Achor

Who would expect a valley of trouble to become a door of hope? Achor is first a place of grief. In Joshua 7:26 a great heap of stones is raised there, and “the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger”, and the valley takes its name from that day. Joshua 15:7 later lists it simply as a landmark on Judah’s border. Then the prophets look back at it differently. Hosea 2:15 promises “the valley of Achor for a door of hope”, and Isaiah 65:10 pictures it as a place where herds lie down in peace. Read Joshua 7 for the sorrow, then Hosea 2:14-15 for the turn.

4 verses

Joshua

Joshua 7:26

And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

Joshua 15:7

And the border went up toward Debir from the valley of Achor, and so northward, looking toward Gilgal, that is before the going up to Adummim, which is on the south side of the river: and the border passed toward the waters of Enshemesh, and the goings out thereof were at Enrogel:

Isaiah

Isaiah 65:10

And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

Hosea

Hosea 2:15

And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Trouble, a valley near Jericho, so called in consequence of the trouble which the sin of Achan caused Israel (Josh. 7:24,26). The expression “valley of Achor” probably became proverbial for that which caused trouble, and when Isaiah (Isa. 65:10) refers to it he uses it in this sense: “The valley of Achor, a place for herds to lie down in;” i.e., that which had been a source of calamity would become a source of blessing. Hosea also (Hos. 2:15) uses the expression in the same sense: “The valley of Achor for a door of hope;” i.e., trouble would be turned into joy, despair into hope. This valley has been identified with the Wady Kelt.

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