“But the Children of Israel committed a trespass concerning the devoted thing;
for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of
Judah, took of the devoted thing; and the anger of the LORD was kindled
against the Children of Israel.”
Joshua 7 records one of the most disturbing chapters in the Bible, one that describes the disastrous
defeat of Joshua’s forces at the hands of the Amorites, residents of Ai. What went wrong?
After the walls of Jericho collapsed, Joshua set his sights on sacking the city of Ai. “And Joshua sent men
from Jericho to Ai…east of Beth-El…” Joshua commanded the men to spy out Ai, and return with a
military assessment. “And they returned to Joshua and said unto him: Let not all the people go up, but
let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai…”
Based on this military intelligence, Joshua conservatively dispatched three thousand warriors, for what
was expected to be a swift victory. It wasn’t. Actually, Ai handed the Hebrews an ignominious defeat.
Disgracefully, the Jewish soldiers fled the battlefield, as “the men of Ai smote of them about thirty-six
men…”
On our narrative, Abravanel asks: If Achan, son of Carmi “committed a trespass concerning the devoted
thing”, as the chapter’s lead verse writes explicitly, why did God vent His spleen at the people? Why did
the Maker punish innocent men and not Achan, the sole culprit? The question must be asked, in light of
a fundamental principle of justice: “And they fell upon their faces, and said: O God, the God of the spirits
of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will You be wroth with all the congregation (Numbers 16)?”
Abravanel clarifies what appears to be a travesty of justice, but wasn’t. Here is why. Innocent men falling
by the sword should not be construed as a punishment for wrongdoing. For if death had been because
of punishment, it would have pinpointed Achan, the miscreant who confiscated items earmarked to be
utterly destroyed, or as the verse calls it, “a trespass concerning the devoted thing.”
When a Jew misappropriates holy objects – an unpardonable sacrilege – he effects a profound change to
the nation’s body politic. Abravanel elaborates. Uniquely, Hebrews are subject to divine providence, a
heavenly force that blesses and shelters the Holy People from peril. However, and this is crucial,
providence is provisional, subject to the people’s compliance with the Torah’s commandments.
In our context here, Achan’s malfeasance did more than sully his own soul. Owing to the magnitude of
his offence, it altered the way God related to His nation. That is, Achan’s taking of “the devoted thing”
ruptured the delicate manner by which the Creator watches over His nation. Thus, the egregious sin
removed divine providence, pried it away from the Holy People. Stripped of Heaven’s protection, the
Jews became vulnerable, exposed. Vagaries or vicissitudes reigned, where once God’s shielding hand
had. At that juncture, the Jews were, in effect, on their own. Hence, thirty-six of Joshua’s troops lost
their lives, as they fought Ai’s troops.
Achan, on the hand, had not been affected. That is because he had not served alongside the three
thousand warriors who participated in the Ai campaign, a battle made especially treacherous as a result
of the absence of divine providence.
Abravanel then addresses why these thirty-six soldiers lost their lives. He surmises that perilous warfare
resulted in their deaths due to earlier misdoings. Alternatively, the ill-starred men died because of, well,
bad fortune. Or, death may have resulted on account of unfavorable zodiac forces at play.