But the children of Israel committed unfaithfulness in that which had been brought under the curse 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 Jehovah was kindled against the children of Israel.
Jericho has just fallen. This verse opens the story of Israel's defeat at Ai, and it names the cause before a single soldier marches. One man took what God had claimed for Himself. Yet the verse says Israel broke faith, and God's anger burned against the whole nation.
The order is deliberate. Before telling anything that happened at Ai, God lets the reader in on what Israel did not yet know.
In God's record of what happened before Ai, He lifts the veil before He reports a single step Israel took. He does this so that the reader of His word will not miss His thoughts about the sin in the camp. His finger points out the evil hidden inside Israel long before they found it. If they had been walking with humility, they would have sought God before the battle. He would have shown them that evil was among them.
One man's name appears, traced back three generations — then the anger falls on the whole nation. Commentators explain this by God's presence among them.
The anger of the LORD burned against — whom? Achan only? His household, his family, or his tribe? No — "against the people of Israel"! The evil involved the whole assembly. How could that be? God's presence made the whole assembly one. It bound them together so that the sin of the one involved them all. It was one assembly, and so it was impossible for anyone to take independent ground.
The obvious objection is that most of Israel knew nothing about it.
The people might have said: Does that concern us? How could we have known about a hidden thing, and not knowing it, how are we responsible? To all that we reply that God always has the unity of His people before His eyes. He considers each person a member of one whole, responsible for the others. The suffering and sin of one is the suffering and sin of all. If that is true of Israel, how much more of us, the church of God — one body joined by the Holy Spirit to the Head in heaven.
The spoil of Jericho was not simply off limits; it had an owner.
Faith makes no compromise with the world, and receives and takes nothing from it. God forbids the people to touch the spoil of Jericho; it is accursed. The LORD can claim these things and glorify Himself by them. They belong to Him, not to the people of Israel. Israel may touch them only to put them into "the treasury of the house of the Lord."
As theft it was petty. Against God's command at that moment it was something else.
At another time this would have been simply a case of petty theft or looting. Now it was flat defiance of God's authority. If it went without stern punishment, the evil would no doubt grow. The conquering Israelites were carrying out a solemn mission of divine judgment; instead they would become a mob of vile raiders.
Achan's own later account gives the stages, and one writer traces them back to the first sin.
He began where we all begin, where the first man began: "I saw." Genesis 3:6 says the same of the woman: "When the woman saw." His eyes were the way into his heart, but no sentry stood on watch. Through the eyes the accursed thing takes hold of the heart and stirs it to lust: "I coveted them." "Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin": "I took them."
God's name rested on this people, so a victory at Ai would have said something false about Him.
There was holiness too. That holiness made it impossible for Him to give the approval of His presence where evil went unjudged. How could there be victory with an accursed thing in the camp? Impossible! Israel must judge the evil, or the LORD must judge Israel. Giving them a victory at Ai would have brought reproach and dishonour on the One whose name they bore.
Achan took the spoil in the hour of victory, and defeat came next.
There are secrets of defeat just as there are secrets of victory. The believer's chief danger lies in victory. The soul wins it in real dependence upon God. Then, if it becomes taken up with the results, it is happy to take some credit for itself — and the next defeat dates from that moment.
- Hidden — one tent hid the sin, and the nation knew nothing. God names it in verse 1, before the battle report. He sees everything among His people.
- Shared — God lived among them and they were one, so the sin of one man became the sin of all. Nobody in that camp could stand on independent ground.
- Stolen — the devoted spoil belonged to the LORD's treasury. Taking it was not petty theft but open defiance of His authority.
- Seen — Achan's own words trace the path all sin takes: I saw, I coveted, I took — the same road as the first sin in Eden.
- Stopped — God's holiness could not give victory while the accursed thing stayed. Israel must judge the evil, or God must judge Israel. Progress waited on that.
And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and spy out the country. And the men went up and spied out Ai.
Jericho has fallen, and Joshua's next move looks like plain good sense: he sends scouts to look over a small town called Ai. Commentators point to what the verse leaves out — no word from God, no return to Gilgal — right before Israel's first defeat in the land.
Sending scouts was not foolish. Judged by a higher standard, it still falls short.
It was prudent according to man to send spies, but it is not so very good to go out exploring the land like this.
What the record leaves out is the point. Commentators treat the silence about prayer as the failure itself. They trace it to the small size of the target.
We do not read at this time of any seeking the Lord; we do not hear of prayer to ask counsel from the Lord about what they were to do. From all the facts I am sure that here the children of Israel failed in this. A little place seemed not to need God's power, wisdom, and guidance as much as a great one did… Joshua does not ask the Lord how matters stood, or whether His holy eyes had seen something that offended Him. He is all for action. Now, where there is activity before men, there is special need of drawing near to God beforehand. For one step taken tends to involve many more, and there is danger.
Joshua had sent spies once before, into Jericho. The repeat is what exposes the change.
Notice the case of Joshua: "Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai" (v. 2). He repeats what he had done in Joshua 2:1 about the land and Jericho. Then it was the path of God, but now the very same act becomes a merely human move of the flesh. The spies had come back from scouting Jericho and said, "Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands." So what need was there to send more messengers? It was to some degree a lack of dependence on God, a confidence in human means.
The verse names the starting point, and that detail carries weight. Writers note that Israel did not go back to Gilgal, the place of self-judgment. They tie that to the sin still hidden in the camp.
Notice, they had not returned to Gilgal after the defeat of Jericho. If they had taken time to go back to Gilgal, the place of self-judgment, the Lord would likely have revealed to them that sin was in the camp. But we do not even read that Joshua enquired of God about attacking Ai… Are we any more capable of a small thing than a large thing? No! If God is not in it, the small as well as the large will defeat us.
One writer goes further, to what this cost Joshua himself.
Moreover, Joshua sent them "from Jericho." That is not the true starting point. He forgets Gilgal, where they learned what the flesh is… Joshua had found in the victory a chance to trust the flesh… The Joshua who pictured Christ disappears, and Joshua the man takes his place.
One writer explains why this failure comes after a victory, not before it.
There are secrets of defeat as there are secrets of victory, and the believer's chief danger lies in victory. The soul may win it in real dependence on God, and then dwell on the results. If it does, it willingly credits something to itself, and the next defeat dates from that moment.
The verse pins Ai between two landmarks, and writers read those names as a comment on the town.
Next we hear of Ai. It is beside Beth-aven, the "house of vanity," and in front of Bethel, the "house of God." In Abram's time, when he first comes into the land, Bethel and Ai lie on either side of him. So they stand opposed to one another. Ai shows plainly what it is by what it joins itself to and what it stands against, and the stamp of the world is clearly on it.
Israel read Ai's own name and drew the wrong conclusion.
Israel looked at Ai as contemptible. Its name — "a heap of ruins" — suggests it was not like Jericho, a mighty fortified city… If we truly recognise God as our only strength, we depend on Him as much for the small enemies as for the great. Do we not know in practice how little enemies bring about great defeats?
- Small. A little place seemed not to need God's power, wisdom and guidance as much as a great one did. That assumption came first.
- Same. Sending spies was God's path at Jericho. The same act toward Ai became a merely human move, because what drove it had changed.
- Skipped. They set out from Jericho, not Gilgal. If they had gone back to that place of self-judgment, the Lord would likely have shown them the sin in the camp.
- Success. The believer's greatest danger lies in victory. The next defeat starts the moment the soul takes credit for it.
- Stamp. Ai stands beside the "house of vanity" and opposite the "house of God." The mark of the world is on it, and small enemies bring great defeats.
And they returned to Joshua, and said to him, Let not all the people go up; let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; make not all the people to toil thither, for they are few.
Israel has just watched Jericho fall without a battle. Now scouts come back from the next town with a plan of their own. A small force will do, they say, because the people of Ai are few. The advice sounds sensible. It leads straight to Israel's first defeat in the land. So what went wrong, and when?
The chapter is full of activity and empty of prayer. Notice what is missing before the plan is even formed.
At this point we do not read of anyone seeking the Lord. We do not hear of prayer asking the Lord's counsel about what they should do. From all the facts I am sure that the children of Israel failed here. A little place seemed not to need God's power, wisdom, and guidance as much as a great one... Joshua does not ask the Lord how matters stand. He does not ask whether His holy eyes have seen something that offended Him. He is all for action. Now, where there is activity before men, there is special need of drawing near to God beforehand. For one step taken tends to involve many more, and there is danger.
They had also skipped a place. After Jericho they never went back to the camp at Gilgal.
Notice, they had not returned to Gilgal after the defeat of Jericho. Gilgal was the place of self-judgment. If they had taken the time to go back there, the Lord would likely have shown them that sin was in the camp. But we do not even read that Joshua enquired of God about attacking Ai.
The scouts' reason is a headcount. The very name of the town encouraged them to think little of it, and that estimate is the tell.
Israel looked at Ai as contemptible. Its name — "a heap of ruins" — suggests that it was not like Jericho, a city mighty and fortified. Had it been a powerful place, Israel might have sought God about its overthrow. But the spies said, "Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few." Those words show confidence in their own strength instead of trust in God for Ai's destruction. If we truly recognise God as our only strength, we depend on Him as much for the small enemies as for the great ones. Do we not know in practice how little enemies cause great defeats?
Their success became the trap.
The trouble was that success had given them confidence. This is always a snare. They say, Ai is a little city. It is not worth all of us going up; a few are enough. And they are beaten.
The scouts had misjudged the men of Ai. That mistake is only the surface of the problem.
The men of Ai were as brave as they were wicked. The popular idea that bad men are cowards is not always true... The immediate cause was that the invaders under-estimated their enemies. They sent a small detachment to do work that the whole nation should have taken on (Joshua 7:3; Joshua 8:1). But the remote cause was something far more serious.
When Ai is finally taken, God's instruction reverses the scouts' words point for point.
What a different battle from the one Israel had first proposed against the "heap of ruins," Ai! They had said, "Do not make the whole people toil up there." The Lord said, "Take all the fighting men with you." So as the thousands of Israel rose to battle, each soldier had to remember this: no one may make light of small foes, for Israel's strength and courage came from the LORD alone. And toil up there all Israel did — some in the ambush, others at the front. When we make errors carelessly and sin deliberately in our service, God uses toil and hard work to drive home the lessons we neglected.
after-note: DELETE-IGNORE
The final numbers show the cost of the shortcut.
In Joshua 7 the spies had reported, "Let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai, for they are few." Now it takes about thirty thousand chosen mighty men of valour. What a humiliation, and how it lowered Israel in their own estimation!
- Prayerless. The record shows no prayer before the plan — a small town seemed not to need God's guidance the way a great one did.
- Unjudged. They never went back to Gilgal, the place of self-judgment, where the sin in the camp would likely have come to light.
- Underrated. Counting the enemy as "few" measured Ai against Israel instead of trusting God. Little enemies cause great defeats.
- Snared. Jericho's success bred the confidence that says a few of us are enough — and that confidence is always a trap.
