Joshua 7:10

10 The LORD said to Joshua, "Get up! What are you doing down there on your face?

Joshua 7:10 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 7:10

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.

Joshua 7:10 In-Context

8 "Lord, our enemies have driven us away. What can I say?

9 The people of Canaan will hear about it. So will everyone else in the country. They will surround us. They'll wipe our name from the face of the earth. Then what will you do when people don't honor your great name anymore?"

10 The LORD said to Joshua, "Get up! What are you doing down there on your face?

11 "Israel has sinned. I made a covenant with them. I commanded them to keep it. But they have broken it. They have taken some of the things that had been set apart to me in a special way to be destroyed. They have stolen. They have lied. They have taken the things they stole and have put them with their own things.

12 "That is why the men of Israel can't stand up against their enemies. They turn their backs and run. It is because I have decided to let them be destroyed. You must destroy the things you took that had been set apart to me. If you do not, I will not be with you anymore.