Achan and the Family Stoned - Joshua 7:24-26

Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, and the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his ox, donkey, and sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and brought them up to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? Today the LORD will trouble you!" So all Israel stoned him to death. They burned their bodies, threw stones on them, and raised over him a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day. Joshua 7:24-26 (HCSB)

Achor is the Hebrew word for "trouble," and admittedly this passage is troubling to me. In Joshua 6, Israel conquers the city of Jericho, the first city after entering the Promised Land. God instructs them to put the entire city "under the ban"--that is, destroy everything: men, women, virgins, children, babies, cattle, donkies, etc. The only things they were allowed to spare were gold, silver, copper/brass/bronze and iron vessels, which had to be put into the Lord's treasury. (Also Rahab the prostitute's house was spared because she aided the spies Joshua had sent to Jericho earlier.) Achan, however, decided to take some silver and gold for himself, along with a cloak. This, in turn, caused the Lord to temporarily abandon Israel, leading to their defeat in an attempt to capture the city of Ai.

Joshua was himself troubled by the loss; after asking the Lord, he discovers that Achan had some banned items in his possession. This culminates in the passage above, where they recover the items and stone/burn Achan and his whole household. Rough stuff.

What troubles me is the severity of the punishment. Not so much Achan's death, but the death of his entire household, especially in light of this passage:

Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. Deuteronomy 24:16 (NIV)

That's why I was pleasantly surprised to read the Revised English Bible's take on the passage.

Then all the Israelites stoned [Achan] to death; and they raised over him a great cairn of stones which is there to this day. So the LORD's anger was abated. Joshua 7:25b,26a (REB)

In this rendition it doesn't explicitly mention that his entire family was burned to death, just that Achan himself was stoned. It briefly gave me hope that his family didn't get killed after all. Of course, there is a footnote about how some manuscripts include the verse about his family, and every other translation I've looked at does indeed include that particular verse directly in the text. Furthermore, later on we encounter this verse:

Remember the treachery of Achan son of Zerah, who defied the ban, and the whole community of Israel suffered for it; he was not the only one who paid with his life for that sin. Joshua 22:20 (REB)

Achan wasn't the only one who died; there were also the thirty-six that died during their attempt to take Ai, and the evidence does seem to include his family, too. Ah well. Instead of wishing that the family wasn't killed, I've attempted to come to terms with their death.

Judah Cleansing

Notice that Achan was from the tribe of Judah, the tribe from which Jesus Himself descended. This is likely over-speculative, but maybe God was interested in ensuring that the line of Judah was "pure" enough to be worthy of being the family tribe of God Incarnate. The first two sons of Judah, Er and Onan, were apparently bad eggs, and God put them to death. I don't recall any another examples of this kind of immediate punishment for general wickedness in the Old Testament; God is patient and merciful...even the country of Judah's most wicked king, Manasseh, had the longest reign (55 years). Perhaps God wanted to set the Judah clan off on the right foot? Achan, then, could be another example of ensuring Judah kept on a righteous course. But I believe there is less speculative justification for the severity of Achan's punishment.

Principle of the First Offense

Whenever God establishes a new law, covenant, principle, commandment, or what-have-you, the first violator seems to get severely punished. God wants to encourage others not to repeat the error--what better way to do that than by putting to death the first offender? For example, the first Israelite who violated the Sabbath by gathering some sticks was stoned to death (Numbers 15:32-36). The first time Aaron's priestly authority was challenged, the earth swallowed the leader of the rebels and fire from heaven burned up the rest (Numbers 16:1-35). The first time someone tried to feign total fiscal commitment to The Way, he was put to death on the spot (Acts 5:1-5).

I think this passage sums up the first offense principle nicely (emphasis mine):

"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn't listen to them even after they discipline him, his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. They will say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn't obey us. He's a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid. Deuteronomy 21:18-22 (HCSB)

I don't think there were any recorded occurences of this happening, but I imagine if a rebellious son were put to death by his parents, their town would have much more obedient children.

Aiding and Abetting

The other way I try to justify the death of Achan's family is reckoning that they were also guilty themselves in this matter. After all, Achan did bury the loot in their tent, and I doubt he could have done that without the family knowing. Given how God doesn't want children punished for their father's sin, I can only assume that that they also sinned. Maybe that's not really comforting, but it's the best I can do.