JOSHUA CHAPTER 7:10-26,
“Defeat At Ai, Part #2”
By
Jim Bomkamp
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. In our last study, we looked
at the defeat that the children of
1.1.1. There were several causes
for this defeat as well as some principles that we as Christians need to learn
from this story, including:
1.1.1.1.
The danger in success
1.1.1.1.1.
There are more temptations to beware of after success in the ministry
than at any other time
1.1.1.2.
How being victorious can cause you to think that God’s using you
mightily has something to do with you
1.1.1.2.1.
We saw the pride that can occur in a Christian’s life after a period of
great success and the Lord using you in a great way
1.1.1.3.
The sin of prayerlessness
1.1.1.4.
How trusting in God can turn into self-confidence
1.1.1.5.
The folly in relying upon carnal wisdom and council instead of trusting
in the Lord and He alone for victory
1.1.1.6.
The irony of blaming the Lord for your own sin and faithlessness
1.2.
We noticed how differently everything progressed with the battle of Ai
verses the pattern that the Lord had led them to implement with the battle of
1.2.1. Before going to
1.2.2. Before going to
1.2.2.1. We saw that the tendency in
churches after a great victory where the Lord has blessed in a great way is to
relax in prayer. However, with great
victories for the Lord there is now more reason than ever to be in prayer and to
persevere in prayer.
1.2.3. Arrogantly, the spies who
went up to Ai tell Joshua not the condition of the city of Ai (as they had done
with Jericho) but how they ought to proceed in conquering it, and then Joshua
follows their advice, and thus we see that it is their carnal reasoning and
wisdom which is followed instead of the Lord’s leading.
1.2.4. At
1.2.5. When the Israelites
conquered Jericho every man went up to battle, and thus every man could see the
miraculous hand of the Lord at work, however here Joshua concedes to the advice
of the spies and sends only 3,000 men.
1.2.6. At the battle of
1.3. In our study today, we are
going to finish up chapter 7 of Joshua and look again at Joshua’s prayer to the
Lord after the loss in battle at Ai, and the Lord’s response back to him. We will see how the Lord led Joshua to
resolve the problem of their having lost the Lord’s favor and fellowship
because of the sin of Achan taking that which was to be under the ban from the
battle of Jericho
1.3.1. The children of
1.3.2. The children of
1.3.3. The Lord tells Joshua that
in order to regain His favor that they were going to have to destroy those
things from the ban that were in their camp and that the man who had taken
these things from Jericho, and all that belonged to him, would have to be
burned with fire
1.3.3.1.
We will talk today about the importance of dealing with sin when it is
discovered
2. VS 7:10-12 - “10 So the Lord said to Joshua,
“Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face?11 “
2.1. We saw in our last study, that Joshua in his
actions on this day in going into this battle as well as his attempt to
humble himself before the Lord, had actually revealed his humanity and
weakness, much of the flesh and of the Spirit.
2.2. Also, Joshua had no idea why
they had been defeated at Ai after the Lord had promised them victory wherever
they went.
2.3. Joshua’s coming and
prostrating himself before the Ark of the Lord until evening was appropriate because of the fact that he
knew that he had been wrong in leaving the Ark behind when they sent their
army off to battle at Ai, because after all the Ark was always to be in the
midst of the people since it represented their covenant to the Lord and
because the Lord actually dwelt there between the angels on the mercy seat.
2.4. However, we previously
saw that though Joshua prostrated himself before the Lord that his prayer
was reprehensible because of two things:
2.4.1. He uttered the very same
words that the children of Israel had said when they had rebelled against the
Lord at Meribah just after leaving
2.4.2. Not yet understanding why
they had suffered this defeat, Joshua blamed the Lord for it and questioned the
Lord’s faithfulness to His promises as well as perhaps His ability to deliver
them.
2.4.2.1.
We discussed in our last study how that the Lord is always faithful to
His promises to us and that it is only us who are faithless to Him.
2.4.3. Joshua should have just
asked the Lord why they had failed at At – perhaps like a typical man he just
wouldn’t ask directions.
