and bare feet are a sign of mourning. The angel reproached Joshua
in particular with having allowed the preparations for war to
interfere with the study of the Torah and with the ritual service.
Neglect of the latter might be a venial sin, but neglect of the
former is worthy of condign punishment. (19) At the same time the
angel assured Joshua that he had come to aid him, and he entreated
Joshua not to draw back from him, like Moses, who had refused
the good offices of the angel. (20) He who spoke to Joshua was
none other than the archangel Michael. (21)

CONQUEST OF THE LAND

Joshua's first victory was the wonderful capture of Jericho. The
whole of the city was declared anathema, because it had been
conquered on the Sabbath day. Joshua reasoned that as the Sabbath
is holy, so also that which conquered on the Sabbath should be
holy. (22) The brilliant victory was followed by the luckless defeat
at Ai. In this engagement perished Jair, the son of Manasseh,
whose loss was as great as if the majority of the Sanhedrin had
been destroyed. (23) Presently Joshua discovered that the cause of
the defeat was the sinfulness of Israel, brought upon it by Achan,
who had laid hands on some of the spoils of Jericho. Achan was a
hardened transgressor and criminal from of old. During the life of
Moses he had several times appropriated to his own use things that
had been declared anathema, (24) and he had committed other
crimes worthy of the death penalty. (25) Before the Israelites
crossed the Jordan, God had not visited Achan's sins upon the
people as a whole, because at that time it did not form a national
unit yet. But when Achan abstracted an idol and all its
appurtenances from Jericho, (26) the misfortune of Ai followed at