Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Joshua 7:1) But 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.
In the last chapter and post, Israel had taken Jericho when they obeyed their Lord and marched around it seven days in a row and the walls of Jericho fell. The Lord had also told the people through Joshua that everything in the city was cursed, and they were forbidden to take anything of the accursed thing; only the silver, gold, brass, and iron were to be taken and put into the Lord's treasury. Now it seems that Achan from the tribe of Judah disobeyed and took from the accursed thing and brought the Lord's anger against His people.
(2) And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, "Go up and view the country." And the men went up and viewed Ai.
Again Joshua sent spies to check out the next place, Ai, north of Jericho, on the east side of Bethel, being the same place where Abraham built an altar in Genesis 12:8, only there it was called Hai.
(3) And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai; do not make all the people labor there, for they are few."
The spies came back to Joshua with their report and suggestion that Joshua only send two or three thousand men into Ai. They said there was no need to send all the people and weary them all because the inhabitants of Ai were few in number.
(4) So there went up there of the people about three thousand men, and they fled before the men of Ai.
As the spies suggested, about three thousand Israelite men went into Ai, but they wound up fleeing from the men of Ai. Because God was angry with Israel and had turned from them, their courage had failed.
(5) And the men of Ai struck of them about thirty-six men, for they chased them before the gate to Shebarim, and struck them in the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of the Israelite men in their pursuit of them. They chased them from the city gate to a place called Shebarim, which may have been named after this event, as it meant "ruin or broken." They struck them in their descent, which indicates that Ai was on a hill. However, some suggest that the original word "morad" that was translated as "descent" may have actually been the proper name of a place that descended from Ai. The Israelites were completely discouraged and faint of heart because of this.
(6) And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.
Joshua tore his clothes, a sign of distress, and fell upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening. The elders joined him in humbling themselves before the Lord, and they all put dust on their heads, another sign of distress and mourning.
(7) And Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord God, why have You at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content and dwelt on the other side of Jordan!"
Joshua's faith faltered and he asked the Lord why He had brought them over the Jordan only to deliver them into the hand of the Amorites. However, the next part of what he said sounds as if he gave some blame to himself and the people because they were not content to dwell on the other side of the Jordan, but desired something better.
(8) "O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? (9) For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear and shall surround us and cut off our name from the earth, and what will You do to Your great name?"
Joshua asked the Lord about what he should say when Israel turned away and fled from their enemies. What should he say when their enemies were emboldened because their Lord had seemingly turned His back on His people, or worse, was not strong enough to lead His people to victory against them? What would that do to His great name?
(10) And the Lord said to Joshua, "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?"
The Lord asked Joshua why he lay on his face. It's not that there was anything inherently wrong with Joshua falling before and praying to his Lord, but the Lord instructed Joshua to get up for there was more than prayer that had to be done.
(11) "Israel 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 lied also, and they have even put it among their own stuff."
The Lord told Joshua that Israel had sinned; they had transgressed by doing the very thing God had commanded through Joshua that they not do, take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse (Joshua 6:18). Although only one man had stolen of the accursed thing, lied about it, and put it among his own things, he had brought a curse on the entire camp of Israel by his actions.
(12) "Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned back before their enemies, because they were cursed; neither will I be with you anymore unless you destroy the cursed from among you."
And because the entire camp of Israel was cursed, they were unable to stand before the men of Ai but turned and fled. The Lord told Joshua He would no longer be with him and them unless he destroyed the cursed from among them.
(13) "Up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for 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."'"
The Lord told Joshua to get up and sanctify the people by telling them to sanctify themselves by prayer and repentance for the next day, for the Lord God of Israel said there was a cursed thing among them and that they would not be able to stand against their enemies until they removed it from among them.
(14) "'In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes, and it shall be the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to its families, and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households, and the household that the Lord shall take shall come man by man.'"
The Lord went on to instruct Joshua he was to tell the people that in the next morning they would be brought out according to their tribes. Although we are not told exactly how, the Lord would take one of the tribes, and then that tribe would be brought forth according to its families. The Lord would take one of those families, and then that family would be brought forth according to households. Again the Lord would take one of those households, and then the household would come forth man by man.
(15) "And it shall be he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he has wrought folly in Israel."
