Sunday Sermons
The Power of One
“And the city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the Lord” (Joshua 6:17-18). Jericho and all its contents were completely devoted to the Lord. Clear instructions were given before the soldiers enter the city, including the sparing of Rahab and that all property was off-limits to the soldiers (Joshua 6:18). “The conquest is not a bunch of land-hungry marauders wiping out, at the behest of their vicious God, hundreds of innocent, God-fearing folks” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 52),rather, this is God’s judgment against people who had refused to repent for centuries (Lev. 18:1ff; Genesis 15:16; Deut. 9:4-5). This was God’s battle and God had the right to determine what would be done with the spoils. The curse that rested on Jericho would in turn rest on them if they disobeyed God. Jericho was the first city taken in Canaan, therefore in a sense, this was thefirst fruits that belonged exclusively to the Lord.
One bad apple: Joshua 7:1
God knows the secret things, and nothing takes Him by surprise. “Though one might wish to give credit to the discipline of Joshua’s forces because only one of his soldiers gave in to temptation, even this one did not escape God’s notice. He considered them collectively responsible and withheld His blessing until the matter was made right” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 343). “This chapter reveals how victory on the part of God’s people can be quickly undermined by disobedience and sin on the part of a single individual” (Davis p. 52). Yes, only one person had been unfaithful, but one is often too many (1 Corinthians 5:1ff; Ecclesiastes 9:18 “Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good”).
Unable to stand against our enemies: Joshua 7:2-13
Even though only one individual had sinned, the entire nation was guilty. “I suppose many twentieth century American individualists might believe this is unfair. But we do better to fear. Fear because one man’s sin turned away God’s presence from a whole people. Fear because one man’s whole household was drawn into his punishment. We Christians generally have such tame views of sin; wrongly, we have no paranoia over this contagious power (1 Corinthians 5; Acts 5:1-11)” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 62).
If we are tempted to fellowship error or downplay the seriousness of sin, this verse should make us rethink such a decision. How many people today justify their association with unsound religious bodies by thinking that such an association does not affect their relationship with God? If Joshua did not act to remove the sin—then God would not be with Joshua or any other Israelite for that matter. “I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst!” (7:12). This was said to Joshua, a very faithful man! We need to remember that God does not have any favorites and that we are not so special to God that He will ignore our disobedience, sin will cut off anyone from God, including the greatest heroes in the Bible (Isaiah 59:1-2). This section really goes against the modern attitude that God will save me even if I am doing something wrong, because in the end, God will value a relationship with me more than hate the evil that I am doing.
The inspection process: 7:14-18
Clear instructions are given concerning how to correct the problem. In like manner, Christians are given equally clear instruction (Matthew 18:15-17). “The tribe which the Lord takes by lot”: “But since God knew who was guilty, why did He not simply reveal his identity to Joshua? The answer is that this dramatic method would impress on the nation of Israel the seriousness of disobeying God’s commands. Since the method took time it would also give the guilty person an opportunity to repent and confess his sin” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 345). “In the drawing of lots, it was customary to use white and black stones, and the method may have been to have each person select a stone from a pouch” (Goslinga p. 80). The sinner cannot hide from God’s judgment. This was no quirk of fate or accident, and neither was the casting of the lot a superstitious practice(Proverbs 16:33). Remember, the nation of Israel at this time ran into the millions, yet out of all those people, bit-by-bit Achan is finally singled out. “All Israel is gathered together; then tribe is singled out from the tribes; a clan is singled out from the clans; a family is singled out from the families—till the excruciating threshing lands all eyes on the solitary knee-knocking offender, just a speck in the sea, but a troubler of all Israel. And the lesson of the day is thereby upper-cased and underscored: the unbearable significance of the ‘one’” (Significance of a little folly, Andree Seu, World Magazine, 5-29-2004, p. 47).
The sinner is exposed: 7:19-20
Achan had remained silent during the entire process, probably like many people, believing that he would escape or that God certainly would not punish him. “Give glory to the Lord and give praise to Him”: God is praised and glorified when we confess our sins. God is not being praised when we refuse to acknowledge or accept what His word says about our bad attitudes or behavior. “By refusing to come forth earlier in the process Achan revealed his hardened and defiant heart” (Smith p. 74). In addition, sorrow at this point is really too late, for it does nothing to bring back the 36 innocent men who had died because of Achan’s transgression (7:5).
The process of temptation: 7:21
Note the progression of sin. His sin involved these crucial steps: He saw, he coveted, and he took. Compare with James 1:14and Genesis 3:6. The weight of the silver came to approximately six and a half pounds. The wedge or ingot of gold may have resembled a wedge that was unearthed in the city of Gezer, which measured about 10 inches, by one inch, by one-half inch. God makes sure that innocent individuals are not condemned. Besides Achan’s confession, the evidence is clearly displayed in the sight of all Israel. These items were spread out before the Lord, because they belonged to Him (7:22-23).