2.5. But yet, the amazing thing
that we saw was that as bad as Joshua acted upon this day, the Lord in His
mercy and grace did not slam him for His failures. When the Lord could have and would have
been justified in sending down a particularly hot lightning bolt upon Joshua,
one which would serve as an example to all who sin and fall short of the Lord’s
holiness, the Lord instead tells Joshua:
2.5.1. What really caused the loss
in battle (it was sin in the camp).
2.5.2. What they needed to do to
remedy the matter and thus regain His favor.
2.5.3. He graciously forgives and
restores Joshua and again uses Him for His purposes.
2.6. We saw in our last study how
that this loss at Ai actually came to them because of the Lord’s love and mercy
for them
because the lessons learned here were the greatest that they had learned
since leaving Egypt, and these lessons would be used in their lives to
ensure that they would have victories in the future.
2.6.1. God teaches us through our
trials and testings therefore we shouldn’t despise these times in our life.
2.7. It is hard to believe from
this story that we could be seeing both the wrath as well as the grace and
mercy of God working at the same time. The Lord is
completely holy and righteous beyond our ability to describe, and yet
at the same time amazingly He chooses to give such undeserved favor and
merit to His children, and this not because in any way they deserve it but
only because of His incredible mercy and grace.
Joshua had failed and the people had sinned, yet God leads them in being
restored to His favor and thus to further victories.
2.8. Now Joshua, came
and prostrated himself before the Lord in humility, and we saw that he was most
concerned for the reputation of the Lord as a result of this loss at the
battle of Ai. However, a person can
only stay in that place of prostration for so long and continue to be
productive for the Lord. Therefore, the
Lord asks him why he is on his face and then He tells him now to get up and get
going for there were important things that he needed to start working on as
the leader of the people of God.
2.9. Joshua needed to get up and
get going because of the fact that when there is sin in your camp, the thing that
needs to occur is that you need to deal with it. Sin must be dealt with and removed from
our lives and the life of the church if we are to be in God’s plan for us
and be effectively used by Him.
2.9.1. Now, I want you to know if you are not currently
aware of this. There are churches in
our day who have people within them aware of blatant and obvious sin in their
midst, who are choosing to be tolerant of the sin, thinking they will act like
a Christian and not judge a brother or a sister, etc. However, the scriptures tell us in no
uncertain words that we are to deal with sin individually and corporately,
and that until we do we will not have the Lord’s favor.
2.9.1.1.
Remember, in our last study we saw that it was the sin of one man,
Achan, who caused the Lord to become angry with
2.9.1.2.
Churches and church leaders who allow willful sin to continue in their
churches may continue to function in ministry and perhaps even have greater
numbers, however they will not have the Lord’s approval or blessing in their
lives, nor when the Lord is handing out their rewards on the judgment day for
believers.
2.10.
You may be thinking, but there is always sin in our lives and in the
church, for we all fall short of God’s holiness. You are right, however it is also the case
that the degree to which we properly deal with and remove known sin from our
midst is the degree to which we shall be used by the Lord and for His purposes
in this world!
2.11.
Remember also that in our last study we looked at the words of Jesus
where He said that, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” We saw that the sin of Achan had begun to
have an effect upon the whole nation of
3. VS 7:13 - “13 “Rise up! Consecrate the
people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord, the God
of
3.1. We see here that the Lord
purposely did not tell Joshua nor the children of
3.2. Can you imagine the agony
that Achan must have gone through on this day. He
knew that he had sinned against the Lord, and yet instead of immediately
trying to come clean and confess his sin before the Lord and the people, he
instead thought in his folly that perhaps he would be able to
hide his sin from the Lord. But as
we discussed in our last study, you cannot hide anything from the Lord, for He
knows all that pertains to us, even the number of the hairs upon our
heads. Plus, how foolish it is for us to
try to hide our sins since no good ever comes out of doing this.
