People of the Bible

Achan

Took a cloak, some silver and a wedge of gold, and thirty-six men died at a town nobody was worried about.

Jericho falls and everything in it is devoted, which means nothing is to be taken. Achan takes a Babylonian cloak, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold, and buries them under his tent. Nobody knows. The next target is Ai, a place small enough that the scouts recommend sending only two or three thousand men, and Israel is routed and thirty-six men are killed. Joshua tears his clothes and lies on his face until evening, and is told to get up, because Israel has sinned.

Where it appearsJoshua 7

Joshua

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The movements, in the order the text gives them.

The story of Achan

01
Joshua 7:1-5
The small town that was not small
The scouts say do not trouble the whole army, they are few. Thirty-six men are killed and the survivors run, and the heart of the people turns to water.
02
Joshua 7:6-15
Get up, why are you lying on your face
Joshua asks why they were ever brought over the Jordan. The answer is that something devoted is in the camp, and that they cannot stand until it is out.
03
Joshua 7:16-21
Tribe by tribe, family by family
The lot narrows from Judah down to one man. Asked to give glory to God and confess, he does, and names the cloak, the silver and the gold, and where they are buried.
04
Joshua 7:24-26
The valley of Achor
Everything he has goes with him to the valley. The place is named trouble, and a heap of stones is raised. Hosea later calls that same valley a door of hope.

Why it matters

Achan is the counterweight to Rahab, placed five chapters after her. She is an outsider who is brought inside and lives; he is an insider who hides plunder and does not. The story is uncomfortable and the account does not soften it, including the whole household going to the valley with him. What it is arguing is that the nation is one body, and that a thing hidden under one tent is not a private matter.

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