Achan, and the Defeat at Ai
1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against the children of Israel. 2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the land.” The men went up and spied out Ai. 3 They returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Don’t let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Don’t make all the people to toil there, for there are only a few of them.” 4 So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them. They chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like water. 6 Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before Yahweh’s ark until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. 7 Joshua said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan! 8 Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies? 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?” 10 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face like that? 11 Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken some of the devoted things, and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 13 Get up! Sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, “There is a devoted thing among you, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. It shall be that the tribe which Yahweh selects shall come near by families. The family which Yahweh selects shall come near by households. The household which Yahweh selects shall come near man by man. 15 It shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed Yahweh’s covenant, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”
One hidden theft stops the whole conquest — and God interrupts Joshua's theology of defeat with a diagnosis and a procedure.
But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against the children of Israel.
The narrator tells the reader in the first verse what Israel will spend the chapter discovering. One man took from Jericho's banned spoil, and the verse's grammar carries the theology: the children of Israel committed a trespass... for Achan... took. The covenant community is one body — a truth Israel enjoyed at the Jordan and Jericho, and now meets from its other side Joshua 6:18.
3 They returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Don’t let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Don’t make all the people to toil there, for there are only a few of them.” 4 So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai.
The spies' advice after Jericho is a study in the wrong lesson learned. Nobody consults God about Ai; the town is small, the army confident, and the assault is sized to the visible enemy — as though Jericho's wall had fallen to Israel's momentum. Thirty-six men die in the rout Joshua 7:5, and the hearts of the people melted, and became like water — the sentence that had described Canaan Joshua 2:11 Joshua 5:1 now describes Israel. Without the presence, Israel is simply the smaller army.
Joshua said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan!
Joshua's prayer is honest, anguished — and wrong. Torn clothes, dust, a day on his face before the ark Joshua 7:6, and the words of the wilderness generation in his mouth: I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan is their we wish that we had died in the land of Egypt Numbers 14:2–3 one river later. His closing argument is the right one badly aimed — what will you do for your great name? Joshua 7:9 is Moses' plea Exodus 32:12, but Moses prayed it about Israel's sin, and Joshua prays it as though God had failed.
10 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face like that? 11 Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken some of the devoted things, and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff.
The interruption is almost brusque. This is not an hour for liturgy, because the problem is not a mystery of providence but a fact on the ground — stated in a cascade of verbs: transgressed, taken, stolen, deceived, hidden among their own stuff Joshua 7:11. And the consequence is defined with terrible precision: they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you Joshua 7:12. The banned thing bans its holder; Israel harboring Jericho's spoil becomes, in that measure, Jericho. The promise of the presence — the book's one foundation Joshua 1:5 — turns out to have this single stated exception.
Get up! Sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, “There is a devoted thing among you, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you.”
The remedy is the same word as before the Jordan — sanctify yourselves Joshua 3:5 — now for an inquest instead of a wonder. Tribe, family, household, man: the procedure announced for morning Joshua 7:14 gives the guilty man a night to come forward. He does not use it.
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