- Corrected. God's later order, "Take all the fighting men with you," overturned "Do not make the whole people toil up there." Thirty thousand went where three thousand had seemed enough.
And there went up thither of the people about three thousand men, but they fled before the men of Ai.
Israel had just watched Jericho's walls fall. Now a small town looked like an easy afternoon's work, and three thousand men marched up — and ran.
The plan was not reckless. It was a calculation — and that was the trouble.
Here is self-confidence instead of dependence on the Lord. They looked at how strong the town was compared with themselves. It was a judgment of the flesh, reasoning from appearances, which is never safe for the believer... At Jericho the high walls made them feel, and forced them to admit, that only the power of God could bring the city down. There they found His strength made perfect in their weakness. God had been their whole trust. Now it was in their eyes a simple matter of comparing Ai's resources with their own. So the easy victory God had given them at Jericho became a snare.
The mistake had two halves.
They underestimated the courage of the men of Ai. They overestimated their own strength without the ark of God, without the power and blessing of God. So the men of Israel lost the battle. They ran from their enemies and came back to the camp at Gilgal in shame and confusion.
The three thousand went up in good spirits.
Israel went on, not knowing that their sin had separated them from God. Their chosen three thousand were sure of success. But they fled before the men of Ai, who chased them from the gate and struck them down. Their courage was built on self-confidence, and it collapsed.
God's verdict refuses to isolate the guilty man.
"Israel has sinned!" God does not say, One man has sinned — find him out. No; it is the six hundred thousand of Israel, because Israel is one nation... "Israel has sinned;" that is the reason why they could not get the victory... God cannot go on with unjudged evil. Weakness is no hindrance, wickedness is.
The losses were few, but the collapse went right through the nation.
They are laid low. Strength and energy fail them. Fear takes hold of their souls, because their courage had been of the flesh. They were so proud of their earlier victory. Now they sink to the level of the Amorites, whose "hearts melted" when they heard of the crossing of the Jordan. This was a sad but necessary experience, because they had forgotten Gilgal. Satan sets out to teach them, through the bitterness of defeat, how much strength they really have and how much they can trust the flesh.
The danger came where the task looked small.
The greater city, Jericho, has been overcome, and they think little of Ai. If we have judged the world as a whole, it may seem a small thing to overcome it in detail, in the little things where it still meets us on our path. Just here, and perhaps for that very reason, we may suffer unexpected defeat. Israel's force of two or three thousand turns and runs from the men of Ai, who strike them on the way down — we are always apt to be struck on the way down.
Blessing did not make the fall softer. It made it worse.
Achan, by taking the forbidden thing, defiles the whole camp. For Joshua, the blessing itself becomes the occasion for leaving the place of dependence... He gives himself up to an empty confidence. In the conflict in the heavenly places, if a man is not with God, he only falls harder. It was more serious to be beaten in Canaan than in the wilderness.
The defeat is not the end of the story.
God at times sets aside men He once used; they go on with their work as before, but win no victories... The story of Ai unveils the cause — hidden evil is in the camp. Then these same servants rise again. After a time of defeat they become vessels of power with God and with men once more. The story of Ai again lets us into the secret: they have been before God, and have humbled themselves.
- Snare: The win at Jericho became a trap. They measured the enemy instead of depending on God — "reasoning from appearances, which is never safe for the believer."
- Cause: Hidden, unjudged sin emptied Israel of strength, not the size of Ai. "Weakness is no hindrance, wickedness is."
- Reach: God names the sin of one man as the sin of the whole nation, so the whole nation must deal with it.
- Result: Courage that was only human collapsed. Hearts that had melted in Canaan's cities now melted in Israel.
- Recovery: Defeat drives them to God. The hidden evil comes to light, they humble themselves, and power returns.
And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty-six men; and they pursued them from before the gate to Shebarim, and smote them on the descent. Then the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.
Israel had just watched Jericho's walls fall without a fight. Now they run from a far smaller town, thirty-six men die, and a whole nation loses its nerve — why are they now weaker than their enemies?
The defeat did not begin at Ai. It began in the mood that followed Jericho, when success made asking God seem unnecessary.
Joshua 7 lays open the principles of God's government, or His ways among His people who are in conflict. Victory leads to negligence. The work is thought easy. After a display of God's power there is a kind of confidence which is really only self-confidence, because it neglects God. What proves this is that God is not consulted. Ai was only a small city. Two or three thousand men could easily take it. They went up and viewed the country, but God was forgotten... Suppose they had taken counsel of the LORD. Either He would have given no answer, because of the thing under His ban, or He would have made its presence known. But they did not seek His counsel; they went forward, and they were defeated.
They measured their own numbers against the town's. At Jericho the walls had left no room for that calculation.
They looked at the comparative strength of the town. This was a judgment of the flesh, reasoning from appearances, which for the believer is never safe... At Jericho the high walls of that city made them feel, and forced them to admit, that nothing but the power of God could bring it down. There they found His strength made perfect in their weakness. God was their whole trust; but now it was in their eyes only a question of comparing the resources of Ai with their own. So the easy victory God had given them at Jericho became a snare.
Melting hearts had been the mark of the Canaanites. Now the same words describe Israel.
It was no longer the hearts of the Canaanites melting; no longer their kings who became as water; but Israel. What are we without God? It is healthy that we should feel it. Our only boast is in what He is, not only to us, but with us. They did not have God with them; they were utter weakness.
One man had taken what God had banned. The whole nation lost the battle.
The whole assembly was involved in the evil. How was this? The Divine Presence gave a unity to the whole assembly; it bound them together in such a way that all were involved in the sin of the one... The sin of each was the sin of all, because God was among them, and He could not approve unjudged evil. The whole congregation was involved, and had to clear itself of the evil before the LORD could lead it on to victory. Had He allowed them to triumph at Ai, it would have suggested that He was indifferent to the sin of His people.
Defeat can come exactly where the enemy looks least impressive.
Jericho the greater has been overcome: they think little of Ai; if the world has been judged as a whole, it may seem a small thing to overcome it in detail, in the little things in which it still meets us in our path. Just here, and perhaps for that very reason, we may suffer unexpected defeat. Israel's detachment of two or three thousand turn their backs before the men of Ai. The men of Ai strike them on the descent — we are always liable to be struck on the way down. They inflict a loss of thirty-six men, a number which, though small, plainly speaks of the government of God (3 x 12) against them. In this there is hope, however, for those who know Him.
Defeat tempts people to wish they had never set out at all.
Before we are too hard on Israel, let us recognise that this is the language of many hearts today. Put to flight by the adversary and so humbled, we think, "We wish we had never taken heavenly ground at all. Let us get out of it as soon as we can." Some do. Some do in heart. But the LORD said to Joshua, "Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned"... In the mercy of God that sin was brought out into the open. It was confessed, dealt with drastically, judged and put away. Ai then became the second city of victory in Israel's triumphant march through the promised land.
- Neglect. The trouble started with a victory, not a battle. Success bred a confidence that never asked God.
- Measurement. They measured Ai against their own numbers. Jericho's walls had made that reasoning impossible.
- Reversal. Hearts melting like water had been the Canaanites' mark. Without God, Israel became what its enemies had been.
- Unity. God's presence bound them into one. One man's sin became the whole nation's defeat, because a victory would have implied God overlooks evil.
- Recovery. The loss of thirty-six was discipline, not abandonment. Once the sin was put away, Ai became the next city taken.
And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of Jehovah until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and threw dust upon their heads.
Israel has just lost a battle at the small town of Ai — a shock after the victory at Jericho. Joshua tears his clothes and goes down in the dust. Commentators read that day closely: the place he went was right, but not everything he said there was.
The first thing to note is where Joshua went with the disaster. He did not call a council of war; he went straight to God's presence and stayed there.
What did Joshua do? He did the right thing. He went to the LORD about it. He cast himself down before the ark until evening. There with the elders of Israel, he put dust on his head, and lamented before the Lord. I use that word deliberately, because it is often said that Joshua confessed before the Lord. I do not think he did confess. He did not, like Daniel, say, "We have sinned."
Commentators differ. A writer quoted below calls the same scene confession.
The words "before the ark of the LORD" carry weight. Joshua had gone into battle at Ai without seeking counsel there.
Joshua, as the leader and commander of the people, failed to take counsel. He did not ask by the ark, or through Eleazar, at whose word they were to go out and come in, both he and all the congregation. Under this double failure of Achan and Ai, Joshua tore his clothes and fell on his face — and note where: before the ark of the LORD.
Joshua was not the only one in the dust. The elders went down with him.
That memorable day began in the pride of self-confidence. But it ends with torn clothes in the dust before God. That is a merciful provision of grace, for if it did not end there, where else could it end? There restoration begins, and there only. He and all the elders of Israel put dust on their heads; the whole company confessed and humbled itself. The same is true now. Restoration can only come after confession, whether for the individual believer or the assembly.
God's later reply — "why have you fallen on your face?" — is aimed at one small word. It is not lying down that God objects to, but lying down like that.
How had Joshua been lying on his face? "Thus" — despairing, and in effect laying the cause of Israel's defeat on God. To lie on the face before God is the only true attitude a believer can take in a time of shame and dishonour. To take up any other is only to add the sin of pride to the thing that caused the defeat. True humiliation before God is our only "door of hope" for blessing in a day of distress. But to lie "thus" — not judging ourselves, but blaming God — is not humility.
Why did God let Israel lose? One writer points not to a lack of power in God, but to His holiness.
Joshua did not see, did not understand, that it was the very glory of that "great name" which made the defeat at Ai necessary, just as it had won the victory at Jericho. But there were other elements in that glory besides power. There was holiness too. That holiness made it impossible for Him to give the approval of His presence where evil went unjudged... Israel must judge the evil, or the LORD must judge Israel.
Because the trouble was a hidden sin, prayer alone could not fix it. Someone had to go and find it.
When there is known evil in our hearts or in the assembly, our first responsibility is to judge it, not to pray for forgiveness... And yet Satan often deceives the Lord's people when evil comes to light. He suggests through one person or another, "Let us pray about it." We must confess our sins, but even then only as we seek grace and strength to deal with the evil and to separate ourselves from it.
Another writer sets the two moments side by side.
There is a time for lying on the face, and there is a time for standing on our feet; a time for devout prostration, and a time for decided action. The instructed soul will know the time for each.
- Fall. Defeat drove Joshua to the ground before God. That was the right instinct, and the only place where restoration begins.
- Ark. He fell before the ark he had not consulted before attacking Ai. He had skipped God's guidance, and now he grieved at that very place.
- Dust. The elders shared the torn clothes and the dust. The leaders owned the shame together, instead of loading it onto one man.
- Words. The posture was right, but the words were wrong. He blamed God instead of judging himself, and blaming God is not humility.
- Rise. God's holiness, not His weakness, caused the defeat. So the answer was to stand up and remove the evil. There is a time to lie down, and a time to act.
And Joshua said, Alas, Lord Jehovah, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh that we had been content and had remained beyond the Jordan!
