Musar su Giosuè 7:78

And if trouble comes, such as famine, plague or other catastrophes, let him always worry lest his sins caused these events — for Achan trespassed in the matter of the dedicated spoils and several thousand Israelites fell because of his fault (Jos. 7:2-22) — and let him return to God, Blessed be He, according to his ability.

Of course, their attitude could not be described as pious, although Joshua had acted in a similar fashion prior to the capture of Ai (Joshua 7,2). The difference was that Joshua would not forego the command of G–d just because there were what appeared to be insurmountable natural difficulties. It was not in order for instance, to inquire which route should be taken, since up to now, G–d's pillar of cloud had taken care of that chore, and they had never sent a spy to show them the way in the desert. Even the matter of mountains and valleys was something that the Israelites in the desert did not need to concern themselves with, since the pillar of cloud made their route level, regardless.

(Devarim 26:17): "The L-rd did you single out this day to be to you as a G-d, and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His mitzvoth, and His judgments, and to heed His voice." From this verse we learn the greatness of strengthening oneself to walk in the ways of the traits of the Holy One Blessed be He, to be merciful, gracious, and the like. For Scripture mentioned this quality ["to walk in His ways"] before keeping the statutes, the mitzvoth, and the judgments, whereby we infer that it takes precedence to the others [(as we find in Berachoth 41b on the verse that speaks in praise of Eretz Yisrael (Devarim 8:8): "a land of wheat, barley, grapevine, etc." — "That which precedes (in the verse) precedes for the blessing."] And one must greatly strengthen oneself in this — whence we learn in our instance to guard greatly against the issur of lashon hara. For this is one of the ways of the traits of the Holy One Blessed be He, as our sages of blessed memory said (Sanhedrin 43b) concerning the deed of Achan, who violated the ban, because of which Israel was defeated in the war. (Joshua 2:6): "And he [Joshua] fell on his face to the ground before the ark of the L-rd… (10): And the L-rd said to Joshua: 'Arise, why do you fall on your face… they have also stolen; they have also denied… (12): I will not be with you if you do not destroy the cherem [(the forbidden property] from your midst.'" Joshua said to Him: "Who has sinned?", to which He answered: "Am I a slanderer? Go and cast lots and it will be known to you." Even for something that it was a mitzvah to clarify, such as the act of Achan, where they were obliged to destroy the cherem, even so, since it could come to light of itself, it should not be spoken.

Confession is a matter of great importance, for our Sages, of blessed memory, taught (Sanh. 43b) : When a man condemned to death was a distance of ten cubits from the place of stoning, they would say to him, "Confess." For it is the way of all who are about to be slain that they do confess, and every man who confesses has a share in the world to come. For thus have we found in the case of Achan. When Joshua said to him, "My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and confess unto him, and tell to me now what thou hast done, hide nothing from me." And Achan answered Joshua, and said, "It is true, I sinned to the Lord, the God of Israel and thus and like thus have I done" (Josh. 7:19—20). And how do we know that his confession atoned for him ? Because it is said, "And Joshua said, 'Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day' " (Jos. 7:25). This day you will be troubled, but you will not be troubled in the world to come. And if he does not know how to confess, they say to him, "Say these words : 'May my death be an atonement for all my sins'."

Confession is a matter of great importance, for our Sages, of blessed memory, taught (Sanh. 43b) : When a man condemned to death was a distance of ten cubits from the place of stoning, they would say to him, "Confess." For it is the way of all who are about to be slain that they do confess, and every man who confesses has a share in the world to come. For thus have we found in the case of Achan. When Joshua said to him, "My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and confess unto him, and tell to me now what thou hast done, hide nothing from me." And Achan answered Joshua, and said, "It is true, I sinned to the Lord, the God of Israel and thus and like thus have I done" (Josh. 7:19—20). And how do we know that his confession atoned for him ? Because it is said, "And Joshua said, 'Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day' " (Jos. 7:25). This day you will be troubled, but you will not be troubled in the world to come. And if he does not know how to confess, they say to him, "Say these words : 'May my death be an atonement for all my sins'."