Achan’s formula for spiritual failure: “I saw [them]…I coveted them and took them” (Jos 7:21).
Abram had pitched between Bethel (meaning “God’s House”) and Ai (meaning “rubble”) many years before. In a sense, we all pitch our pilgrim tents there, and everything that comes through our hands is either built into God’s house or ends up on the rubble pile. The Israelites had decided 3,000 men could take Ai, but it was not to be: “they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men…therefore the hearts of the people melted” (Jos 7:4-5). To say the least, Joshua was not happy. He “tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening” (v 6). Lying there, he came up with a very good speech, but it had one fatal flaw. The defeat was not God’s fault at all. “Get up!” said the Lord. “Israel has sinned, and…transgressed My covenant…they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived” (vv 10-11). See the multiple charges: they had sinned in particular, transgressed in general, stole the accursed thing, and deceived others to hide the sin. The next day, first by tribe, then by family, by household, and finally man by man, the finger of God moved unerringly until it stopped at the guilty party—Achan. Of course, he couldn’t enjoy the Shinar coat he had stolen. Why, everyone had been wearing the same outfits for 40 years! And Christians who try to enjoy the things of the world are the most miserable people on the planet. Now Achan and his family (perhaps in on the deception) would die in the place named after him—Achor, the Valley of Trouble. The lesson? God doesn’t have two rulebooks. Canaanite Rahab and her family were spared by obeying. Jewish Achan and his family were not, because they trifled with God’s Word.