My Thoughts on Why Achan's Family Got Stoned Along With Him
Many people just can't read the Bible or understand its context. It's because the Bible is spiritually discerned. One subject that many atheists love to bring up is Achan getting stoned with his "innocent' family in Joshua 7. We can see the effect that it had was that Achan and his family were stoned with him. It doesn't mention a wife which might be because he was probably a widower.
Does the Bible command children to be punished for the sins of their parents? On the contrary, we can read these two verses:
Deuteronomy 24:16
The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
Numbers 26:10-11
And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign. 11 Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.
We can see the reality of the situation. The law of God requires that every man to be put to death (that is the capital punishment) for their own sin. Although sin has a ripple effect resulting in plagues - the offender alone must be punished. In Numbers 16, we read that Korah led the rebellion. Later we read that the sons of Korah died not with their father. Why would Korah's sons die with their father Korah if they chose not to join in their father's rebellion? It would be like in criminal law that a son or daughter of a crook doesn't get punished for their father's crime unless they were participants in it.
Remember the sin of Achan was that he hid a Babylonish garment, some precious metals, and jewels under his tent. I don't think his family would have not known or noticed. Remember, a criminal gets punished along with his accomplices. No mastermind can be guiltless just because he didn't perform the act. It's possible that Achan ordered his children get this and that form him during the conquest. Being accomplices of the said crime would've warranted them their punishment along with their father. It wasn't like Korah's sons who refused to participate in their father's crime back in Numbers 16.
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