JOSHUA 7
We can be tempted in the midst of victory. The spies were tempted to be presumptuous and Achan to be covetous. Achan should have been attending to his military duties, but his eyes wandered and he walked into sin (v. 21; see also
We never sin alone. God sees His people as one, so the sin of Achan was the sin of the whole nation. (See 1 Cor. 12:12–27.) One man’s sin caused the death of thirty-six soldiers.
Sin ultimately brings defeat. The secret of success is knowing and obeying God’s Word (Josh. 1:8), and Achan knew that. But he deliberately disobeyed God and brought defeat to the army, disgrace to the Lord, and dismay to his commander. Joshua started looking back instead of looking ahead (v.
Sin cannot be hidden forever. There is a time to pray about a problem and a time to get up and deal with it. The punishment may seem severe to us, but Achan knew the rules. The main thing is the glory of God (v. 9).
The Jews raised another heap of stones, this time a witness to the trouble (“Achor”) sin causes, but read Hosea 2:15 and rejoice.