Collective Punishment for Akhan's Sin/2
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Collective Punishment for Akhan's Sin
Exegetical Approaches
Nation Also Culpable
Those who were killed had sinned and were deserving of punishment.
What was their sin?
- Forgetting Hashem – The people sinned in thinking that it was their own military power, rather than Hashem, which brought them victory.1 This is evidenced by their attitude towards the battle of the Ai, believing that victory was dependent only on their miltitary prowess. Akhan's taking of the spoils had betrayed the same sentiment, that he, not Hashem was the victor in battle. Thus, all penalized parties were guilty of the same crime.
- Taking of spoils – R"Y Bekhor Shor, Rabbi Yaakov Fidanque, and Hoil Moshe maintain that Yehoshua had warned the people to watch over the spoils to ensure that no one took of them, and to report to him if anyone had. The people either did not watch properly, failed to report the offender, or worse, actively helped Akhan to hide the spoils. Thus, to some extent, those punished were accessories to the crime.
- Unknown sins – The people who died were each independently guilty of their own crimes, unrelated to Akhan's actions or the battle at hand.
Attribution of sin to Israel
Singling out of akhan
Why was Akhan originally spared?
Collective punishment
Collective Punishment
Despite the fact that only Akhan sinned, innocent people were also punished.
