NOTES for Jos 7:1-26

It is difficult for a human being not to stumble. But the sin committed by Achan is especially grievous; it stands in the long succession of falls extending from Adam and Eve through Noah and Ham.

After death entered the world through sin, war became a habitual way of life for humankind. And now, when a faint spark of hope for another life had been kindled—a hope that even those taking part in events did not yet understand, a hope that after the inevitable wars a transition toward the triumph of higher justice would begin—Achan defiled the character of the war as a battle to eradicate wickedness. It now appeared that even among those called to wage a just war, there could be greedy people no different from the pagans.

This time, the Lord did not grant victory to an army defiled by looting and by violating the prohibition He had given. Such a victory would have become yet another triumph of sin.

Every sin is abhorrent, but when we commit evil in the very place where the Lord has set us to serve Him, such a sin is especially abhorrent.