Studies in the Life of Joshua
#8: Defeat at Ai and the Sin of Achan Joshua 7:1-26
In this chapter we again see the grace of God and the truth of restoration. Defeats never have to be the end. They may in fact be the beginning if we will just respond to the grace of God as a loving and caring heavenly Father who works to produce spiritual growth and Christ-like changes in us.
This doesn’t minimize the consequences of sin, however. In the Ai incident, God’s name had been dishonored, people lost their lives, and a family died the sin unto death. The momentum Israel gained was temporarily lost and God’s people were filled with gloom and despair.
The story of Ai is a message of warning. It reminds us that sin cannot be tolerated in the Christian life. It hinders the blessing of God from the standpoint of productive Christian living.
The story of Ai is also a proclamation of hope. It reminds us that blessing and productivity can come when sin is confessed and dealt with.
1. Devote the entire city to God (Josh. 6:17-19).
This meant that everything was dedicated to the Lord—the people, the houses, the animals, and all the spoils of war—and He could do with it whatever He pleased. In this first victory in Canaan, Jericho was presented to God as “the firstfruits” of the victories to come. Ordinarily the soldiers shared the spoils of war (Deut. 20:14), but not at Jericho; for everything there belonged to the Lord and was put into His treasury (Deut. 13:16; 1 Kings 7:51). It was this command that Achan disobeyed, and his disobedience later brought Israel defeat and disgrace and brought Achan and his family death.
2. Rescue Rahab and her family (Josh. 6:22-23, 25-26).
When the walls of the city fell down, it appears that the section of the wall that held Rahab’s house (2:15) didn’t fall down! It wasn’t necessary for the spies to look for a window with a red cord hanging from it (vv. 18-19), because the only house that was preserved was the house in which Rahab and her family waited. When the spies made their covenant with Rahab, they didn’t know exactly how God would give them the city.
God saved and protected Rahab because of her faith (Heb. 11:31); and because she led her family to trust in Jehovah, they were also saved. These Gentile believers were rescued from a fiery judgment because they trusted the God of Israel, for “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). They were “afar off” as far as the covenants were concerned (Eph. 2:11-12), but their faith brought them into the nation of Israel; for Rahab married Salmon and became an ancestress of King David and of the Messiah! (Matt. 1:5)
Rahab and her relatives were put “outside the camp” initially because they were unclean Gentiles, and “outside the camp” was the place designated for the unclean (Num. 5:1-4; 12:14; Deut. 23:9-14). The men in the family would have to be circumcised in order to become “sons of the covenant,” and all of the family would have to submit to the Law of Moses. What grace that God spared Rahab and her loved ones, and what abundant grace that He chose her, an outcast Gentile, to be an ancestress of the Savior!
3. Destroy the people (Josh. 6:21).
It disturbs some people that God commanded every living thing in Jericho to be killed. Isn’t our God a God of mercy? After all, it’s one thing for the Jews to kill the enemy soldiers; but why kill women, children, and even animals?
To begin with, this commandment was not a new one. The Lord had given it to Moses years before. In the “divine law of war” found in Deuteronomy 20, the Lord made a distinction between attacking cities that were far off (vv. 10-15) and cities in the land of Canaan where Israel would dwell (vv. 16-18). Before besieging a city afar off, the Jews were to give that city an offer of peace; and if the city surrendered, the Jews would spare the people and make them subjects. But the people in the cities in the land of Canaan were to be destroyed completely, and their cities burned.
Why? For one thing, the civilization in Canaan was unspeakably wicked; and God didn’t want His holy people contaminated by their neighbors (7:1-11). We must never forget that God put Israel in the world to be the channel for His blessing (Gen. 12:1-3), which involves, among other things, the writing of the Scriptures and the coming of the Savior.
Read the Old Testament record, and you will see Satan doing everything he could to pollute the Jewish nation and thus prevent the birth of the Messiah. When the Jewish men married pagan women and began to worship pagan gods, it was a threat to the purposes God had for His chosen people (Neh. 13:23-31). God wanted a “holy seed” (Mal. 2:14-15) so that His holy Son could come to be the Savior of the world.
“God is perpetually at war with sin,” said G. Campbell Morgan. “That is the whole explanation of the extermination of the Canaanites.”6-2 Because the Jews didn’t fully obey this commandment in later years, it led to national defilement and divine chastening (Ps. 106:34-48). The Book of Judges would not be in the Bible if the nation of Israel had remained true to the Lord (Judges 2:11-23).
There is a second consideration: The people in the land had been given plenty of opportunity to repent and turn to the Lord, just as Rahab and her family had done. God patiently endured the evil of the Canaanites from the time of Abraham (Gen. 15:16) to the time of Moses, a period of over 400 years. (See 2 Peter 3:9.) From the Exodus to the crossing of the Jordan was another 40 years in Israel’s history, and the Canaanites knew what was going on! (See Josh. 2:8-13.)
Every wonder that God performed and every victory that God gave His people was a witness to the people of the land, but they preferred to go on in their sins and reject the mercy of God. Never think of the Canaanites as helpless ignorant people who knew nothing about the true God. They were willfully sinning against a flood of light.
We should also keep in mind that these historical events were written “for our learning” (Rom. 15:4) as we seek to live for Christ today. In the destruction of Jericho and its population God is telling us that He will tolerate no compromise with sin in the lives of His people. To quote Campbell Morgan again: “Thank God that He will not make peace with sin in my heart! I bless His name for the thunder of His authority, and for the profound conviction that He is fierce and furious in His anger against sin, wherever it manifests itself.”6-3
The words of a popular song “Whiter Than Snow” come to mind here: we sing “Break down every idol/Cast out every foe,” If we don’t understand what we’re singing, listen to the meaning: the Lord will not share my life if there are rival gods in my heart. He will not permit me to compromise with the enemy. When you grasp this truth, you also better understand His admonition in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.
4. Burn the city (Josh. 6:24).
“Thy God is a consuming fire” was spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy 4:24 long before it was quoted by the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 12:29. Moses was warning the Jewish people against idolatry and the danger of following the religious practices of the people in Canaan. Moses added a phrase that isn’t quoted in Hebrews but is still important for us to know: “even a jealous God.”
God is jealous over His people and will not permit them to divide their love and service between Him and the false gods of the world (Ex. 20:5; 34:14). We cannot serve two masters.
Jericho was a wicked city, and sin is only fuel for the holy wrath of God. Jesus compared hell to a furnace of fire (Matt. 13:42), fire that is eternal (25:41, 46); and John compared it to a lake of fire (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14). John the Baptist described God’s judgment as “unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:12). The burning of Jericho, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7), is a picture of the judgment of God that will fall on all who reject the truth.