After Jericho fell, one Israelite secretly kept goods God had banned, and the men of Ai then routed the small force Joshua sent against them. Joshua lay on his face before the ark until evening, then prayed the words of this verse — blaming God for the defeat and wishing the crossing of the Jordan undone.
Joshua went to God at once. What he told Him was another matter:
Though Joshua took the right attitude, he said the wrong thing. He put the blame for the defeat on the Lord! He said, "Alas, O Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us?" What language! The Lord had done nothing of the sort. He did not bring the people over the Jordan to destroy them. Destroying the descendants of Abraham was not His work. Neither was it His will that Ai should triumph over His redeemed people.
The same writer turns this on the reader. What Joshua said aloud, we often keep hidden:
Do we not sometimes go astray in a similar way? In daily life, trials and sorrows and impossible obstacles come again and again. At such times the heart may whisper, like Joshua, Why has the Lord done this? Why does He allow this? ... Secretly, in the heart, even in the place of worship, our deepest thought may be this: God is a hard Master, and He is not doing His best for us.
Israel attacked Ai without asking God first. One commentator links the complaint in this verse to that failure:
What are we without God? It is healthy that we should feel it. Our only boast is in what He is, not only to us, but with us. They had not God with them; they were utter weakness... They had failed in not seeking direction from God. "Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!" There was complaining, and perhaps a reproach, aimed at the One they thought had failed them.
The second half of the verse looks backwards. Crossing the Jordan was God's own doing, and it is the one thing Joshua now regrets:
Joshua's godly soul recognises the worth of the ark, but he does not know what to do. Ignoring the accursed thing, he pours out regrets — not regrets about what he has done, not about what the people have done, but, sadly, about what God had done when He brought them over the Jordan! "Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!" he said. How plainly these words show what the human heart is! This blessed place is the only one Joshua would gladly have avoided.
Joshua assumed God had turned against Israel. The reverse was true:
Joshua did not see, did not understand, that it was the very glory of God's own "great name" which made the defeat at Ai necessary. That same glory had won the victory at Jericho. But there were other elements in that glory besides power. There was holiness. That holiness made it impossible for Him to lend the approval of His presence where there was unjudged evil. Joshua should have concluded that there was something wrong in the condition of the people. He ought to have known that the hindrance was with Israel, and not with the Lord.
Joshua's prayer ends better than it begins. Its last question is about God's own name:
We can always plead with Him on the ground of His own name; and whenever we do, our plea is irresistible. It was so with Joshua. After the sin of Achan, the men of Ai struck the Israelites down. Joshua tore his clothes, fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord, and pleaded with God. The whole weight of his cry came out at last in one question: "And what will you do for your great name?" Rising to that height, the answer came at once.
God's reply does not let Joshua stay on the ground. Grief alone was not enough:
Joshua is exactly in the position he ought not to be in. The Lord said to him, "Get up! Why have you fallen on your face?" Humbling himself over his lack of power was not the only thing to be done: it was time to act... Joshua had to act; the accursed thing had to be put away from among them.
- Defeat. Israel lost at Ai because they moved without asking God, not because God failed them.
- Diagnosis. Joshua blamed God. But the hindrance was with Israel: God's holiness would not back them while evil went unjudged.
- Regret. He wishes he had stayed beyond the Jordan. That wish would undo what God had done: the blessed place is the one he would have avoided.
- Plea. The prayer only lands when it reaches God's great name, and on that ground the answer came at once.
- Action. Lying on his face was not enough; God told him to get up and remove the evil from the camp.
Ah Lord! what shall I say after Israel have turned their backs before their enemies?
Joshua's army has just fled from the small town of Ai, and the leader who watched Jericho fall is now face down in the dust. His cry raises the hardest question after any defeat: who is to blame?
Joshua's instinct was sound. He took the trouble straight to God. But what he said there was another matter.
He did the right thing. He went to the Lord about it. He cast himself down before the ark until evening. There with the elders of Israel, he put dust on his head, and lamented before the Lord. I use that word deliberately, because it is often said that Joshua confessed before the Lord. I do not think he did confess. He did not, like Daniel, say, "We have sinned."
The difference matters. Joshua was the leader in charge, yet he sent the blame elsewhere.
How do we put the case? Do we pray as if the Lord had done it? Or do we take the blame to ourselves? Joshua did not take a particle of blame to himself for Ai. Yet he was the responsible chief in Israel. He made the mistake of blaming God for what had taken place. He was at first far from viewing the defeat as God viewed it, and had to learn the truth.
This was Joshua's first setback after an unbroken run of success. That is why it hit him so hard.
Joshua was little prepared for any setback. Blessing and success had followed him like a rising tide, and now he is in agony. He must learn for the first time how much man may fail in scenes of the fullest blessing. The more blessing and truth a heart knows and enjoys, the greater the dismay that defeat brings, when that heart is true to the glory of God.
Joshua did not know the cause of the defeat. He already had enough light to work it out.
Knowing God, he should have concluded that God would not let defeat overtake His people unless there had been some grievous departure from Him. He should have searched for the hidden evil, instead of reproaching the Lord. Prayer will never make up for neglected action; it leads to action.
Listen to the order of his words: what comes first in his mind, and what comes last. One writer sets Joshua beside Moses, and the contrast is not flattering.
The tone of his prayer shows weakness. First it is Israel, the name of Israel, that fills his thoughts. Then it is the Canaanites, the world: they will hear of it and cut off Israel's name from the earth. Only at the very end does he ask, "And what will You do for Your great name?" Moses had no need, like Joshua, to recover lost communion. He could pray for the people, and God heard him.
Even so, the prayer ends in the right place. That is where God breaks in with an answer.
Real sorrow and shame of heart before God were at work in him; I do not deny that. But patience had not yet had its perfect work in his soul. Then he says, "And what will You do for Your great name?" There at least he was right, and there God answers — "The LORD said to Joshua, 'Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things.'"
Joshua assumed that Israel losing made God look small. The answer turns that around: God's name was the reason for the loss, not its victim.
Their defeat and slaughter came because of His great name. To all appearances the defeat of God's people denied the greatness of their God's name. But God sets His glory above appearances. His name is greater than His people's successes. His character is bound up in His name. His army, His Israel, had sinned. To the spiritual understanding one truth is clear: the honour of the great name of the Lord demands purity and humility in His people, cost what it may.
So why did God not simply hand them the win?
God's glory includes holiness, and that holiness made it impossible for Him to give the backing of His presence where evil went unjudged. Israel must judge the evil, or the Lord must judge Israel. To have given them a victory at Ai would have been a reproach and a dishonour to the One whose name they bore.
- Right place. Joshua took the disaster straight to God. That instinct was right; his words were not.
- Wrong verdict. He blamed God and took no blame himself, though he was the leader. He lamented, but he never said, "We have sinned."
- Wrong order. Israel's name came first in his prayer, the Canaanites second, God's great name last.
- Right ending. The moment he touched God's name, God answered — and the answer was "Israel has sinned," not "I have failed you."
- Right reason. That great name demanded the defeat. God's holiness will not back an army with unjudged evil in it.
When the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear [of it], they will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Jehovah said to Joshua, Rise up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
Israel has just been beaten by the men of Ai, and Joshua is lying face-down before God in mourning. God's reply is not comfort but a command to stand up. The reason points past the enemy to the camp itself.
The rebuke is not aimed at humility itself, but at the way Joshua was lying there. Older translations read "why do you lie thus upon your face," and one writer puts the whole weight of the verse on that word "thus."
The Lord's answer to His servant is again a lesson. How had Joshua been lying on his face? "Like this" — in despair, and in effect laying the cause of Israel's defeat on God. In a season of shame and dishonour, lying on your face before God is the only true attitude a believer can take. To pretend to any other only adds the sin of pride to whatever caused the defeat. "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you" (James 4:10). True humbling before God is our only "door of hope" (Hosea 2:15) for blessing in a day of distress. But to lie there like this is not humility. It refuses to judge ourselves and blames God instead.
Joshua's despair rested on a wrong assumption about who was at fault.
God had been faithful to Israel, but Israel had not been faithful to God… Whenever we find ourselves under the power of our enemies, we must be sure to charge the fault on ourselves, and not on God… Joshua ought to have known what had defeated them: sin in Israel, not any change in God.
God interrupts Joshua's prayer. One writer draws a rule from that for handling known evil.
When there is known evil in our hearts or in the assembly, our first responsibility is to judge it, not to pray for forgiveness… And yet how often does Satan deceive the Lord's people in a time of open evil! Through one person or another he suggests, "Let us pray about it." We certainly should confess our sins. But even then we do so only to seek grace and strength to deal with the evil and to separate ourselves from it.
God does not name Achan here. He names the nation. One writer links that to how much God had just given Israel.
But notice, it is not Achan, it is not only the wrongdoer, but Israel… The greater the blessing of God to His people, the greater their responsibility. So now they were all identified with God. Someone among them had dared to sin against God, and He will make them feel it, so that they purge themselves from it… The worst evil disappears before the power of redemption. But a person may count some evil very small. If he holds on to it, or overlooks it, it later becomes a source of vast weakness in the presence of Satan.
The stolen goods were modest. The seriousness lay elsewhere.
Achan had disobeyed God and broken His express covenant… No doubt there was a vast amount of valuable treasure in Jericho. Achan took only a small fraction of it. But this act of disobedience happened at the taking of the very first of the many cities of Canaan. And it was the act of a responsible man in Israel. All must now learn how serious it is to ignore the word of Jehovah their Saviour. They must learn too that the sin of one man may spread through a whole community.
The order of humbling and acting is not fixed.
Humbling himself for his lack of power was not the only thing to do: it was time to act. We find the opposite in Judges 20. There Israel should have humbled themselves first and then acted… Joshua had to act. He had to put away from among them the thing under God's curse.
Israel's discipline cost them time.
If we do not judge ourselves, the Lord will judge us, so that He does not condemn us with the world… The sin and judgment of Miriam once delayed Israel's progress through the wilderness. The sin and judgment of Achan must now delay Israel's progress through the land. But it is only delay. Discipline does not cancel grace; it only maintains holiness. The valley of Achor is a door of hope (Hosea 2:15).
- Cause — The defeat at Ai came from sin inside the camp, not from any change in God. We charge the fault to ourselves.
- Posture — Lying face-down is the right attitude in a day of shame. But despair that blames God is not humility.
- Priority — Where we know of evil, we judge it first, before praying for forgiveness. "Let us pray about it" can become a way of dodging the issue.
- Scope — God said "Israel has sinned," not "Achan." One man's small theft touched the whole nation. Greater blessing means greater responsibility.
- Outcome — Joshua had to get up and remove the evil. The discipline delayed Israel, but it never cancelled grace. The Valley of Achor became a door of hope.
Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them, and they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it among their stuff.
God answers Joshua's cry about the defeat at Ai by naming the cause, and the cause is not the enemy but the camp itself. One man buried treasure under his tent, yet God charges a whole nation.
