“Achan is stoned to death” — by Gustave Dore (1832-1883)
Joshua 7 (NRSV)
The Sin of Achan and Its Punishment
But the Israelites broke faith in regard to the devoted things: Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things; and the anger of the Lord burned against the Israelites.
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Music:
It may take a little mental re-arranging, but I bet you can apply this song to our chapter today! Olivia Newton-John and “Hopelessly Devoted.”
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2Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai.
3Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Not all the people need go up; about two or three thousand men should go up and attack Ai. Since they are so few, do not make the whole people toil up there.” 4So about three thousand of the people went up there; and they fled before the men of Ai. 5The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, chasing them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim and killing them on the slope. The hearts of the people melted and turned to water.
6Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. 7Joshua said, “Ah, Lord God! Why have you brought this people across the Jordan at all, to hand us over to the Amorites so as to destroy us? Would that we had been content to settle beyond the Jordan! 8O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned their backs to their enemies! 9The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?”
1 Kings 8:41-42 (New Living Translation)
“In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name, for they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm.”
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10The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen upon your face? 11Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their own belongings. 12Therefore the Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they turn their backs to their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted for destruction themselves. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 13Proceed to sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “There are devoted things among you, O Israel; you will be unable to stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”
14‘In the morning therefore you shall come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe that the Lord takes shall come near by clans, the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households, and the household that the Lord takes shall come near one by one. 15And the one who is taken as having the devoted things shall be burned with fire, together with all that he has, for having transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and for having done an outrageous thing in Israel.’”
16So Joshua rose early in the morning, and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17He brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken; and he brought near the clan of the Zerahites, family by family, and Zabdi was taken. 18And he brought near his household one by one, and Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
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from Joshua, by Jerome F.D. Creach:
At the heart of Achan’s struggle is a problem with human autonomy or, rather, a false sense of human autonomy. The idea that some human actions are actually stealing from God is based on the belief that humans are ultimately dependent on the Lord for their existence and that a certain portion of life or possessions should be given to God as confession of that fact. Denying that creator-creature relationship is the root of sin. Or, as Soren Kierkegaard so aptly wrote, the sense of human adequacy is the primary barrier to genuine faith. Whether expressed as confidence in science, moral progress, or military might, the human feeling of self-reliance distances a person from his or her creator. Achan was someone who acted as though human power had won a battle and thus denied his dependence on God.
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19Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
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What does it really mean to give God “glory”?
Let’s begin with the very basic concept of giving glory to God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” The word “glory” comes from the Greek word (doxa), and it means thought or opinion; it relates to one’s view of or judgment about a thing. In other words, when I “do all to the glory of God,” I am to live in such a way that people have a right opinion, right thoughts, and a proper perspective of God!
But let’s take it a step further. We need to understand that it is impossible for us to give “glory to God” apart from having a relationship with Him. Remember that Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD”!
To give God glory means to give others a right opinion about Him in “whatsoever ye do.” In order to do that, we must “walk in the light, as he is in the light” (1 John 1:7). Therefore, if any of us at present are walking “in darkness,” the only way back to a life that gives glory to God is to “confess our sins” (1 John 1:9). This is exactly what Joshua expressed to Achan when he confronted him about the sin which Achan had both committed and concealed. He said, “My son, GIVE, I pray thee, GLORY to the Lord God of Israel, and MAKE CONFESSION UNTO HIM” (Joshua 7:19). If you are not right with God, you can begin again to “give…glory to the Lord” when you “make confession unto him.”
from “Brother Smallwood’s Devotional Blog”
http://davidsmallwood.blogspot.com/2010/02/for-his-names-sake.html
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20And Achan answered Joshua, “It is true; I am the one who sinned against the Lord God of Israel. This is what I did: 21when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. They now lie hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Deuteronomy 5:19 (New International Version)
“You shall not steal.”
Deuteronomy 5:21 (New International Version)
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
How clearly this story shows us the irrationality of the unregenerate human heart! Achan stole a beautiful robe: Where would he wear it? If he went out in it and his neighbors said, “Hey, Achan, what a nice robe! Where did you get it?” — what could he say? And he stole all that silver and a gold bar. Where did he think he would spend it? And did he think no one would notice and wonder? How very foolish. How very tragic.
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22So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. 23They took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites; and they spread them out before the Lord.
24Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, with the silver, the mantle, and the bar of gold, with his sons and daughters, with his oxen, donkeys, and sheep, and his tent and all that he had; and they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. 25Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord is bringing trouble on you today.”
“Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks.” — by Israeli artist Nurit Tzarfati
And all Israel stoned him to death; they burned them with fire, cast stones on them, 26and raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore that place to this day is called the Valley of Achor.
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from Joshua, by Jerome F.D. Creach:
The sins of one family member affected every other member, especially in the case of the head of the household, who embodied the values and actions of the entire group. This becomes clear when we recognize that Achan’s sin is a negative parallel to Rahab’s right action. When Joshua 7:15 says that the guilty one, “together with all that he has,” shall be destroyed, it uses a phrase identical to the one that describes Rahab’s family in 6:25. Rahab’s act of harboring the spies preserves her family, while Achan’s faithless deed dooms his. Her righteousness was extended to her household, just as Achan’s disobedience caused his entire family to be implicated in his crime.
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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
DWELLING in the Word 
