Joshua 7:16

“So Joshua rose up early in the morning, etc.] Which showed his readiness and diligence to obey the command of God; and as there was much work to do, it required that he should rise early: and brought Israel by their tribes: before the Lord, at the tabernacle, where he and the high priest and elders attended; each tribe was thither brought by their representatives: and the tribe of Judah was taken: either his stone in the breastplate of the high priest looked dull, as some say, or rather the lot being cast fell on that tribe.”

“So Joshua rose up early, and brought Israel by their tribes--that is, before the tabernacle. The lot being appealed to (Pro 16:33), he proceeded in the inquiry from heads of tribes to heads of families, and from heads of households in succession to one family, and to particular persons in that family, until the criminal was found to be Achan, who, on Joshua's admonition, confessed the fact of having secreted for his own use, in the floor of his tent, spoil both in garments and money [Jos 7:19-21]. How dreadful must have been his feelings when he saw the slow but certain process of discovery! (Num 32:23).”

“7:16-18 Achan might have been singled out by use of the Urim and Thummim, a God-given system of sacred lots. These items remained in the care of the high priest, probably in a bag or a pouch (see Exod 28:30; Num 27:21). They might have been two different-colored objects, perhaps stones or gems. Inquiries were phrased as “yes” or “no” questions.”

“rose up: Jos 3:1; Gen 22:3; Psa 119:60; Ecc 9:10 and brought: Jos 7:14 Joshua 7:17”

“Execution of the Command. - Jos 7:16-18. Discovery of the guilty man through the lot. In Jos 7:17 we should expect "the tribe" (shebet) or "the families" (mishpachoth) of Judah, instead of "the family." The plural mishpachoth is adopted in the lxx and Vulgate, and also to be met with in seven MSS; but this is a conjecture rather than the original reading Mishpachah is either used generally, or employed in a collective sense to denote all the families of Judah. There is no ground for altering לגּברים (man by man) into לבתּים (house by house) in Jos 7:17, according to some of the MSS; the expression "man by man" is used simply because it was the representative men who came for the lot to be…”