[NOTE: Sorry to anyone who looked for this post yesterday and did not find it. I did finish the notes yesterday, but I failed to post them as promised! I am thankful for the opportunity to grow in diligence and faithfulness through keeping up with this blog and providing notes for those who've asked. As some of you may have picked up on by now, it is an area I need and desire to grow in! ~HCK]
Joshua 7
“But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.
Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”
The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 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.” 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. 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.’”
So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 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. 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. 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.” And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: 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.”
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. 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. 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. 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. 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.”
This is a weighty story. And the Bible says these things are written for our instruction. This is not for our entertainment. In this study I want to focus on what I think the heart of the story is about: Sin.
Sin just means disobeying God, acting contrary to God's instruction. That is exactly what happened here in this account
You see the effects of sin here: how it affects Achan, his family, his leader, and all of Israel
What truths about sin can we see illustrated in the sad story of Achan?
Sin is serious
Sin causes great misery and trouble
7:25 “Why did you bring trouble on us?”
All the problems in the world can be traced back to sin in some way
Sin is horrible, devastating, and destructive. It ruins and defiles everything it touches. It is like a cancer, and it robs us of everything that is precious
Is that how our culture views sin?
Some sins, but in general our culture does not consider sin serious. We hardly even hear the word sin; we talk about crime, fault, and error – but sin is explained away and even laughed at
Take the average sitcom, and you find that most of the jokes are making light of sin
Even Christians can fall into the trap of taking sin lightly
We can even begin to focus on the fact that we are forgiven, or even accuse ourselves and others of being legalistic when they seriously pursue holiness
But we are supposed to hate sin – it is evil, and God hates it!
God distances Himself from sin and punishes it
Isaiah 59:2 “...your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God...”
God tells Israel that they will not make any more progress or have victory if they do not cleanse themselves from the sin
This is an example of God's chastening
He showed them that they had a problem and that they needed to fix it
“Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord...”
God will chasten His children; He will not allow us to continue in sin. There are real consequences to disobeying God. He loves us too much to simply let us go on – He wants us to be holy.
Some became sick and even died from abusing the Lord's supper in the Corinthian church
Sin impacts others
The spies underestimate the situation, then Joshua gets off track and follows their advice resulting in the death of 36 others. Then Achan's family and livestock are killed with him. The whole nation is put to shame.
Do we really believe this? We sometimes think that our personal sins won't affect others, but they do
Your family will suffer from lack of positive example, the church will suffer lack of your spiritual gift. It will definitely affect your walk with God which in turn affects your interactions with others.
“If one member suffers...”
When there is a problem with one tiny root of your tooth, the whole body suffers.
It glorifies God to confess sin
“Give glory to the Lord and tell me what you've done”
How does it glorify God?
It is acknowledging God is right
But it did not save Achan, and it is the same with us
We not only need to confess our sins, but we need a Savior. We need atonement for our sins!
God hates sin
“The anger of the Lord burned...”
The whole chapter is about the wrath of God. That is why sin is a big problem – it not only causes other problems but is displeasing to God
Are we comfortable with this truth? Do you apologize for this attribute of God? How can we worship God and rejoice for this?
Without wrath, there would not be mercy
God has wrath because He is holy. God would not be a just judge if He tolerated sin.
One reason people can become uncomfortable with this is because they picture a human full of anger and wrath. People are usually wrong when they are full of wrath, but God is perfectly right in His judgment.
Is God's wrath always carried out immediately?
No. God is so patient!
Sin needs to be dealt with quickly and violently
God told Joshua to immediately take care of this
This illustrates the role of a pastor and even other believers to deal with sin in the church
Joshua confronted the congregation and together they stoned Achan and his family
We are to be concerned about sin in each other – the Bible tells us to reprove sin lovingly and gently
Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy”
Sometimes we still bear the consequences for certain sins even after we are right with God
Sin can have a longterm effect
Some people who are drug addicts permanently damage their brains and become Christians, but are not instantly healed of the damage or anything. They still feel the consequences from their former sins.
It is an warning to us that we do not always know when God will cause us to be immediately punished or feel longterm consequences.
The implications of sin go beyond the act in itself
Many people would not consider Achan's sin worse than murder or something like that. Adam and Eve only took a bite of some forbidden fruit. But sin is ultimately disobeying God
Sin is not worth the consequences
The things he stole could not even be put into use.
“Fleeting pleasures of sin”
Sin results in death
Achan did not just get a reprimand, but he was killed.
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6)
If you are lost, you will come to the judgment seat of God like Achan
He was caught red handed, with no escape. In the end he confessed, but it was too late, and will be for all those who do not have Christ as their substitute.
This is the backdrop on which the gospel shines. Christ came to save us when we are just as guilty as Achan. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life!
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