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Miraculous Fall of Jericho
311
Messengers removed the earth at the specified place, and “there it
was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. And they ... brought
them to Joshua, ... and laid them out before the Lord.”
“Why have you troubled us?” demanded Joshua. “The Lord will
trouble you this day.” Because the people had been held responsible
for Achan’s sin and had suffered from its consequences, they were
to take part in its punishment. “All Israel stoned him with stones.” In
the book of Chronicles his memorial is written—“Achar, the troubler
of Israel.”
1 Chronicles 2:7
.
Achan committed his sin in defiance of direct, serious warnings
and mighty displays of God’s power. The fact that divine power alone
had given victory to Israel, and that they had not taken Jericho by
their own strength, gave solemn weight to the command forbidding
them to take any of the spoils. God had brought down this fortress,
and the city with all that it contained was to be devoted to Him alone.
Achan Refuses to Repent
Of the millions of people in Israel there was only one man who
had dared to disobey the command of God. Achan’s covetousness
was awakened by that costly robe from Shinar; even when it had
brought him face to face with death he called it “a beautiful Baby-
lonian garment.” And he took the gold and silver devoted to the
treasury of the Lord—he robbed God of the first fruits of the land
of Canaan. Rarely is a violation of the tenth commandment even
rebuked. The enormity of this sin, and its terrible results, are the
lessons of Achan’s history.
Achan had cherished greed for wealth until it became a habit,
binding him in chains almost impossible to break. He would have
been filled with horror at the thought of bringing disaster on Israel,
but his perceptions were deadened by sin, and when temptation
came, he became an easy victim.
We are as directly forbidden to covet as Achan was to take
the spoils of Jericho. We are warned, “You cannot serve God and
mammon.” “Take heed and beware of covetousness.” “Let it not even
be named among you” (
Matthew 6:24
;
Luke 12:15
;
Ephesians 5:3
).
We have as examples the fearful ruin of Achan, of Judas, of Ananias