He’s introduced to us right after the end of the stunning victory at Jericho (Josh. 7:1). He is from the same tribe that the Messiah would hail from. Three other ancestors besides Judah are named, and they are roughly laid out for us in 1 Chronicles 2:3-7. Achan lives in infamy as “the troubler of Israel” (1 Chron. 2:7). A man who stood shoulder to shoulder with the conquerors of Jericho, whose voice was no doubt heard shouting along with everyone else (6:20), and whose sword dealt destructive blows to the inhabitants (6:21), had made a fateful stop somewhere inside the city amidst the rout. It was a detour that would not only change his life, but the life of his family (25) and the lives of at least 36 other families (5). His sin dragged down an entire nation, at least for a little while.

We’re not told if Achan put together his sin and the downfall of Israel in their first battle with Ai. Yet, when Joshua begins the process by taking lots to discover the culprit (14-15), he had to feel the noose tightening. Finally, when he is exposed as the one who “took some of the things under the ban” (1), Joshua speaks in a surprisingly gentle and compassionate tone as he tells Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me” (19). After the battle, he had the opportunity to immediately come clean and tell Joshua what he had done. Anytime between Jericho and Ai, he might have been led by a pricked conscience to unburden himself and repent. Not until the divinely-led process when he was undeniably found guilty did Achan confess his sin. It is then that Joshua, Israel, and the reader learn how Achan had been “conquered.”

“I saw” (21). My mom used to sing the devotional song with us, “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.” How many times have our eyes been the gateway to sin and trouble in our lives. The text doesn’t even say he was searching, but at some point his eyes rested on the spoil and he saw a beautiful robe, some silver and a wedge of gold. He found it irresistible. This was Eve’s problem (Gen. 3:6) and David’s (2 Sam. 11:2). In discussing sinful desire for material things, Jesus would reveal how the eye is the lamp of the body (Mat. 6:22-23). Achan’s eye was “bad.” Be careful to say with the Psalmist, “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes” (Ps. 101:3).

“I coveted” (21). This was the tenth commandment in the Law of Moses (Exo. 20:17; Deu. 5:21). It is also repeatedly condemned in the New Testament (Eph. 5:3,5). To covet is to desire, bringing damage upon the thing or person desired, and to take pleasure in (HAL). It’s a passionate desire, but, here and in the prohibition of the Law, it is an unholy desire for what is not one’s own. It leads to theft, adultery, and other sins where unholy desire leads to unholy action. Achan’s heart was conquered by unrighteous desires. How many lives have been overturned and destroyed by this?

“I took” (21). The progression went from eyes to heart to hands. Sin is progressively destructive. James 1:13-15 compares it to a macabre birth process, where temptation leads to lust which when conceived gives birth to sin. Sin, unchecked, leads to death (cf. Rom. 6:23). How did Achan justify transgressing the explicit warning Joshua made prior to Jericho, “But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord” (6:18-19)? Somehow, he rationalized, justified, and convinced himself it was OK. One of the most sobering precepts of all Scripture, to me, is, “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the LORD weighs the motives” (Prov. 16:2). Similar to it is, “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes,

But the LORD weighs the hearts” (Prov. 21:2). I’ve not known very many gossips, slanderers, liars, sexually immoral, drunkards, deceivers, troublemakers, sinfully angry, or the like who saw themselves as dirty and wrong.  Yet, however we see ourselves, God sets His all-seeing eyes on our motives and hearts. He is looking with perfect perspective at our “ways” (our actions). Ultimately, whether we repent or face judgment, those actions will be correctly measured by the all-knowing Lord. 

“I concealed” (21). It’s obvious that Achan understands, in his heart of hearts, that he’s done something wrong. Sin loves darkness and cover. Achan hasn’t really thought this through. Where would he spend the gold and silver? Where would he wear his fancy robe? Who would he sell it to and how would he explain his new-found wealth. When lust and temptation are in the driver’s seat, thoughts of consequences are shoved aside. The anticipated pleasure is tainted or replaced with the need to hide. Ask Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:7-8). 

At the end of the day, Achan, his children, his livestock, his tent, and all his possessions lay buried beneath a pile of stones in a place appropriately nicknamed “the valley of trouble” (26). It was an infamous memorial, a tribute to the fruit of sin. The advertisements don’t talk about this part of enticement. The promise of satisfaction gives way to the punishment of senselessness. It is so important for us to have the foresight God has given us in Scripture. “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12; 16:25). If he could be heard, Achan would say “Amen.” Thank God for giving us this example to keep us from such an end!