Joshua 7

This is a very sobering chapter: one man steals from the Lord, and in turn gets 32 Israelite soldiers killed and dooms his entire family to death. That is one heck of a punishment, and I am glad today that I am not held responsible for my father's actions in such a way. I suppose, though, that our sins do often affect those close to us; if we lie it can hurt relationships, and when we don't do things we should others may have to take an additional burden on themselves instead.

On the other hand, though, it is somewhat surprising that only one man out of the whole nation of Israel decided to take possessions from the ruins of Jericho. With how many people were there, and the temptation that must have existed with the wealth of a whole city, I would have expected that more than one bad egg would surface.