Achan Under the Tent
He hid it under the ground inside his tent. God knew exactly where it was.
The victory at Jericho had been total.
Everything was to be devoted to the LORD.
No silver. No gold. No garments.
All of it was set apart.
The warning had been clear.
If anyone took of the devoted things, they would bring trouble on all of Israel.
Achan saw a beautiful cloak from Babylon.
He saw two hundred shekels of silver.
He saw a bar of gold.
He coveted them.
He took them.
He hid them in the earth inside his tent.
The silver was beneath everything else.
The next battle was Ai.
A small city. Scouts said three thousand men would be enough.
Israel fled before the men of Ai.
Thirty-six men died.
Joshua tore his clothes and fell before the ark.
He asked why God had brought them across the Jordan only to be defeated.
God told him to get up.
Israel has sinned. They have transgressed the covenant. They have taken some of the devoted things.
I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy what is among you.
The process began the next morning.
Tribe by tribe. Clan by clan. Household by household. Man by man.
Judah was taken.
Then the Zerahites.
Then Zabdi.
Then Achan.
Joshua said: My son, give glory to the LORD God of Israel and give him praise. Tell me what you have done.
Achan told him.
He said: Truly I have sinned.
He described the garment. The silver. The gold.
He said: Behold, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent.
They found it exactly as he described.
They brought it out and spread it before the LORD.
All Israel stoned Achan.
His sons. His daughters.
His oxen and donkeys.
His tent.
Everything that was his.
They raised over him a great heap of stones.
One man.
One buried garment.
Thirty-six other men dead.
A whole camp compromised.
Because of something hidden under the ground inside a tent.
Hidden from everyone except God.
Scripture — Joshua 7:21
"When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, 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."
Reflection
He described the location of what he buried with perfect accuracy when finally asked. He had known where it was the whole time.
His private decision became a public catastrophe. The buried thing was never only his problem.
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