Charles Ellicott Commentary Joshua 7:24

"And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up unto the valley of Achor." — Joshua 7:24 (ASV)

And his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had. — All were evidently destroyed together . For any other sin but this, Achan must have suffered alone. The children shall not be put to death for the fathers. But in this case, warning had been given that the man who took of the accursed thing, or chêrem, would become an accursed thing like it if he brought it into his house (Deuteronomy 7:26), and would make the camp of Israel chêrem also (Joshua 6:18). Thus, Achan’s whole establishment was destroyed as though it had become part of Jericho.

It is not necessary to assert that Achan's family were accomplices. His cattle were not accomplices, and yet they were destroyed. See also 1 Chronicles 2:7, where his line is not continued.

Observe also the incidental reference to the fact in Joshua 22:20, That man perished not alone in his iniquity. The severity of the punishment must be estimated by the relation of Achan’s crime to the whole plan of the conquest of Canaan. If the destruction of the Canaanites was indeed the execution of the Divine vengeance, it must be kept entirely clear of all baser motives, lest people should say that Jehovah gave His people license to deal with the Canaanites as it seemed best for themselves.

The punishment of Saul for taking the spoil of Amalek (1 Samuel 15:0), and the repeated statement of the Book of Esther that the Jews who stood for their lives and slew their enemies, the supporters of Haman’s project, laid not their hands on the prey, are further illustrations of the same principle. The gratification of human passions may not be mingled with the execution of the vengeance of God (Esther 9:10; Esther 9:15–16).

The valley of Achor. — In 1 Chronicles 2:7, Achan himself is designated Achar (one among several examples of the alteration of a name to suit some circumstance of a person’s history. Compare Bathsheba for Bathshua, Shallum for Jehoiachin, Ishbosheth for Eshbaal, etc.). There is a double play upon the names in Hosea 2:15: I will give her her vineyards (Carmêha. Compare Carmi, “my vineyard”) from there, and the valley of trouble (Achor) for a door of hope.

The valley of Achor is a pass leading from Gilgal towards the center of the country, or, as it might be represented, from Jericho towards Jerusalem—that is, from the city of destruction to the city of God. So it was to Israel in the conquest.

The future state of Achan is in the hands of the Judge who does judgment. No mercy for his crime on earth was possible; it would have been injustice to all humankind.