4. VS 7:14-15 - “14 ‘In the morning then you
shall come near by your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord
takes by lot shall come near by families, and the family which the Lord takes
shall come near by households, and the household which the Lord takes shall
come near man by man.15 ‘And it shall be that the one who is taken with the
things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him,
because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has
committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”” - The
Lord tells Joshua how that the man who has committed this sin of taking
something that is under the ban shall be found out
4.1. The Lord tells Joshua here
how that the perpetrator of this sin of taking that which is under the ban shall be
discovered. He is to be arrived at by
lot. Now, we don’t know for sure
what is meant by the “lot,” however I believe that it is pretty
consistent in the scriptures that the Urim and Thumim were used for determining
God’s will. These items are believed
by many to be two marble sized smooth stones of the same size, one of
which is perhaps white and the other black.
These were to be kept in a pouch in the priest’s robe. When determining the will of God it is
believed that the priest would reach into the pouch and pull out one of the
stones, if the white stone were brought out, for instance, God’s answer would
be “Yes.” The black one would be a “No”
answer.
4.2. By whatever means a “Yes” or
a “No” was to be arrived at, by bringing together each of the 12 tribes and
then each of the subgroups within the tribe that was picked, Achan would be
determined.
4.3. The punishment to be served
against the perpetrator was the most severe possible, he and all that belonged to
him were to be burned with fire.
4.4. Seeing here that the
punishment for this sin is as severe as can be, Achan and all of his family and
all that belongs to him is to be burned up, we then wonder why their punishment
must be so severe that not only he but all and everyone that belonged to him
must be burned in the fire:
4.4.1. We see in the scriptures
that whenever the Lord is beginning a new dispensation that He always took
the opportunity to use the first one(s) who blatantly sinned and transgressed
against His commandments and purposes to become an example to all the
people of the importance of treating the Lord is holy and giving Him proper
reverence as the holy and righteous God that He is. For instance:
4.4.1.1.
In Lev. 10:1-3, when they were initially setting up the
priesthood for the children of Israel under the Lord’s direction, we see how
that the Lord used Aaron’s own sons as examples in this way, “1 Now Nadab
and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting
fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord,
which He had not commanded them.2 And fire came out from the presence of the
Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.3 Then Moses said to
Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be
treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’” So Aaron,
therefore, kept silent.”
4.4.1.2.
In Acts chapter 5, we see that when the early church was
being inaugurated that the Lord used Ananias and Sapphira as examples and took their lives when they held back part of the money from the sale
of their house for themselves and in hypocrisy told the church in Jerusalem
that they were dedicating the proceeds from the sale of their house to the
church.
4.4.1.3.
Likewise, I
believe that we see here in Joshua chapter 7, at the beginning of the conquest
of the
4.4.2. It is very possibly the case
that Achan’s wife and sons and daughters knew about his sin and perhaps were in
a covenant with him of silence about it and that this is why they had to perish with him as
well. After all, in the Old Testament
law in Deut. 24:16 no person was not to die for his relative’s sin,
only for his own sin, “16 “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons,
nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to
death for his own sin.”
4.4.3. As we discussed earlier in
chapter 6 about why God told the children of Israel to annihilate all of the
people of the land of Canaan, the judgment of God against all of those who
refuse to submit to the Lord will eventually be severe if they leave this life
before submitting their hearts to the Lord and trusting in Christ for
salvation. The “
4.4.4. Another thing that we can
say about this judgment we have already mentioned, but perhaps this is the
biggest lesson to be learned from this incident in today’s lesson. The severity of the punishment should show
us as Christians how ugly sin is in God’s sight and how important it is that we
as God’s people deal with it properly when it enters our life or the life of
the church.
4.4.4.1.
We need only look to the cross of
4.4.4.2.
What should we do to remove sin from our midst?
4.4.4.2.1.
When someone in the church has sin in his life, Matt. Chapter 18 needs to
be followed out against the brother or a sister who is found to be with sin in
the church, and if they are found not willing to repent afterwards then they
must be disciplined by being removed from the church until such time as they
find it in their heart to repent.
4.4.4.2.2.
In our lives individually, when our sin is revealed to us by the Lord, we
should learn from this story not to hide our sin or allow it to reside in our
life, but rather confess and repent of it as soon as we are aware of it!
4.4.5. It emphasizes for us the importance of obeying “all”
of the Lord’s commands and that only by doing so will we be giving Him proper
reverence as the holy and righteous God that He is.
