And Joshua charged them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that rises up and builds this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof with his firstborn, and with his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.
All Commentaries on Joshua 6:26 Go To Joshua 6
Bede
AD 735
It is said of the time when Ahab reigned, “In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho; he laid its foundations in Abiram, his firstborn; and he set up its gates in Segub, his youngest son.” The apparent sense is that when the above-mentioned city’s builder began to lay its foundations, his firstborn, named Abiram, died; and that after the city had been built, when he tried to fortify its gates, he lost his youngest son, named Segub. Joshua predicted that this would happen when, after Jericho’s destruction he made it anathema by cursing it, saying, “Cursed be the man before the Lord that shall raise up and build the city of Jericho, and in his firstborn may he lay its foundation, and in the last of his children set up its gates.” Because Hiel is translated as “living for God” and Bethel as “house of God,” Hiel of Bethel restores Jericho’s walls (which Joshua had destroyed and cursed) whenever any who have taken up the religious life in the church resume doing the evil deeds for which the Lord Jesus forgave them on the day of [their] baptism and whenever they who have renounced the devil’s pomp return to it by wanton living or prefer false doctrines or Gentile fables to the church’s truth in which they were instructed.
