10 So the Lord said to Joshua , "Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face ? 11 "Israel has sinned , and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived . Moreover, they have also put them among their own things . 12 "Therefore the sons of Israel cannot e stand before their enemies ; they turn their backs before their enemies , for they have become accursed . I will not be with you anymore unless e you destroy the things under the ban from your midst . 13 "Rise up! Consecrate the people and say , 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow , for thus the Lord , the God of Israel , has said , " There are things under the ban in your midst , O Israel . You cannot e stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst ." 14 'In the morning then you shall come near by your tribes . And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes by lot shall come near by families , and the family which the Lord takes shall come near by households , and the household which the Lord takes shall come near man by man . 15 ' It shall be that the one who is taken with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire , he and all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord , and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel .' "

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Joshua 7:10-15

Commentary on Joshua 7:10-15

(Read Joshua 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.