Even after he had burned the city, Joshua put a curse on Jericho. This would warn any of the Jews or Rahab’s descendants who might be tempted to rebuild what God had destroyed. The curse was later fulfilled in the days of evil King Ahab (1 Kings 16:34).
As He promised, God was with Joshua (Josh. 1:5, 9); and God magnified Joshua’s name in the land (v. 17; 3:7; 4:14). God’s servants must never magnify themselves; and if the Lord magnifies them, they must be careful to give Him the glory. It’s when we are strong that we get overconfident and forget to trust the Lord (2 Chron. 26:15).
Moses described the Promised Land as “a land of hills and valleys” (Deut. 11:11). That statement is much more than a description of the contrast between the hilly landscape of Canaan and the flat monotonous topography of Egypt. It’s also a description of the geography of the life of faith that is pictured by Israel’s experiences in Canaan.
As by faith we claim our inheritance in Christ, we experience peaks of victory and valleys of discouragement. Discouragement isn’t inevitable in the Christian life, but we must remember that we can’t have mountains without valleys.
The ominous word but that introduces Joshua 7 is a signal that things are going to change; for Joshua is about to descend from the mountaintop of victory at Jericho to the valley of defeat at Ai. Joshua was a gifted and experienced leader, but he was still human and therefore liable to error. In this experience, he teaches us what causes defeat and how we must handle the discouragements of life.
Suddenly we are presented with a series of failures that stand in striking contrast to the victories of the past six chapters. But how instructive this is if we only have the ears to listen to the message of this chapter. The thrill of victory was so quickly replaced with the agony of defeat. Here is the story of life and one we must learn to deal with in our daily walk because this passage is so typical of most of us: One minute we can be living in victory—the next in defeat.
The distance between a great victory and a great defeat is only one step, and often only a short one at that. One sad truth of reality in a fallen world is that we can be riding high on the cloud of some great spiritual success and the very next moment find ourselves in a valley of spiritual failure and despair. One moment we can be like Elijah standing victoriously on Mount Carmel and the next shriveled up under a juniper tree or hiding in a cave in deep despair complaining to God: “… I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Kings 19:10).
Because of its strategic location, Ai was the next objective in the path of conquest. As with Jericho, its defeat was vital to the conquest of the entire land. Ai was smaller than Jericho, but its conquest was essential because it would give Israel control of the main route that ran along the highlands from north to south in the central portion of the land.
Jericho had been placed under the ban, a phrase which comes from the Hebrew word, herem, “a devoted thing, a ban.” The verb form, haram, means “to ban, devote, or destroy utterly.” Basically, this word refers to the exclusion of an object from use or abuse by man along with its irreversible surrender to God. It is related to an Arabic root meaning “to prohibit, especially to ordinary use.” So, to surrender something to God meant devoting it to the service of God or putting it under a ban for utter destruction.[1]
For something to be under the ban meant one of two things. First, everything living was to be completely destroyed. This has been called barbaric and primitive and nothing less than the murder of innocent lives. The Canaanites, however, were by no means innocent. They were a vile people who practiced the basest forms of immorality including child sacrifice. God had given them over four hundred years to repent, but now their iniquity had become full (see Gen. 15:16; Lev. 18:24-28). The few who did turn to the Lord (Rahab and her family) were spared.
As with Sodom and Gomorrah, if there had been even ten righteous, God would have spared the city (Gen. 18), but since He could not find even ten, God removed Lot and his family (Gen. 19). Further, if any city had repented as did Nineveh at the preaching of Jonah, He would have spared that city, but in spite of all the miraculous works of God which they had heard about, there was no repentance, they remained steadfast in their depravity.
Second, all the valuable objects like gold and silver were to be dedicated to the Lord’s treasury. This was evidently to be done as a kind of first fruits of the land, and as an evidence of the people’s trust in the Lord’s supply for the future (cf. Lev. 27:28-29).
But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things ; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord's anger burned against Israel.
Chapter 7 opens with the little but ominous word, “but.” This word contrasts this chapter with the preceding, but particularly 6:27. First, there was the thrill of victory, but now there is the agony of defeat. This little conjunction of contrast is designed to drive home an important truth—the reality of the ever present threat and contrasts of life—victory is always followed by at least the threat of defeat.
Never is the believer in greater danger of a fall than after a victory. We are so prone to drop our guard and begin trusting in ourselves or in our past victories rather than the Lord. One victory never guarantees the next. Only as it builds our confidence in the Lord and develops our wisdom in appropriating God’s Word do our victories aid us for the next battle. Always, the basis of victory is the Lord Himself and our faith/dependence on Him. A New Testament chapter that deserves consideration here is 1 Corinthians 10, especially verse 12. The problem is clearly stated in the words, “The sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard …”
Never underestimate the amount of damage one person can do outside the will of God. Abraham’s disobedience in Egypt almost cost him his wife (Gen. 12:10-20); David’s disobedience in taking an unauthorized census led to the death of 70,000 people (2 Sam. 24); and Jonah’s refusal to obey God almost sank a ship (Jonah 1). The church today must look diligently “lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble” (Heb. 12:15, nkjv). That’s why Paul admonished the Corinthian believers to discipline the disobedient man in their fellowship, because his sin was defiling the whole church (1 Cor. 5).
Let’s note several things about this problem facing the Israelites as a nation.
(1) The word “unfaithfully” represents a Hebrew word that means “to act underhandedly.” It was used of marital infidelity, of a woman who was unfaithful to her husband. The sin here was both an act of spiritual infidelity, being a friend of the world rather than a friend to the Lord (Jam. 4:4), and a faithless act, seeking happiness and security from things rather than from God (1 Tim. 6:6f).
(2) We see that the Lord held the whole camp of Israel accountable for the act of one man and withheld His blessing until the matter was corrected. There was sin in the camp and God would not continue blessing the nation as long as this was so. This does not mean this was the only sin and the rest of the nation was sinless, but this sin was of such a nature (direct disobedience and rebellion) that God used it to teach Israel and us a couple of important lessons.
God viewed the nation of Israel as a unit. What one did was viewed as a sin for the whole nation because Israel’s corporate life illustrates truth and warnings for us as individuals (1 Cor. 10). As a warning for the church, it shows us we cannot progress and move ahead for the Lord with known sin in our lives because that constitutes rebellion against the Lord’s direction and control (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19). It is a matter of loving the world—and to do so is to make one behave as though he or she was an enemy of God (Jam. 4).
Achan’s behavior also illustrates how one or a few believers out of fellowship, when pursuing their own selfish desires and agendas, can negatively impact an entire group. Such behavior can create trouble for the rest. God made it clear that it was Israel that had sinned and not just Achan alone (Josh. 7:1, 11).
