Joshua 7:1

Chapter 7 The Sin of Achan and Failure at Ai.

Because of the sin of Achan, when they advanced on Ai, the children of Israel were smitten and put to flight by ‘the men of Ai'. This gave Joshua and the elders of the people great concern, both for Israel and for the name of YHWH. This was expressed by Joshua in prayer to God, and when YHWH informed him of the reason for it, He also gave him directions for discovering the guilty person, and for the man's punishment. Joshua followed these directions, and the person was discovered, and confessed, upon which he and all he had, with the things he had taken, were burnt with fire.

Joshua 7:1

‘But the children of Israel committed a trespass with regard to what was devoted, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of what was devoted, and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against the children of Israel.'

Before the story of Israel's first defeat in the land we are given the reason for it. God had been disobeyed in the most dreadful way. Achan had secretly stolen from YHWH something from Jericho, something in other words that had been ‘devoted' to Him by the whole of Israel, and the result was that there was ‘a devoted thing' in the camp of Israel for which the whole of Israel had to take blame. This was the principle of community responsibility whereby the many must share the guilt of the one (from our standpoint it would be on the grounds that his failure was due to their wider failure in failing to provide the right moral background). It was their responsibility to ensure that it did not happen and that YHWH received His due. Thus the trespass was committed by the whole of Israel.