The verse never names Achan. God's words fix the offence on the plural "they."
The whole congregation is held responsible for the evil. "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." Unbelief may ask how all are involved in the sin of one. But the Word of God settles the question — "Israel has sinned" — "they have taken" — "they have stolen" — "they have lied." The assembly was one: one in privilege, one in responsibility. As such, the sin of one was the sin of all, and all were called to clear themselves thoroughly by putting away the accursed thing from among them.
(Older translations read "the accursed thing" where the ESV has "the devoted things.")
If God charged only the doer, no one else would have a stake in dealing with the wrong.
Can we not see the wisdom of God in holding those associated with evil as responsible as the ones who do it? What guarantee would there be that evil would ever be judged? The whole company of Christians would be defiled by the presence of unjudged sin, because of the false tenderness or indifference of some.
This shared accountability was new. It came with the blessing God had just given them.
But notice, it is not Achan, it is not only the wrongdoer, but Israel. There was no such identification before the crossing of the Jordan. The principle of an evil thing affecting the camp was always true, but now it is made far more precise and definite. The greater the blessing of God to His people, the greater their responsibility.
The theft itself was small. The verse puts the weight on a broken covenant.
Where was the enormity of this sin? Achan had disobeyed God and broken His express covenant. The command was that all the perishable goods in Jericho should be burned with fire, and the silver and the gold devoted to Him in His treasury. But Achan disregarded this command. No doubt there was a vast amount of valuable treasure in Jericho, and Achan took only a small fraction of the whole. But this act of disobedience happened at the conquest of the very first of the many cities of Canaan. And it was the act of a responsible man in Israel. All must now learn how serious it is to ignore the word of Jehovah their Saviour, and that the sin of one man may leaven a community.
The charge comes in stages: he took, he stole, he lied, he hid the goods among his own things. That last step, the hiding, shows up again in the early days of the church.
In the early days of Israel's history in Canaan, as in the early days of Christianity, we find God quick to judge evil among His people. He brought the secret sins of those who seemed to be for Him out into the light. Ananias and Sapphira, like Achan, "lied." But God is not deceived. It is for us to open our eyes to our own actions, and to seek to see ourselves as God sees us... Our secret sins are all bare in the light of His face. "All are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." Lying will sooner or later be shouted from the housetops.
Defeat did not mean God had failed His people. His own holiness required it.
There were other elements in that glory besides power. There was holiness. That holiness made it impossible for Him to give the approval of His presence where evil went unjudged... The same grace that had given them victory at Jericho would have given it at Ai, if things had been right. But they were not right, and so defeat, not victory, was the order of the day. How could there be victory with an accursed thing in the camp? Impossible! Israel must judge the evil, or Jehovah must judge Israel.
The man who caused the trouble already knew where it was.
When Israel turned their backs at Ai, Achan was not expected to search the tents of his brothers for the cause. It was under his feet in his own tent, where he himself had put it. Depend upon it, the cause of the blight on the gatherings of believers at home and abroad is locked up in your heart and mine. There can be no revival of vitality and power until secret sins are brought to the light and judged individually before the Lord.
- Hidden. One man hid the loot under his tent, and no one else knew — yet God named the offence Israel's.
- Shared. The people were one in privilege and in responsibility. So the sin of one was the sin of all, and all had to clear it out.
- Weighed. The weight lay not in the price of the goods, but in a broken covenant at the very first city.
- Blocked. God's holiness would not back unjudged evil. The grace that took Jericho withheld victory at Ai.
- Searched. The remedy starts under your own floor, not in your neighbour's tent — secret sin brought to light before God.
And the children of Israel shall not be able to stand before their enemies they shall turn their backs before their enemies, for they have made themselves accursed. I will no more be with you, except ye destroy the accursed thing from your midst.
God's answer to Joshua's grief is not comfort but diagnosis. The defeat at Ai has a cause, and the cause is inside the camp. One man's theft brought down a whole army and cost Israel the presence of God. The verse ends with the one condition that would bring that presence back. (Older translations call these "the accursed thing," and the writers quoted below use that older wording.)
Only Achan took the plunder, yet the whole nation cannot stand. One writer traces this to what made Israel one body — God living among them:
The whole assembly was involved in the evil. How was this? The divine presence gave a unity to the whole assembly; it bound them all together in such a way that all were involved in the sin of the one. It was one assembly, and so it was impossible for anyone to take independent ground. The sin of each was the sin of all, because God was in their midst, and He could not countenance unjudged evil. The congregation had to clear itself of the evil before the Lord could lead it to victory. Had He allowed them to triumph at Ai, it would have argued that He was indifferent to the sin of His people.
The obvious objection is that nobody else knew. Another writer answers it, and carries the principle on to the church:
The people might have said: Does that concern us? How could we have known about a hidden thing, and not having known it, how are we responsible? To all that we reply that God always has the unity of His people before His eyes. He sees each person as part of one whole, responsible for the others. The suffering and sin of one is the suffering and sin of all. If that is true of Israel, how much more of us, the church of God — one body united by the Holy Spirit to the Head in heaven.
The thing that defeated an army began as a look. One commentator walks through Achan's own account of it:
He had followed his natural inclinations; he began where we all begin, where the first man began. "I saw." His eyes were the way into his heart, but there was no sentinel to watch. It is through the eyes that the accursed thing takes possession of the heart and provokes it to lust: "I coveted them." "Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin": "I took them." The fine Babylonian garment could feed the pride of life. The silver and gold could satisfy every craving. They became Achan's prey — or rather, they made him their prey.
"I will be with you no more" is not God abandoning a weak people:
If the Lord is present to give victory over His enemies, He is also present to discipline His people. "Israel has sinned!" God does not say, One man has sinned — find him out. No; it is the six hundred thousand of Israel, because Israel is one nation. God cannot go on with unjudged evil. Weakness is no hindrance, wickedness is. Can God lend the sanction of His presence to evil? Never! If we are God's dwelling place, we must be holy.
The last clause is the door left open. It ties the outcome of every future battle to one thing:
Yet God also showed a way of escape. In the same verse He goes on to say, "neither will I be with you any more, except you destroy the accursed from among you." The outcome of Israel's battles depended on whether God could be with them, and this could only be so if they removed from among themselves what was cursed. Hidden and unjudged sin is the death knell to spiritual victory.
Notice the direction of the command: Israel is not told to leave, but to clear itself.
Separation from evil is always God's principle of action. If we are on God's ground, we separate by putting away the evil. If we are not on God's ground, we separate by coming out of the evil. Achan's sin brought defilement on Israel, and the Lord said, "I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you." This is the first kind of separation. Israel was on God's ground, and the true principle was not to go out of Israel, but to put away the evil from it.
The valley where Achan was judged did not stay a byword for shame. Later prophets reached for it as an encouragement:
Where evil exists, judging it is the only way anyone can enter into the forgiveness and favour of God. So Hosea says that the valley of Achan (Achor) shall be a "door of hope," and she (Israel) shall sing there. And Isaiah says, "The valley of Achor shall be a place for the herds to lie down in." Hope shines nowhere so brightly as on the spot where sin has been judged. No place gives a sinner rest like the foot of the cross.
- Presence unites. God dwelling in the camp made Israel one, so the sin of one became the sin of all — no one could stand on independent ground.
- Presence exposes. God is present to give victory over His enemies, and present to discipline His people; His nearness both wins battles and finds sin.
- Presence withholds. Defeat at Ai was not weakness but wickedness. A victory with Achan in the camp would have said God is indifferent to evil.
- Presence stays on one condition. "Unless you destroy the devoted things" — Israel must clear the evil out from within, not walk away from it.
- Presence turns Achor into hope. Judge the sin, and blessing begins; the valley of Achan became a door of hope.
Rise up, hallow the people, and say, Hallow yourselves for to-morrow; for thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, Israel thou shalt not be able to stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from your midst.
Israel has just been beaten at Ai, and God's answer points away from the enemy and back into Israel's own camp. It raises the questions that shape the chapter: how one man's sin makes a whole nation guilty, what "consecrate yourselves" asks, and why God links His presence to removing the devoted things.
The theft was one man's, yet God speaks to the whole nation. Commentators explain why.
The whole assembly was involved in the evil. How was this? The presence of God gave a unity to the whole assembly; it bound them all together in such a way that all were involved in the sin of the one. It was one assembly, and so it was impossible for anyone to take independent ground. The sin of each was the sin of all, because God was in their midst, and He could not tolerate unjudged evil. The evil involved the whole congregation, and they had to clear themselves of it before the LORD could lead them on to victory. If He had let them win at Ai, it would have meant He was indifferent to the sin of His people.
Most Christians today miss this side of things.
But most of God's people do not understand the corporate side. Sadly, they go through the world without troubling themselves about their fellow Christians. Corporate responsibility is unknown to them.
God names the reason for the defeat: not weak troops, but something they kept. One writer draws out what that means for people God has blessed.
The greater God's blessing to His people, the greater their responsibility. God's rich grace deals with all our evil and puts it away. Yet what dishonours Him after He has blessed us like this makes us nothing before the enemy. The worst evil disappears before the power of redemption. But an evil that people would count very small, if cherished or overlooked, later becomes a source of immense weakness in the presence of Satan. Is this a reason for distrust? Not in the least. It is the greatest possible reason for watchfulness and care.
Joshua's first order is not to attack but to set the nation apart. One writer explains what that looked like in practice.
Joshua must consecrate the people. That means separating them from normal daily life to focus on one important matter: a devoted thing was in their midst, and it had to be taken away. We might wonder why God did not deal with this without involving the whole congregation. But everyone had to learn in the open that God is a God of true holiness. Dealing with it in public would impress the seriousness of such sin on every person, and guard against further breaches. The war had to be put on hold, to show that God governs among His own.
Notice the timing in the command.
God said, "Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow." We are called to consecrate ourselves before the moment of action, not at it. Why are we so often unable to judge evil and to act for God? Because we have not consecrated ourselves beforehand. Why is it that so often at the worship meetings our hearts are cold and our lips silent in praise? Because we have not obeyed the word: "Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow."
The word "until" sets a condition. One writer traces what hangs on it.
Yet God also showed a way of escape. In the same verse (7:12) He goes on to say, "I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you." The outcome of Israel's battles depended on whether God could be with them, and this could only be so if they removed from among themselves what was devoted to destruction. Hidden and unjudged sin is the death knell to spiritual victory.
The guilt spread to everyone, but the punishment would not.
God would make them all feel that they were involved. Yet in His goodness He makes careful provision to bring out the one offender, now that they are truly waiting on God and humbling themselves over it. When they are unwatchful and prayerless, all share in the sorrow. But when His people draw near to God, He traces the sorrow home to the one who is guilty. They clear themselves by the very fact that they all humbled themselves before God.
- Presence. God living in their midst made the camp one; that is why the sin of one was charged to all.
- Weakness. Redemption answers the worst evil. A small evil, kept and unjudged, leaves us weak before the enemy.
