Why did God make them go through all these steps in Joshua 7:14-15?
14 "'In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord chooses shall come forward clan by clan; the clan the Lord chooses shall come forward family by family; and the family the Lord chooses shall come forward man by man. 15 Whoever is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the Lord and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!'"
Joshua 7:10 - 26
NIV - 10 The Lord said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.
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Tim Maas
Supporter
In my opinion, God proceeded as He did (rather than merely singling Achan out at the beginning) to impress upon Israel that, even though they were His "chosen people", one individual's sin could defile the entire nation (as reflected in God's saying, "Israel has sinned"), similar to the way in which Adam and Eve's sin tainted the entire subsequent human race.
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