Ver. 26. Wherefore the name of that place, &c.— From the day of the punishment of Achan, or Achor, the disturber of the public repose, the Israelites called the place where he was stoned Achar. What confirms this etymology is, that Achan is always called Achar in the Syriac version, and by Josephus, Athanasius, Basil, and other authors, at the head of whom we may place Esdras, 1 Chronicles 2:7. See Bochart on the subject, Hieroz. part i. lib. ii. c. 32. Mr. Saurin observes, that the design of raising this heap of stones was, to place before the eyes of all Israel a perpetual memorial of the crime of Achan, and of their indispensable obligation to pay an entire deference to the command of God. Happy if they had always followed this lesson; if they had not, by surpassing Achan in his crimes, drawn down upon their nation the greatest punishments! Dr. Shaw tells us, that many heaps of stone are seen in Barbary, the Holy Land, and Arabia, which have been gradually erected as so many signs over murdered travellers; the Arabs, according to a superstitious custom among them, contributing each of them a stone whenever they pass by them: something like this, he thinks, are the present event, and those recorded, ch. Judges 8:9 and 2 Samuel 18:17. See the preface to his Travels, p. 17.
REFLECTIONS.—God having directed Joshua in the method of procedure, he rises very early in the morning, in haste purge the camp from the abominable thing which was hidden in it.
1. The tribes are convoked. Judah is taken, the first in dignity, yet now exposed to shame by one bad branch of this noble family. By repeated trials, from families to houses, and from houses to individuals, the criminal is discovered, and Achan, confounded with conscious guilt, stands forth the troubler of Israel. Note; When God is contending with us, we need well to examine our ways, and see if there be any way of wickedness in us: whilst Achan's wedge, any allowed sin remains, the curse must be upon us. 2. The divine lot having discovered the offender, Joshua, as judge, exhorts him to give glory to God by an open and unreserved confession. He does not fly out into anger or reviling against him; but, pitying his misery, beseeches him to repent of his great sin, and take to himself the deserved shame of such a guilty conduct. Note; (1.) Even the vilest of criminals deserve our pity, not reproach. (2.) The only retribution we can make to God for our sins, is an open acknowledgment. They cannot be true penitents, who shrink from the shame they have deserved, and seek to excuse and exculpate themselves, instead of glorifying God by an unreserved confession. 3. Hopes of concealment had hardened his heart before; but now that God has found him out, he bows under the conviction, acknowledges his great sin, and discloses the particular fact in all the circumstances of it. Note; (1.) A burdened conscience can only find ease by self-accusation, and owning its aggravated sin against God. (2.) The more deeply we are affected, the more particular will be our confessions, and the more sharp our self-upbraidings in the review of the process of our sin. (3.) The advances to sin are here laid down; concupiscence is at the root; Satan presents the bait to the eye, the heart is caught by it, the hand is stretched out, and the crime completed. How strict a guard should we keep upon our eyes! How severely repress the first motions of evil desire! (4.) It is the devil's grand deceit, "No eye shall see thee; thy sin may be easily concealed;" but God can make the sinner turn self-accuser, and vomit up the riches he hath swallowed, Job 15:4. He receives his just condemnation. The goods are instantly fetched, his confession is affirmed by the accursed spoils, and sentence passes upon him. God will have the trouble fall upon his own head, which he had brought on the innocent people. Note; (1.) Sin will bring trouble: the conscience must be humbled under it in time, or be tormented for it to eternity. (2.) What we get by injustice, will in the end prove our plague. 5. He is instantly executed, dragged from the judgment-seat without the camp, and all Israel in just indignation rise up to stone him. Note; (1.) We cannot be in too great haste to get rid of our sins. (2.) We see that nothing is got by stealing or sacrilege: not only the ill-gotten gain perishes, but the fire of the curse spreads to all our substance. (3.) Wicked parents are the heaviest plague to their families, and by their bad examples usually involve them in ruin. (4.) When sin is repented of, and washed away with the blood of Jesus, shed as a curse for us, then we may expect God's love and mercy will be restored to us. 6. A monument is raised on these ashes, as a warning to others, and a name given to the place, corresponding with the occasion, The valley of Achor, or Trouble. Note; (1.) We need to raise a memorial over our sins, and the places where they were committed, that we may continually remember and lament them. (2.) The valley of Achor is a door of hope to true penitents, Hosea 2:15 and they who go down thither in sorrow, shall be brought up from thence with joy.