Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his donkeys, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.
The Israelites punished Achan’s children with him (Joshua 7:24), evidently because they had participated in his sin (cf. Proverbs 15:27). [Note: Woudstra, p. 130.] It would have been difficult for Achan to hide the amount of spoil he took under his tent without his family’s knowledge. The people also destroyed all of Achan’s possessions (cf. Deuteronomy 13:16-17). Achan’s sin was high-handed defiance against God (cf. Numbers 15:30; Numbers 15:35).