- Consecration. Set yourself apart before the day of action, not during it. Cold worship and weak discernment come from skipping this.
- Removal. God's presence, and so victory, waited on one thing: destroying what was devoted. The warning itself held the way out.
- Grace. When the whole people humble themselves, God traces the guilt home to one man and clears the rest.
And ye shall be brought near in the morning according to your tribes; and it shall be, that the tribe which Jehovah taketh shall come forward by families, and the family which Jehovah taketh shall come forward by households; and the household which Jehovah taketh shall come forward man by man.
One hidden theft had already cost Israel a defeat at Ai, and God's answer was not a battle plan but a summons to court. Why did God, who already knew the thief, make the whole nation come forward group by group until the one guilty man stood alone?
Everyone must appear, because God counted one man's theft as the nation's sin. Commentators explain why.
The whole assembly was involved in the evil. How was this? God's presence made the whole assembly one. It bound them together so that the sin of the one involved them all. It was one assembly, and so it was impossible for anyone to take independent ground. The sin of each was the sin of all, because God was in their midst, and He could not tolerate evil that went unjudged. The whole congregation was involved, and had to clear itself of the evil before the Lord could lead it on to victory. If He had let them win at Ai, it would have meant that He did not mind the sin of His people.
Israel had just lost a battle, so the trouble looked military. Commentators put the problem elsewhere.
Suppose the accursed thing gets in among the people who bear witness for God. Then our task is to sanctify ourselves and put the evil away from among us. It is not a question here of power, but of holiness and of obedience... To sanctify oneself is to separate oneself from all evil to God. It is impossible without holiness to have God with us.
The verse says the LORD takes the tribe, though men do the bringing forward. How? One writer answers from the way Israel made other choices.
By referring to Joshua 7:14-18 you will see how the lot was used to discern the mind of the LORD among His people. Though not stated in so many words, this would be the way the discovery was made. Strikingly, we find this way of choosing first used by the LORD in Leviticus 16:8. It was the divine way of making a selection between the two goats. Numbers 26:55, Joshua 13:6 and many other places show this to be the meaning.
Handing the search to God was a mercy to the innocent. The many were suffering for what one man had done.
God would make them all feel that they were involved. Yet in His own goodness He carefully provided that the guilty man himself should be brought out, now that they are waiting on God and humbling themselves because of it. So when they are unwatchful and prayerless, all share the sorrow. But when His people draw near to God, the sorrow is traced home to the one who is guilty. They clear themselves by all humbling themselves before God. This act shows that they are not willingly tolerating evil, so God takes the matter into His own hands and the offender is soon brought out.
God could have named Achan in a sentence. Instead the circle tightens from tribe, to clan, to household, to one man.
The Lord could have exposed Achan as the offender at once. Instead, in His great wisdom, He made all the tribes come as though all were under suspicion. This would call for serious heart searching among all, so that they would not merely resent Achan but would all be humbled by the evil.
A thief might reason that no one would ever find one tent among thousands. God's presence in the camp cut both ways.
The sinner might try to tell himself that discovery was impossible. He might cling to the hope of escaping among the many thousands of Israel. Miserable delusion! He might be sure his sin would find him out. The same presence that secured blessing for each person was just as faithful in exposing the most secret individual sin.
A whole night lay between the command and the search. Each narrowing step gave Achan a fresh chance to speak first.
The night passed, and Achan did not confess his sin... Surely he knows that discovery is near, that the lot will fall on him. "Achan, why not even now confess your sin? Why not own before the Lord that you have broken His command, and that the stolen goods are in your tent?" But his heart was hard. He had resisted the first whispers of his conscience, and now he would not listen to its shouts.
- One — one man's theft became the nation's sin. God's presence bound the camp into one body, and that body could not shelter unjudged evil.
- All — so God summoned all. Every tribe came forward as if under suspicion, and the manhunt became a search of every conscience.
- Narrowed — tribe, clan, household, man. God took the matter into His own hands, so the search cleared the innocent and found the guilty.
- Missed — Achan had a night and four public steps in which to speak. He silenced his conscience each time, until exposure replaced confession.
- Restored — the issue was never firepower but holiness. Israel could not face its enemies until it put the evil away.
And it shall be, that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he hath, because he hath transgressed the covenant of Jehovah, and because he hath wrought wickedness in Israel.
In one breath God names the sentence and the reason: fire, a broken covenant, an outrageous act. Why should a hidden theft of silver, gold and a garment count as an attack on the whole nation's standing with God?
What Achan took was small next to the plunder of a whole city. Commentators point elsewhere — to the command he broke and the moment he broke it.
Achan had disobeyed God and broken His express covenant. God commanded Israel to burn all the perishable goods in Jericho with fire, and to devote the silver and the gold to Him in His treasury. Achan ignored that command. No doubt there was a vast amount of valuable treasure in Jericho, and Achan took only a small fraction of the whole. But this disobedience happened at the conquest of the very first of Canaan's many cities. And it was the act of a responsible man in Israel. All must now learn how serious it is to ignore the word of the Lord their Saviour. They must learn too that the sin of one man may spread through a community like leaven.
Readers stumble over the severity long before they stumble over the theft. One writer answers that objection twice. First he points to the relationship Israel stood in with God. Then he points to the first sin and what it cost the world.
And may we not ask the one who objects: how could God approve of evil in His people? How could He go on with it? What should He do with it? He was about to judge the seven nations of Canaan. Could He then be indifferent to sin in His people? Most certainly not. His word is, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." He took them into relationship with Himself, and that was the very ground of His dealing with them in holy discipline.
It is the height of folly for man to reason about the severity of divine judgment. It is just as foolish to reason about the seeming mismatch between the sin and the punishment. All such reasoning is false and irreverent. What brought in all the misery, the sorrow, the desolation, the sickness, pain and death? What brought all the untold horrors of the last six thousand years? What was the source of it all? Just the one little act — as man would call it — of eating a bit of fruit? But that little act was that terrible thing called sin — yes, rebellion — against God!
The sentence reaches past the man to his household and his goods. One writer explains why that is not the punishing of children for a father's sin.
His sons and daughters shared this judgment. That shows they knew of his crime and did not report it, for in Israel children were not to be put to death for their father's sins (Deut. 24:16). Achan's animals were also destroyed, however. Israel raised a great heap of stones over the remains, a testimony to God's holiness in judgment.
God could have named Achan at once. Instead He sifted the nation tribe by tribe, family by family, man by man. Commentators see goodness in both the delay and the result.
The Lord could have exposed Achan as the offender at once. But in His great wisdom He made all the tribes come forward as though all were under suspicion. This would call for serious heart searching among them all. Then no one would feel mere resentment against Achan; instead the evil would humble them all.
God would make them all feel that they were involved. Yet in His own goodness He makes careful provision that the one offender should be brought out, now that they are waiting on God and humbling themselves because of it. So when they are unwatchful and do not pray, all share in the sorrow. But when His people draw near to God, the sorrow is traced home to the one who is guilty.
Achan sinned alone, yet the whole nation had to deal with it. One writer places that shared holiness beside personal holiness, and says Christians neglect it.
In Joshua 5 we have individual holiness, and in Joshua 7 corporate. Israel had to put away what had come into the middle of the congregation. Otherwise the nation would be defiled and share in the accursed thing. God's children rarely understand these two sides of practical holiness. Christians more often seek the first — individual holiness — and treat the second as unimportant.
- Covenant — Achan's theft was small in value, but it broke an express command of God. One man's sin can spread through a whole community.
- Relationship — God had taken Israel into relationship with Himself. That is why He would not ignore sin among them, and why the penalty was not out of proportion.
- Household — Achan's family shared the sentence because they knew and said nothing. Israel's law never put children to death for a father's sin.
- Search — the sifting of tribe, family and man humbled everyone before it named one man. All judged themselves instead of resenting Achan.
- Shared holiness — personal purity was not enough. The whole people had to put away the evil that had come among them.
And Joshua rose early in the morning, and caused Israel to come forward by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.
After Israel's defeat at Ai, God told Joshua that a thief hid in the camp, and that the whole nation must come before Him tribe by tribe. This verse is the morning that search began, and the first circle closed on Judah.
Joshua does not put off the painful work. Why the hurry? God's name was at stake:
"So Joshua rose early in the morning." He was as serious about this as he was about the fall of Jericho… God was faithful; but Joshua wanted people to clear God's name, so that others would fear Him — and his own soul was in it too.
God already knew the guilty man. So why line up the whole nation?
The Lord could have exposed Achan as the offender at once. Instead, in His great wisdom, He made all the tribes come forward as though all were under suspicion (v.14). This would call for serious heart searching among them all. The point was not to stir up resentment against Achan, but to humble everyone by the evil. Step by step the process would narrow down to the one man whom the Lord had already judged must be burned with fire (v.15).
The same pattern speaks to any Christian community where open sin appears today:
When open sin appears in a Christian community, it should first of all humble everyone, in keeping with how serious the sin is. The sin may show, more or less, the moral condition of that community. That humbling is not over once the offender is judged, though judging him is a necessary part of true repentance.
The search closes in by stages, from a whole nation down to one man:
How searching are God's ways! First, all twelve tribes are summoned, so that the wrongdoer would come to light. Then one tribe is singled out. Nearer still — the family! And nearer yet — the very household; and, last of all, "man by man"! So the all-searching eye of the Lord reads the sinner through and through. Out of six hundred thousand people, He marks him off before the assembled thousands of Israel.
The same writer asks why God dealt so severely with one theft:
Our God is a consuming fire. He cannot tolerate evil in the ways of His people. This accounts for the solemn scene before us… How could God approve evil in His people? How could He go on with it? What was He to do with it?… The very fact that He took them into relationship with Himself was the reason He dealt with them in holy discipline.
Achan was no nobody. His family tree ran straight back to Judah:
One unhappy man in the camp of Israel had secretly sinned, and by that he had brought disaster on his brothers. Achan was not an unknown person in Israel; he was of the royal tribe of Judah. He was the great-great-grandson of Judah himself. From that tribe the Messiah Himself would come in due time.
Achan had three chances to speak as the circle closed. He took none of them:
But look, Achan's tribe, the tribe of Judah, is taken by lot. Will he not confess now? No, his mouth is closed. Then his family is taken; and then his household; but he still refuses to come forward. Then the lot falls on him. His chance to confess is gone. All Israel knows he is the offender. His was the sin that brought disaster on the nation.
The text does not name the method. Commentators take it to be the lot — and the lot was never blind chance:
By looking at Joshua 7:14-18 you will see how the lot was used to discern the mind of the LORD among His people. Though not stated in so many words, this would be the way of discovery… So in Proverbs the LORD disposes of the lot, that is, He uses it to guide.
What the lot did then, Scripture does now — with an escape route Achan refused:
Today the lot is set aside because God works by the Holy Spirit through the written word. The living word of God discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It makes everything naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do (Heb. 4:12-13). If we judge ourselves by that word, we shall not be judged publicly by the Lord.
