Achan: Called also Achar, i.e., one who troubles
(1 Chronicles 2:7) in commemoration of
his crime, which brought upon him an awful destruction
(Joshua 7:1) On
the occasion of the fall of Jericho, he seized, contrary to the
divine command, an ingot of gold, a quantity of silver, and a costly
Babylonish garment, which he hid in his tent. Joshua was convinced
that the defeat which the Israelites afterwards sustained before Ai
was a proof of the divine displeasure on account of some crime, and
he at once adopted means by the use of the lot for discovering the
criminal. It was then found that Achan was guilty, and he was stoned
to death in the valley of Achor. He and all that belonged to him were
then consumed by fire, and a heap of stones was raised over the
ashes.
