Joshua 7:14, commentary and pictures

In the morning Israel was to be brought forward to be sifted step by step from tribe to family to household to man by man, until the man taken by the Lord was pointed out. The taking was done by lot in a solemn ceremony in which the guilt was at first left concealed and the sinner was not directly named. In this the Lord Himself by His power exposes hidden dishonesty and brings it to light, for He cannot tolerate iniquity and will not let it pass. One man's secret theft and covetousness broke the covenant and brought guilt, curse, defeat and God's anger upon the whole congregation until the accursed thing was put away. The exposure was made gradual and public to teach Israel an unforgettable lesson, to make the guilt and justice of the punishment plain, and to give time for confession, searching of heart and cleansing of the camp, which the church must still do promptly with sin in its midst.

Ordered Morning Sifting

In the morning Israel was to be brought forward to be sifted, by order of Jesus speaking from the cloudy pillar, without at first naming the guilty man. The sifting was to narrow step by step from tribe to family to household to man by man, with the tribe which the Lord took coming according to its families, and the family which He took coming by households, and the household which He took coming man by man. The same bringing forward in stages from tribe to family to household to the individual was the ordered means for identifying the one with the accursed thing.

The taking by the Lord was done by lot in a solemn and impressive ceremony. The Lord did not directly name Achan but left responsible leaders to search him out. The lot was employed to detect the offender, yet the guilty person was not named immediately.

The sinner was not pointed out directly but the matter was left in doubt for a time, so the guilt was concealed through the early stages. Joshua rose early in the morning and carried out the sifting, and closer and still closer came the fearful test until the knot drew tighter around Achan. He braved it out as though innocent and remained silent as the inquiry narrowed to him, making no confession, until Achan the son of Carmi of the tribe of Judah was taken and pointed out by the finger of God as the troubler of Israel.

The selecting work took place at Gilgal on the plain rich in thrilling associations. It belonged to the history connected with Gilgal, from which Israel marched to the overthrow of Jericho and the conquest of Ai, and where Achan afterward met the penalty of his sin.

Achan's Theft and Judgment

Achan coveted a golden wedge and a Babylonish garment devoted to God and secretly kept them for himself. He knowingly violated God's command by theft and concealment, selfishly appropriating means for his own use and robbing the treasury. The same evil is seen in workers who measure self by self, compare self with others, demand what they think they deserve, practice double-dealing, become wise above what is written, sell themselves to the highest bidder, and selfishly take money from the treasury, and God sees every such case, regards it as He regarded Achan's sin, judges it, sees such men cannot give the right mold to the work or supply hard fields, and will not entrust them with responsibility.

His hidden theft broke the covenant of the Lord and worked folly in Israel. It brought guilt, curse, suffering, and defeat upon all Israel, costing thirty-six lives. It withdrew God's presence from their armies so the enemy triumphed, and God would not give them success or go to battle with them while the sin remained. God's Spirit exposed the concealed sin through narrowing from tribes to families to households to individuals.

Israel could not stand before its enemies until the accursed thing was taken away from among them. The people had to sanctify themselves and cleanse the camp and remove the accursed thing before they could prevail. Prayer alone was not enough, for hidden wrongdoing bringing consequences upon the community must be brought to light and dealt with rather than merely lamented.

Achan was exposed and then burned with all he had, and destroyed with all his household with all they possessed because he violated God's command. That execution wiped the curse from Israel and removed guilt and defeat from all Israel. It turned away God's wrath from Israel, after which Israel could advance against Ai with Heaven's help.

God Exposes Hidden Sin

The Lord knows hidden dishonesty however men try to hide it, and by His Spirit and by His mighty power He Himself exposes it step by step and brings it to light. The direction given for the morning was to narrow the search in stages from tribes to families to households and finally to man by man, until the concealed wrong responsible for defeat was fastened upon the doer. Where sins are covered and unknown, God by His Holy Spirit points out the wrongdoers when those in charge do their duty, showing that He knows all that is done in the midst of His people. He can also vindicate those who trust Him when they are falsely accused.

God is jealous and in earnest, cannot look upon iniquity, and will not tolerate sin or let it pass without exposure. Though He had done a great and glorious work by His mighty power, Achan's hidden sin offended Him and barred His way so that He could not do what He would for Israel. To demonstrate that He will not tolerate sin, He answered inquiry by commanding sanctification and the taking of tribe and family and household and man, and He destroyed the transgressor with his household and all they possessed, which wiped the curse away. It is a fearful thing to trifle with Him, for the principles of falsehood, dissembling, and dishonesty are terrible in His sight and would endanger all if left to spread.

