CHAPTER 7

(1451 B.C.)

AI

1But the Children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the Tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the Children of Israel. (Sin, as we shall see, was the cause. If one single member of the community of Israel violated the specific laws laid down by God imposed on them, the whole body was liable for his sin, until it had purged itself by a public act of restitution. So, Paul regards the Corinthian Church as polluted by the presence of one single offender, until he was publicly expelled, or he repented. There is some evidence that he repented [I Cor. 5:2, 6-7; II Cor. 2:4-11].)

2And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and spoke unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. (Had Joshua prayed about Ai, and it doesnt seem that he did, the sin would have been immediately discovered and defeat avoided. The danger after a victory is evident, because of over-confidence. In such an atmosphere, it is easy to forget to pray.)

3And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour there; for they (the people of Ai) are but few.

4So there went up there of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.

5And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. (Hidden sin was the cause of this failure. In the life of victory, God is the one and only strength of the Believer; he has no other strength. But God cannot give that strength if sin be indulged. If He did, He would deny His Own Nature, which is Holiness. When He acts in Power, in the midst of His People, He must act in harmony with His Own Nature; and hence, He must judge sin in the camp of Israel with the same fierce anger with which He judged it in the city of Jericho. That judgment in both cases was death.

Sin can be overcome in the life of the Believer only by the Believer looking exclusively to Christ and the Cross. It is at the Cross where sin was addressed, and only at the Cross. When the Believer places his Faith exclusively in Christ and the Cross, and it must be in both, the Holy Spirit will then work mightily in the heart and life of such a Believer, giving total and complete victory [Rom. 8:1-2, 11; I Cor. 1:17-18, 21, 23;; 2:2; Gal. 6:14; Col. 2:14-15].)

6And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the Ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the Elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. (They knew something was wrong, bad wrong, but didnt know what it was. As stated, they evidently had not prayed about the situation at Ai before now. Had they done so, the lives of 36 men would have been spared.)

7And Joshua said, Alas, O LORD God, wherefore have You at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!

8O LORD, what shall I say, when Israel turns their backs before their enemies!

9For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the Earth: and what will You do unto Your great name? (It doesnt take very much for the Faith of even the strongest Saint, such as Joshua, to be weakened. He had just seen one of the greatest moves of God in the history of man, the opening of the Jordan River, and the destruction of the city of Jericho without the loss of a single Israelite. So why will he now question the Lord?

If there is a problem, then its not the Lords fault, but rather ours!)

SIN UNCOVERED

10And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon your face?

11Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My Covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff (however, the Lord did not tell Joshua who it was).

12Therefore the Children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except you destroy the accursed from among you (to the point and simple! God cannot bless sin, and this is one of the greatest examples that one could ever know. If God would not bless Israel then because of sin, He will not bless us now, if we are guilty of the same thing).

13Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow: for thus says the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of you, O Israel: you cannot stand before your enemies, until you take away the accursed thing from among you. (Regrettably, millions of modern Christians fall into this category. The accursed thing could fall into many categories. The only way that it can be defeated is for the Believer to express his Faith exclusively in Christ and what Christ has done at the Cross. Then, and only then, can and will the Holy Spirit work within ones life, Who Alone can remove the accursed thing [Rom. 6:3-14; I Cor. 1:17-18, 23; Gal. 6:14].)

14In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your Tribes: and it shall be, that the Tribe which the LORD takes shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.

15And it shall be, that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire (stoned to death, and then burned with fire, which was then the system), he and all who he has: because he has transgressed the Covenant of the LORD, and because he has wrought folly in Israel. (The enemies of the Lord would claim that such is barbaric; however, the truth is, it is the sin that is barbaric, because it allows Satan to steal, kill, and destroy [Jn. 10:10]. Instructions had been plainly and clearly given to the entirety of the army of Israel that no spoil was to be taken in Jericho by the soldiers, or anyone else of the Tribes of Israel. So, to disobey this was to do so in the Face of God, with defiance and arrogance, which, if allowed to continue, would wreck Israel.

If someone has a contagious disease, it is not cruel to quarantine that person where they cannot infect others. In fact, it would be cruel not to do so. No, the Lord was not cruel in what He demanded; He would have been cruel not to have done so.)

ACHAN

16So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their Tribes; and the Tribe of Judah was taken (how the Lord informed Joshua of this, we arent told):

17And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken (again, in some manner, the Holy Spirit said, This is the one):

18And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the Tribe of Judah, was taken.

19And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray you, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what you have done; hide it not from me.

20And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:

21When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

JUDGMENT

22So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.

23And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the Children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.

24And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.

25And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? the LORD shall trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. (Babylon and money have a hateful attraction for the Christian. He finds these things among the unconverted around him, as Achan found them in Jericho, and his heart covets them. This explains the weakness of the modern Church. These sins are indulged instead of being confessed and forsaken. God has, therefore, withdrawn His Power, and there is universal weakness and defeat. Fellowship with God can only be enjoyed if resolute separation from all evil be observed.

Achan involved his family in the like ruin with himself. The use of the plural in the Hebrew Text suggests that they, like Sapphira, were privy to the theft [Acts 5:1-2].)

26And 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. (If the discovery and judgment of sin be painful, and if there be faithfulness in dealing with it, then Grace gives both blessing and victory, and the Valley of Achor becomes a Door of Hope [Hos. 2:15]. Sin should be greatly feared, but neither its bitterness nor its punishment should be dreaded, that is, if it is properly confessed [I Jn. 1:9]; for it is at this point that God resumes His Victory, thereby restoring fellowship to His errant Child.

Let the Reader understand that Israel was under Law, whereas presently we are under Grace. Observing what Law is, and how it must be enforced, should cause every Believer to shrink back from engaging in Law. If the Christian tries to live by Law, which, regrettably, the far greater majority of the modern Church is attempting to do, Law, incidentally, devised by man, but still Law nevertheless, they are then brought under its curse [Gal. 3:10]. And, to be sure, thats not the way that any Believer wants to live.

This is the Age of Grace, and Grace comes to the Child of God in an uninterrupted flow, which is the only way we can successfully live for God, providing the Believer places his Faith exclusively in Christ and the Cross. This is imperative [Gal., Chpt. 5].)