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ויקרע7167 יהושׁע3091 שׂמלתיו8071 ויפל5307 על5921 פניו6440 ארצה776 לפני6440 ארון727 יהוה3068 עד5704 הערב6153 הוא1931 וזקני2205 ישׂראל3478 ויעלו5927 עפר6083 על5921 ראשׁם׃7218

Ge 37:29,34 Nu 14:6 2Sa 13:31 Ezr 9:3-5 Es 4:1 Job 1:20 Ac 14:14

Verse 6. Joshua rent his clothes, &c.] It was not in consequence of this slight discomfiture, simply considered in itself, that Joshua laid this business so much to heart; but 1. Because the people melted, and became as water, and there was little hope that they would make any stand against the enemy; and 2. Because this defeat evidently showed that God had turned his hand against them. Had it not been so, their enemies could not have prevailed.

Put dust upon their heads.] Rending the clothes, beating the breast, tearing the hair, putting dust upon the head, and falling down prostrate, were the usual marks of deep affliction and distress. Most nations have expressed their sorrow in a similar way. The example of the distressed family of King Latinus, so affectingly related by Virgil, may be adduced in illustration of many passages in the history of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, &c.

Regina ut testis venientem prospicit hostem - Purpureos moritura manu discindit amictus - Filia prima manu flavos Lavinia crines, Et roseas laniata genas. - It scissa veste Latinus - Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans. AEn. lib. xii., ver. 594.

"The queen, who saw the foes invade the town, And brands on tops of burning houses thrown, She raves against the gods, she beats her breast, And tears, with both her hands, her purple vest.

The sad Lavinia rends her yellow hair, And rosy cheeks; the rest her sorrow share.

Latinus tears his garments as he goes, Both for his public and his private woes; With filth his venerable beard besmears, And sordid dust deforms his silver hairs." DRYDEN.

Ver. 6. And Joshua rent his clothes , etc.] As was usual in those ancient times, on hearing bad news, and as expressive of grief and trouble f102 ; (see Genesis 37:29,34 Job 1:20); and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, until the eventide ; in a posture of adoration and prayer, in which he continued till even; how long that was cannot be said, since the time is not mentioned when the army returned from Ai; very probably it was some time in the afternoon: this was done before the ark of the Lord, the symbol of the divine Presence, not in the most holy place, where that usually was, and into which Joshua might not enter, but in the tabernacle of the great court, over against where the ark was: he and the elders of Israel ; either the elders of the people in the several tribes, or rather the seventy elders, which were the sanhedrim or council, and which attended Joshua, and assisted him as such; and put dust upon their heads ; another rite or ceremony used in times of mourning and distress, and that very anciently, before Joshua’s time and after, (see Job 2:12 1 Samuel 4:12 2 Samuel 1:2); and among various nations; so when Achilles bewailed the death of Patroclus, he is represented by Homer taking with both his hands the black earth, and pouring it on his head; so Aristippus among the Athenians is said to sprinkle dust on his head in token of mourning on a certain account.

ויקרע7167 יהושׁע3091 שׂמלתיו8071 ויפל5307 על5921 פניו6440 ארצה776 לפני6440 ארון727 יהוה3068 עד5704 הערב6153 הוא1931 וזקני2205 ישׂראל3478 ויעלו5927 עפר6083 על5921 ראשׁם׃7218