Why would God blame the whole nation for the disobedience of only one soldier? Because Israel was one people in the Lord and not just an assorted collection of tribes, clans, families, and individuals. God dwelt in the midst of their camp, and this made the Jews the Lord’s special people (Ex. 19:5-6). Jehovah God walked about in their camp, and therefore the camp was to be kept holy (Deut. 23:14). Anyone who disobeyed God defiled the camp, and this defilement affected their relationship to the Lord and to one another.
God’s people today are one body in Christ. Consequently, we belong to each other, we need each other, and we affect each other (1 Cor. 12:12ff). Any weakness or infection in one part of the human body contributes to weakness and infection in the other parts. So it also is with the body of Christ. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Cor. 12:26, niv). “One sinner destroys much good” (Ecc. 9:18, nkjv).
Achan’s name, the Hebrew, àa„kan, is a play on the word àa„ko„r, which means “trouble.” So Joshua would declare that the Lord would bring trouble (àa„ko„r) on Achan who had become a “troubler” to the nation because of his sin (cf. 7:24-25).
Thus, the site of Achan’s death and grave was called, “the valley of Achor” (Hebrew, àa„ko‚r, “disturbance, trouble”). Though the crime was committed by one person, the whole nation was considered guilty. The nation was responsible for the obedience of every citizen and was charged with the punishment of every offender. This should call to mind the following verses:
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal (Hebrews 12:15-16).
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:6-7).
The apostle Paul saw the same principle of solidarity at work in the church (1 Cor 5:6-13). Unjudged sin contaminated the whole assembly—”Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?” (v. 6).[2]
(3) We also are reminded how nothing escapes the omniscience of God (Psa. 139:1f). Sin never escapes His watchful eye. We can fool ourselves and others, but never the Lord. God sees the sin in our lives and desires us to deal with it, not hide it. Hiding it only hinders our progress in God’s will and plan (Prov. 28:13) and creates trouble for others. Numbers 32:23 reminds us, “be sure your sin will find you out.” This is similar to the idea of reaping what we sow because of the natural consequences of God’s spiritual and moral laws and because of God’s personal involvement. The Numbers text, however, does not just teach that sin will be discovered but that the consequences of our sin become active agents in discovering us (see Gal. 6:7-8).
(4) The words, “therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel,” dramatically call our attention to the holiness of God. Sin is no small matter with God because sin is rebellion and rebellion is as the sin of divination (1 Sam. 15:23). Even though Christ died for our sins and stands at God’s right hand as our Advocate and Intercessor, God does not and cannot treat sin in our lives lightly. It is against His holy character (His holiness, righteousness, love, etc.) and against His holy purposes for us because it hinders His control and ability to lead us.
Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning?” But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:5-6, the NET Bible, emphasis mine).
Thus, God must deal with us and the sin in our lives; He deals with us as a Father and as the Vine Dresser, but He nevertheless deals with us (John 15:1f; Heb. 12:5).
The sin (Josh. 7:20-21).
{20} Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: {21} When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
A beautiful Babylonian garment: Literally, “one beautiful garment of Shinar.” The land of Shinar is mentioned in Gen. 11:2 as the place where men built the Tower of Babel. two hundred shekels of silver: The shekel was the basic unit of weight for silver, and it was slightly more than fourtenths of an ounce. The total weight of the silver was considerable, more than eighty ounces. The gold Achan took weighed fifty shekels, or about twenty ounces. coveted: Achan’s actions, besides violating God’s instructions, also were a violation of the tenth commandment (Ex. 20:17). Achan had made fruitless attempts to hide his sin from God, from whom nothing can be hidden (Ps. 139:7–12).[3]
Ironically for Achan, God allowed the Israelites to take the spoil in the next victory, at the second battle of Ai (8:2). Achan’s greed was his own downfall.[4]
Achan heard his commander give the order that all the spoils in Jericho were to be devoted to the Lord and were to go into His treasury (6:17-21, 24). Since Jericho was Israel’s first victory in Canaan, the firstfruits of the spoils belonged to the Lord (Prov. 3:9). But Achan disobeyed and took the hazardous steps that lead to sin and death (James 1:13-15): “I saw . . . I coveted . . . [I] took” (Josh. 7:21).
Eve did the same thing when she listened to the devil (Gen. 3:5), and so did David when he yielded to the flesh (2 Sam. 11:1-4). Since Achan also coveted the things of the world, he brought defeat to Israel and death to himself and his family.
Achan’s first mistake was to look at these spoils a second time. He probably couldn’t help seeing them the first time, but he should never have looked again and considered taking them. A man’s first glance at a woman may say to him, “She’s attractive!” But it’s that second glance that gets the imagination working and leads to sin (Matt. 6:27-30). If we keep God’s Word before our eyes, we won’t start looking in the wrong direction and doing the wrong things (Prov. 4:20-25).
His second mistake was to reclassify those treasures and call them “the spoils” (Josh. 7:21). They were not “the spoils”; they were a part of the Lord’s treasury and wholly dedicated to Him. They didn’t belong to Achan, or even to Israel; they belonged to God. When God identifies something in a special way, we have no right to change it. In our world today, including the religious world, people are rewriting God’s dictionary! “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20, kjv) If God says something is wrong, then it’s wrong; and that’s the end of the debate.
Achan’s third mistake was to covet. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed” (James 1:14, nkjv). Instead of singing praises in his heart for the great victory God had given, Achan was imagining in his heart what it would be like to own all that treasure. The imagination is the “womb” in which desire is conceived and from which sin and death are eventually born.
His fourth mistake was to think that he could get away with his sin by hiding the loot. Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin and run away and hide, but the Lord discovered them (Gen. 3:7ff). “Be sure your sin will find you out” was originally said to the people of God, not to the lost (Num. 32:23); and so was “The Lord shall judge His people” (Deut. 32:36; Heb. 10:30). How foolish of Achan to think that God couldn’t see what he was doing, when “all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13, nkjv).
{2} Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, "Go up and spy out the region." So the men went up and spied out Ai. {3} When they returned to Joshua, they said, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there." {4} So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, {5} who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.
Ai was in the hill country, about fifteen miles from Jericho; and one went up to Ai because it was situated 1,700 feet above sea level. The Jewish army marched confidently up the hill but soon came down again, fleeing for their lives and leaving thirty-six dead comrades behind them.
The defeat of Israel’s army at Ai described here is the only defeat recorded in Joshua and the only report of Jews slain in battle. Ai was smaller than Jericho! How could such a defeat occur so quickly? The root cause, as summarized in verse one, was the sin of Achan. There are other issues involved, however, which led Joshua to go up against Ai when he should not have.
