; See Gill on Joshua 6:19 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:25

And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive ,.... From perishing by the sword, as the rest of the inhabitants did. Kimchi says, some interpret it of his giving her food, and an inheritance by which she might live; and Josephus F6 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 7. intimates the same: he says, he gave her fields, and had her in great honour and esteem; and it is the notion of some Jewish writers, that he took her to wife, and that this is meant by saving her alive; which sense Kimchi disapproves... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 6:20

The people shouted with a great shout , that the wall fell down - There has been much learned labor spent to prove that the shouting of the people might be the natural cause that the wall fell down! To wait here, either to detail or refute any such arguments, would be lost time: enough of them may be seen in Scheuchzer. The whole relation evidently supposes it to have been a supernatural interference, as the blowing of the trumpets, and the shouting of the people, were... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 6:21

They utterly destroyed - both man , and woman , etc. - As this act was ordered by God himself, who is the Maker and Judge of all men, it must be right: for the Judge of all the earth cannot do wrong. Nothing that breathed was permitted to live; hence the oxen, sheep, and asses, were destroyed, as well as the inhabitants. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 6:23

Brought out Rahab , and her father , etc. - Rahab having been faithful to her vow of secrecy, the Israelites were bound by the oath of the spies, who acted as their representatives in this business, to preserve her and her family alive. And left them without the camp - They were considered as persons unclean, and consequently left without the camp; (see Leviticus 13:46 ; Numbers 12:14 ;). When they had abjured heathenism, were purified, and the males had... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 6:17-27

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:21

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:24

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 6:25

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 6:20

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 6:21

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 6:23

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