Joshua 7:13-26

13 Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the LORD takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the LORD takes shall come near by households. And the household that the LORD takes shall come near man by man. 15 And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’”

16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” 20 And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. 23 And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the LORD. 24 And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.

(ESV)

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  • What is the writer saying?
  • How do I apply this to my life?

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God told Joshua to tell the people to consecrate themselves and prepare to have the devoted things removed from among them. They were to come forward in tribes. Lots would be cast for God to point out the offending tribe. Then they would come forward by clans within that tribe and again lots would be cast to identify the offending clan. Then the same would happen by household and then man by man. Finally, the offending man and all his possession would need to be burned, not just the stolen goods.

Joshua rose early and began to work through the tribes and the tribe of Judah was selected. Then the clan of the Zerahites was chosen. He continued to work through the smaller and smaller groups until Achan was identified. God already knew who the offender was. Why did God use such a long winded approach to identify Achan? God needed to impress on Israel the seriousness of disobedience to His commands. Secondly, this long process afforded Achan plenty of opportunity to step forward and confess that he had taken the forbidden things. Things might have turned out differently for Achan if he had confessed and called on God’s mercy in repentance.

Joshua asked Achan to confess what he had done to show that the process of lots had been led by God to identify the correct man. Finally, Achan confessed to what he had done. He admitted his sin and revealed all he had done but did not express any sorrow at having sinned against God or for the effect it had on the nation in bringing defeat and casualties on Israel’s troops.

Achan’s confession was confirmed as the stolen goods were found in his tent. It may seem harsh that the penalty for his sin was death but the penalty for all sin is death (Rom 6:23), in this instance, God wanted to communicate a severe warning to Israel of the consequences of disobedience to His commands. Why were Achan’s children killed with him? Deuteronomy 24:16 states that children were not to be killed for their parent’s sins, only their own, so we must assume that they were accomplices to the crime.

We are more likely to sin when we rationalise our actions as being less significant than they really are. Maybe Achan took the things because he thought he was really entitled to them after all he probably didn’t have much after wandering in the desert for so long. Maybe he looked at the beautiful coat and thought God wouldn’t deny him such a nice garment. Maybe he thought what he was taking was so insignificant that it wouldn’t be missed. This story serves as a reminder that any sin is a blemish that God cannot tolerate. Is there anything you have found yourself doing because you think it’s just not “that bad”?


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