Read Joshua
7-8 & Luke
2:25-52
To discover:
As you read consider how these events differed from the
taking of Jericho.
To ponder:
“But” causes the heart to sink as chapter 7 begins. So soon,
Israel
compromise in unfaithfulness. Due to their unity as a people, in which all are
responsible for one-another, God’s anger burns against the nation because of
the sin of one man. Ai should have been taken easily. Only a few men would be
needed. But Israel
are “routed.” Having expected God to bring victory as easily as in Jericho,
this left the people despairing and Joshua mourning. He reasons this will
embolden other nations to destroy Israel,
keeping God’s name from being honoured through them.
Like Joshua
we can despair too quickly when our plans for the mission of the church don’t
go as we hoped. But this doesn’t mean the church will fall. God’s rebuke of
Joshua shows he should have recognised there was a reason God didn’t bring
victory. And in this case it was sin. God’s covenant had been violated as he
hadn’t been loved, his specific commandment about devoting everything to the
LORD hadn’t been obeyed (Deut 20v10-18), and the commandments against theft and
covetousness had been broken (7v11, 21). Just as our sin can hinder our
prayers, so it can hinder what God might do through us (Jam 4v3). Indeed,
unless the church wears the “breastplate of righteousness” it will not stand
against the devil schemes (Eph 6v11, 14).
God’s
selection of Achan’s family was probably by lot. He is urged to glorify and
praise God by speaking the truth. Achan, is then stoned, followed by his
children and animals. They, the booty and all else he had was then burned and
buried. The destruction of the children is hard. This is as punishment on Achan
not them, and so does not preclude the possibility of their ultimate salvation.
As seen previously, the equivalent purification within the church is through
excommunication or repentance (1 Cor 5v1-13).
With the
sin duly dealt with God now affirms he has “delivered” Ai to Joshua, who should
not fear. But something fundamental has changed. Israel
are now allowed to keep the plunder. Knowing their liability to unfaithfulness,
this seems to be a merciful accommodation to their weakness, keeping them from
future disobedience over plunder, and so from defeat. Similarly Jesus stated
God permitted certain things because “their hearts were hard” (Matt 19v8). This
same patience holds back God’s final judgement (Rom 2v4).
Israel
are also not given as easy a victory as previously. Rather than causing the
walls to collapse, they have to engage strategy to entice the people out of the
city. We already see a hint then, that because of their sin, the people are not
going to take the land quite in the way intended.
The space given to this event
builds the tension towards victory, bringing home the point that it is only if
sin is dealt with that God will enable Israel
to overcome. Indeed, his commands and directions in the battle are stressed
(8v8, 18). As instructed, the plunder was kept but the city destroyed. The king
was hung on a tree as a sign of being under God’s curse, taken down at night to
keep the land from being contaminated (Deut 21v22-23), and covered in rocks. As
with Jericho, the permanent “ruin”
of the city speaks of the coming everlasting destruction.
Some time later the people reach
the centre of the land and fulfil Moses’ instructions in Deuteronomy 27v11-26
(8v30-33). This solemn recounting of the entire law, around the ark of God’s
presence and with its blessings and curses, stressed all the more the need for
absolute obedience if the land is to be wholly possessed.
Praying it home:
Thank God that although he will judge all sin, he is patient
even with unbelievers. Turn from any particular sins in your life, asking God
to enable you to obey so that he might use you fully.
Thinking further: The Holy Wars
Once more we are faced with God’s command to totally destroy
an entire group of people. We should first acknowledge that our feelings here
are not unjustified. In truth, they reflect God’s own attitude as one who takes
no delight in the death of the wicked, but desires instead that they turn and
live (Ezek 18v23). However, we should not let these feelings keep us from
thinking biblically and with perspective about these wars. They are shocking.
However the Canaanites were not just the same as any other people. We are told
their sins had become particularly severe, warranting their destruction in
judgement (Gen 15v16, Deut 9v4-6). Some of those sins are listed in Leviticus
18, and include extreme sexual depravity and even child sacrifice. Witnessing
the destruction of the Canaanite peoples should sober us up when we see similar
sins committed in our culture, but drive us to repentance too, knowing we all
deserve condemnation. And we must recognise that God’s judgement on the
Canaanites is still on a much smaller and milder scale than the flood or the
final judgement that Christ will execute. Moreover, Rahab’s response shows it
is quite possible that amongst those killed in these wars there may have been
some who looked in faith to Israel’s
God, and so ultimately received salvation.
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