Achan’s Sin & the City of Ai Joshua 7:1 – 8:35 Achan’s Sin & the City of Ai Joshua 7:1 – 8:35 When the Israelites conquered Jericho, God gave them instructions not to take anything made of silver, gold, bronze, or iron. All of these things were to go into the LORD’s treasury. However, one of the soldiers named Achan secretly took some of these things for himself and hid them in his tent. Now, Joshua sent spies from Jericho to the city of Ai to scout out the land. When they returned, they said to him, “Don’t send all of our soldiers to Ai. There aren’t many people living there. Just send a few thousand soldiers to take the city.” So Joshua sent 3,000 soldiers to attack Ai. However, the LORD was not with the Israelites. The men of Ai rushed out and struck down the Israelites, killing 36 of them. The Israelites were devastated by the defeat. Joshua and the elders of Israel put dust on their heads and fell down before the Ark of the LORD in prayer. Joshua cried out, “Oh LORD, why would you bring us into this land if we’re going to be defeated? Won’t all the other people in the land hear that we’ve lost this small battle? Won’t they try to come together as one army and wipe us out?” Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why are you down on your face? Israel has sinned against me and broken their promise. They have stolen from me and lied about it. This is why you were defeated by your enemies. I will no longer be with you until you make this right.” The next morning Joshua had all the people present themselves before the LORD. He called them forward tribe by tribe. When he did this, the tribe of Judah was chosen. Then, he had all of the clans of Judah come forward. When he did this, the Zerah clan was chosen. Then, he had all of the families of Zerah come forward. When he did this, the Zimri family was chosen. Then, Joshua had each person from the family of Zimri come forward. When he did this, Achan son of Carmi was chosen. Joshua said to Achan, “Tell us the truth. What have you done? Do not keep anything from us.” Achan replied, “It’s true. I have sinned against the LORD. When we conquered Jericho, I took a Babylonian coat, five pounds of silver, and some gold. You will find them buried under my tent.” Joshua sent men to Achan’s tent. The men found all of the things hidden there. Joshua took all the items along with Achan and his family down to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, “Achan, why have you brought this trouble upon us? Today, the LORD will bring trouble upon you.” So Achan, his family, and all of his animals were put to death and a large pile of rocks were placed over them. After this, the LORD was no longer angry with the Israelites. The LORD spoke to Joshua saying, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all of the soldiers and attack Ai. I will hand over the king, the people, the city, and all its land to you. After this battle, you may keep all of the plunder for yourselves. So Joshua secretly sent 5,000 of the soldiers out that night. He told them to go and hide to the west of the city and wait for his signal.

Joshua spent the night with the rest of the troops. In the morning he took his men and approached the city from the north. When the men of Ai saw the Israelites, they rushed out of the city to fight them as they had before. However, they did not know that there were other soldiers hiding close by. Joshua and his men ran away so that the men of Ai would chase them. When they did this, the city was left without anyone to protect it. Then, the LORD said to Joshua, “Point your spear towards Ai, for I have handed the city over to you.” Joshua obeyed the LORD’s command. When the soldiers who were hiding saw him raise his spear, they ran into the city, captured it, and set it on fire. When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from their city. Immediately, the Israelite soldiers that had been running from them turned around and started to fight them. The plan worked! The men of Ai were trapped. They could not run back to their city because it had been captured. So they fought the Israelites, but were unable to overcome them. All of the men of Ai died in battle that day. So Joshua and the soldiers conquered the city of Ai and burned it until it was only a pile of rubble. Then, Joshua built an altar to the LORD and made sacrifices. To this day the city of Ai has never been rebuilt. wants to thank American illustrator Jim Pagett and Sweet Publishing for their free distribution of the pictures used in this book.