In these verses we see some of the varying consequences of sin in the life of God’s people or in the life of the individual. Sin has many consequences, none of them good.
No doubt Joshua was eager to move forward for the Lord and to take more territory in keeping with God’s directions and His purpose for Israel. But being a little self-confident and resting too much on the victory at Jericho, Joshua evidently failed to take time to get alone with the Lord to inquire of Him and seek His strength. If he had, he would not have remained ignorant of the sin of Achan and could have dealt with it first. Four deadly errors were the result: (a) They remained ignorant of the sin of Achan. (b) They underestimated the strength of the enemy. (c) They over-estimated the strength of their own army. (d) They presumed on the Lord—they took Him for granted.
Later, when God gave the orders for them to go up against the enemy, perhaps because of their previous self-confident attitude and their presumption, He commanded them to take “all the people of war” (8:1). With Gideon, however, the Lord had him reduce his forces lest they boast in their own power as the source of their victory (Judges 7:1f).
How often are we not just like Joshua here in chapter 7? Because of a workaholic mentality or an activity-oriented bent or a desire to get things done and to be successful, there is the tendency to rush off without taking time to draw near to the Lord, draw on His resources, and to put on the full armor of God. Such is not only unwise, but it often causes us to be insensitive to serious failures in our own lives and ministries which grieve and quench the Spirit and leave us defenseless against the enemy because we are operating in our own strength and wisdom. Ultimately, then, these failures stand in the way of our progress and ability to handle the various challenges in life.
The last part of verse 5 reads, “so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.” The defeat at Ai demoralized the people. This is perhaps even more significant than the defeat itself because it created misgivings and a lack of confidence in the Lord. Rather than examine their own lives as the source of their defeat, they began to doubt the Lord and wonder if He had changed His mind or if they had misread His directions. Should we have crossed the Jordan? Should we have stayed on the other side? (cf. 7:7).
In our human nature, we are typically just like that. We are so quick to become depressed, discouraged, and disoriented. We look in every direction for a reason for defeat—except to ourselves. We blame, we make excuses, we hide and hurl, but we so often fail to honestly examine our own lives. We assume the problem could not possibly be us … could it?
{6} Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. {7} And Joshua said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! {8} O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? {9} The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?"
A study of Bible characters reveals that most of those who made history were men who failed at some point, and some of them drastically, but who refused to continue lying in the dust. Their very failure and repentance secured for them a more ample conception of the grace of God. They learned to know Him as the God of the second chance to His children who had failed Him—and the third chance, too …
The successful leader is a man who has learned that no failure need to be final and acts on that belief, whether the failure is his own or that of another. He must learn to be realistic and prepared to realize that he cannot be right all the time. There is no such thing as a perfect or infallible leader.[6]
Joshua, of course, was stunned by the defeat and catastrophe at Ai, and his actions and those of the elders were in keeping with the Hebrew practices of mourning and despair. Prostrating himself before the Ark of the Lord certainly suggests that he and the elders were humbling themselves before the Lord. Joshua and the elders were not guilty of callused indifference. They were showing a deep concern and their need of God’s hand; they needed His intervention and wisdom. However, from the words that follow, intermingled with these feelings, there is also evidence of some self-pity and doubt.
The actions of mourning here are much more dramatic than typical mourning customs in the modern world. However, these were common actions in Israel and the ancient Middle East. Other mourning customs in Israel included weeping (Ps. 6:6), beating the chest (Is. 32:12), lifting up of the hands (Ezra 9:5; Ps. 141:2), lying or sitting in silence (Judg. 20:26; 2 Sam. 12:16), bowing the head (Lam. 2:10), fasting (2 Sam. 3:35), wearing sackcloth (Gen. 37:34), and sprinkling ashes, dust, or dirt (2 Sam. 15:32). However, the Israelites were strictly prohibited from practicing some pagan mourning rites, such as cutting the body or shaving the beard (Lev. 19:28; Deut. 14:1; Jer. 16:6).[7]
Today we do not normally tear our clothes, fall face down on the ground, and put dust on our heads. But we do have ways of showing our consternation and pain and doubt. We may fall on our knees or put our face in our hands and sob, but if there are feelings of self-pity and depression, we may become inactive or sullen. But these responses do not remove the pain nor do they solve the problem and enable us to grow through the experience.
Finally, after a whole day on his face, Joshua verbalized his perplexity in three questions and two statements. He didn’t take it out on others, nor did he try to escape or repress it. He did what we should all do—he took it to the Lord.
In his prayer Joshua sounded like the unbelieving Jews whenever they found themselves in a tough situation that demanded faith: Joshua’s bitter words echoed various complaints by the Israelites in the wilderness (Ex. 16:3; 17:3; Num. 11:4–6; 14:2, 3; 20:3–5).[8]
(Exodus 16:3 NIV) The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
(Exodus 17:3 NIV) But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?"
(Numbers 11:4-6 NIV) The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! {5} We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. {6} But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"
(Numbers 14:2-3 NIV) All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! {3} Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"
(Numbers 20:3-5 NIV) They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! {4} Why did you bring the Lord's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? {5} Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"
The Jews had frequently wanted to go back to Egypt, but Joshua would have been willing to cross the Jordan and settle down on the other side.
“But read his prayer, and you will catch a strange note in it,” wrote George H. Morrison; “Joshua reproaches God.”7-1 He seems to be blaming God for Israel’s presence in Canaan and for the humiliating defeat they had just experienced.
When you walk by faith, you will claim all that God has for you; but unbelief is always content to settle for something less than God’s best. This is why the Epistle to the Hebrews is in the Bible, to urge God’s people to “go on” and enter into the fullness of their inheritance in Christ (Heb. 6:1). God sometimes permits us to experience humiliating defeats in order to test our faith and reveal to us what’s really going on in our hearts. What life does to us depends on what life finds in us, and we don’t always know the condition of our own hearts (Jer. 17:9).
The First Question (vs. 7a): “Alas, O Lord God, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan …” The NIV translates this, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan …” The word “alas” or “ah” is a strong interjection of despair.
“Ah” is practically a transliteration of the Hebrew. It often, as here, points to a mood of hopelessness and defeat. In most places it is used with “Lord God” though not always as an expression of despair (Jud. 6:22; Jer. 1:6; 4:10; 14:13; 32:17; Ezek. 4:14; 9:8;11:13). With one breath he cries out “Ah, Adonai Yahweh,” which acknowledges God’s sovereign authority and lordship over their lives, but with the very next breath he seems to question God’s purposes and promises as the Sovereign Lord.