The Lord continued on to say that the one person who was taken with the accursed thing was to be burnt with fire, he and all that he had. It should be noted that the accursed thing should have been burnt by fire when the accursed city of Jericho was burnt with fire in Joshua 6:24. Now the one who had the accursed thing and all that he had would be burned along with the cursed thing. That was because he had transgressed against the covenant God had made with Israel regarding the taking of Jericho, and he had thus brought foolishness and wickedness into the camp of Israel.
(16) So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.
Joshua rose up early the next morning and brought all the people out according to their tribes. Again it was not described exactly how, but the tribe of Judah was taken by the Lord.
(17) And 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.
Then Joshua brought out the tribe of Judah according to families, and the Lord took the family of the Zarhites who descended from Judah's son Zerah. Then Joshua brought out the family of the Zarhites, actually household by household rather than each single man by man, as the Lord took the household of Zabdi, not Zabdi himself.
(18) And 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.
Indeed it was the household of Zabdi that was then brought out man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi who was the son of Zabdi and part of his household, of the family of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, was taken by the Lord. The Lord Himself showed Israel the one guilty of bringing a curse upon her and all her people.
(19) And Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give, I pray you, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide from me."
Joshua then spoke to Achan, notably in a very affectionate way, even though he knew him to be a wicked criminal who had single-handedly brought a curse upon all of Israel. There is a sweet lesson in this simple demonstration by Joshua. It's a sad thing when a child of God has strayed so far from His Father as to bring death and eternal destruction to himself. May we always recognize the poor state of the sinner and pity him for his choices, remembering that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, our fellow humans, but against the powers of Satan and his demons (Ephesians 6:12), and we can have compassion on the one who has been deceived by Satan. Joshua called on Achan to give glory to his Lord and make confession to Him by telling Joshua what he had done. He told him not to hide the truth from him, but that would have been obviously futile as the Lord Himself had shown Achan to be guilty of the curse against Israel. However, he could tell Joshua the particulars which would allow him to remove the accursed thing from the midst of the Israelites' camp.
(20) And Achan answered Joshua and said, "Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done. (21) When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian 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 hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it."
Achan did confess to Joshua and the Lord that he had sinned against the Lord. When he had seen a magnificent Babylonian garment, he coveted it and took it, even though his Lord had commanded through Joshua that he not do that. But even worse than that, it seems to me, he coveted and took the things that were devoted to the Lord, the silver and gold. He not only disobeyed God, but he stole from Him. He told Joshua all the things were hidden in the earth under his tent.
(22) So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, hidden in his tent and the silver under it.
Joshua sent those called messengers to Achan's tent, and they found the garment with the gold and the silver under them, just as Achan had said.
(23) And they took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord.
The messengers brought the accursed things out of Achan's tent to Joshua and all of Israel, and they laid them out before the Lord.
(24) And 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 to the valley of Achor.
Joshua and the people took Achan and the cursed things he had stolen, along with everything he had that had been cursed along with him, including his livestock and even his children, and brought them all to the valley of Achor.
(25) And 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.
Joshua asked Achan why he had caused so much trouble for all of them, and then he declared God's curse on him in righteous return. All Israel then stoned him with stones and burned him with fire. It seems they stoned to death and burned even his children and livestock. It makes one wonder why the children had to be killed for their father's actions when God stated in Deuteronomy 24:16 that children would not be put to death for their fathers and vice versa. We know that God is just and righteous and can be nothing but. We also know that God could not tolerate Achan's cursed things to pollute the camp. It is very likely that his children were grown and knew what he had done and did not reveal it. However, if any of them were completely innocent and knew nothing about it, you can be sure that God took them home to be with Him. Real life is the eternal life we have with God, not this temporary blip on earth. Dr. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Bible, took it a step further. He laid emphasis on the words "this day." Perhaps Achan (and his family) was only troubled that day, but would be forgiven his iniquity and saved with an everlasting salvation after his confession before the Lord. Judgment belongs to the Lord, and we can be sure He is just.
(26) And they raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of the place was called the Valley of Achor to this day.
The people raised a huge heap of stones over Achan that remained to the day Joshua wrote this account. The Lord turned from His anger because all the accursed things had been removed from the camp. It seems that the valley was not named until after this event as it was called the Valley of Achor, "achor" meaning "troubled."
The lesson here is about what sin in the camp can do to the whole. Sin in a household troubles the entire household. What about sin in a nation? I often think about how we can declare so proudly, "God Bless America" while we allow the sins of abortion, homosexual "marriage," and sex trafficking of children. How can we expect God to bless such a nation? And how can we expect to survive without His blessing? All we can pray is that God have mercy on us!
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