Concealed in the earth: 7:22
Although his sins were concealed, they were not concealed from God. As I read this verse I also pondered how Achan was not able to enjoy what he had taken. Instead of looking at it, and handling it, he was forced to hide his treasures in the ground underneath his tent. So often the sinner is completely unable to even enjoy the reward that sin promised. Sin gets in the way of so many things, including getting in the way of enjoying the sin.
Rationalizations
Then and now many would have explained away Achan’s actions by saying such things as, “He only took a couple of things”, or, “In view of all the loot captured in Jericho, certainly these two things would not be missed”. “Achan was, I suppose, the pioneer of the ‘victimless crime’. Who would be the wiser if he made a little hay from a military campaign? What harm in squirreling away the spoils of a city slated for destruction anyway?” (World Magazine p. 47). Or even worse, “I am sure that others took something as well”. Yet no one else coveted anything. So often people will reason that they are justified in doing something because others are probably doing the same thing, yet often others are not. Remember, Achan’s judgment is a preview of how God is going to scrutinize all one day (2 Corinthians 5:10).
The far-reaching consequences: 7:24-26
It seems probable that Achan’s sons and daughters were also killed because Achan could not have hidden such items in his tent without their knowledge. “From a purely practical point of view, it is doubtful that Achan could have removed this number of objects and kept them concealed without some help from his family” (Davis p. 55). In addition, the text does not demand that the sons or daughters included babies or infants. In view of the fact that children were not to be executed for the sins of their parents (Deut. 24:16), we must assume that the sons and daughters here were accomplices in the crime. Since all Israel (24) participated in the punishment of Achan and his family, it demonstrates that they had indeed sanctified themselves by being willing to remove the evil from their midst, even if it was one of their own. God hasn’t changed His attitude towards sin among God’s people. The story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), members of the early church, is very similar to this account. The text infers that Achan was a man of some means (“his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep”), and therefore did not need any of what he had stolen, but how often are we tempted to forsake God for things that we do not need either? “This chapter sheds important light on the sober, realistic character of sacred history. Chapter 7 demonstrates the truth of this and thus indirectly warns us to be watchful, since the tempter never rests (1 Peter 5:8) and evil lurks everywhere” (Goslinga p. 83). We can never let our guard down; because apostasy is always a real threat, and professed believers will fall away (2 Tim. 4:2-4). If we have a problem with the punishment that came upon Achan and his family, “Our problem here is—sinners that we are---we don’t think breaking Yahweh’s covenant is all that big a deal…That’s why we cannot understand Jesus when he tells us we should be willing to go to any extreme to avoid sin (Matthew 5:29-30). It is baffling to us because we do not share Jesus’ alarm over sin. The testimony of Joshua 7 is that we cannot treat cancer with vitamin pills; it requires radical surgery” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 64).The New Testament confirms the truthfulness and historical reality of this account in Joshua 7 (Hebrews 12:15). People like Achan will continually surface even in the church, and we need to make sure that we do not become an Achan in our own generation.
Modern Application
“Albert Camus worried that man isn’t significant in the universe. He needn’t have. Man is so maddeningly significant that the teeniest choice of the lowliest private can scuttle the well-laid plans of a general. A little folly outweighs wisdom and honor(Ecclesiastes 10:1). Balk all you want at that equation, but it’s the way it is. Oh, the significance of a little folly. The significance of a night of mischief. The significance of a clutch of soldiers small enough to fit in a walk-in closet. And during this month of May the country has reckoned with a new reality on the ground, a wrench in the works not foreseen, nor planned for, nor remotely imagined by the most wizened strategists in the Situation Room” (World Magazine p. 47).
Final Thoughts
So who was to blame? Was Israel and Joshua in the wrong for not having more safeguards to keep men like Achan from stealing? No. We live in a culture that tends to blame the wrong choices of individuals on the system. Notice that the only safeguard that God gave in Joshua 6 is the warning “do it and end up cursed”. God exposed the sinner; He did not expose a system that did not have enough safeguards. We live in a society that often overlooks the free will of the individual and focuses rather on investigations and coming up with more ways of preventing people from making bad choices, yet the truth of the matter is that all the planning, preparation, checks and double-checks, and all the training manuals in the world cannot overrule the power of one person’s decision to engage in evil. Let that final thought sink in, for at the end of the day, no one, whether God or man, can force us to make good choices, and unless our motivation is a genuine love for God, all the coerced choices in the world cannot save us, even if they were choices to do what was right (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
