God deals with sin

One of the elements of a good story, is when things suddenly take a turn, and then a tension is created. Eg. Superman, an invincible superhero, nothing can stop him, but suddenly He is faced with Kryptonite.

When we come to chapter 7 of Joshua, we see here that the story takes a turn. There’s a bit of tension that now gets created. Up until this point, it all seems to have been plain sailing. The story starts with God promising to be with them. And we see the path to Jericho being an easy ride.

God opens up the Jordan for them to cross. They enter the land, they have celebrations. Their attack on Jericho, although a bit unconventional and time consuming, God made that easy for them. He made the walls of the city fall in on itself.

So chapter 6 ends Israel are in a great position. And they are in that position because God has put them there. And their leader, Joshua is mentioned in a very positive light. The last verse of chapter 6 says, “So the Lord was with Joshua and his fame spread throughout the land.”

Then you turn to chapter 7, and things take a sudden turn. Israel goes from hero to zero overnight. From this group of people, who seemed to trust God. Who seemed to obey God,  who were enjoying God’s favour, to a group that was out of favour with God.

See chapter 7 vs 1:

But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, 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

Remember chapter 6, on the seventh day. The day that Israel will march around Jericho seven times and then give a shout. Joshua is busy commanding them and telling them what they must do.

Joshua 6 vs 18-19

¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

In other words, keep away from these devoted things. And if you don’t there will be consequences. “You will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.”

And then Josh 7 vs 1 says: “But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things”

Verse 1 is laying the foundation so that we understand what is about to take place. And we are about to see how seriously God keeps his word, and how seriously God takes disobedience/ sin / unfaithfulness.

Now that we’ve been told that the Israelites have been unfaithful in regard to the devoted things, we are about to the consequences. verse 2-5:

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 army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” ⁴ So about three thousand 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 in fear and became like water.

We see here that the tables have completely turned, when you compare it to what happened at Jericho. They send spies to Ai. The spies come back. Probably over confident after the defeat of Jericho. A defeat which required hardly any military effort. “Oh, you know we don’t need our whole army, we only need about 2 to 3000 men. Let’s not make our soldiers too weary.

So 3000 men go up to fight, and we’re told they were basically forced to flee. And 36 men were killed. Which would have been a bit of a surprise. Especially when you consider what had recently happened at Jericho.

The last sentence in verse 5. “At this, the hearts of the people melted in fear, and became like water.” Earlier on in Joshua, this expression, “their hearts melted in fear” was used to describe how their enemies were feeling about Israel. We see this expressed by Rahab in chapter 2, and we see it at the beginning of chapter 5 where we are told

“when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until they^[a] had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.

So then we have Joshua’s response. At this point when you get to verse 6, he isn’t aware of what Achan had done regarding the devoted things in the temple. He just sees Israel being defeated in Battle. After God had promised them the land. Remember the promise that God made in Chapter 1, that he’ll hand over all the territories to Joshua. That no one will be able to stand against him and the Israelites.

But here they are, melting in fear. Forced to flee from battle. Some of their men were killed. Look at how Joshua responds.

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.

He tears his clothes. He falls facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The Elders of Israel do the same. But take another look at what Joshua says:

“Alas, 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 Pardon your servant, 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?”

There are all sorts of emotions that Joshua is expressing here. He is obviously grieved that this has happened. Remember, he doesn’t know yet about what Achan did, he only knows about the military defeat that they have just suffered.

He can’t understand what has happened. He is questioning God as to why God has brought them this far, only to deliver them into the hands of the Amorites. If only the hadn’t crossed the Jordan.

Look at what God says next:

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: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.

¹⁴ “‘In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord chooses shall come forward clan by clan; the clan the Lord chooses shall come forward family by family; and the family the Lord chooses shall come forward man by man. ¹⁵ Whoever 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 an outrageous thing in Israel!’

So Joshua obeys God, as he always does. Verse 16:

¹⁶ Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was chosen. ¹⁷ The clans of Judah came forward, and the Zerahites were chosen. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was chosen. ¹⁸ Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was chosen.

So, it’s the moment of truth. There stands Achan. He has been found out. Look at what happens next.

19. Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. 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,^[c] two hundred shekels^[d] of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels,^[e] I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

So here we see Joshua confronting Achan. Achan confessing. And then telling Joshua where it is.

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 bar, 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^[f] ever since.

So here we are a few thousand years later looking at this story. How is this story relevant to us? We don’t have a temple where ‘devoted things’ are kept.

There is a general principle that is being taught here. And that is, that God takes sin / disobedience against His word very seriously. We mustn’t underestimate how seriously God takes sin.

In this story, you’ve got Israel. Who have enjoyed the blessings of God. They’ve had God on their side as they had just taken Jericho in a very one sided victory. They knew what it meant for God to look after them. They were starting to see what it meant for God to keep his promises, and fulfil His promises.

But they needed reminding that God takes sin very seriously. They needed reminding that when we do what we want rather than what God wants, there are consequences.

When you think of it from our vantage point. You look at Achan, and you think, “How stupid can Achan be?” Things were going well for Israel. To now go and mess it up with this. What possessed him to go and do this. The most accurate description is from Achan himself. Look again at verse 20 and 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,^[c] two hundred shekels^[d] of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels,^[e] I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

Notice how Achan doesn’t by any means try and excuse his behaviour. He doesn’t try and get the best legal advice that Israel could offer, and find a loophole in the law so that he can get away with it. Because there are no loopholes when God has spoken. There is no justifiable defence for sinning against God.

When you’ve sinned against God, you’ve sinned against God. There’s no point in trying to defend yourself /  trying to justify what you’ve done. You have a sinful heart. You have a natural tendency to want to take care of yourself. We all have a natural bent that wants to look after our own interests. So Achan confesses. In fact he admits to breaking 2 of the 10 commandments. Stealing and coveting. He wanted something that he knew wasn’t his and he took it.

We need to recognize sin for what it is. We need to recognize that we’ve offended God. We need to stop justifying our sin. We need to stop trying to cover up our sin with excuses.

If you sin. If you really tried, you could probably find some external circumstance that you could blame.

There’s value in identifying the chain of events in your sin, but you need to recognize the cause being your sinful heart. You have sinned against God.  When we stand before God, we need to admit that we have sinned against Him.

Have you recognized that you’re a sinner? You need to make right with God.

Now, looking at what happened to Achan, you may be thinking. Things didn’t actually end up too well for him. After his confession. They go and find the goods are where he said they would be. And Achan, along with his family, and his possessions are sentenced to destruction. His family line is removed from Israel.

God hates sin. God has to deal with sin. As Christians we need to remember that. As Christians who claim to love God. Who claim to do what God wants us to do. We need to take seriously how much God hates sin. And this story of Achan shows us that.

Israel needed to be reminded that God hates sin. And they needed a constant reminder. So a pile of stones was put up as a reminder to Israel of what had happened as a result of sin.

As horrific as the details are regarding what happened to Achan and his family, we need remember how offensive sin is to a Holy God.

The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. One author that comments on this chapter says that if you read chapter 7, and you’re horrified by what happens “you need to remember what your sin did to our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 2 vs 24 says this: He himself bore our sins, in his body, on the tree, that we might die to sin, and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.

When it comes to our sin. We don’t have to suffer what Achan suffered. We have someone who has suffered that destruction in our place. We have someone who has taken on the punishment for us. A substitute for us on that cross 2000 years ago.

Because we all deserve what Achan got. You may not have stolen from the devoted things in the temple. But we’re all marked by sin. Which God hates. In fact we all deserve to suffer the eternal punishment of Hell.

But God is gracious. God is rich in mercy. Remember Ephesians chapter 2 vs 4-6

⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Sin is a very serious matter, God doesn’t sweep it under the carpet, He deals with it, we see the consequences of sinning against God in this chapter, If this is is how God sees sin, then how great is His love, mercy and grace towards us.

Home Group Questions

Read Joshua chapter 7:

• Why did the battle not go Israel’s way? (see verse 1 & vs 10-12)
• What commandments were broken by Achan?
• What does this tell us about how God views sin? See also Romans 3vs23
• How is it possible, then for us as sinners to relate to a Holy God?
• How can we take sin more seriously?