Achan's family's punishment - Joshua 7

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16 Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was taken. 17 The clans of Judah came forward, and he took the Zerahites. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was taken. 18 Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me." 20 Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath." 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. 23 They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord. 24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today." Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

i've read this story dozens of times but this time i realized Achan's family was killed along with because of his sin. his wife and his children and his animals as well as the contraband he took were destoyed. the punishment for one man's sin included the destruction of his family. i realized Joshua, and God, were consistent in the meting out of justice. not only did they destroy entire Canaananite cities, including the women and children, because of their sins, even though some were innocent, but they applied the same rules of justice within their camp. guilt by association was the rule in that time.

in this age of irresponsibility and lack of accountability, i'm offended, scared, and challenged as a father. i know that by the prophets God no longer held children accountable for the sins of their fathers (Ezekiel 18:20) in one sense. in another though, i carry Adam's curse in me. his disobedience left me with an inheritance of death. Jesus took the curse and offers me forgiveness from my ancestor's sin, but i didn't get a fresh start at perfection like Adam did. innocence is a concept before God that we probably don't even begin to grasp.

Comments

Anthony Peterson said…
His wife is not mentioned. Achan probably was a single Dad. Whats really amazing about this story is that this incident would not have escaped Rahab's attention. She stil chose to stay with the people of Israel. The fact that Joshua executed Achan's children is disturbing. Did God tell him to do that? Or was that an over reaction based on his deep fear that God woould abandon him?
October 27, 2008
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