With the question, “why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan …” he was acting as though God were not in control or as though God had merely tricked them or had made a mistake. How quick we are to act religious while at the very same time we can deny God’s authority and power by other things we may think, or say, or do. Here is a perfect illustration of how focusing on the problem negatively affects our view of God which in turn affects our faith in His purposes, plan, and promises.
A wrong focus, on the one hand, often turns mountains into mole hills. Perhaps, trusting in their past victory instead of the Lord, they had their eyes on the smallness of Ai and saw it as just a little problem. On the other hand, with their eyes on the defeat, they turned this mole hill into a mountain that was too big for the Sovereign Lord to handle.
Whenever we are occupied with the problem, or whenever we fail to focus our minds and eyes on the Lord, we become insensitive to the Person, plan, promises, and purposes of God. At this point, it seems it never entered Joshua’s mind that God may have had a reason for allowing the defeat or that they might in some way be the cause. When our focus is wrong we either forget God’s promises or we question them. We then quit relating to God’s person in all His divine essence. In such a condition we no longer see the Lord as our hope, instead He becomes the villain.
The First Statement (vs. 7b): “If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan!” How narrow our vision grows and how negative we become to God’s purposes when we have our eyes on the circumstances and lose sight of the Lord! We go into reverse and look back. The tendency is to become nostalgic for the ‘good old days.’ We become like Israel who remembered the garlic, leeks and cucumbers, but forgot about the taskmasters and mud pits. In order to be comfortable we are willing to settle for a life of mediocrity rather than learn what the hindrances are so that we can move ahead in the pursuit of excellence.
There is the assumption here that, since they had been defeated, they could not go forward and that it would have been better not to have encountered the enemy. In their perspective, their failure had somehow weakened God’s ability to give them future victories. This is a typical assumption, but one that is wrong. God is never limited by our defeats. As the Sovereign Lord, He is able to work all things together for good, the good of conforming us like His Son (Rom. 8:28-29).
The Second Question (vs. 8): “O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies?” Following the defeat of Jericho, chapter 6 ended with the statement, “So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.” Now we have this statement in 7:8 and it seems Joshua was now worried about the complaints of the people and their willingness to follow his leadership. Will this failure preempt my ability to do what you have called me to do because of their attitudes and questions? Furthermore, people were going to want some answers and he simply didn’t have any at this time. What could he possibly say to them? This was really a prayer for wisdom (Jam. 1:5).
Perhaps also, feeling a little shame or personal blame for the way the men had turned and fled, he was doubting his own ability to lead the army. He was perhaps feeling that he had let them down, that people would be blaming him for the defeat, and he was concerned about the impact of all this on his ability to lead the people.
A Second Statement and Worry (vs. 9): “For the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name …” Joshua was concerned about the impact of this defeat on their testimony to the nations and how it could bring them down in a concerted effort against God’s people. Would this provide a beachhead for the enemy to now go on the offensive and attack Israel rather than vice versa? The world is watching us and the way we handle our problems affects the attitude of the world toward the Christian community (1 Pet. 3:13-17).
The Third Question: “And what will You do for Your great name?” Even in all his fears, we see Joshua’s character and love for the Lord manifesting itself. It appears that Joshua’s greatest concern was that the news of this defeat might somehow reduce the respect of the heathen nations for God’s own name. Joshua may have been guilty of thinking what people often think, that one failure must lead to other failures; that victory is less likely now because they had so miserably failed. True, our sin and failure may affect our testimony for a while; it may give Satan an opportunity to establish a beachhead; it may have repercussions in other ways, but God is always able to work all things together for good for those who love Him.
Nothing is ever accomplished with our face in the dirt or with our eyes on our failures and problems. First, we must confess our failures and the things that caused them when they can be determined. Then we must seek to learn from them. Finally, we need to know that God’s will is immediate recovery and faith in the grace of God. God’s will is to get up and move on (vss. 10f).
Let’s summarize the causes of failure: (1) Apparently, there was a lack of prayer or a failure to get alone with God to seek His guidance. (2) Clearly, there was reliance on human wisdom when Joshua listened to the suggestion of the spies when they returned from the spying out Ai (vs. 3). (3) Then, relying on their past victory instead of the Lord, there was overconfidence in their own ability thinking they could easily go up against such a small city when compared to Jericho (vss. 3-4).
Now with verse 10, our attention is turned to God’s response and directions to Joshua. This is highly instructive for it not only gives us greater insight into the nature of Joshua’s actions (dismay and doubt), but it provides us with God’s evaluation of what Joshua was doing (He was not pleased) and His instruction for what was to done to correct the problem.
{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. {12} That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. {13} "Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it. {14} "'In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD takes shall come forward clan by clan; the clan that the LORD takes shall come forward family by family; and the family that the LORD takes shall come forward man by man. {15} He who 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 a disgraceful thing in Israel!'"
What the Lord said to Joshua helps us see Achan’s sin (and Israel’s sin) from the divine point of view. What they did was sin (7:11), a word that means “to miss the mark.” God wants His people to be holy and obedient, but they missed the mark and fell short of God’s standard. It was also transgression (v. 11), which means “to cross over.” God had drawn a line and told them not to cross it, but they had violated His covenant and crossed the line.
This sin involved stealing from God and then lying about it (v. 11). Achan had taken the forbidden wealth but pretended that he had obeyed the Lord. Achan had done a foolish thing (v. 15) in thinking he could rob God and get away with it. Israel couldn’t face any of her enemies until their sin had been put away. The tribes could never claim their inheritance as long as one man clung to his forbidden treasures. Everything God had done for His people up to this point was to no avail as long as they couldn’t go forward in victory. What a lesson for the church today!
With the words, “So the Lord said to Joshua,” we have an illustration of the personal involvement of God in the lives of His people. God cares about our lives and ministries and is ever at work to reveal Himself and teach us about ourselves and what we need to be doing as we walk through life (1 Pet. 5:6-7; Heb. 13:5-6). The issue is are we listening?
“Rise up!” This command comes with Joshua lying on his face in despair and panic with dirt on his head in typical oriental fashion. As mentioned, falling on his face demonstrated his deep concern and humility since he was crying out to God. In view of God’s response, however, it seems Joshua’s actions were primarily out of despair and the product of a spirit of hopelessness and unbelief as his words in verse 7 aptly demonstrate. Note again the word “Alas,” the Heb. ‘ahah, an interjection, which, in this context, shows despair or deep concern.
Since nothing is accomplished with our face in the dirt, the Lord tells Joshua to rise up out of this condition. Such a condition, though very human and characteristic of all of us from time to time, is not a state we can afford to stay in—it accomplishes nothing, it dishonors God’s promises and person, and neutralizes us for ministry and for the Lord.
