Joshua 7:15, commentary and pictures

The accursed thing is property God has devoted to destruction and forbidden to Israel as dedicated to Himself, and to take it is to break His covenant and bring grave guilt and trouble into the nation, for which the one taken is to be burned with fire together with all that he has. Achan took and hid a Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold, was pointed out tribe by tribe and family by family until exposed as the troubler of Israel, and with his possessions was taken to the Valley of Achor where Israel stoned and burned him so that God's wrath was turned away. One person's hidden sin could bring God's displeasure and guilt upon the whole camp, drive them before their enemies with loss of life, and withhold His presence and success until the banned thing was found, taken away and destroyed. The sin must therefore be searched out and put away promptly and decidedly, with open confession and removal of the wrongdoer, so that the camp is cleansed and blessing can return. His ruin warns that covetousness, selfishness, love of money and withholding what belongs to God will bring certain destruction unless rooted out by self-examination, repentance and full restitution.

Setting and Terms

The decree belongs to the fall of Jericho, where Christ as Captain of the host of the Lord and the Exalted One appeared to Joshua, assured him that Jericho with its king and mighty men of valor was given into his hand, and gave him instruction for capturing the city. The direful penalty it decrees was met at Gilgal, Israel's first encampment in the promised land, from which Israel had marched to the overthrow of Jericho and the conquest of Ai.

The accursed thing is property God had appointed for destruction, forbidden to Israel, devoted to Himself, and set apart for the field where He appointed it. To take means belonging to God and keep it back is robbery in every sense, done through selfishness at every point, abuse of the Spirit of God, lack of principle and perverted ideas, without the working of the Holy Spirit. Taking what is devoted to God and concealing the taking dishonors God, and wrongdoing of that kind must be met with full repentance and restitution, turning from sin to righteousness. To take it is to transgress the covenant of the Lord and to work folly in Israel, meaning a breach of His covenant and a grave wrong, trouble and guilt brought within the nation.

Achan coveted, took and hid what was forbidden, a Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold, bringing God's anger and wrath on Israel. His secret transgression brought an accursed thing into Israel so that all suffered, were driven before their enemies, the army was defeated, and many Israelites died because of one man's wrongdoing. He had turned from God's directions and knowingly concealed his theft and dissembling, though Israel as a people did not know of his act, and his concealment was followed by Israel's defeat in battle.

Exposure and Sentence

The guilty man was not named at once, but was to be found by a set plan that brought Israel forward tribe by tribe, then by family, then by household, then man by man, until Achan the son of Carmi of the tribe of Judah was pointed out as the troubler of Israel. The sinner was left in doubt for a time so that the people would feel their shared responsibility for sins among them and be led to searching of heart and humiliation before God. Even after hearing the sentence pronounced, Achan refused to confess and kept acting as if he were innocent while the search narrowed toward him.

The declared sentence on the one taken with the accursed thing was to be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath, including all he possessed and his household. He and his possessions were taken to the Valley of Achor, where Israel stoned him and then burned him, and by that execution God's wrath was turned away and the curse was wiped from Israel. Punishment was not inflicted without the sinner's own open confession and the recovery of the stolen goods, so that the justice of the judgment was made plain and the people would not charge God with being unmerciful and severe or reproach Joshua with harshness.

Achan's confession came only after his guilt was exposed, and his silence through the defeat and investigation showed it was not true repentance. Guilty people who confess only when judgment is certain confess too late to save, unlike honest confession of known sin that reflects genuine humility. God and His Spirit search out hidden sin and expose guilt, and fraud must be removed and cannot escape its consequences. This same searching out of Achan's hidden guilt assures those falsely accused that God knows what has been misunderstood and will vindicate those who trust in Him.

One Sin, Whole Camp

One man's hidden breach of the covenant laid guilt and failure upon all Israel, so that the whole nation stood accountable as transgressors, thieves and dissemblers and the whole congregation suffered for what one household concealed. The banned spoil had to be put away before blessing could be expected, whether it lay in a man's house or in his heart, and the church becomes likewise accountable when it knowingly overlooks evil among its members. Achan knowingly took what God had devoted to destruction and hid it, and his wrong was charged against the entire camp and brought judgment upon him and his family with all he possessed.

His secret taking brought an accursed thing into Israel, so all were driven before their enemies and met defeat instead of victory. Thirty-six lives were lost at Ai, and thousands died because the sin remained in the camp, teaching that taking what is dedicated to God and covering the theft is no private wrong. The loss came though Achan had turned aside from plain directions, and his coveting of a Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold and hiding them drew God's anger upon the army until he was destroyed without mercy.

