Generally (v. 1) it is said, “He took something of the anathema.” And [so] v. 11. But Achan himself confesses all (vv. 20 and 21). If, then, those words be explained, all will be clear — since the law about the forbidden anathema was already sufficiently expounded in the previous chapter. “Truly,” says Achan, “I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. For I saw among the spoils a scarlet garment exceeding good, and two hundred sicles of silver, and a golden rule of fifty sicles: and coveting [them] I took [them] away, and hid [them] in the earth against the middle of my tent, and covered the silver with the earth [I] dug up.” First, indeed, he confesses generally; and indeed with a great sense of grief and agitation of soul, as the particles “truly,” “I,” declare; and, not content to say “I have sinned,” he adds “against the Lord God of Israel.” Now “to sin against God” is taken in two ways. For it is either to sin with God knowing [it], or to sin against Him [directly]. In the former mode, Radak says, that [text] of Ps. 50[:6, Vulg.]/51:4 [Heb.] is to be understood, “To Thee only have I sinned” — that is, “Thee only knowing, Thee only seeing and beholding [it].” For although [David] had sinned against Uriah, yet [Uriah] was conscious of nothing of the stain and injury done to him, but God alone [was]. But in the latter
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mode, one sins against God in two ways: first, against Him as He is Lawgiver, commanding good, forbidding all evil. And thus every kind of sin is against God. Secondly, against Him as He is this-or-that Person — for example, “God the possessor, and such a Lord.” And thus not every sin is against Him, but only those in which something is either attributed to Him, as He is such a Person, or taken from Him, which ought not to be attributed or taken away — for example, because He is God, the highest [worship], and to Him alone indeed, worship is due. If, therefore, you either render Him a lesser worship, or ascribe the highest [worship] to some other, it is a sin against God, both as He is Lawgiver and as He is God. If anything be given, dedicated, [or] consecrated to Him, of this He alone is the possessor and Lord. If that be taken away, [or] turned aside from the end of [its] consecration, and applied to a profane use, [that too] is likewise a sin against God in both those modes. And thus Achan sinned. For of those things which, by the anathema, were sacred and devoted to God, he took some away, and so committed [an offense] against God, and the Lawgiver, and the possessor and Lord — as Abulensis rightly warns (q. 48).
Then, specifically, what and how he sinned, Achan himself indicates. By that word, “I did,” the sin is noted; by the particles “thus and thus,” the mode of the sin, not the number — as Rashi fancies, saying that hence it is held that Achan had already four other times stolen something of the anathemata, and now at last a fifth [time]. Abulensis refutes him (q. 49), because neither were there so many anathematizings hitherto, nor, if Achan had violated any of them by theft, would he then have been more unpunished than now. But a distinct exposition of each [what and how] follows. For he confesses that he stole three things of the anathema: a garment, silver, and gold. As for the mode, he says not only that he took these, but how he was at first led to take them, and how, when he had taken them, he hid [them]. In the following questions all [these] will be explained.