The KJV has “get thee up,” the NIV “stand up,” the NASB “rise up,” and the NET Bible has “get up.” The verb here is the Hebrew qum which often means to rise up from a prostrate position for various reasons and from various conditions. From this literal meaning, qum often has a figurative idea. It is used of rising as an act of preparation for action, of rising out of a state of inaction or failure, of showing respect and worship, of rising to hear God’s Word, of becoming strong or powerful, of rising up to give deliverance, of assuming an office or responsibility (as a prophet or a judge), and of rising up to give testimony. Several of these ideas are applicable here. This command calls for Joshua to rise up from his state of despair and futility, which has neutralized him, in order to prepare himself for action, listen to the Lord, take up his responsibility, and lead the people in God’s deliverance.
Application: While the Lord understands and sympathizes with our problems and fears, and while humbling ourselves before the Lord is always needed, He nevertheless never condones our being prostrate in despair nor excuses us from appropriating His grace and moving out in obedience. His word to us is get up off our face, get our eyes on Him and deal with our problems according to the principles and promises of Scripture. This is a call for decisive action that is willing to make tough decisions to deal with our sin. Feeling sorry and sad about our condition is not enough. We must be willing to deal decisively with our sins. “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion” (Prov. 38:13).
“Why is it that you have fallen on your face?” Literally, the text say, “Why are you falling on your face?” The nature of this question carries a note of rebuke with a call for examination to get to the bottom of the problem, i.e., the cause of their failure. In effect, God is saying in view of who I am, in view of My plan for Israel and My promises to you, Joshua, what possible reason could you have for such despair?
Here then is a call to get his eyes on the Lord but also to look for the cause in their own sinfulness! When failure comes, we should never think God has abandoned us or that His plan has failed. We need to ask, could I be the cause?
This, then, is a call for Joshua (and for us when this is applicable) to examine the nature of what we are doing and to look for the root causes for the defeats of life when they occur. We need to know precisely just what lessons God is seeking to teach us. Is this caused by something I did or failed to do?
Reading verse 11 in the NASB or KJV makes it look like there are several different violations because of the way each clause is connected by “and,” but for the most part, each clause is a further explanation of the preceding. The translations of the NIV and the NET Bible seek to show this: each description is a further explanation of the problem, which goes from the general to the specific with each explanation adding more detail of what was involved.
Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenantal commandment. They have taken some of the riches; they have stolen them and deceitfully put them among their own possessions (NET Bible).
(1) “Israel has sinned” (this states the basic nature of their failure and ours—sin [the Heb. is h£a„t£a„á meaning “miss, miss the way or goal or mark”]); (2) “they have violated” (“violated” is the Hebrew àa„bar, “to pass over, overstep, go beyond, transgress”) “my covenantal commandment” (this points to the specific issue). (3) “They have taken some of the riches (the devoted things); they have stolen them” (this shows how they had transgressed the covenant and just what this entailed, stealing—stealing that which belonged to the Lord as devoted Him); (4) “and deceitfully put them among their own possessions” (this describes the further consequences, the snowball effect of sin and brings out the selfish, coveting nature of what was done, which is the root of most sin).
That God would declare the people of Israel doomed to destruction, as Jericho had been, because of their sin was a serious statement. It meant God would no longer be with Israel until the sin was removed from the camp. God had specifically promised to be with His people (1:5, 9). This threat to withdraw His presence emphasizes once again God’s absolute standards and His demand for holiness.[9]
We should pay special attention to the “therefore” that introduces this verse. The NIV has “that is why” and the NASB and KJV have “therefore.” In this way, we are pointed to one of consequences of the sin of Achan and of unconfessed sin in general—weakness, inability to serve and live for the Lord. Why? Because sin grieves and quenches the Spirit (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:10). This illustrates the truth declared in John 15:1-7 (the need for abiding in Christ); Ephesians 4:30 (how sin grieves the person of the Spirit); 1 Thessalonians 5:19 (how sin quenches the power of the Spirit); Proverbs 28:13 (how failure to confess and decisively deal with sin keeps the Lord from prospering our walk).
In Christ we have the capacity to live victoriously for the Lord regardless of what we face, but the ability to do so always depends on fellowship with the Savior in the power of the Spirit; we need to walk in the light (1 John 1:5-9).
In preparation for his ministry of leadership, Joshua is again told to “rise up.” He can’t lead the people with his face in the dirt or while moping about, depressed over the defeat. This is in essence a call for restoration to fellowship and faith in the power of God. It’s like the Lord’s words to Peter in Luke 22. Peter was warned that Satan would sift him like wheat, but then the Lord told him, “and you, when once you have turned again (restoration to fellowship), strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). Peter was not to allow his failure and denials to neutralize him or keep him from being a leader and ministering to others. So later, after being restored to fellowship, Peter himself would exhort, “gird up the loins of your mind …” (1 Pet. 1:13). In view of what follows, the examination and discharge of discipline on Achan and his family, Joshua undoubtedly communicated this same command to the people.
Next, in verse 13, Joshua was told to “consecrate the people” to prepare them to deal with the problem. He was to call their attention to the cause of their defeat. Someone had taken things that were under the ban which had caused God to withhold His power. As the Lord had emphasized to Joshua, so he was to call their attention to both the cause and the consequences of the sin. This also called for them to consecrate themselves, that is to prepare themselves for the activities that would take place on the next day. They were to set the day apart for this activity and to prepare their hearts perhaps by prayer and worship for what God would have to do.
In verse 14 specific instructions were given for purging out this sin from their midst. First, there was to be examination of the people tribe by tribe, family by family, and finally, man by man. Note how the men were the ones held responsible for their families. The examination would reveal the guilty party. Verse 15 describes the punishment that was to be carried out on the guilty party with the reason given for the severity of the punishment.
{16} Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was taken. {17} The clans of Judah came forward, and he took the Zerahites. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was taken. {18} Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. {19} Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me." {20} Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: {21} When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” asked the prophet (Jer. 17:9); and he answered the question in the next verse: “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
Nobody can hide from God. “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?” (23:24)
Whether sinners run to the top of the mountains or dive to the bottom of the seas, God will find them and judge them (Amos 9:3). “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecc. 12:14).
Four times we read in Joshua that he rose early in the morning to take care of important business. Joshua was no procrastinator.
Then, in verses 16 through 18 the process of discovery is described beginning with all Israel until it was narrowed down by tribes to the tribe of Judah, then by families or clans to the Zerathites, then to the family of Zimri, and from that family to Achan. Why did Joshua follow this procedure and how was he able to narrow the search to Achan? The answer is found for us in verse 14 in the repeated words, “which the Lord takes” or “selects” (NET Bible). The words “by lot” found in the NASB are in italics and are not in the original, but they most likely express the means used because of the words, “which the Lord takes.”