Hidden sin is never confined to the sinner, and hidden wrongdoing in heart or household can hinder God's blessing, harm others, and bring guilt, defeat, and loss of success upon the whole community. Such wrong must be brought to light and dealt with by cleansing the camp and putting the evil away, for prayer alone is not enough and merely lamenting it will not remove the hindrance. Backbiting is even worse than taking the accursed thing, because envy and hatred, talebearing and accusing and condemning, blackening character and carrying false reports, is a root of bitterness whereby many are defiled, corrupting minds and spirits and driving the Spirit of God from hearers and even from messengers of truth. God cannot bless until those who do not repent and change are purged out.

Why Exposure Was Gradual

In the morning Israel was to be brought forward tribe by tribe, then by families and households down to man by man, each taken division coming forward in turn for sifting. This orderly exposure was the Lord's way to give Israel a lesson they should never forget about taking the devoted spoil, a matter small in the doer's eyes but serious rebellion that kindled anger against Israel and withdrew presence from their armies so the enemy triumphed. The public narrowing together with open confession made the guilt plain, showing who had transgressed the covenant and why punishment followed. In this way the people, ever ready to rebel, were left without ground to charge God with injustice, lack of mercy, and severity, to reproach Joshua with harshness and severity, or to claim an innocent person had been punished.

The guilty man was not named at once but the matter was left in doubt for a time through the staged search from tribe to family to household to individual. That delay gave the nation, held accountable for the transgressor's guilt, time to recognize its shared responsibility for sin among them. It was meant to lead to searching of heart and humiliation before God and to a felt need for cleansing. When at last singled out, the man was called to give glory to God by open confession before punishment.

One Sin Troubles All

The sifting ordered for the morning belongs to the uncovering of one man's concealed transgression, which brought suffering and guilt and trouble upon the whole congregation and drew God's anger and rebuke upon all Israel. That hidden sin discomfited the entire army, for God withheld blessing and would not go to battle with Israel while the transgression remained hidden in the camp, so thousands fell in defeat and lives were lost. The sin was charged against the whole camp even though the sinner held no sacred office, and the guilty man with his family perished because he had violated God's command. The responsible leaders had to search him out step by step, since the Lord did not at first name him, and His presence did not go with the army until the evil was exposed and punished.

The transgression had to be found and put away before God's displeasure could be removed. As Israel was rebuked over Achan, so a church that knowingly makes light of a member's or a minister's defects shares responsibility for the evil and comes under God's rebuke. To tolerate such defects knowingly is to take the guilt of them upon the whole body.

Sin in the camp can contaminate others, which is why the camp had to be cleansed. The narrowing search from tribe to family to household to the individual shows that sin in the church must be dealt with promptly and thoroughly, with the sinner either putting away sin or being separated from the church.

Cleansing the Church Today

Achan's ruin shows that covetousness can grow gradually into a binding habit, deaden moral sense, and make a person vulnerable to fall when temptation comes. No one who feels secure can meet and resist temptation in his own strength, and the terrible result is sure. His destruction warns Sabbath-keepers today, among whom covetousness, selfishness, love of money, and love of the world are spreading. That evil gains hold imperceptibly so those who have it are not aware of it, dries up the spirit of sacrifice, takes the sacrifice from God's altar to love the world and its gain, makes stewards call God's lent means their own and hoard it up, until when the prospering hand of God is removed it is all snatched away in a moment. Unless it is rooted out by entire change, by arising and renewing strength and covenant with God and keeping it, by sacrificing for God and denying self for truth's sake, destruction is as sure as Achan's, perishing with the world when the loftiness of man is brought down and the pride of man humbled under God's plagues on kings and nobles, rich and poor alike.

The same evil as Achan's is seen in workers who selfishly appropriate means for their own use and rob the treasury, measuring self by self, comparing self with others, demanding what they think they deserve, practicing double-dealing, becoming wise above what is written, and selling themselves to the highest bidder and selfishly taking money from the treasury. God sees every such case, regards it as He regarded Achan's sin, judges it, and will pass judgment on those who persist. Such men cannot give the right mold to the work nor supply the necessities of those laboring in hard fields, and He will not entrust them with responsibility. Dissembling and concealment by those closely tied to the work through responsible positions is even more grievous, because their close ties and influence affect others and the cause more broadly, bringing God's anger as Achan's concealed theft brought it upon all Israel. Backbiting is worse than Achan's sin, because envy and hatred, talebearing and accusing and condemning, blackening character and carrying false reports, is a root of bitterness whereby many are defiled. It corrupts minds and spirits and drives away the Spirit of God from hearers and even from messengers of truth, so God cannot bless the church till those who do not repent and change are purged out.

