Jericho and Achan
We had a sermon today on Achan (Joshua 7), and during the process I began reflecting on the connections between Achan and Jericho.
Of course, the connection is immediate: Achan’s transgression was to take “the devoted things” from Jericho for himself. But there is more to it than that.
In Joshua 6, we see that the stone walls of the city fell down upon its inhabitants, and all the city was devoted to destruction, “both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys” (6.21).
In Joshua 7, we learn that “Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor” (7.24). Startling correspondences, but that is not all. What was done with all of these people and possessions? They were stoned and burned with fire.
That’s exactly what had happened to the inhabitants of Jericho. The collapse of the walls, I think, was a form of stoning. And then the city was burned with fire, along with everything in it (6.24). So in both cases, the people and their possessions are stoned and burned with fire.
The only contrast is that in 6.24, the silver, gold, bronze and iron are devoted to Yahweh for His treasury rather than for destruction; in 7.24ff, the silver and gold (along with the cloak) are destroyed along with everything else.
I’m not sure of the full significance of all of this, but I would posit that by taking of Jericho’s devoted things, Achan “became” the new Jericho (contrast this to Rahab, who, although she was a Canaanite, experienced a Passover and became part of Israel); this is why he and his suffer the same fate as the city.
I don’t have a solid answer for why the silver and gold Achan stole were not placed into Yahweh’s treasury along with the other precious plunder from Jericho, although I can speculate that in some way Achan’s action had proven it more trouble than it was worth. I’ll need to think about that some more….