Joshua 7 Study Notes

7:13 For Israel to consecrate themselves suggests either that they would examine themselves and their families to learn who was responsible for the sin, or that they would prepare themselves for an encounter with God the next day.

7:14 The tribe . . . clan, and family were the basic elements of Israelite society, which can be understood in terms of a greatly extended family. Each larger group would come before God, and he would select the subgroup of the larger component.

7:15 The verdict that the guilty one must be burned recalls the burning of the devoted things at Jericho (and the town itself) in 6:24, and it fulfills the command to devote the guilty one to God (Dt 13:15-16).

7:16-18 The text does not describe how each group was selected, but the use of the Urim and Thummim (Ex 28:30; Nm 27:21) by the high priest seems a possibility. This may be the same as the casting of lots used in Jos 18:6,8,10.

7:19 It was by confessing that Achan would glorify God. David Howard points to a parallel in Jn 9:24 where the Pharisees urge a blind man healed by Jesus to “give glory to God,” by which they meant for him to tell the truth.

7:20-21 Achan’s confession, with the emphasis on what he saw and how it was beautiful, recalls Eve’s temptation where she also saw something that was pleasing. Achan coveted them and thus violated the tenth commandment of the Decalogue (Ex 20:17; Dt 5:21). The words of Achan’s admission are recorded because this was necessary for the sin to be dealt with.

7:22-23 Joshua sent messengers to resolve the problem that had begun with his act of sending spies in v. 2. Spreading out the goods in the Lord’s presence amounted to giving to him what was rightfully his.

7:24-26 The destruction of Achan with all his family and possessions contrasts with the salvation of Rahab and all her family in chap. 6. The connection of the family with its representative, for good or for ill, illustrates the key value of the family in the OT. Burning someone to death was rare in Israel (Lv 20:14; 21:9), but it was known as a punishment for this type of wrongdoing in neighboring cultures. On still today in v. 26, see note at 4:8-9.

7:25 The references to trouble involve a wordplay on the name of the Valley of Achor. The same root word is used for this verb and for the name of the valley. The description suggests that first all Israel stoned Achan and his family, and then they burned the corpses, thereby fulfilling the law.

7:26 The large pile of rocks raised over Achan uses the Hebrew word gal, which recalls Gilgal where a pile of rocks had also been raised as a memorial (4:20). God’s burning anger appeared at the worship of the gold calf (Ex 32:11-12) and at the sin of Baal-peor (Nm 25:4).