Meditations on the Book of Joshua: Ai and the Accursed Thing

AND Joshua the man of God? Alas! he rends his clothes and falls to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord. (Ver. 6.) Where was the ark in the war with Ai, before which the walls of Jericho had fallen? Joshua's godly soul acknowledges its worth, but he does not know what to do, and, ignoring the accursed thing, he gives vent to regrets, not regrets as to what he has done, nor as to what the people have done, but, alas! as to what God had done when He brought them over Jordan! " Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side Jordan," said he. How plainly these words show what man's heart is! This blessed place is the only one that Joshua would fain have avoided.
The tone of his request betrays weakness. First it is Israel, the name of Israel which occupies his thoughts; then it is the Canaanites, the world. " Israel turneth their backs before their enemies." " The Canaanites shall hear of it." " They shall cut off our name from the earth." Then quite at the end: "What wilt -thou do unto thy great name?" (Vers. 8, 9.) The example given us in the history of God's faithful servant Moses is very different. (Ex. 32:11,13.) He had been on the mount of God, and there God reveals to him the evil which had gone on in the camp; the sin of the people does not remain hidden from the eyes of Moses. Aware of it before coming down from the mount, does he think of Israel's shame? No, he is occupied with what is suited to the Lord's name. He recognizes the claims of offended holiness. As for the nations his only concern is, as to whether God would be glorified, in the eyes of the Egyptians by the defeat of His people. As for Israel, he appeals to the grace of God, to the only thing which glorifies Jehovah's name in the presence of guilty Israel. Moses had no need, like Joshua, to recover lost communion; he can intercede for the people, and he is heard.
Joshua, on the contrary, is found precisely in the attitude in which he ought not to be. " Get thee up," said the Lord to him, " wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?" (Ver. 10.) To humble himself for his lack of power was not the only thing to be done; it was time to act. We find, the opposite to this in Judg. 20, where Israel ought to have humbled themselves first and then acted. Miserable flesh! What disorder does it not introduce into the things of God! Always outside the current of His thoughts, if not in open hostility to Him. May we join with the apostle in saying: " We, who have no confidence in the flesh." Joshua had to act; the accursed thing had to be put away from amongst them.
The children of Israel had soon forgotten the presence of the Lord, which alone could open their eyes to the evil in their midst. Joshua himself had been in some measure taken in this snare of Satan, and involved in the people's weakness. If he had realized in his soul the attitude he assumed in chapter 5., in loosing the shoe from off his foot, he would have understood the necessity of holiness for the people, if God's holy presence was to be with them. But Joshua falls to the earth upon his face and almost reproaches God for His grace, forgetful of His holiness: " Wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan?" He was not, for the moment at least, in the current of God's thoughts, and God makes him feel it. His thoughts were out of tune. When the accursed thing enters into the testimony of God, what we have to do, is to sanctify ourselves, and to put away the evil from our midst. It is not a question here of power, but of holiness and of obedience. God said to Joshua: " Up, sanctify the people." To sanctify oneself is to separate oneself from all evil to God. It is impossible without holiness to have God with us.
This is one of the most important truths for the present day. What should characterize us now, as in Philadelphia, is communion with " the and the true." I am speaking merely of an ordinary case of excommunication, and not of a case of discipline complicated, it may be, by the-' incapacity of the assembly to judge evil. I would not for a moment omit the true humiliation which should always accompany action in a, case of discipline.
It was necessary that Israel should both individually and as a nation pass in review under-the searching eye of Jehovah Himself (vers. 14, 15); their conscience was thus awakened and self was judged; each one took his place in presence of the judgment. It was the same when the wicked person at Corinth was put away.
" Godly sorrow " had worked in the Corinthians. "a repentance to salvation not to be repented of." Sorrow had produced humiliation, accompanied by activity and zeal in purifying the, assembly of God from evil. Thus true humiliation and action went together. " For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly-sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge!" (2 Cor. 7:11.)
To return to the question of holiness. In chapter 5 we have individual holiness, and in chapter vii corporate. In order that Israel should not be defiled and partakers of the accursed thing, they must put away what had entered into the midst of the congregation. Rarely do we find intelligence amongst the children of God with regard to these two aspects of practical holiness. Christians more often seek the first, that is individual holiness, and esteem the second of no importance.
Let us take an illustration to show that individual holiness is never fully entered into apart from corporate holiness. Supposing I have a son who is blameless as to his character, and whose virtues are everywhere spoken of. He is respected in the town, and on all sides I hear the remark, " What a good son you have!" Now, this son of mine, though he does not himself drink, spends every evening at the public-house, in the company of drunkards, instead of remaining in his father's house and taking his place at the family board. Can I call him a good son?
From 2 Cor. 6:16 to 7. 1 we learn the close connection between these two aspects of holiness. God begins with corporate holiness. " Ye are the temple of the living God." (Ver. 16.)." The temple of God is holy." (1 Cor. 3:17.) It is positional holiness. " What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" " Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate." (Ver. 17.) This is practical corporate holiness. Then he adds: " Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (Chapter 7:1.) This is individual holiness, and it is inseparable from corporate holiness and the promises attaching thereto.
But the corporate side is not understood by the generality of God's people who go through the world, alas! without troubling themselves about their fellow Christians, and to whom such a thing as corporate responsibility is unknown.
One often hears it said: " Oh! I do not concern myself about others; I am alone with God; I take the Lord's supper individually," &c. This is not how God views us. Let me repeat it: He sees us altogether as forming one body, united by the Holy Spirit to His glorified Son. The sin and the suffering of one member is the sin and suffering of the whole body. One more word in passing, on the sentence referred to above, which one so often hears from the lips of Christians: " I take the Lord's supper for myself." What does Scripture say? " For we, being many, are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread." (1 Cor. 10:17.) Who are the " many " with whom you profess to be one body? You take the supper individually to excuse your alliance with the world at the Lord's table, and you do not see that you profess to be one body with the murderers of our Savior, for it is the world that crucified Him.
Let us notice another point in the chapter. God said, " Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow." (Ver. 13.) We are called to sanctify ourselves before and not at the moment of action. Whence comes our frequent incapacity to judge evil and to act for God? Because we have not sanctified ourselves beforehand. Why is it that so often at the worship meetings our hearts are cold and our lips silent in praise? Because we have not been obedient to the word: " Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow." It is the same in 1 Cor. 5 The apostle possessed the power, but not the Corinthians. They were simply to obey in purging' out the old leaven to be a new lump; they -had to put away the wicked person from their midst.
Achan had partaken of what was under the curse of God, and he had to be put away. It was clone in the valley of Achor.
But, wonderful to say, we read in Hos. 2:15 this comforting word respecting Israel: " I will give her the valley of Achor for a door of hope." Yes, beloved friends, it is always thus; blessing is given to us on the very threshold of judgment.
It is at the place of judgment that the soul at the time of its conversion finds the door of hope; it is there that it meets Christ. And later on, the believer finds the time of discipline to be the first place of hope and joy. It will be in this valley where God pronounced their judgment, that the people of Israel will, by-and-by, be blessed of God. It was there that Joshua was recovered in soul for a walk henceforth with God, while leading the people to victory.