With such an auspicious start, one would naturally expect a string of victories to immediately follow. But as the Israelites move westward toward Ai, they experience a surprising defeat. To prepare the readers for this unexpected development, the author preemptively discloses in 7:1 the reason for defeat, namely, that Achan has secretly taken some of the devoted things for himself. Notice that although it is evident throughout the narrative that this violation is entirely Achan’s own, both the author in 7:1 and the Lord in 7:11 speak of Israel as a whole having acted unfaithfully regarding the devoted things. This is in line with the principle of corporate responsibility often held during biblical times, where the action of one can implicate the whole. This, in fact, was precisely Joshua’…