Joshua 7 Study Notes

7:1-26 The story of Achan demonstrates the first breach of purity and wholehearted dedication to God in the Israel of the new generation. When the previous generation of Israel accepted the covenant, and before they sinned, their representatives were able to feast with God (Ex 24:9-11). Their sin with the gold calf compromised that fellowship (Ex 32). This new generation of Israel had just been circumcised and were again enjoying the special blessing of God. Now the people of Israel would again taste the first sin and know its terrible consequences.

7:1 Achan’s unfaithfulness (in partaking of what was set apart—devoted to destruction at Jericho) resulted in God’s anger against the entire nation. The genealogy of five generations, from Achan back to the tribe of Judah, is the longest in the book of Joshua and emphasizes the connection of Achan with one of the twelve tribes and therefore with the entire tribal nation. As much as Israel benefited by Joshua, it would suffer by Achan (Rm 5:12-21).

7:2 Joshua again sent spies before an assault, as in 2:1. Again there was no condemnation of this move. Ai, like Jericho, may have been an outpost guarding Beth-aven . . . Bethel, and other towns in the central hill country. It lay on the central road from Jericho westward into the hill country and therefore formed an obstacle to Israel’s advance. Most scholars associate Ai with modern et-Tell and Bethel with Beitin. If so, Ai, like Jericho, lacks evidence of occupation during the time of Israel’s entry into the land. This supports the interpretation of a makeshift fort for the site at this time. Materials were gathered from earlier walls to build the Ai that Joshua’s spies encountered. These associations place Ai one mile southeast of Bethel.

7:3 The report of these spies contrasts with that of chap. 2 and resembles that of Nm 13. Instead of confessing the promises and acts of God, these spies focused on the strategic details of what appeared to be an easy target. The two . . . or three thousand men may refer to two or three squads, as the same word for “thousand” in Hebrew (’eleph) also can mean a squad or company of soldiers. The particular form of the verb wear out occurs elsewhere only in Ec 3:10, where it describes a fool who does not know the way to town—an apt comment on Jos 7.

7:4-5 The thirty-six who died from the three thousand men or three squads (see note at v. 3) may reflect twelve from each squad and thus prefigure the twelve thousand inhabitants of Ai who would die (8:25). The quarries designate some of the steep ravines that break into the eastern hill country as it descends sharply into the Jordan Valley. In 2:11 and 5:1, the Canaanites “lost heart” (lit “their hearts melted”) before the accomplishments of Israel and its God. Here the Israelites lost heart.

7:6 Joshua’s actions were those of one in mourning. Only then was the ark of the Lord mentioned. Its absence in the opening part of the chapter signifies the absence of God’s presence and blessing on what happened.

7:7-8 The wish to remain east of the Jordan resembles the report of the first spies sent to Canaan in Nm 14:2-4. In Numbers it was a wish for death or a return to Egypt. Contrast God’s promise that Israel’s enemies would turn their backs and flee in Ex 23:27 with the fact that Israel had now turned its back (lit “the back of its neck”) and fled.

7:9 The challenge to God’s great name recalls Moses’s intercession for Israel with the same argument in Nm 14:13-19.

7:10-11 The key word cross of chaps. 1-5 (see note at 1:2) recurs here with the meaning, they have violated my covenant. Israel had “crossed” God and so could not “cross” over against its enemies as it did at Jericho. Someone had taken . . . what was set apart. This violated the general command of Dt 20:16-18 and the specific command of Jos 6:17. By putting these things with their own belongings, they had made it impossible to determine the guilty person without divine guidance.

7:12 Joshua was commanded to “stand” in v. 10 as the beginning of Israel’s means to overcome the problem that they could not stand against their enemies. Here God suggested that so long as the things devoted for destruction remained in Israel’s camp, Israel would be set apart for destruction. God would not fight for them or be present with them as he had in 1:5-9.

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).