“Which the Lord takes” or “selects” in verses 16-18 refers to a choice probably based on the use of the Urim and the Thummim in accordance with Exodus 28:15, 30 (cf. Num. 27:21) and which somehow involved the casting of lots (cf. Prov. 16:33; Jos. 14:1-2; 18:6).
A key question is what was the Urim and the Thummim? They appear in Scripture without explanation, but the following may help us though several theories have been given as to their meaning.
(1) The Hebrew for this phrase probably means “the lights” and “the perfections” or “light and perfection.” The Hebrew word for Urim (‘u‚ri‚m, a plural noun) is probably derived from ‘o‚r “be light.” Thummim, also plural, probably comes from a Hebrew word meaning “perfection.”
(2) Urim begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (aleph) and Thummim (thu„mmi‚m) begins with the last letter (taw). Perhaps, as the Law which was built on the Hebrew alphabet (aleph to taw) stood for God’s moral will, so the Urim and Thummim stood for God’s guidance in special situations beyond human knowledge and ability.
(3) The Urim and Thummim appear in Scripture without explanatory identification, except that they were to be put “in the breastplate … and be upon Aaron’s heart” (Ex. 28:30), which may suggest that these are none other than descriptive terms for the twelve precious stones of the immediately preceding context, inscribed with the names of the tribes of Israel (vv. 17-21), and set in the breastplate of judgment upon Aaron’s heart (v. 29).[10] Some believe they consisted of only two special stones.
(4) Michaelis (Laws of Moses, 5:52) gives his opinion that the Urim and Thummim were three stones, on one of which was written ‘Yes,’ on another ‘No,’ whereas the third was left neutral or blank. These were used as lots, and the high priest decided accordingly as one or the other was drawn out. Kalisch (on Exodus 28:31) identifies the Urim and the Thummim with the twelve tribal gems. He looks on the name as one to be explained by an hendiadys (light and perfection—perfect illumination) and believes the high priest, by concentrating his thoughts on the attributes they represented, to have divested himself of all selfishness and prejudice and so to have passed into a true prophetic state. The process of consulting Jehovah by Urim and Thummim is not given in Scripture.[11]
(5) They were contained in the breastplate or pouch of judgment worn on the outside of the ephod. The point is they were a means of seeking divine guidance and answers to questions and crises beyond human perception through the ministry of the priest.
Dr. Hannah in The Bible Knowledge Commentary says:
How they were used in determining God’s will is unknown, but some suggest the Urim represented a negative answer and the Thummim a positive answer. Perhaps this view is indicated by the fact that Urim … begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and Thummim … with the last letter. Others suggest that the objects simply symbolized the high priest’s authority to inquire of God, or the assurance that the priest would receive enlightenment (“lights”) and perfect knowledge (“perfections”) from God.[12]
(6) Whatever, they were probably sacred lots and were used in times of crisis to determine the will of God (see Numb. 27:21). Every decision of the Urim was from the Lord (Prov. 16:33). The use of the Urim and the Thummim to determine God’s decisions or to find His will was to be done by the high priest because he alone could wear the ephod which contained the Urim and Thummim.
(7) In 1 Samuel 2:28 three tasks of the priests are mentioned: (a) To go up to my altar, i.e., to perform the sacrificial rites at the altar of burnt offering in the courtyard of the tabernacle; (b) To burn incense at the altar of incense in the Holy Place (Ex 30:1-10), and (c) To wear an ephod. This is a reference to the special ephod to be worn by the high priests. This included the breastplate or pouch which contained the Urim and Thummim, the divinely ordained means of communication with God and to make decisions all of which was somehow related to casting lots.
God gave divine direction and Achan was discovered by supernatural means. He did not come forth voluntarily to confess or repent and throw himself on the mercy of God. His failure to do so stands in contrast with the attitude of the prodigal son and the publican in the New Testament.
As 1 Corinthians 10 reminds us, what happened to Achan is recorded for our warning and instruction to remind us of one of the processes to sin. The process to Achan’s sin was a familiar one. He saw, he coveted, and he took. It was the same with Eve (Gen. 3:6) and with David (2 Sam. 11:2-4) and it is the same with us. Joshua’s approach was tender, yet firm. He hated the sin, but loved the sinner. Achan’s confession while honest, was too late and it was the product of discovery. It was not an act of repentance or godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2 Cor. 7:8-11).
The phrase “Give glory to God” was a form of official oath in Israel (John 9:24, niv). Achan had not only sinned against his own people, but also he had grievously sinned against the Lord; and he had to confess his sin to Him.
When he said “I have sinned,” he joined the ranks of seven other men in Scripture who made the same confession, some more than once, and some without sincerity:
Pharaoh (Ex. 9:27; 10:16)
Balaam (Num. 22:34)
King Saul (1 Sam. 15:24, 30; 26:21)
David (2 Sam. 12:13; 24:10, 17; Ps. 51:4)
Shimei (2 Sam. 19:20)
Judas (Matt. 27:4)
the prodigal son (Luke 15:18, 21).
Certainly there are some important lessons here:
(1) Confession without repentance or a genuine change of mind is hollow. It does not restore us to fellowship not because repentance is a work we must do to gain God’s forgiveness, but because without it we retain a wrong attitude which keeps a barrier between us and the Lord.
(2) Sometimes confession is too late to stop the discipline as in the case with David. The primary purpose of confession is not to get out of trouble or to keep us out of God’s woodshed. The purpose of confession is to reestablish fellowship and turn our lives over to God because we want to walk with Him under His control, going in His direction (Amos 3:3).
Perhaps the most practical need here is for us to note the process to see if we can discover what led to Achan’s choice and sin. The fact Achan hid the plunder shows he clearly knew he was doing wrong. So, why did he go ahead and do it? Well, why did Eve sin and fall for the deceptions of the serpent?
In answer to this, we might first take note of what Achan took. He took gold and silver which suggests materialism, trusting in riches for our security and happiness. But he also took a beautiful robe which came from Babylon. This not only points to materialism, but the desire to be fashionable and gain the approbation of men, seeking our sense of significance from the praise or applause of others.
Principle: These desires (lust patterns) illustrate the various lust patterns we all face and which, if not dealt with in faith, can dominate our lives. They include things like desire for position, power, prestige, pleasure, possessions, praise or applause, and recognition, but they are nothing more than human solutions or protective strategies we use to find security, significance, and satisfaction apart from God. Jeremiah calls them broken cisterns. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13).
