Joshua 6:19: Herem-Warfare against Jericho, Part 3

Verse 19:[1] But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated (Heb. holiness[2]) unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.

[Let it be consecrated to the Lord, קֹ֥דֶשׁ ה֖וּא לַֽיהוָ֑ה] Holiness, or holy, or consecrated, to Jehovah (Montanus, Septuagint, Jonathan, Syriac, Junius and Tremellius). What previously was called חֵרֶם/devoted is here called holy (Masius). The sense: Just as if the thing be consecrated holy to God (Lapide).

But all…are consecrated unto the Lord: Except that of which images were made, which were to be utterly destroyed, Exodus 32:20; Deuteronomy 7:25. Consecrated unto the Lord; being first made to pass through the fire, Numbers 31:22, 23.

[Stored in His treasuries] Hebrew: let them be brought into the treasure of Jehovah;[3] that is, as things consecrated to Jehovah, let them be brought into His treasury (Vatablus). Into the treasury of the house of the sanctuary, etc. (Chaldean), suppose, into the Tabernacle, for its use or ornament (Lapide). There that loot was stored, Numbers 31 (Masius). But note that this is added because otherwise all accursed things belonged to the Priests by law, Numbers 18:14; that is, unless the contrary be expressly added by God, or by the one vowing or offering, that they might belong to the Temple (Bonfrerius).

They shall come into the treasury of the Lord, to be employed wholly for the service or uses of the tabernacle, not to be applied to the use of any private person or priest.

[1] Hebrew: וְכֹ֣ל׀ כֶּ֣סֶף וְזָהָ֗ב וּכְלֵ֤י נְחֹ֙שֶׁת֙ וּבַרְזֶ֔ל קֹ֥דֶשׁ ה֖וּא לַֽיהוָ֑ה אוֹצַ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה יָבֽוֹא׃

[2] Hebrew: קֹדֶשׁ.

[3] Hebrew: אוֹצַ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה יָבֽוֹא׃.

1 thought on “Joshua 6:19: Herem-Warfare against Jericho, Part 3

  1. John Calvin: “Although God had determined not only to enrich his people with spoil and plunder, but also to settle them in cities which they had not built, yet there was a peculiarity in the case of the first city; for it was right that it should be consecrated as a kind of first fruits. Accordingly, he claims the buildings, as well as all the moveable property, as his own, and prohibits the application of any part of it to private uses. It may have been an irksome and grievous task for the people voluntarily to pull down houses in which they might have commodiously dwelt, and to destroy articles which might have been important for use. But as they had not been required to fight, it behooved them to refrain, without grudging, from touching the prey, and willingly yield up the rewards of the victory to God, as it was solely by his nod that the walls of the city had fallen, and the courage of the citizens had fallen along with them. God was contented with this pledge of gratitude, provided the people thereby quickly learned that everything they called their own was the gift of his free liberality. For with equal right all the other cities might have been doomed to destruction, had not God granted them to his people for habitations.

    As to the Hebrew word חרס, I will now only briefly repeat from other passages. When it refers to sacred oblations, it becomes, in respect of men, equivalent to abolitions, since things devoted in this manner are renounced by them as completely as if they were annihilated. The equivalent Greek term is ἀνάθημα, or ἀνάθεμα, meaning set apart, or as it is properly expressed in French, interdicted. Hence the exhortation to beware of what was under anathema, inasmuch as that which had been set apart for God alone had perished, in so far as men were concerned. It is used in a different sense in the following verse, where caution is given not to place the camp of Israel in anathema. Here its simple meaning is, excision, perdition, or death. Moreover, God destined vessels made of metals for the use of the sanctuary; all other things he ordered to be consumed by fire, or destroyed in other manners.”

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