when I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonian mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
Achan and his family were to Israel at this time what Ananias and Sapphira were to the early church (Acts 5). They were a strong warning of the consequences of sin among God’s people. Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10), and Korah and his cohorts (Numbers 16), were similar examples. The fact that God does not judge sin today as He did on these occasions does not mean He feels any less strongly about it. He mercifully withholds judgment in most instances. Nevertheless sin still produces the same destruction and death.