- Search begins — Joshua rose early. Clearing God's name mattered to him as much as winning Jericho.
- Search widens — all twelve tribes stood under suspicion. God wanted a humbled nation, not a nation angry at one man.
- Search narrows — tribe, then family, then household, then one man. God's eye read him out of six hundred thousand.
- Search reaches the top — the tribe taken was Judah, the royal line. Privilege gave no cover.
- Search today — Achan kept silent at every stage. Judging ourselves by God's word spares us the exposure he chose.
And he caused the families of Judah to come forward, and he took the family of the Zarhites. And he caused the family of the Zarhites to come forward man by man, and Zabdi was taken.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he caused his household to come forward man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
God had told Joshua that the search would narrow step by step: tribe, then family, then household, then man by man. This verse is where it closes. The whole nation hears one name, and with it the names of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
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Watch the stages of the search one by one.
How searching are God's ways! First, the twelve tribes are summoned, so that the wrongdoer might be revealed. Then, one tribe is fixed upon. Nearer still — the family is fixed upon! And nearer yet — the very household is singled out; and, last of all, "man by man"! So, out of six hundred thousand people, the all-searching eye of the Lord reads the sinner through and through. He marks him off before the assembled thousands of Israel.
The same power was at work here as at the city they had just taken.
But how is the evil to be discovered? The presence of God reveals it. The same power that had levelled the walls of Jericho detected, revealed, and judged the sin of Achan.
The verse traces Achan back through Carmi and Zabdi to Zerah, and ties him to Judah. That line of descent is not filler; it tells us his standing.
Achan was a prince in Israel. Sin and sorrow often come in through the leaders, not through the rank and file of God's army. Achan coveted the garment of Shinar, the silver, and the wedge of gold, and he hid them in his tent. So the very things God had forbidden anyone to touch were found in the middle of Israel.
Another writer weighs what that line of descent meant.
Achan was not an obscure person in Israel; he was of the royal tribe of Judah. He was the great-great-grandson of Judah himself. In due time, Messiah Himself would come from that tribe.
Achan watched the circle close around him. At every stage he said nothing.
The Lord had ordered that lots should be cast the next morning, and by His own disposing of the lots the secret sinner would be discovered... But look, Achan's tribe, the tribe of Judah, is taken by lot. Will he not confess now? No, his mouth is closed. Then his family is taken; and then his household; but he still refuses to come forward. Then the lot falls on him. His chance to confess is lost. All Israel knows he is the offender.
One writer sees his silence as a gamble, and looks ahead to a far larger day of exposure.
Achan had plenty of time to confess his guilt, but it seems he was hoping right to the end that he might not be exposed. How foolish is the unbelief of greed! God waits patiently now. If people will not confess their guilt to Him, how humiliating it will be when their guilt is exposed at the Great White Throne! (Rev. 20:11-12)
Naming one guilty man may look harsh. One writer reads it as goodness toward everyone else.
God would make them all feel that they were involved. Yet in His own goodness He arranges for the one offender to be brought out. They are now waiting on God and humbling themselves because of it. So when His people are unwatchful and prayerless, all share in the sorrow. But when they draw near to God, the sorrow is traced home to the one who is guilty.
The lot was God's instrument that morning. Today He uses another, and it reaches deeper.
The Lord made Achan's secret sin plain. What had been done in secret was announced from the housetops. The lot fell on the guilty person in sight of all Israel... Today the lot is set aside because God works by the Holy Spirit through the written word. The living word of God discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It makes everything naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Heb. 4:12-13). If we judge ourselves by that word, we shall not be judged publicly by the Lord.
So the tent to search is not someone else's.
When Israel turned their backs at Ai, Achan was not expected to search the tents of his brothers for the cause. It was under his own feet in his own tent, where he himself had put it... Let the one who is guilty of worldliness like Achan confess it in his own tent and forsake it. Otherwise he may be publicly exposed and judged in the valley of Achor.
- Hidden — one man hid his theft in his own tent and told nobody. The defeat at Ai traced straight back to it.
- Hunted — God narrowed the search from twelve tribes to one family, one household, one man. His eye read the sinner through and through before the whole nation.
- Honoured — the verse names Carmi, Zabdi, Zerah and Judah. Achan was a prince of the royal tribe, the line Messiah would come from.
- Hardened — every step of the search invited him to speak. His mouth stayed shut until the choice was taken from him.
- Here — the lot is gone, but God's word still lays the heart open. Judge yourself by it now, in your own tent, before the Lord judges you publicly.
And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to Jehovah the God of Israel, and make confession to him tell me now what thou hast done, keep it not back from me.
The defeat at Ai now traces down to one man, and Joshua turns from the search to Achan himself with a strange mix of tenderness and finality. The verse asks what a guilty man owes God once his sin comes to light — and why God counts honest confession as giving Him glory.
Joshua does not begin with Achan's crime. He begins with the LORD, and one commentator makes that opening phrase the hinge of the whole scene.
Here is the all-important matter. "Give glory to Jehovah, God of Israel." Everything hangs on this. The Lord's glory is the one perfect standard. We must judge and weigh everything by it. The one great question for the people of God in every age is this: What is suited to the glory of God? Compared with this, all other questions are less than secondary. It is not a question of what suits us, or what we can tolerate or agree with. What we must always look to, and provide for, is the glory of God. About everything that comes before us we have to ask: will this fit with the glory of God? If not, let us throw it aside by His grace.
This verse points a guilty man to God Himself. One writer uses it to settle a question: who should a sinner confess to?
The duty, or privilege, of confession must be admitted by all. But the question is, to whom should we confess? To a priest, or to God? Many passages could be quoted, from both the Old and New Testaments, to prove that confession of sin is to be made to God.
Joshua is sitting in judgment, yet he addresses the condemned man as a father would. That courtesy did not soften the sentence that followed.
When Achan is taken, and Joshua sits in judgment on him, no denunciation comes from the bench. Joshua's words show a real courtesy and generosity of justice: "My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession." A bystander might have thought this calm manner meant weakness or false mercy. He would be mistaken. Heat is not always a sign of strength: steel is cool enough, and so is diamond.
The older translation this writer quotes reads "make confession to him," where the ESV has "give praise to him."
God sifted the tribes one by one until the guilty man stood alone. One commentator asks why.
And why all this? Just to trace the evil to its source, bring it out, and have it judged in the sight of every creature. Every created mind must be brought to see and confess that the throne of God can have no fellowship with evil. The same power that had levelled the walls of Jericho would now detect Achan's sin. It would draw the confession of his terrible guilt out of the very depths of his convicted heart.
Joshua tells Achan to hold nothing back. That command rests on something true of everyone who stands before God.
The force of God's presence draws out from man the confession of sin. Wherever sin lies unconfessed, God is far off in our thoughts. It is impossible to stand before God and not be completely truthful, right down into the deepest depths of the soul.
Achan does confess in the next verse. But he confesses only after the lot has already named him — and one commentator weighs what that costs.
Achan confessed too late. The lot had already exposed him to his brothers. Then he said, "I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel." He stood convicted in front of them all, and he could do no less than admit his guilt. If he had confessed earlier, he would have been forgiven and cleansed. But now his confession could not shield him from the judgment of the Lord. If he had judged himself in his tent, he would not have been judged in the valley of Achor.
The warning does not stop at Achan's tent.
Let us beware of hidden things of deceit and dishonesty in our lives. Let the light of life shine into the inner corners of our heart. Then we can confess all selfishness and pride, and the work of the Lord will not be hindered. If we confess our sins now, we shall not be exposed then.
- Glory first. Joshua's opening words set the measure for everything: not what suits us, but what is suited to the glory of God.
- Glory given. Owning sin is how a guilty man gives God glory — and he makes that confession to God, not to a priest.
- Glory demands daylight. The search through the tribes traced the evil to its source, so every creature could see that God's throne has no fellowship with evil.
- Glory and grace together. "My son" was genuine tenderness, yet it did not bend the sentence by an inch.
- Glory too late. Had Achan judged himself in his tent, he would not have been judged in the valley — confess now, and you will not be exposed then.
And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed I have sinned against Jehovah the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done.
The lot has singled Achan out, and Joshua asks him to give God glory by telling the truth. Achan answers that he has sinned against the LORD Himself. Two hard questions follow: what makes a confession real, and why this one did not spare him.
Joshua's plea sets the terms of Achan's answer. Everything here turns on the honour of the LORD.
Here is the all-important matter. "Give glory to Jehovah, God of Israel." All hinges upon this. The Lord's glory is the one perfect standard for judging everything. It is the perfect gauge for measuring everything. It is the perfect test for trying everything. In every age, and in every period of God's dealings, the one great question for the people of God is this: What suits the glory of God? In comparison with this, all other questions are less than secondary. It is not a question of what is suitable to us, or what we can tolerate or agree with.
Achan does not volunteer his confession. The sifting of tribes, families and households ends at one man, and only then does he speak.
When men honestly want to clear themselves from iniquity, God will help them sift until they find the seeds of the sin. When He begins, He will make an end. And more, the force of God's presence draws out from man the confession of sin. If the root of bitterness stays hidden, the reason is that God is holding back His hand because His people are in a carnal state. Wherever sin lies unconfessed, God is far off in our thoughts. You cannot stand before God and be anything but truthful, right down to the deepest depths of the soul.
Achan's "this is what I did" opens up the whole inner history of the act. He tells it step by step, in his own words.
Here the dark, defiling stream is traced up to its source in the heart of this unhappy man. How little he thought about whose eye was resting on him through this whole sad and disastrous affair! He thought of only one thing: satisfying his covetousness. He saw, he coveted, he took, he hid; and there, no doubt, he thought the matter would end. He would have his treasure, and no one would be the wiser.
The words Achan says are the right words. The problem is when he says them — after the whole nation already knows.
Achan confessed too late. After the lot had exposed him to his brothers, he said, "Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did." He stood convicted in front of his brothers, and he could do no less than admit his guilt. If he had confessed earlier, he would have been forgiven and cleansed. Now his confession could not shield him from the judgment of the Lord. If he had judged himself in his tent, he would not have been judged in the valley of Achor.
Commentators weigh Achan's failure differently. One points to the timing. Another looks at a wider pattern in Scripture, and at what was missing from the heart.
Here is something very remarkable. Many men in Scripture take the place of saying, "I have sinned," yet not all of them get cleansing. David, Nehemiah, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Micah, the prodigal son, and the thief on the cross all took the place of sinners. They all got cleansing or blessing. But look at Pharaoh, Balaam, Achan, Saul, Shimei, and Judas. These all confess they have sinned, yet they perish... There was no hatred of the sin. There was no desire to turn from it and give it up. There was no true repentance.
God had given Achan time to speak before the lot fell on him. That delay carries a warning about a later and far more public exposure.
Achan had plenty of time to confess his guilt, but he clearly hoped right to the end that he would not be exposed. How foolish is the unbelief of greed! If people will not confess their guilt before God while He waits patiently, how humiliating the exposure of their guilt will be at the Great White Throne! (Rev. 20:11-12).