While that sin remained God would not give success against enemies and would not remain with His people, and His presence did not go with the army into battle. Though He had done a great and glorious work for Israel by His mighty power, that one theft barred His way so that He could not do what He wanted to do for them. The hidden thing had to be found and removed before He would abide with them again, for one man's act held all Israel under the consequences of transgression.

Israel could not stand before its enemies until the accursed thing was found, taken away and destroyed and the curse was wiped from Israel by the destruction of the guilty with his household and all he possessed. Cleansing of the camp was required, and prayer alone was not enough while fraud remained hidden, for God's Spirit searches out concealed sin until it is exposed and removed. The sinner held no holy office, yet his hidden wrongdoing withheld blessing and victory and cost lives, showing that obscurity does not lessen the harm.

Concealed sin withholds God's blessing and weakens His people until it is searched out and put away. Responsible leaders must therefore search for the guilty rather than leave the evil unnamed, and defects of character made light of in any member or minister become an accursed thing that brings the whole body under rebuke. Knowing the evil yet hiding the eyes from it and walking contrary to God's will makes the guilt more grievous than Israel's at first, and such sin left in the midst must be called by its right name, hated while the sinner is loved, and put away with discipline and cleansing so the way is cleared for God to work.

Nature of Covetousness

Achan's ruin came through covetousness, for greed grew gradually into a binding habit that deadened his sense of right and wrong and made him an easy prey when temptation came. Covetousness is a common sin often lightly regarded, yet his history teaches its terrible results. Taking what was dedicated to God and concealing the theft was not merely a private wrong but included covetousness, theft, deception, selfishness, greed, falsehood, dissembling and dishonesty. God counts such things terrible and they cannot be winked at or passed over.

God is jealous, cannot look upon iniquity, and cannot let it pass without exposure. It is a fearful thing to trifle with Him, and His warnings cannot be disregarded with impunity. He coveted a golden wedge and a Babylonish garment and hid them, and that secret transgression brought suffering and defeat before enemies until the accursed thing was taken away.

Temptation can bring a fall even when a person feels secure, and no one can resist it in his own strength. Review of past failures humbles a person and exposes how departing from God harms both the sinner and the community. God knew all about Achan's hidden sin committed in the midst of Israel and was offended by it, dealing with both Achan and Israel for it. Though He had done a great and glorious work for Israel by His mighty power, that sin barred His way so He could not do what He wanted to do.

Cleansing the Church

The verse commands prompt and decided action to search out secret sin and put away the banned spoil so that God's presence and blessing can return, for hidden sin like Achan's contaminates the whole camp and must be promptly and thoroughly removed before others are contaminated. Sin and sinners in the community must be dealt with at once, with truth and purity requiring more thorough work to cleanse the camp from Achans, choosing death before dishonor or transgression of God's law rather than defiling the soul with sin. Those responsible must require the sinner to put away sin or be separated from the church, so the community is cleansed and others fear God, rather than covering or excusing it.

The presence of corrupt, selfish people in the church brings God's frown and weighs down the work, while their removal can be an act of mercy that frees the church from their harmful influence. Those who do wickedly and refuse to repent after admonition and warning must not be retained on the church books but must be separated from fellowship by disfellowship. Like Achan in the camp they are deceived and deceiving, and if they are kept the saints are held accountable for their evil deeds, God is insulted, and His will is contradicted, as the record of Achan's sin and punishment proves.

Joshua had discretion and a special duty laid on him by God to search out wrongs and deal promptly with sins existing among the people, bearing the burden of reproving and correcting prevailing sins so that God's frown might be turned away. The judgment shows God is not to be trifled with and His warnings cannot be disregarded with impunity, and those who do not have this discretion and duty must not hinder those who do, nor question and doubt and find fault with them or accuse them of a wicked, fault-finding spirit when they act the part of Joshua in searching out wrong. Responsible leaders had to search out the guilty person, who was not named at first, while the Lord's presence did not go with the army while the sin remained.

Leaders and teachers who know the truth and hear His Word daily are held equally responsible with open transgressors if they become careless and pass by sin and transgression in their midst, and they must not leave things to drift and confirm the impression that sin is not exceedingly offensive to God. God has not changed but is the same in the gospel as in ancient Israel, hidden sins cause loss of His favor, and transgressing any one commandment makes a professor a transgressor of the whole law. Those in trust must closely guard righteousness and judgment, give youth the right impression of what constitutes sin and uncleanness and rottenness of character, refuse peace when God is dishonored by deception and moral corruption, and work diligently to separate the Achans, and when they do their duty God by His Holy Spirit will point out wrongdoers and show He will not tolerate sin. Israel was rebuked for failing to discover sin among them, which led them to resolve to act promptly, though their zeal later went too far when they suspected brethren without first inquiring into the facts, for sin within the community must not be met with laxness and God searches out guilt.

