Joshua 7:14 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man. Ye shall be brought according to your tribes - It has been a subject of serious inquiry in what manner and by what means the culpable tribe, family, household, and individual, were discovered. The Jews have many conceits on the subject; the most rational is, that the tribes being, in their representatives, brought before the high priest, the stone on the breastplate gave immediate intimation by suddenly losing its lustre. According to them, this is what is termed consulting God by Urim and Thummim. It is however most probable that the whole was determined by the lot; and that God chose this method to detect the guilty tribe, next the family, thirdly the household, and lastly the individual. This was nearly the plan pursued in the election of Saul by Samuel. "Now therefore," says he, "present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands. And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken. When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken," 1 Samuel 10:19, 1 Samuel 10:20. If the lot was used in the one case it was doubtless used in the other also, as the procedure in the main was entirely similar. The same mode was used to find out who it was that transgressed the king's command, when it was found that Jonathan had eaten a little honey, 1 Samuel 14:40-43. It is well known that the promised land was divided by lot among the Israelites; (see Numbers 26:55; Numbers 33:54; Deuteronomy 1:38, etc.); and that the courses of the priests were regulated by lot in the days of David, 1 Chronicles 24:5, etc. That this was a frequent mode of determining difficult questions, and appointed by God himself, is evident from Leviticus 16:8; Psalms 51:18; Proverbs 16:33; Proverbs 18:18; Acts 1:26.