TEXT [Commentary]

3.   Achan’s conviction and execution (7:16-26)

16 Early the next morning Joshua brought the tribes of Israel before the LORD, and the tribe of Judah was singled out. 17 Then the clans of Judah came forward, and the clan of Zerah was singled out. Then the families of Zerah came forward, and the family of Zimri was singled out. 18 Every member of Zimri’s family was brought forward person by person, and Achan was singled out.

19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, by telling the truth. Make your confession and tell me what you have done. Don’t hide it from me.”

20 Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. 21 Among the plunder I saw a beautiful robe from Babylon,[*] 200 silver coins,[*] and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound.[*] I wanted them so much that I took them. They are hidden in the ground beneath my tent, with the silver buried deeper than the rest.”

22 So Joshua sent some men to make a search. They ran to the tent and found the stolen goods hidden there, just as Achan had said, with the silver buried beneath the rest. 23 They took the things from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites. Then they laid them on the ground in the presence of the LORD.

24 Then Joshua and all the Israelites took Achan, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, tent, and everything he had, and they brought them to the valley of Achor. 25 Then Joshua said to Achan, “Why have you brought trouble on us? The LORD will now bring trouble on you.” And all the Israelites stoned Achan and his family and burned their bodies. 26 They piled a great heap of stones over Achan, which remains to this day. That is why the place has been called the Valley of Trouble[*] ever since. So the LORD was no longer angry.

NOTES

7:21 beautiful robe. Heb. ’adereth [TH155, ZH168] denotes a very high quality garment, perhaps even a royal robe (Jonah 3:6). Possibly, Achan’s plunder came from the king’s palace.

200 silver coins. These 200 pieces are called shekels in the Hebrew, a reference to their weight; see NLT mg. The NLT introduces “coins,” which, strictly speaking, is anachronistic; coinage was invented in the Lydian kingdom of Asia Minor in the seventh century BC, and did not come into use in this part of western Asia until the Persian period, probably with the first Judean return, about 536 BC.

a bar of gold. Lit., a “tongue,” or wedge, of gold (see NLT mg). Though the gold weighed one-fourth as much as the silver, it was by far the most valuable of the three items Achan stole.

7:24 Achan. Lit., “Achan, the descendant of Zerah.”

cattle, donkeys. In the Hebrew, both terms are singular, “his ox, his donkey.” Biblical Hebrew attests plurals for these nouns elsewhere. The present text is noting that Achan had one ox and one donkey (cf. NET).

the valley of Achor. The name ‘akor [TH5911, ZH6574] means “trouble.” This valley, still named Achor/Trouble, is located southwest of Jericho in the Judean wilderness west of the Dead Sea.

COMMENTARY [Text]

To discover the culprit, it is possible (though not provable) that Joshua used the Urim and Thummim, a God-given system of lots. The high priest (Eleazar at this time) wore them on his person, probably contained in a bag or a pouch (Exod 28:30; Num 27:21). They may have been two objects, perhaps gemstones, differing only in their coloring, one darker and one lighter. Inquiries were phrased as “yes” or “no” questions. We must stress that this description is conjectural, but if this was the system, then for each tribe, clan, family, and man, the question would have been, “Is this the one?” until the priest drew out the object (probably the Urim) signaling “yes.” In Joshua’s day, God’s revelation was far from complete; Israel was a brand-new people of faith with little experience in walking with God. The Urim and Thummim were a necessary means of ensuring that God’s will could be known and acted on. For the Christian today, use of such methods (technically called “divination”), including reading palms, tea leaves, or tarot cards, or even randomly opening one’s Bible and pointing at a verse for guidance, would represent, not mature and knowledgeable faith, but a retreat from faith.

Moving through the clans of Judah, then the families of Zerah’s clan, the choice came down to Achan (7:18). No one (including the reader) knew precisely what he had done, but now all knew the responsibility for Israel’s defeat at Ai lay with him. Joshua’s gentle, compassionate form of address, “my son,” reveals him as a caring leader, sorry for this young man trapped by his impulsive greed.

Joshua’s advice to Achan is literally, “I pray you, render glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and give him thanks/confession” (7:19). This was a plea for him to repent and cast himself upon God’s mercy for the salvation of his soul (as we would say today), though both knew Achan would die for his crime. Achan’s response was a full confession (7:20-21); it may have also been a genuine repentance.

The beautiful robe should have been burned with the rest of Jericho’s perishable goods. That it was from Babylon is just one among a great many pieces of evidence that long-distance trade was a significant factor in the life of the Near East at this time. The Hebrew term Shinar (cf. 7:21a, NLT mg) indicates lower Mesopotamia around and above the head of the Persian Gulf. The silver and the bar of gold belonged to the treasury of the Lord’s house (6:24). In a real, not just a metaphorical sense, Achan had stolen from God. The progression of his sin is, almost without exception, the progression of all sin. Achan saw; the appeal also may be to the hearing, or to some other of the senses. He coveted (Heb., khamad [TH2530, ZH2773])—Achan used the same verb employed in the Tenth Commandment (Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21). And he took; the last step, the inevitable fruit when covetousness is not nipped in the bud, is the overt act, the punishable offense.

The author continued to remind the reader of the seriousness and the urgency of this matter: Joshua’s messengers did not walk; “They ran to the tent” (7:22) to confirm Achan’s confession. They laid out the stolen items as evidence, not only for Joshua and all Israel, but also before “the presence of the LORD” (7:23). The careful listing (7:24) of persons, animals, and all Achan’s possessions, including the stolen items, has the tone of a legal statement setting forth the final disposition of a case. Achan and all that pertained to him had been compromised by their contact with the stolen items that were supposed to be devoted to God. To avert judgment from Israel, all had to be included in Achan’s judgment. This record showed that all had been done properly.

But why were Achan’s sons and daughters executed with him? The easy answer is, they knew what he had done, they were old enough to understand it was a terrible sin against God and against Israel, and they had failed to inform Joshua or anyone else, thereby becoming, in legal terms, accomplices after the fact. If some of Achan’s children were too young to know or to understand, the answer becomes more difficult. Then, we simply must recognize that, just as Achan’s sin earlier had cost the lives of (at least) 36 adult Israelite warriors (7:5), now it cost the lives of his own children.

Joshua’s final words to Achan reflect this legal aspect, but they also are liturgical in nature. Achan had troubled Israel; now his sin had brought the ultimate ­trouble upon himself and his family. By his death, Israel’s destruction (kherem [TH2764, ZH3051]) was averted. God’s anger (7:26) was neither capricious nor baseless. Achan’s sin had brought disaster upon Israel; his severe punishment was just. Moreover, it underscores in a somber way that God’s people must be holy. To trifle with things belonging to God is dangerous because it really is rebellion against God. Such sin always “brings trouble” (‘akor [TH5916, ZH6579]; 7:25) upon God’s people.