- Hidden. Achan's own words trace the path: he saw, he coveted, he took, he hid — and assumed the matter ended there.
- Exposed. God's presence draws the truth out. Hidden sin gets sifted until it comes to light.
- Owned. Real confession gives God glory. It measures the whole affair by His honour, not by what we can live with.
- Late. The same words in his tent would have brought cleansing. In the valley of Achor they could not shield him from judgment.
- Hollow. Many in Scripture say "I have sinned" and are cleansed. Others say it and still perish, because they never hated the sin or turned from it.
I saw among the spoils a beautiful mantle of Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a golden bar of fifty shekels weight, and 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.
Here Achan tells his own sin from the inside. He names each step in order — he looked, he wanted, he took, he hid — and commentators read those four verbs as the path any sin takes into a life.
One writer sets the first step beside the first sin in Eden.
This man had followed his natural inclinations; he began where we all begin, where the first man began. "I saw." "When the woman saw" is said in Genesis 3:6. He had eyes that knew how to pick out the good things among the spoil. His eyes were the road into his heart, but there was no sentry on watch, no challenge sounded in case of attack. It is through the eyes that the accursed thing takes possession of the heart and stirs it to lust: "I coveted them." "Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin": "I took them."
Each item already had a place fixed by God, and none of them was Achan's tent. One writer weighs the haul and names where each part should have gone.
The silver would be about eight pounds in weight, the gold two pounds, and the value of these would be great. The Babylonian garment stands for idolatrous luxury, and it was marked for destruction. The silver and gold belonged in the treasury of the Lord.
The cloak from Shinar, which the writers call Babylonian, is the first thing named. Achan had to keep it buried, and one writer names the desire behind it.
Longings for the fine robe of Babylon are common enough. We want to glorify ourselves, and so rob God of His glory. Too many soldiers of the Lord in heaven have this buried in their tents. "How important I am!" is the secret name of this robe. In the tent, in the inner life, in the home circle, the truth about our desires comes out. And God sees us as we really are. Achan never wore the garment for all Israel to admire. Perhaps his friends praised its splendour. Perhaps he never once threw it over his shoulders. It made no difference before God, who saw the sin plainly.
The theft was private, but the whole nation lost. One writer traces this to how God sees His people.
Notice how the sin of one man has to do with all Israel: "But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things... and the anger of the LORD burned against the people of Israel." The people might have said: does that concern us? How could we have known about a hidden thing, and not knowing it, how are we responsible? To all that we reply that God always has the unity of His people before His eyes. He sees each person as part of one whole, and responsible for the others. The suffering and sin of one is the suffering and sin of all.
The practical lesson drawn from the hiding place is stated as a rule with two halves.
Let us take heed to these solemn examples, and beware of hidden sin. Sin concealed in the tent means blessing withheld in the camp. But sin confessed and judged before the Lord means victory throughout the tribes.
One writer sets the worth of the haul against what Achan already had.
Suppose we could have all the garments ever made in Babylon. Suppose we had all the gold and silver that ever came out of the mines of Peru, California and Australia. Suppose we had every pearl and diamond that ever glittered on the kings, princes and nobles of this world. Could they give us one hour's true happiness? ... How well it would have been for Achan if he had rested content with what the God of Israel had given him! How happy he might have been with the furniture of his tent, the smile of the LORD, and the answer of a good conscience!
- Saw — his eyes were the road into his heart, and no sentry stood at the gate; his story begins where Eve's began.
- Coveted — the wanting came before the hand moved, so judge the desire and not only the deed.
- Took — a robe marked for destruction and metal marked for the Lord's treasury; he served himself at God's expense.
- Hid — no one can wear a buried garment, yet God saw the sin plainly; He sees us as we really are.
- Troubled — one man's tent cost a whole nation its victory, because God counts His people as one.
And Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.
Achan's confession has just named the exact spot. The loot lies buried in the ground inside his tent, with the silver at the bottom of the pile. Joshua's messengers run and find it exactly as he described. That raises the question this whole chapter presses: what does God do with a sin that stays hidden from everyone else?
The garment in the hole was not just expensive. Writers point to where it came from as the reason it was forbidden. The ESV calls it a beautiful cloak from Shinar; Shinar is the land of Babylon.
Achan was the first to break through the protective barrier that had been set up. He coveted and took a little of their silver and gold, and also a Babylonish garment. Now Babylon was the seat and stronghold of idolatry in the ancient world. This garment was Babylonish — that is, one used in heathen, idol worship.
The silver and gold had a rightful home, and it was not under a tent floor.
He admitted he had sinned against the Lord God of Israel and had stolen three things from the spoil of Jericho... and had buried them under his tent floor. The silver would be about eight pounds in weight, the gold two pounds, the value of which would be great... the silver and gold ought to have been put in the treasury of the Lord.
The burial was the last move in a short chain. Achan expected it to end there, with no consequences.
Here the dark, defiling stream is traced up to its source in the heart of this unhappy man. Oh, how little he thought whose eye was watching him through this whole sad and disastrous affair! He thought of only one thing — satisfying his covetousness. He saw, he coveted, he took, he hid; and there, no doubt, he thought the matter would end. He would have his treasure, and no one would be any the wiser.
The messengers do not return the goods in private or settle the matter out of sight. They bring it all into the open.
Achan confessed his sin and said out loud what had been in his heart. The messengers ran, dug up the accursed thing, and laid it out in the broad daylight before the Lord. They hid none of the shame of the sin. No one dreamed of hushing up wrongdoing for the sake of peace. Truth, not policy, prevailed — for the question on that solemn day of heart-searching was: the Lord, or man? All Israel shared in the dishonour done to the Lord, so all Israel joined hands in clearing their camp. They stoned him with stones and burned them with fire. They raised over him a great heap of stones, which stands to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. That is why the place was called the Valley of Achor — the valley of trouble.
Hidden sin does not stay inside one tent. It reaches the whole camp.
Let us take heed to these solemn examples, and beware of hidden sin. Sin concealed in the tent means blessing withheld in the camp. But sin confessed and judged before the Lord means victory throughout the tribes.
Achan did admit everything — but only once the search reached him. The timing is the point.
Achan confessed too late. The lot had already exposed him to his brothers. He stood publicly convicted before them, and he could do no less than admit his guilt. Had he confessed earlier, he would have been forgiven and cleansed. But now his confession could not shield him from the judgment of the Lord. If he had judged himself in his tent, he would not have been judged in the valley of Achor.
One writer applies the scene to the part of life no one else inspects.
May we learn from this the urgent need to watch over our hearts and over our private life. We need it so that evil may be judged and stopped at the very start. Then it will not bring forth its sad, shameful and sorrowful fruit in our daily life. Such fruit grossly dishonours the Lord and brings deep sorrow to those who share fellowship with us.
- Saw. The chain begins in the eye and the heart: "He saw, he coveted, he took, he hid" — and he assumed no one would be any the wiser.
- Hid. The tent floor hid a garment tied to idol worship, plus silver and gold that belonged in the Lord's treasury. Achan robbed God, not just Jericho.
- Exposed. The messengers ran, dug it up, and laid it out in daylight. No one hushed it up for the sake of peace.
- Spread. Sin hidden in one tent kept blessing from the whole camp. Sin confessed and judged brought victory across the tribes.
- Judged. Achan confessed only after the search reached him. Had he judged himself in his tent, he would not have faced judgment in the valley. So watch your own heart and private life, before evil bears fruit.
And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before Jehovah.
Achan's confession names the spot: the spoil lies buried under his tent floor, and messengers run to dig it up. Why must the stolen goods travel from that hole in the ground to Joshua, to the whole nation, and then to the LORD Himself?
The verse moves the stolen goods from a private tent into open daylight. One writer reads that daylight as a test of whom Israel would answer to:
Achan confessed his sin, and said out loud what had been in his heart. The messengers ran, dug up the accursed thing, and laid it out in broad daylight before the LORD. None of the shame of the sin was hidden, and no one dreamed of hushing up the wrong for the sake of peace. The truth prevailed, not policy — for the question on that solemn day of heart-searching was: the LORD, or man?
Burying the spoil hid it from Israel. One writer explains why the defeat at Ai had to follow:
But the eye of the LORD, the God of Israel, was on him. No secret thing is hidden from that holy eye. It sees into the depths of the human heart, and it takes in at a glance every hidden spring of human action. Yes, God saw it all, and He would make Israel see it, and Achan too. That is why there was the terrible defeat at Ai, and everything that followed.
So what exactly did they carry out of the tent? Each item had a place God had already assigned:
He had stolen three things from the spoil of Jericho: a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels. He had buried them under his tent floor (v.21). The silver would weigh about eight pounds and the gold about two, and their value would be great. The Babylonian garment stands for idolatrous luxury, and it should have been destroyed. The silver and gold should have gone into the treasury of the LORD.
Recovering stolen property was not the point of the search. One writer asks why God put the whole nation through it:
And why all this? Just to trace the evil to its source, bring it out, and have it judged in the sight of every creature. Every created being must be made to see and admit that the throne of God can have no fellowship with evil. The same power had levelled the walls of Jericho and carried out judgment on its guilty people. That power would now detect Achan's sin, and draw the confession of his terrible guilt out of the very depths of his convicted heart.
The goods go not only to Joshua but to the whole nation. One writer explains why God let no one stand aside:
They all took their part in it. God insists that there should be this clearing of themselves before His own name. Notice how all Israel have their part — in the consequences of the sin, and now in every step of its judgment from God.
Israel's defeat had a cause, and the cause was under one man's feet. Another writer turns this straight on the reader:
When Israel turned their backs at Ai, Achan did not need to search the tents of his brothers for the cause. It lay under his own feet, in his own tent, where he himself had put it. Depend on it — the cause of the blight on the gatherings of believers at home and abroad is locked up in your heart and mine. There will be no revival of life, vitality and power in those gatherings until the secret sins of morality and spirituality come to the light. Each believer must judge them before the Lord. Anyone guilty of the sin of worldliness, as Achan was, should confess it in his own tent and give it up. If not, he will face public exposure and judgment in the valley of Achor.
- Hidden. Achan took the spoil and buried it, and thought the matter was finished once the soil was smooth again.
- Seen. No secret thing is hidden from God's eye. He saw it all, and He used the defeat at Ai to make Israel see it too.
- Dug up. God traced the evil to its source and brought it out, because His throne can have no fellowship with evil.
- Displayed. The garment of idolatrous luxury and the LORD's silver and gold lie in broad daylight before the whole nation. Nobody hushed up the wrong for the sake of peace.
- Judged. Every believer has a tent. The blight on God's people lies under someone's own feet — bring it into the light yourself, before God exposes it in public.
Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the bar 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 up into the valley of Achor.
Joshua's men had just dug the stolen silver, gold and garment out of the ground under one man's tent. Now the whole camp goes out to a valley with Achan, his family and everything he owns — why should so much go for one man's secret sin?
