The people of Israel approached Jericho in complete faith. They followed Joshua’s command, marched around the city for six days, and then on the 7th day they blew trumpets and shouted to the Lord. The Lord gave them the city! This was certainly a bold and courageous move for Israel.
The next city to conquer was Ai. Ai was smaller and less intimidating than Jericho, so only 3,000 men were sent to defeat it. A much different outcome resulted! The men of Ai sent the 3,000 on the run and managed to kill 36 of them. What was to be an easier task turned out to be a sheer defeat! When Israel approached Jericho, the hearts of the kings melted because they had heard about the crossing of the Jordan (5:1). The hearts of the inhabitants of Jericho had melted because they heard about Israel’s defeat of Sihon and Og (2:11). Now, however, it is the hearts of Israel that are melting! The bold and courageous and conquering Israelites are now scared to death over little Ai (7:5)!
What’s the difference between Jericho and Ai? Sin! Achan had disobeyed the Lord when Jericho was conquered. Everything in Jericho was to be devoted to the Lord for destruction, but the beautiful clothes, gold, and silver were just too enticing for Achan! The anger of the Lord burned against Israel because of Achan’s sin. Not until he was judged did the Lord relent of his anger (7:26).
What do we learn from this? (1) Your sin affects everyone, not just you. (2) Sin is much more offensive to the holiness of God than we can imagine. God burned in anger. (3) Power doesn’t conquer foes. God does. (4) Confession of sin results in forgiveness, but consequences of sin remain.
Here's a question. Regarding Joshua meeting the commander of the army of the LORD in Josh. 5:13-15: I want to make that THE Commander (capital "c")! Joshua WORSHIPS him, and takes off his sandals because the ground is holy near the Commander (Ex. 3 revisited), but the ESV footnote for vv. 13+14 makes it sound as though this commander COULD be the LORD Himself, or maybe he is the angel that God had said He would send ahead of Israel (Ex. 23:20) to guard and guide them. ESV note: "Possibly [Joshua} believed he was in God's own presence." ??? I say forget the "possibly"! At least that is how I've always understood that passage--this is God Himself, come to take charge! When I have taught this story to children I have described Him as Jesus in the Old Testament. Whenever there is a passage in the O.T. that calls a messenger an angel of the LORD (and uses a lower case "a"), I read the context and see if the angel uses the pronoun "I" (speaking for God) or if someone worships him. (Judges 6:11+22) I thought this passage was clear too. What am I missing here? Anything significant?
ReplyDeleteVery interesting too that no wife for Achan is mentioned in Joshus 7. ??
Ominous that Achan's sin would affect so many others. Thirty-six men are dead because of his greed. We don't see sin that way, do we? Here in the U.S.A. we are all independent, we speak for ourselves alone, our actions and choices are our own--right?? Maybe we have lost some of the reality of what it means to live in a holy community that calls itself by HIS name?