Warnings for Today

Achan's destruction for keeping what was devoted to destruction is the certain end of covetousness, selfishness, love of money, love of worldly gain and love of the world kept in the heart unless rooted out with entire change. The banned thing is hoarding the means lent to men as stewards, taking the sacrifice from God's altar, and loving the world and its gain and increase, which dries up sacrifice and grows so imperceptibly that those who have it are not aware of it. Unless this evil is rooted out, those who cling to it will perish with the world, have all snatched away when the prospering hand is removed, and fall under withering plagues with kings and nobles, rich and poor.

The same breach of covenant lies in professing to keep the commandments while using for self or family the money that should be returned to God, for hiding such wrong under professed righteousness does not make it innocent and it can harm and mislead others. It lies also in workers who measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with others, think they should be greatly favored, sell themselves to the highest bidder, become wise above what is written, and appropriate means for their own use while demanding all they think they should have. Such selfish taking of funds for personal use robs the treasury and robs God in every sense through selfishness at every point, abuse of the Spirit, lack of principle and perverted ideas without the working of the Holy Spirit, and harms those needing support and those laboring in hard fields. The man is surrounded by an atmosphere of unbelief and double-dealing, God is not with him, he cannot give the right mold to the work, he blinds spiritual discernment until he has no real sense of justice and mercy and equity and truth, and he disappoints those he was sent to help and brings God's censure on the work until clean work is made by full restitution of both principal and interest, from which those carrying responsibilities must disconnect without delay rather than seek to retain him.

Dishonest, sharp business practices in sacred work dishonor God as breach of covenant bringing judgment on the offender and all he possesses, and wrongdoing must be met with full repentance and restitution, turning from sin to righteousness. Backbiting and slander are worse than Achan's sin, for his corrupting evil kept God from blessing His people until purged, yet their influence is not confined to the one who cherishes envy, hatred, accusation and false reports but spreads to defile many minds and spirits. Even listeners who receive slander lose the Spirit of God, so God cannot bless the church until it is purged of this evil by repentance and changed course of those who practice it.

The banned thing includes defects of character in any member or minister when the church makes light of them. If a church knowingly chooses a man of known weakness of character, little moral power and present darkness to preach and oversee the flock, it assumes his defects and makes them its own, and the whole church stands under God's rebuke just as ancient Israel stood under rebuke for Achan. Accepting such labor dishonors God and lowers the standard of righteousness to the ruin of the man and the detriment of the church, and knowing the evil yet hiding the eyes from it and walking contrary to God's will makes the guilt more grievous than Israel's. Serious sin in a local company hinders the success of gospel labor there, as the sins in the Wellington group hindered Elder Daniells' success and were compared to Achan's sin in Israel's camp.

Achan's secret taking of the golden wedge and Babylonish garment bringing wrath on all Israel is compared with dissembling and concealment whose wrongdoing is called greater because its influence reached husbands holding responsible positions and led them astray. The same spirit is still at work when wrongdoing in important positions is not confessed and restoration has not been made. Sin tampered with and left in the midst, though a great and glorious work has been done by mighty power, bars the way so what is wanted cannot be done, and must be called by its right name, hated while the sinner is loved, and put away with discipline and cleansing from all filthiness so the way is cleared to work.

God has not changed but is the same in the gospel as in ancient Israel, and transgressing any one commandment makes a professor a transgressor of the whole law. A wrong course pursued by one toward his brother turns light from the people until the wrong is searched out and the cause of the oppressed vindicated, and hidden sins cause loss of favor. Israel must renew strength by renewing and keeping covenant through sacrifice for God and denying self for truth's sake, with entire consecration of soul and body, straight paths for the feet, close self-examination, Isaiah's fast, enlarged hearts and broad deep feelings instead of narrow selfish penurious spirit, noble sympathy, largeness of soul and disinterested benevolence, letting conviction become a working agent reaching the heart and purifying the soul temple of defilement without delay. Just as long as selfishness dries up kindly sympathy and tender thoughtful love and interest for brethren every virtue is corroded, and without such cleansing there is no triumph in God but perishing with the world.