Before the verse names Achan's family, it names the stolen silver, the cloak and the bar of gold. One writer explains what kind of cloak this was:
Achan was the first to break through the quarantine line that had been set up. He coveted and took a little of the silver and gold and also "a Babylonish garment." Babylon was the centre and stronghold of idolatry in the ancient world. This garment was Babylonish — that is, a garment to be used in some heathen and idolatrous practice.
Commentators differ on why the children went out too. One reads the law against executing children for a father's sin and concludes that the family shared the guilt:
Judgment follows the discovery of Achan's sin, and clearly his family suffers with him. The law forbade putting children to death for their father's sins. So we are driven to the conclusion that they shared the guilt of what he had done. The burial of the stolen things inside his tent would make that likely anyway. It would seem wrong to suppose, as some have done, that there was mob violence in a solemn judgment carried out in front of Joshua and all Israel.
Another writer points out that only the head of the family was stoned. He turns the scene into a question for every parent:
Is it not time to humble ourselves before the Lord, and to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?" "Is it in my family? In my tent?" Do not say you are not responsible for your family. Achan's whole family, his sons and his daughters, were brought into the valley of Achor, but only one man, the head of the family, was stoned. Achan was held accountable. His sin brought shame on his family, on his tribe, on his nation, and above all on the name of Jehovah.
One writer notes how openly Israel dealt with it:
Achan confessed his sin and said out loud what had been in his heart. The messengers ran, dug up the accursed thing, and laid it out in broad daylight before Jehovah. None of the shame of the sin was hidden. No one even dreamed of hushing up wrongdoing for the sake of peace. The truth won, not policy. For the question on that solemn day of heart-searching was this: Jehovah or man?
The verse says Joshua took Achan "and all Israel with him." One writer explains why the whole nation had to be there:
The whole assembly was involved in the evil. How was this? God's presence gave the whole assembly a unity. It bound them all together, so that the sin of the one involved them all. It was one assembly, and so no one could stand apart on his own. The sin of each was the sin of all, because God was among them, and He could not overlook unjudged evil. The whole congregation was involved, and had to clear itself of the evil before Jehovah could lead it on to victory.
One writer follows this valley into Hosea 2:15, quoted here in an older translation:
But, wonderful to say, we read in Hosea 2:15 this comforting word about Israel: "I will give her the Valley of Achor for a door of hope." Yes, beloved friends, it is always like this. God gives us blessing on the very doorstep of judgment. At the place of judgment, the soul finds the door of hope at the time of its conversion; it is there that it meets Christ. And later on, the believer finds the time of discipline to be the birthplace of hope and joy.
One writer presses all this on readers who speak much about grace:
These are weighty, solemn, searching words. They are much needed in these days of flippant, easy-going profession. The doctrines of grace are so much on our lips, but the fruits of righteousness are so little seen in our lives. May we learn from them the urgent need of watchfulness over our hearts and our private life. Evil must be judged and nipped in the bud, so that it does not bear its sad, shameful and sorrowful fruit in the way we live.
- Hidden. What Achan buried under his tent looked private. But his cloak came from Babylon, the stronghold of idolatry, and belonged to heathen worship.
- Uncovered. The messengers dug the goods up and laid them out in the open. Nobody smoothed anything over for the sake of peace; the question of that day was Jehovah or man.
- Carried out. Family, animals, tent and loot all went to the valley together. Commentators differ: did the children share the guilt, or did the head of the house alone bear the sentence?
- Shared. All Israel went out with Joshua. God's presence made one man's sin the whole camp's sin, and the camp had to clear itself before it could win again.
- Turned. The place of judgment is where the door of hope opens. There the soul meets Christ, and blessing starts on the very doorstep of judgment.
And Joshua said, How hast thou troubled us! Jehovah will trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones.
One man's hidden theft cost Israel its first defeat in Canaan. This verse records his sentence in the valley named after the trouble he caused. Why his whole household? Why the whole nation as executioners? And why does Hosea later call this grim place a door of hope?
Joshua's sentence throws the man's own act back at him. The valley then took its name from that trouble.
They recovered the stolen goods from Achan's tent. Then he and the stolen property, his sons and his daughters, his oxen, donkeys, sheep and his tent were all taken to the Valley of Achor (meaning "trouble"). There Joshua pronounced sentence against Achan (v.25). He reaped trouble because of the trouble he sowed. All Israel had to stone them to death and burn them. The judgment included his sons and his daughters. This shows they knew of his crime and did not report it, for in Israel no children were to be put to death for their father's sins (Deut. 24:16).
The sin behind the theft is one the world still counts respectable. And his confession came only after he was found out.
His sin was the kind that in most ages, and certainly in this one, has been thought quite respectable — greed. It fitted the gospel of getting on in life: "get money; honestly if you can, but get it." Yet the twenty or thirty pounds' worth of goods he took was a poor price for selling his conscience and happiness. Covetous people who drive sharp bargains in buying and selling make terribly bad bargains when they sell their own souls. There is no evidence of repentance, only of remorse. He is not sorry for the sin, but for being found out.
There was a moment when this could have ended differently, and it passed.
Achan confessed too late. After the lot had exposed him to his brothers, he said, "I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did." Had he confessed earlier, he would have been forgiven and cleansed. But now his confession could not shield him from the judgment of the Lord. If he had judged himself in his tent, he would not have been judged in the valley of Achor.
The verse says "all Israel" — not the family, not the tribe. That detail carries the whole logic of the chapter.
The evil was not just a matter that affected Achan or his family or his tribe, but it affected all Israel. God held all Israel responsible for it because all the tribes were one nation. In His sight the whole nation was identified with the sin of Achan and defiled by it... So "all Israel stoned him with stones" (Joshua 7:25), and put the evil away. Then the Lord's anger turned and He was with Israel again.
The same principle turns up again in the church at Corinth.
We find the same thing at Corinth, adjusted according to the principles of grace. The wicked person must be put away. If not, they are all identified with the sin until they have put it away and have so "proved themselves innocent." In doing this they take God's side against the sin, and the relationship between God and the body returns to normal.
A heap of stones marked the spot. Some readers would like to soften a scene like this.
How deeply solemn all this is! Let us not try, under the false influence of one-sided notions of grace, to blunt the holy edge of a passage of Scripture like this. Let us read with earnest attention the inscription on that awful monument in the valley of Achor. What is it? "God is greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones"... And further, "Our God is a consuming fire."
The name did not stay a byword for disaster. Hosea takes this very valley and turns it into a promise.
But, wonderful to say, we read in Hosea 2:15 this comforting word about Israel: "I will... make the Valley of Achor a door of hope." Yes, dear friends, it is always like this. God gives us blessing right on the threshold of judgment. At the place of judgment the soul finds the door of hope when it is converted; it is there that it meets Christ. Later on, the believer finds the time of discipline to be the birthplace of hope and joy. And in this same valley where God pronounced their judgment, the people of Israel will one day be blessed by God.
- Trouble named — Achan sowed trouble for Israel and reaped trouble himself. The valley kept the name.
- Trouble's root — greed, the sin the world still counts respectable. His confession came only after he was caught: remorse, not repentance.
- Trouble avoidable — self-judgment in the tent would have spared him judgment in the valley.
- Trouble shared — one nation, one responsibility. All Israel stoned him because the sin defiled all Israel. Corinth shows the same rule.
- Trouble transformed — the stones stand as a warning. Yet Hosea makes that same valley a door of hope: blessing begins where sin is judged.
And they raised over him a great heap of stones, [which is there] to this day. And Jehovah turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called, The Valley of Achor, to this day.
The chapter that opened with defeat at Ai closes in a valley, over a pile of stones. Israel's sin came down to one man; the valley where he died still carries the name of his trouble, and there God's burning anger stopped.
The name itself carries the story, and the valley was a real place on Israel's map.
Achor means "trouble," and was the place where Achan was stoned for having troubled Israel by taking the devoted thing. Joshua 7:26. The valley was between Jericho and Ai, on the border of the tribe of Judah.
Joshua spoke the sentence, and the punishment matched the crime.
Then Joshua pronounced a solemn sentence against Achan (v.25): he reaped trouble because of the trouble he sowed… A great heap of stones rose over the remains, a testimony to God's holiness in judgment. Only this stern judgment of the evil calmed God's anger.
Israel did not leave this to a few leaders. The whole nation cleared its own camp.
All Israel shared in the dishonour done to Jehovah by their prince, so all Israel joined hands in clearing their camp… And more, Israel was in no mood at that hour to soften the memory of their sorrow.
The heap of stones speaks. One writer warns us not to blunt its edge with a one-sided idea of grace.
Let us read with earnest attention the inscription on that awful monument in the valley of Achor. What is it? "God is greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around Him." And again, "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him." And further, "Our God is a consuming fire."
For Achan, that pile of stones replaced everything he could have owned in the land.
His days were short in the land of promise, and he lost his inheritance there. His name was cut off from Israel… He might have had his own share of land in the territory of Judah. Instead, all he had was a heap of stones over him in the valley of Achor. He sowed to his flesh, and from the flesh he reaped corruption.
The verse turns on one line: God's anger stops. That changes what God does next.
And now we have the Lord's full restitution of the people. They had gone out in self-confidence. They had taken the most serious check. But now that the sin was judged, Jehovah was free to act for them.
Discipline of this kind aims at something beyond punishment, though it leaves a mark.
Discovering sin in the assembly may be very painful, and it is always humiliating. But it happens so that the Lord's presence may be known among them again… The end of discipline is to restore. The restoration may not be to the same position as before, for the failure will always remain a fact. But restoring any believer always deepens the power of godliness in his soul.
The phrase "to this day" is not the end of the valley's story. Later prophets pick up the name and turn it into a promise.
But, wonderful to say, we read in Hosea 2:15 this comforting word about Israel: "I will give her… and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope." Yes, it is always like this. God gives blessing to us on the very threshold of judgment. At the place of judgment the soul finds the door of hope at its conversion, and there it meets Christ. Later on, the believer finds the time of discipline to be the birthplace of hope and joy. Joshua himself also recovered there in soul, to walk with God from then on as he led the people to victory.
That the prophets reach back to this scene at all is striking, given how severe it is.
Where evil exists, judging that evil is the only way anyone can enter into the forgiveness and favour of God… And Isaiah says that the Valley of Achor will be "a place for herds to lie down." That is because there is no place where hope shines as brightly as on the spot where sin has been judged. And there is no place for a sinner to rest like the foot of the cross.
after-note: DISCUSS not needed
- Trouble named. Achor means trouble. The man who troubled Israel reaped what he sowed, and his name was cut off.
- Trouble judged. The whole nation took part in clearing its own camp, because the dishonour had touched them all.
- Trouble marked. The heap of stones carries an inscription: God is to be feared among His people.
- Trouble ended. Only when the sin was dealt with did the burning anger stop — and God was then free to act for Israel again.
- Trouble transformed. The valley of trouble becomes a door of hope; hope shines brightest where sin has been judged.