Sins of a Nation
Trading Places
Several parallels exist between the accounts in Joshua 2 and 7. In Joshua 2, Rahab, a believing Canaanite, acted faithfully and, as a result, was promised deliverance from destruction. In effect, she became an Israelite. In Joshua 7, Achan, a disbelieving Israelite, acted faithlessly and, as a result, was not delivered but destroyed. In effect, he became a Canaanite. Achan thus stands as a foil to Rahab, and the two characters embody striking contrasts.
The sin that Achan committed, its consequences for the nation, and the process of discovery and punishment of the
This verse is a transition between the story of the conquest of Jericho and that of the defeat at Ai. It anticipates for the reader the information that emerges in more detail throughout the chapter, especially in vv. 20–21, where Achan admits the wrong that he had committed.
The positive state of affairs for the Israelites that existed after their taking of Jericho and that is indicated by the favorable comments of 6:27 was quickly shattered by sin. The specific sin was that Achan, who was from the favored tribe of Judah, took some of the things in Jericho that had been devoted to destruction. By doing so, he was violating the prohibition against taking these things that Joshua had uttered in 6:17–19. Apparently Achan acted alone, but the verse twice mentions the “Israelites” as the guilty party (i.e., the one man’s sin infected the nation as a whole).
More generally, the sin was that Israel “acted unfaithfully” with regard to the things devoted to destruction. The term in question here (mʿl) is used to describe a wife’s adultery (see Num 5:12–13): it was a betrayal of a trust that existed between two parties. In almost every use of this term in the Bible, the trust broken is that between God and humans. So, in taking the devoted things, Achan was acting in a way that broke the fundamental covenantal relationship between God and Israel, and vv. 11 and 15 make that explicit: Israel had broken God’s covenant. The damage was not repaired until the cause of the betrayal of trust had been removed from the nation (v. 26); then God’s anger abated. And, in its present position, the covenant renewal ceremony of 8:30–35 shows that shortly thereafter the damaged covenant was renewed and repaired.
The sin was more than simple theft (a violation of the Eighth Commandment, Exod 20:15), since the term mʿl, “to act unfaithfully,” is used (and not gnb, “to steal”). The same term (mʿl) is used seven times in