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.