We take a little time to look in on the book of Joshua. I think of this book as the "book of blood and glory." It describes the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, after their 40 years marching in circles in the desert. I understand that modern archeology casts many doubts on this "history," but I won't be concerned over that in this series.
We do find a few interesting passages, though.
Jos 7:10-12 - The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their own belongings. Therefore the Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they turn their backs to their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted for destruction themselves. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things among you.
Jos 7:24-26 - Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, son of Zerah, with the silver, the mantle, and the bar of gold, with his sons and daughters, with his oxen, donkeys and sheep, and his tent and all that he had; and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD is bringing trouble on you today." And all Israel stoned him to death; they burned them with fire and cast stones on them, and raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore that place to this day is called the Valley of Achor. [Trouble].
Here's the gist. God blames all of Israel for taking some booty from a conquest - things "devoted to destruction." He brings military defeat to the people, threatens to abandon all of them. A few verses later, it turns out that one person, Achan, took a cloak and some silver and gold for himself. Naturally, because of this person's action, the whole nation of Israel was threatened. It's a matter of the older ideas of morality, that all people should suffer the consequences if one person stepped out of line.
Anyway, Achan gets stoned, but it's unclear what else happened. Sons and daughters are mentioned, among other things. We see some pronoun trouble - "them" and "him" are all mixed up: it's hard to tell exactly which person(s) were executed. This sort of thing crops up all through the OT, making understanding what's going on difficult.
One other point I thought interesting: the similarity between names. The valley is named "trouble" (Achor) and the person in the middle of this is "Achan" - does this translate as a similar word, like "Troubler"?
