Joshua 7:16-21: a reflection

16So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes. The tribe of Judah was selected. 17He brought near the family of Judah, and he selected the family of the Zerahites. He brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was selected. 18He brought near his household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected. 19Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done! Don’t hide it from me!” 20Achan answered Joshua, and said, “I have truly sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, and this is what I have done. 21When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.”

When Achan's hidden sin is finally exposed, Joshua urges him to confess, and Achan's confession lays bare, with painful clarity, the anatomy of how his sin unfolded: I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak and silver and gold; then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent. Four steps, one leading to the next: I saw, I coveted, I took, I hid. It is a precise map of how temptation becomes sin.

Notice the progression, because it is the pattern of much of our own sin. It begins with seeing, an object of desire comes into view. Then coveting, the desire takes hold in the heart. Then taking, the desire becomes action. And finally hiding, the sin is concealed. Each step flows into the next: what began as a glance became a longing, the longing became a grasping, and the grasping had to be hidden. This is how sin so often works in us, from the eye to the heart to the hand to the cover-up.

Seeing the progression helps us fight sin earlier, before it has run its course. Achan's sin was not stopped at the seeing or the coveting; he let it move all the way to the taking and hiding. But the chain can be broken early. When desire for what is not ours first arises, at the seeing and coveting, that is the time to turn away, before it becomes taking and hiding. Know the anatomy of your own temptations, from the eye to the heart to the hand, and break the chain early, while it is still just a glance, before it becomes a grasp you have to hide.

Lord, Achan's confession laid bare how sin unfolds: I saw, I coveted, I took, I hid. Help me know that anatomy in my own temptations, the way a glance becomes a longing, the longing a grasping, the grasping a thing to hide. Give me grace to break the chain early, to turn away at the seeing and the coveting, before desire becomes action and concealment. Guard my eyes and my heart, and help me catch sin at its beginning, before it runs its course. Deliver me from the progression that led Achan to ruin.