The Bible Says
Joshua 7:22-26 Meaning

In Joshua 7:22-26, the sin of Achan is dealt with.

In the previous section, Joshua examined each tribe, clan, and family to find the sinner who had brought a curse among Israel, causing their defeat before Ai. The careful investigation by Joshua led him to identify Achan of the tribe of Judah as the culprit. Achan told Joshua he stole some items devoted to the LORD and to destruction. He confessed his guilt, listed the items stolen, and explained where he hid them (vv. 16-21).

This curse upon Israel was brought by Achan’s sin, because Israel was the chosen people of God, and there was a covenant between God and Israel. Israel had promised to obey the stipulations of the covenant. God promised blessings for obedience and cursings for disobedience. The cursings would be the adverse consequences for disobedience to the provisions set forth in the Suzerain-Vassal-style covenant that God entered into with Israel, that had just been ratified and renewed by this generation of Israelites (Deuteronomy 26:17).

In the present section, Joshua sent messengers to Achan so they could find the stolen plunder Achan seized from Jericho. The messengers go forth: and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it (v. 22). The term behold invites the listener or reader to pay attention to something about to happen. In our passage, the term describes the attention of the messengers when they reached Achan’s tent and found the stolen objects buried there. They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the sons of Israel (v. 23). In so doing, they allowed the entire covenant community to see the items stolen while confirming Achan as the thief. At this point, Achan told the truth and glorified God because the messengers found the stolen items, which he confessed to hiding.

Once the congregation of Israel saw the items which Achan had stolen, they poured them out before the LORD. When the LORD instructed His covenant people to destroy Jericho, He urged them to preserve the precious metals but to put everything else “under the ban” (Joshua 6:17). In other words, the people were to devote such things to destruction ⎯regardless of their value⎯because they belonged to the LORD. However, Achan acted unfaithfully and stole some items under the ban (Joshua 7:1). Now that the Israelites found the goods, they placed them in front of the Ark of the Covenant, where God’s presence manifests. In so doing, they returned to God what belonged to Him.

Next, Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zerah (v. 24). They also took the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that belonged to him (v. 24).

Achan sinned against God by stealing things devoted to the LORD for destruction. Consequently, he and his entire family would perish like things under the ban. For this reason, the Israelites brought them up to the valley of Achor (v. 24).

The Valley of Achor was a valley near Jericho. It was on Judah’s northern border (Joshua 15:7).  Achor means “trouble.” The book of Joshua ascribes the name of the location to the events. While Achan and his family were at the valley of Achor, Joshua spoke to him. He said, Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day (v. 25). Achan’s sinful action had brought a curse among the Israelite community. It caused the nation to fall under divine judgment. His crime was the first Israelite act of disobedience after Israel crossed the Jordan River. For this reason, he and his family died. And all Israel stoned them with stones (v. 25).

In ancient Israel, stoning was a common form of capital punishment because it allowed the covenant community to participate actively in the process of killing the condemned (Leviticus 24:14; Deuteronomy 13:10, 21:21). In the book of Joshua, the Israelites stoned Achan and his family because he violated the ban following the battle of Jericho. Since Achan’s sin infected the whole community, they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones (v. 25) to purge the sin among Israel (Joshua 7:1). His choice to obey his desire for worldly goods rather than obey God’s specific commands led to the loss of his life and the end of his family line.

After the Israelites killed Achan and his family, they raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, that is, to the contemporary time when the writer penned the book of Joshua (v. 26). The pile of rocks would remind the Israelites of Achan’s sin and its consequences. Fortunately, once the people killed Achan and his family, the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger (v. 26). The punishment of Achan at the valley of Achor was satisfactory because there God removed the curse He placed upon Israel (Joshua 7:1). The one who had stolen from God was removed from the covenant community. Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day, that is, until the day the author wrote the book (v. 26).

The Valley of Achor (“trouble”) was a place of trouble in Joshua’s day. Achan first troubled the congregation of Israel, and God troubled him by commanding His covenant people to kill him and his family. The book of Hosea tells us that one day, the Valley of Achor will have a positive connotation. It will no longer be a place of God’s judgment but a “door of hope” because Israel will respond positively to God’s love and experience restoration and peace (Hosea 2:15).