If the mention of “wilderness” (Hosea 2:3, Hosea 2:14) could be transformed from a threat of judgment into an opportunity for renewed affection, the Valley of Achor functions in a similar way. It appears in Joshua 7:24–26, in a story about Israel’s first military defeat in the land of Canaan. It came as a result of Achan’s disobedience to the Lord, hiding loot from the conquest of Ai. Achor means trouble
, since Achan was put to death for the trouble that he brought on the nation. No longer will the Valley of Achor be the place of trouble; the Lord will transform it into a doorway of hope. Hwang1 says, “YHWH invites Israel to journey with him back to places of punishment that have now become places of redemption.”
15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.