Introduction: Israel had just won their first victory in Canaan. They had followed God’s commands to walk around the city, shout, and then God would do the rest. They next decided to attack Ai, a smaller city, but something awful happened. The sin of one man was the reason why.
1 Achan’s deceit
Text: Joshua 7:1-5, KJV: 1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. 2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. 4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.
Achan was one of the soldiers from the tribe of Judah who took part in the battle of Jericho. The good news was that Israel took the city, using God’s methods, and received a complete victory. The bad news was that Achan took a few things for himself even though Joshua had commanded them to stay away from everything belonging to Jericho. All of it was accursed (Josh 6:17)!
I’ve sometimes wondered how Achan was able to hide all of the items he took so that nobody saw it or apparently said anything about it. He took a “wedge of gold” weighing 50 shekels, 200 shekels of silver and a “goodly Babylonish garment”. At the very least, it would be very hard for him to muffle the sound of the silver clinking together as he returned to his tent! Further, how could he hide that garment? And as Achan himself said later, he saw the garment “among the spoils,” so clearly he had no business taking it!
But even though he may have thought he got by with taking these items, he had sinned. And because of his sin, Israel—the whole nation—had sinned in God’s eyes.
God’s judgment fell on the nation because of Achan’s sin. Verses 2-5 describe the battle and Israel’s defeat. Nearly 36 Israelite soldiers lost their lives, needlessly, in what should have been an easy battle, but became a bitter defeat. The writer describes the reaction: “the hearts of the people melted, and became as water”.
2 Achan’s discovery
Text, Joshua 7:16-21, KJV:16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: 17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: 18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. 20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
In verses 5-15, Joshua expressed his dismay about what had happened. Israel had not only lost the battle but also nearly 36 soldiers. None of them had to die and none of them would have died except for this fact: one man had sinned and in God’s eyes, the whole nation had sinned.
Then as now, sin would have to be dealt with.
And to do this, God told Joshua what to do: casting lots (an acceptable form of finding truth in those days) to select the tribe, family, household, and the one individual responsible. The next morning, he did exactly that.
The first lot selected the tribe of Judah. This cleared all of the other tribes of any responsibility in this regard. No doubt the vast majority of all Israel felt relief when their tribe was not identified by the casting of the lot. For the people of Judah—not so much. There were still several families in Judah, descended from each of his surviving sons. The heads of these families are listed in Numbers 26:19-22, the most recent census before Israel crossed the Jordan and entered Canaan.
But that wasn’t all. Once the tribe of Judah was selected, and the others were exempted, Joshua then cast the lot to discover the family whose member was responsible. The lot fell on or indicated the family of the Zarhites, those descended from Zerah, Pharez’ twin brother and son of Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38:27-30). Something we may not recall is that just before Israel had crossed the Jordan, the tribe of Judah alone had 76,500 men aged 20 and up (Numbers 26:22). To find one man even among 76,500 people would be difficult beyond words unless there was a way to filter the results, or narrow the possibilities, or whatever one wishes to say.
Joshua then cast the lot and discovered Zabdi was the descendant of Zerah to whom the sinner (as yet unknown to the people) was related. One more casting of the lot fell on Carmi, himself a descendant of Zabdi. By this time, most of Judah’s population must have been feeling relief that their family unit was “not guilty” of this sin and/or crime.
Except, one man of Carmi’s descendants was the guilty party. And he was the one on whom the lot fell, indicating he was the guilty party; he was the one responsible; he was discovered.
His name was Achan.
Joshua gave Achan a chance to confess his sin; why Achan had not done this before is never explained. He knew that everything in Jericho was accursed but that didn’t stop him from basically stealing a number of items from God!
Achan indeed confessed but it was too little, too late. He did tell Joshua what he took and where he had put it but, sadly, there is no record that Achan made confession to God.
Even though Achan had confessed, at last, that didn’t mean he was exempted from the penalty.
That penalty was death.
3 Achan’s death
Text: Joshua 7:22-26, KJV: 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. 24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
Once Achan confessed to taking the materials from Jericho, there was probably a moment of silence among Israel. Some may have expressed dismay or any other emotion after the man responsible for Israel’s defeat was made public. The text does not give the reaction of the families of the 30-plus men who died needlessly at Ai.
They probably weren’t happy.
Joshua sent messengers, according to verse 22, who then ran to Achan’s tent and searched for the items. They found the gold, the silver, and apparently the “goodly Babylonish garment (verse 21)” as well, just as Achan had indicated. These messengers brought these items and “laid them out before the LORD (verse 23)”. Why they did this is not certain.
But one thing that was certain is that soon after this, all Israel saw all the items. Joshua along with “all Israel” took Achan, his family, indeed everything he owned, plus the items he had stolen from Jericho and led them to the valley of Achor (location uncertain but probably not too far from Gilgal, see also Joshua 15:7).
Whatever Achan and his family may have thought, nothing could have prepared them for what was going to happen. Joshua uttered some of the most sobering, and saddest, words in the Bible: “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” Indeed, Achan had troubled Israel, by taking forbidden property and hiding it, causing, by that, the death of over 30 men.
And then came the judgment.
Achan may have been the first to pay for his sins with his life. All Israel “stoned him with stones”; this is one of the few times anyone was stoned to death according to the Bible. Then his family—wife, sons, and daughters—were stoned to death also. Some have questioned why this might have happened but it’s important to remember, if they were innocent of the deed, they would not have been punished (see Deuteronomy 24:16). If Achan’s family were stoned to death, it was because they had taken part of Achan’s sin. This is serious business: every person will be judged for his or her own sins. The good news is that forgiveness for all sins is readily available once any person repents of his or her sins and accepts God’s priceless, free, gift of salvation made possible when Jesus died on the cross! As an aside, I believe there are only two genders. What part of “God made them male and female” is too hard to understand?
The text does not state how much time was needed for Achan and the others to be executed by stoning. Once they were verified dead, apparently, everything was burned with fire. Part of this was to demonstrate complete destruction, another part perhaps to remind Israel that as Jericho was to be destroyed, so was everything material found in Jericho as well. There may be other reasons as well but, again, the text mentions nothing about this.
This passage closes with the mention of the “great heap of stones raised” over Achan’s body. It is not clear if his wife and other family members were included here. Oddly enough, Achan is never mentioned again in the Scriptures except in 1 Chronicles 2:7 where he is called “the troubler of Israel”. That’s not how I would like to be remembered!
Would you?
Conclusion: Achan took a number of things from Jericho even though Joshua had pronounced everything of Jericho “off limits” or accursed. Achan saw some silver and gold, and a special kind of garment, took them home, and hid them in his tent. Eventually he was discovered but he paid for his sins with his life. Why he didn’t “come clean” before this is not certain. Did he think he could keep the items? God said otherwise.
And the great heap of stones placed over Achan’s body served as a memorial to anyone and everyone who passed by. Achan served as a reminder that first, God sees everything; second, God means what He says when He says “Don’t take anything that belongs to Me”; and finally, He will judge each person according to their sins (unbelievers, see Revelation 20) or their deeds (believers, 1 Corinthians 3).
Please don’t make the same mistakes Achan did. Honor God and He will honor you!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
