Bible Study: Joshua

I always feel captivated by the story of Achan in the book of Joshua. On the one hand, it seems incredible that out of a million or so people rushing into the city of Jericho, only 1--Achan--would fall to the temptation to pilfer a beautiful cloth, silver and gold. I'm not challenging the veracity of the story. It just seems amazing and always raises to me the questions: Was it only Achan? and Why only Achan?

Then I wonder: How did Achan feel? When he took first one then another and then a third item and hid them--first under his cloak and then under the earth in his tent, how did he feel? How did he feel when 36 of his fellow invaders died in the next battle at the tiny town of Ai? Did he join in the rabble who blamed Joshua for sending too small an army? Or did he just keep quiet? How did he feel when Joshua and the elders spent all day on their faces interceding with God? Did he yet feel any responsibility? Any culpability? Or did he just pass it off as a coincidence? As no connection between the defeat at Ai and his sin at Jericho? (I suspect the latter in this case.)

How did he feel as the process of illimination began the next day? When God chose the tribe of Judah, then the clan of Zerah, then the family of Zimri, at which point in there did Achan start feeling nervous? At what point did he begin to panic? Did he ask himself something like, "Was I the only one who did this?"

How did he feel when Joshua said, "My son, give glory to God and tell us what you did"? Did he feel relief? At last his feeling of guilt would find release. But then he must face the terrible consequences. But at least he could die with a cleared conscience. Had the agony leading up to this confession built so much that he felt relief? (I suspect this would be the case.) Did he keep telling himself, "Surely someone else also took something! I can't be the only one!"

But also when I read the story of Achan, I re-hear the messages I have heard and preached from this story. I think of the preachers who have preached about hidden sins while we have carried hidden sins in our own hearts. I think of times when I have preached about Achan, all the while thinking, "I hope they don't discover my secrets."

In this age when sin runs so rampant among the people of God.... In this time of God's grace toward our sin(s).... In this era when we have made cheap grace the prime commodity of the church....

How do we begin to inch back to an attitude in which we feel tremendously responsible for each time and each way that we fall short of the glory of God? But also, how do we inch back to that attitude without resurrecting the suffocating view of legalism?

What do you think?