Achans in the camp weigh down God's people with clogs and bring God's frown upon the church, so that the work progresses but little, servants are discouraged, and few are added. They are corrupt in heart, selfish, self-exalting lovers of self, wanting to be foremost when God and brethren did not place them there. God gives them opportunity to reform and enlightens them as to their sins, but when they will not heed and will not be reformed He in mercy rids the church of them and gives them up to their own ways to be filled with their own doings. The same spirit that took possession of Achan is now working in men in important positions as a living, unrepented thing for which no restoration has been made, with no falling on the Rock and being broken. There is no hope for the institutions unless leading men let the Word of the Lord into the mind and humble themselves, for without this deceptions enveloped in mist and fog, growing blacker, will take place and they will stumble without knowing why, until God Himself humbles them.

Sin and sinners in the church must be promptly and thoroughly dealt with so others are not contaminated and learn to fear God. Truth and purity require more thorough work and a far higher standard among a people professing solemn, purifying truths. The sinner must either put away sins or be separated from the church, and those in responsible positions must not cover up wrongdoing or suffer sin in a brother but require this cleansing. Every Christian must choose poverty, reproach, separation from friends, or any suffering, even death, rather than defile the soul with sin or transgress God's law. An unrepentant sinner is as Achan, deceived and deceiving, and his sin brings accountability upon all the saints if his name is retained on the church books. Those who do wickedly and refuse admonition and repentance after being visited and labored with and shown Achan's record of sin and punishment must not be retained but must be separated by disfellowship, for to retain them is contrary to God's will and an insult to the God of heaven.

God's dealing lays responsibility on those in high positions of trust and on those with discretion for reproving prevailing sins not to pass by transgression or let things drift lest favor be lost. They must search out sin as the responsible leaders had to search out Achan when the Lord did not directly name him, closely guard righteousness and judgment, call sin by its right name, keep discipline, cleanse from all filthiness, and give youth a right impression of what constitutes sin, uncleanness, defilement, and rottenness of character, for God has not changed and is the same in the gospel as in ancient Israel. Remembering Achan showed Israel had failed to be vigilant in discovering sin among them, yet resolving to act promptly led them too far when they judged brethren without first learning the facts. God knows hidden wrongdoing and can bring it to light, and He will vindicate those who trust Him when falsely accused. His searching comes down to each person individually, so in solemn opposition every youth has an open case with God to ask how it stands with him, whether he seeks God's glory and the success of His cause, and whether he is putting away everything offensive.

Conviction of conscience must become a working agent reaching the heart and inner life in purification of the soul temple from defilement, with entire consecration of soul and body to God's will, each one holding the fort, making straight paths for the feet, and not stopping till every sin is corrected and put away, since Achan's destruction was just because the same principles that controlled him had entered his family and that influence of falsehood, dissembling, and dishonesty would endanger all Israel. Because that sin barred His way so He could not do what He would for them though by His mighty power He had done a great and glorious work, His people must clear the way by calling sin by its right name and putting it away, keeping discipline and cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. Reviewing past failures in the right spirit can expose wrongdoing and bring humility, warning against idolatry and corrupting connections including intermarriage with idolaters, to avoid even the borders of sin, since departing from God brings desolation though God is faithful both to promises and warnings. The same law holds when one pursues a wrong course toward his brother as when one man's sin discomfited the entire army: the light of God is turned away until the wrong is searched out and the cause of the oppressed vindicated. This requires tenderness of feeling, enlarged hearts, broad and deep sympathy, largeness of soul, and disinterested benevolence, for as long as selfishness dries up kindly sympathy and tender thoughtful love and interest for brethren, every virtue is corroded.

Taking means dedicated to God's work in the Southern field and driving men in hard places to divert it was robbery in every sense, an abuse of the Spirit of God which God hates, acted out again in appropriating money which did not come to God's cause. Those guilty must make restitution of both principal and interest and stop making excuses and determinations not to restore what is due, for light given and disregarded has blinded spiritual discernment until there is no real sense of justice and mercy and equity and truth. God in mercy will bring every one of them over the same ground and place them in the position they were willing to put others in. Dishonest practices involving sacred work dishonor God and will be exposed as Achan was exposed stage by stage from tribe to family to household to each man, and repentance must include restitution.