These lust patterns have their source in: (a) The sinful nature with its faulty thinking and reasoning (Isa. 55:8f; Prov. 14:12; Rom. 1:18f; Eph. 4:17f). (b) The world and its human reasoning or viewpoint that seeks to live life apart from God and His revelation and plan (Rom. 12:2). (c) False belief structures which, thinking with man’s viewpoint and believing the delusions of the world and Satan, believe that these things will meet our needs like security or happiness. (d) Unbelief in God’s goodness, wisdom, and timing in the way He supplies our needs.
Achan, as with Eve, was dissatisfied, impatient, and self-reliant. He was believing, trusting and using his own protective strategies to get what he wanted out of life. Ironically, God was in the process of taking all of Israel into the land where each man would have his own land, house, and abundant blessings. But dissatisfaction caused by failure to find his happiness in the Lord produced impatience which caused him to covet and run ahead with his own solutions. Though the command against coveting is only one of the Ten Commandments, it is the root sin against which most of the others were given and the root cause behind most of our sin.
Coveting stems from being dissatisfied with our lot in life and from our failure to seek our happiness in the Lord and to trust Him as the source of our needs for security, significance, and satisfaction. The New Testament defines coveting as idolatry (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5). In the final analysis, idolatry is seeking from things what only God can give. An idol may be (a) an impotent graven image made of wood or precious metal to which one prays and seeks help, (b) but it may also be materialism, that way of life that seeks security and significance from money, possessions, power, prestige, and pleasure. (c) It may also be secularism, a philosophy of life by which men seek to live apart from dependence on God, or (4) it may be the approbation of men, seeking satisfaction and security from the praise of others. Campbell writes:
It has been estimated that Americans are bombarded by 1,700 advertisements a day via various forms of the media. While there is no danger of our purchasing all 1,700 items, there is the possibility of our accepting the philosophy behind those advertisements—that we will have complete, fulfilled, satisfied lives if only we drive this car, use this hair spray, or drink that beverage.[13]
So, what is our need? It is to learn Paul’s secret of contentment in the Lord as described in Philippians 4:12-13 (see also Phil. 3:13-14 and 1 Tim. 6:6-19).
The Death of Achan Discharged (7:22-26)
{22} So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. {23} They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD. {24} Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. {25} Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today." Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. {26} Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.
Since a law in Israel prohibited innocent family members from being punished for the sins of their relatives (Deut. 24:16), Achan’s family must have been guilty of assisting him in his sin. His household was judged the same way Israel would deal with a Jewish city that had turned to idols (Josh. 13:12-18). Achan and his family had turned from the true and living God and had given their hearts to that which God had said was accursed—silver, gold, and an expensive garment. It wasn’t worth it!
At the beginning of a new period in Bible history, God sometimes revealed His wrath against sin in some dramatic way. After the tabernacle had been set up, Nadab and Abihu invaded its holy precincts contrary to God’s law; and God killed them. This was a warning to the priests not to treat God’s sanctuary carelessly (Lev. 10). When David sought to restore the ark to its place of honor, and Uzzah touched the ark to steady it, God killed Uzzah (2 Sam. 6:1-11); another warning from God not to treat sacred things carelessly. At the beginning of the Church Age, when Ananias and Sapphira lied to God and God’s people, the Lord killed them (Acts 5:1-11).
The death of Achan and his family was certainly a dramatic warning to the nation not to take the Word of God lightly. The people and the animals were stoned, and their bodies burned along with all that the family possessed. The troubler of Israel was completely removed from the scene, the people were sanctified, and now God could march with His people and give them victory.
It had been a trying two days for Joshua and his leaders, but the situation was about to change. God would take charge of the army and lead His people to victory. When you surrender to the Lord, no defeat is permanent and no mistake is beyond remedy. Even the “Valley of Trouble” can become a “door of hope.”
When we read this passage, one of the questions that comes to mind is why was God so harsh on Achan and his family? In contrast to the mercy we see in the New Testament, this seems terribly harsh. We might think of the mercy the Lord demonstrated to the woman at the well who had five husbands (John 4:18) and the woman taken in adultery who, as a Jewish woman, could have been stoned according to the Law (John 8:3f) and wonder why Achan did not receive similar mercy.
We are apt to the New Testament passage like the death of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). We might also be prone to either forget or minimize the holiness of God. God is described as holy more than by any of His other attributes, more than even His love, mercy, and grace. As a holy God, He is perfect righteousness and justice, and because of His justice, He must deal with sin (cf. Psa. 50:21; Eccl. 8:11-12).
But there is another issue here we must not ignore as we think about this passage. Who were these people and what was their purpose? They were a people called of God to be His witness to the world and through whom God would give the Savior (cf. Ex. 19:4-6; Deut. 10:15f; with 1 Pet. 1:14f; 2:9-12). This involved protecting the welfare and purpose of the majority by dealing with this sin in such a way that it would cause them to realize just how serious was their calling and their walk with God.
As the situation with Ananias and Sapphira occurred in the very early period of the church, so this judgment against Achan also occurred in the initial period of Israel’s entrance into the land in order to strike the fear of God into the hearts of the people and to provide an example of the seriousness of what Achan had done in violating the covenant of God. The great heap of stones set up over Achan’s grave seems to have been done as a memorial of warning for the generations to come.
The final stroke was accomplished by the raising of a historical marker, a large pile of rocks, over the body of Achan. This seems to have been a common method of burial for infamous individuals (cf. 8:29). It served in this case that good purpose of warning Israel against the sin of disobeying God’s express commands.[14]
Initial possession and enjoyment of the land and its blessings and their ability to fulfill their calling as God’s chosen people was dependent on obedience to God for it was He who was giving them the land with all its many blessings and responsibilities (Deut. 28-30).
We should note that though Achan did confess his sin, he only did so when he was found out and forced to. Had he voluntarily cast himself on the mercy of God, his life might have been spared, as was David when he sinned. Campbell writes: “In view of the fact that the Law prohibits the execution of children for their father’s sins (Deut. 24:16), we assume that Achan’s children were accomplices in crime.”[15]
Another key issue that must not be forgotten is the trouble this brought on others. God took severe action because of the serious consequences of Achan’s sin on others (it was a terrible example, several lives were lost, Israel was routed, and God’s honor impugned [cf. vs. 25]). The memorial of stones in the valley called Achor, which means “trouble” addressed this fact.
There are three concluding points that I would like to focus on from this chapter.
(1) Our sin needs to be dealt with honestly and decisively.
(2) Achan’s choice grew out of the soil of dissatisfaction. How could there be dissatisfaction in view of all he had learned and seen as one of the privileged people of Israel