Encyclopedia entry · Person
Achan
Curator's research file
Subject · person
Achan
also called Achar
Achan Is Stoned to Death · Gustave Doré
Identity
- Name meaning
- *troubler* (Heb. akan, from akar — *to trouble*) — 1 Chronicles 2:7 spells it Achar, sharpening the wordplay
Family
- Parent(s)
- —
- Spouse
- —
- Children
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- Tribe / people
- —
Era & origin
- Era
- c. 1400 BC — the early conquest of Canaan
- Region
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- Contemporary of
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Role
- Role
- Israelite of Judah whose theft at Jericho caused Israel's defeat at Ai · Executed in the Valley of Achor
- Notable for
- Achan was the man whose stolen spoil from Jericho brought Israel's first defeat in the conquest of Canaan.
Network
- Referenced by
- 8 entries
- Voices
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Achan was the man whose stolen spoil from Jericho brought Israel's first defeat in the conquest of Canaan. He was a son of Carmi, of the family of the Zarhites, of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 7:1, 18).
After the miraculous fall of Jericho, the LORD had ordered that everything in the city — silver, gold, vessels of brass and iron — be devoted (herem) to him: dedicated to destruction, not taken as plunder. Achan saw a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, coveted them, and took them and hid them in the earth beneath his tent (Joshua 7:21).
When Israel attacked Ai shortly after, expecting an easy victory, they were routed; thirty-six men were killed. Joshua tore his clothes and fell on his face before the ark, and the LORD answered: Israel hath sinned ... they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. The next morning Joshua brought the tribes one by one, then the families of Judah, then the households of the Zarhites, then the men of Zabdi — until the lot fell on Achan.
Achan confessed. The stolen goods were brought out of his tent. He, his sons and daughters, his animals, his tents, and the cursed spoil were taken to the Valley of Achor outside the camp and stoned and burned, and a great heap of stones raised over them (Joshua 7:24-26). The LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger, and Israel took Ai the next day. The name *Achor — meaning trouble* — is the Hebrew root the writer plays on; 1 Chronicles 2:7 alters the spelling to Achar, binding name and deed (the troubler of Israel).
The episode is the Old Testament's most concentrated illustration of corporate solidarity in sin: one man's hidden trespass brings national defeat until the offender is found and removed. Centuries later the prophet Hosea, looking ahead, sees the same Valley of Achor transformed: I will give her the valley of Achor for a door of hope (Hosea 2:15) — God's promise that even places of judgment can be made gates of restoration.
Key passages
Source · AI-drafted from biblical text and standard reference works (Smith's, Easton's, ISBE) — verify and refine against authoritative sources before publication.