Joshua 7:16

"So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken, and he brought near the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zerahites: and he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: and he brought near his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Of a truth I have sinned against Jehovah, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonish mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."

"Brought Israel near ..." The repeated use of "bring near" for the casting of the lots indicates that these proceedings, "took place at the sanctuary, the tabernacle of Israel."[10]

"My son ..." (Joshua 7:19). "This is no mere hypocritical affectation by Joshua, who really feels for the criminal, (although the Commander is already under orders from God Himself to execute Achan). In our own times, we have seen a judge melted to tears at the necessity of condemning a man to death."[11]

"Of a truth I have sinned ..." (Joshua 7:20). It has long been apparent that physical death as inflicted for punishment in the O.T. did not always mean the eternal condemnation of those who thus died. Adam Clarke said of this case, "This seems a very honest and hearty confession, and there is hope that this poor culprit escaped perdition."[12]

"I saw ... I coveted ... I took ..." Behold here the three steps in the commission of sin, these being exactly the same steps taken by our mother Eve in the Paradise of Eden. "Sin always begins in the mind. As a work of art begins in the mind, and then is externalized, so also does sin."[13] Dummelow pointed out that Achan's confession is of special interest, because, "Its wording is practically identical with that of the traditional form of confession which was used by those who brought sin and trespass-offerings, as enjoined in Leviticus 5:5, and in Numbers 5:6.7."[14] Matthew Henry pointed out that "Sin often begins in the eye."[15] Examples of this which he cited included those suggested by the following: (1) look not thou upon the wine that giveth his colour in the cup; (2) nor upon the woman that is fair; (3) nor upon the kingdoms of this world as Satan showed them to Jesus.

"A goodly Babylonian mantle ..." It is unfortunate that recent translators of the Bible saw fit to change from the original language here which is, "one fine mantle of Shinar."[16] The word "Shinar" here, like so many other indications in Joshua, points squarely at the times of Joshua for the date of this book, because, "Shinar is the name given to Babylon in the earliest records of the Hebrews."[17]

It appears that this exceedingly beautiful mantle from Shinar was the principal temptation that lay back of Achan's fatal sin. "The very word used of this mantle here is the one that is used to describe the king's robe in Jonah 3:6."[18] Schaeffer applied the lesson here as follows: "Christians should beware of affluence, of prestige, of trying to be a VIP."[19] There were two parts of Achan's sin: (1) simple greed, or covetousness; and (2) the desire to dress in such a manner as to make himself stand out above others. The mantle fed that latter desire; and the gold and silver fed the other. The seriousness of this crime lay, partially at least, in the fact of Achan's taking what specifically belonged to the Lord and to no one else. In short, he was robbing God! And here indeed is a lesson that all Christians should note. A considerable measure of any Christian's wealth, of whatever extent, belongs to God. Some would say at least one-tenth; but whatever is the right amount, a portion of every man's money is the Lord's. And what about those who will not give it? Their sin is exactly the same as Achan's.

Woudstra gave the value of the gold shekel mentioned here as 13.5 times the value of a silver shekel, thus the wedge of gold would have had the value of about 675 silver shekels.[20]