First: How the inspection of this sacrilege was made, verse 22 teaches. For Joshua sent to the spot ministers, who in Hebrew are called malachim, in Greek ἄγγελοι [angeloi], that is, “messengers.” These, using great speed, ran thither: they found all: they quickly brought the found [things] to Joshua and the whole people: [and] before all they poured out and threw [them] down. Secondly: But Joshua sent those [messengers], first, that glory might be given to God — [glory] so much the greater and more illustrious, the more confirmed both the lot and Achan’s own confession were, and the more certain. For thus more and more did the divine omniscience, the highest truth and justice, shine forth, and [the matter] was held, as it were, explored and beheld by the eyes and hands of all. But every care is to be taken up by us, that we inquire not only into the glory of God, but into a greater and more conspicuous [glory]. Secondly: That, since by the nefarious sacrilege the anathema had been impeded, [that] — as it were, from the spoils — a certain thing like a holocaust might be perfected: that nothing remain in profane use which was sacred and devoted to God: that all, even so little, be rendered to Him, [and] all be consumed by the flames. Thirdly: That there be an example to Judges, how diligently they ought to inquire into all things, when it is a question of some man’s blood: let them see whether the guilty [man] who confesses the crimes does that very thing either from fear of the tortures, or from despair of pardon, or from a stupor of soul, or acts from some other perturbation. In a matter of so great moment, there can scarcely be too much caution. But those who were sent — why did they run [thither] so [eagerly]? First: Because they were good and faithful ministers to their Lord. For this goodness and fidelity of theirs binds wings to their hands and feet, and winged sandals [talaria]; but on the contrary, sloth and unfaithfulness make [men] slow-paced and hesitating. “The sluggard says, there is a lion outside, I shall be slain in the midst of the streets” (Prov. 22:13). Secondly: These ministers loved not only their Lord, but also the good of the community. And therefore they strove to remove and take away the cause of every evil from it as quickly as possible. Thirdly: That there might be to all servants an example of ready obedience, of speed and alacrity — which the wise man greatly commends (Prov. 22:29): “Hast thou seen a man swift in his work? He shall stand before Kings, nor shall he be before the ignoble.” “For these [things],” says Euripides in [the] Alcmena:
δούλοις ἄεισα κἀφ᾽ ὅτῳ τεταγμένος / εἴη τις ἀνδάνοντα δεσπόταις ποιεῖν.
[Euripides, Alcmena: “For slaves [it is best], upon whatever [task] one is appointed, to be doing what is pleasing to [their] masters.”]
But than a servant [who is] slow, yawning, [and] stretching himself, what [is] more troublesome? “Just as,” says the same our Wise man (Prov. 10:26), “vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so [is] the sluggard to those who sent him.” Fourthly: That we may understand of what sort we ought to be toward the heavenly Lord, and the true JESUS, when he commands something. For we must run — and, if it could be, fly — whither he wills us. Known indeed, yet very much to be noted, [is] that [saying] of St. Ambrose (in the chapter “on Mary’s departure into the hill-country,” bk. 2 on Luke): “The grace of the Holy Spirit knows no slow endeavors.” Whence [in] Isaiah 18:2: “Go, swift Angels [messengers], to a nation rent and torn.” Fifthly: That we may recognize the diligence of Joshua himself, when something was commanded him — either by Moses of old, or by God now. For as [are] the masters, such also [are] the servants. καὶ μέτεστι τοῖς δούλοισι δεσποτῶν νόσου [kai metesti tois douloisi despotōn nosou, “and slaves partake of their masters’ malady”], says the same Euripides. Sixthly: In executing the divine sentences and judgments, how great a speed of the heavenly Angels do we suppose [there is]? How gladly do they perform the [things] which look to the glory of God and the common good? Truly, even the true JESUS is called (Isaiah 8:3): “Hasten to take away the spoils, make speed to plunder.” And the same [is] “seeking judgment, and swiftly rendering what is just,” in the same [prophet] (ch. 16, v. 5). But why did the same [men] so throw down “the [things] which they had found” before the eyes of all? If the [vowel-]points be removed from the Hebrew word, it could be read “he threw [it] down,” or rather “he poured them out”; and so some in the Talmud of the Rabbis read [it], and said [that] Joshua, when he had beheld those stolen trifles, being indignant and bearing ill so great an offense of God for such tiny things, poured them out on the ground before the ark with these words: “Wast thou, O Lord of the world, about to slay for these [things] a great part of the Israelite senate?” But that reading is rejected by all the other Rabbis, by all the texts which consist of [vowel-]points, by the Chaldee Paraphrast, [by] the Seventy, and [by] all the Latins: and therefore [it is] also a stupid interpretation, and insulting to Joshua himself. It must therefore be said that the sent ministers poured out those [things] to show how [greatly] they detested this crime.