(10) Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?—“Why is this, that thou art fallen upon thy face? Israel hath sinned.” The pronoun “thou” is emphatic.

Joshua 7:10-12. Wherefore liest thou upon thy face? — This business is not to be done by inactive supplication, but by vigorous endeavours for reformation. Israel hath sinned — Some or one of them. They have transgressed my covenant — That is, broken the conditions of my covenant, which they promised to perform, whereof this was one, not to meddle with the accursed thing. And have also stolen — Taken what I had reserved for myself, Joshua 6:19. And dissembled also — Covered the fact with deep dissimulation. Probably Joshua after the destruction of Jericho, had made inquiry whether the silver and gold, &c., were brought into the treasury, and whether they had destroyed all the other things as God commanded; and they all answered in the affirmative. Possibly, too, Achan might be suspected of purloining something, and, being accused, had denied it. Among their own stuff — Converted it to their own use, and added obstinacy to their crime. Because they were accursed — By having a man among them who is fallen under my curse. Thus they have put themselves out of my protection, and therefore are liable to the same destruction which belongs to the Canaanites. Except ye destroy the accursed — Now they knew that such a crime had been committed among them, they would have been as guilty as Achan if they had not punished it.

7:10-15 God awakens Joshua to inquiry, by telling him that when this accursed thing was put away, all would be well. Times of danger and trouble should be times of reformation. We should look at home, into our own hearts, into our own houses, and make diligent search to find out if there be not some accursed thing there, which God sees and abhors; some secret lust, some unlawful gain, some undue withholding from God or from others. We cannot prosper, until the accursed thing be destroyed out of our hearts, and put out of our habitations and our families, and forsaken in our lives. When the sin of sinners finds them out, God is to be acknowledged. With a certain and unerring judgment, the righteous God does and will distinguish between the innocent and the guilty; so that though the righteous are of the same tribe, and family, and household with the wicked, yet they never shall be treated as the wicked.God's answer is given directly, and in terms of reproof. Joshua must not lie helpless before God; the cause of the calamity was to be discovered. 10-15. the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up—The answer of the divine oracle was to this effect: the crisis is owing not to unfaithfulness in Me, but sin in the people. The conditions of the covenant have been violated by the reservation of spoil from the doomed city; wickedness, emphatically called folly, has been committed in Israel (Ps 14:1), and dissimulation, with other aggravations of the crime, continues to be practised. The people are liable to destruction equally with the accursed nations of Canaan (De 7:26). Means must, without delay, be taken to discover and punish the perpetrator of this trespass that Israel may be released from the ban, and things be restored to their former state of prosperity. This business is not to be done by unactive supplication, but by vigorous endeavours for reformation.

And the Lord said unto Joshua, get thee up,.... From the ground where he lay prostrate, with his face to it: this he said, not as refusing his supplication to him, but rather as encouraging and strengthening him; though chiefly he said this in order to instruct him, and that he might prepare for what he was to do:

wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? in this manner, so distressed and dejected; or for this thing, as the Targum, for this defeat of the army; something else is to be done besides prayer and supplication.

And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?