4.4.6. We can say for sure that God
is holy and righteous and sovereign in His actions and that this punishment met
the standard of His perfect righteousness and justice.
4.5. Now, I wonder how many of the people during this
evening where they were not to consecrate themselves to the Lord thought about the fact that
though they themselves might not have grabbed something that belonged under the
ban, that none-the-less they had thought about doing this and been tempted to
do so. This night of consecrating
themselves must have for them been a night where they found themselves
praying for themselves that they in the future have victory over their
temptations and that the Lord would protect their hearts and lead them
not into temptation. This night was
then a good night for all of the nation.
4.5.1. We Christians today need to learn to intercede for
ourselves before the Lord and pray about temptations and that we be delivered
from evil when and if we are tempted.
After all, this is exactly what Jesus taught His disciples to do in His
model prayer.
4.5.2. We Christians must also realize that but by the grace
of God, so go we into any such sin!
5. VS 7:16-21 - “16 So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by
tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.17 And he brought the family of Judah
near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the
Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken.18 And he brought his household
near man by man; and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the
tribe of Judah, was taken.19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you,
give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me
now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.”20 So Achan answered Joshua and
said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is
what I did:21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two
hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I
coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside
my tent with the silver underneath it.”” - Achan’s sin is exposed through the taking of
the lot, and then he confesses what he had done
5.1. With Achan hiding his sin until it finally was exposed
we see his true character. He truly was not a worshipper, not a man
whose heart was steadfast after serving and pleasing the Lord.
5.2. When Achan is finally found
out he confesses his sin, however it is not sorrow for sin that he
expresses, I believe he is only sorry that he got caught.
5.2.1. How typical Achan is of so
many people today—only sorry if they get caught doing wrong.
5.3. Looking at Achan’s fall, it
is always the same story with our sin, is it not? First, Achan saw the mantle (or
garment) was beautiful, and then he coveted it (desired that
which he was forbidden), and then he took it for himself.
5.3.1. It was the same story for
Eve in the garden of Eden. She first saw the fruit and
that it was good for food and a delight for the eyes, and then she took it and
ate of it, and then gave some to her husband.
5.3.2. James wrote about this
process that occurs whenever we sin in James 1:14-15, “14 But each one is
tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives
birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”
5.3.3. We Christians must be
careful what we let our eyes see, and then we must be careful about what we let
our minds dwell upon, for this is how sin is born in our lives, and, you never
know when you might get caught up in some temptation and find yourself “Achan”
to do what is wrong!
5.3.3.1.
There is a song that we teach the kids in the church which I believe we
adults would do well to learn, and even more so to take to heart, concerning
our need to flee temptations. A
couple of its verses go like this, “Oh, be careful little eyes what you
see, oh, be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above is
looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see. Oh, be careful little ears what you hear,
oh, be careful little ears what you hear, for the Father up above is looking
down in love, so be careful little ears what you hear.”
6. VS 7:22-26 - “22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold,
it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it.23 And they took
them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of
Israel, and they poured them out before the Lord.24 Then Joshua and all Israel
with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold,
his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all
that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.25 And
Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.”
And all
6.1. We see that after Achan’s
confession that it was important for Joshua and the children of Israel to
confirm Achan’s story, thus Joshua sent men to look under Achan’s tent to
find the items he said that he hid there.
6.2. The people having now
understood the importance of setting up memorials to the Lord of the things that He has
taught us and done in our life, decide to put up yet another memorial in the
Promised Land. This heap of stones would
serve as a reminder to them and their future generations of these most valuable
lessons that they learned from the defeat at Ai, during their conquer of the
land of Canaan.
7. CONCLUSION:
7.1. As we consider this story of
Achan and Ai, our second study of this costly loss in battle, it is most
important that each of us determine in our lives that we shall realize:
7.1.1. The ugliness of sin in God’s
sight.
7.1.2. The importance of obeying
all of God’s word (not having the “Cafeteria Plan” of picking and choosing what
we shall obey).
7.1.3. That we deal with sin when
it is discovered, whether in our own personal life or in the life of the
church.