Joshua 8

Joshua 8:1-35

ISRAEL’S FAILURE AND Joshua 7, 8.THE story of Achan is dramatically told. Tragedies attract and the memory easily retains their rehearsal. Readers of the Bible, though they have passed over this but a single time, are fairly familiar with even its details. It leaves a profound impression.In some ways it has the characteristics of fiction; but, taken as a whole, it appeals to us as a plain record of a great sin and a fearful judgment. The setting is such that its historicity can hardly be questioned. The site of this ancient town is well known, and the sin of Achan is referred to in many passages of Scripture.

It has been employed thousands of times in illustration of the alarming fact, “Be sure your sin will find you out”.In giving attention to the text we are impressed first withTHE SIN OF ACHANIn fact, this phrase constitutes the chapter headline of most versions of the Bible.A study of the text impresses some facts:Achan’s sin was the result of great temptation. Joshua had plainly told them“Keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it “But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord” (Joshua 6:18-19).But did Joshua not know that among the spoils was this perfectly beautiful “Babylonish garment” —a garment rich in texture, large in value, and “two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight”, and that all these would fall before the eyes of one man?There is a difference in the strength of temptation.

All sin is born of temptation, and a natural desire for personal advantage is simply inflamed by the prospect of large profit? I know a man whose clothes go regularly to the cleaners. A number of times he has left a one or five dollar bill in the pocket and it has been promptly returned; but one day he was forgetful enough to leave a fifty dollar bill in an inside false pocket, and the temptation was too great. In other words, the temptation of a fifty dollar bill is ten times as great as the temptation of a five dollar bill. Men seek to excuse themselves from sin on the ground that the temptation was great. This instance does not seem to indicate that God accepts such excuse.Achan’s sin was surreptitiously committed.

He took them and hid them in the midst of his tent and the silver under it. All sin is surreptitiously committed, and the deeper its dye the greater the darkness required for the deed.“This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.“For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:19-20).Achan’s sin was finally and fully uncovered.

God called first attention to it,“Israel hath 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 dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff” (Joshua 7:11).In a sense, God is commonly the one who uncovers sin; and yet He may use human agencies in so doing. Here the people are called upon to sanctify themselves because of the accursed thing that existed in the midst of Israel. And Joshua, at the command of the Lord, rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes and by their families and households, until Achan, the son of Carmi, was taken. Then Joshua said unto Achan,“My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.“And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:“When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish 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 hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.“So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.“And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the Children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.“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 alt that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.“And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.“And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger.

Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day” (Joshua 7:19-26).The world is not astonished to see Achan’s sin brought abroad. It is never astonished by such an experience; in fact, the world has come to expect it.

But the world is always offended at the judgment that falls upon sin; and there are thousands of men, some even among professed Christians, who believe that this judgment against Achan was extreme.Such overlook two facts. First, that a sin, in the inception of a movement, is greater than one that characterizes its more mature history. A young movement can be absolutely killed by one mistake. Israel is new in the land; her sanctity is essential to her success. If that be violated with impunity, the future Holds no prospect of a holy people. That is why Ananias and Sapphira perished.

The church was new, the movement was only starting, its entire future depended upon its original directors. If sin triumph then, and no judgment come, the church is doomed.THE OF ISRAELIsrael suffered both defeat and the death of many.“There went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water” (Joshua 7:4-5).It was this defeat that brought attention to the sin.

The chapter opens with the sentence, “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”. But this record was made long after the event and only when the full truth was known.There are often judgments that amaze us. They seem unaccountable. That may be because we have not known what lies back of them. If we could know the conduct of men, as God knows it, we might be seldom or never surprised at the afflictions that befall them, and the chastisement that seeks their correction.God was instantly and grossly misjudged.“Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the Ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.“And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!“O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!“For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt Thou do unto Thy great Name” (Joshua 7:6-9)?How often God is misjudged because all the facts are not before the face of men. When San Francisco was destroyed, men held up their hands in horror and said, “Why was such a disaster permitted?” Some years before the event, righteous men, who had been conducted through its underworld life, had remarked, “If there is a God in Heaven that thing cannot be indefinitely continued.” When St.

Pierre was wiped from the earth in one moment, men marvelled, but when the full truth of St. Pierre’s sins were known, they marvelled that it had been left above ground so long.

There is a little Mexican village thirty miles out of San Diego that is famed the world around for its wildness and iniquity. It lies on the Mexican side, miles removed from the seashore, in an apparently peaceful, quiet valley. It looks as secure as the desert is stable. But who knows? Nature’s convulsions have a habit of occurring on spots where men have perpetrated sins’ grossest outrages. Observers should not be surprised if judgment fall there.The whole truth known, God was fully justified.

In answer to Joshua’s dyspeptic complaint,“O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!“For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt Thou do unto Thy great Name?“The Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?“Israel hath 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 dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.“Therefore the Children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed; neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.“Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow; for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.“In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man.“And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath; because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel” (Joshua 7:8-15).That answer completed, Joshua makes no further complaint. He sees the reason for judgment and justifies the Divine wrath, and sets himself immediately to correction.

David doubtless referred to his own gross sin of murder and lust as he poured out his heart in penitent plea, but in the prayer justifies God, saying, “I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.“Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest” (Psalms 51:3-4).THE AND Chapter 8The repentance complete, courage was recovered.“And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:“And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.“So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night” (Joshua 8:1-3).It is a principle of personal experience. It makes little difference how deeply into sin a man has gone, when once he has fully repented and is conscious in his own soul that God has forgiven him and that he has turned from that iniquity, his courage will instantly arise. There are many reported instances of men condemned and doomed to die by rope or execution, who, when the time of their capital punishment comes, meet the same with placid countenance and courageous spirit. It will be found upon investigation that such men have commonly genuinely repented. Unrepentant men may exhibit a spirit of bravado and defiance and die with curses on their lips, but only the repentant man can meet his judgment with courage, or recover courage, when let to live when the judgment is past.The promises of Divine favor do not oppose human strategy.“And He commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.“(For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.“Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.“And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.“Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.“And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.“And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and. came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai.“And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city.“And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.“And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted, and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain: but he wist not that there were tiers in ambush against him behind the city.“And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.“And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.“And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.“And the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand.

And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.“And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand; and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.“And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.“And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.“And the other issued out of the city, against them: so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.“And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua,“And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.“And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai” (Joshua 8:4-25).The story of this successful strategic movement involves certain natural questions.Were the men of Ai fools not to have sent spies to reconnoiter before they came forth to battle and so locate the enemy, that they might wisely meet him?There are two possible answers! The defeat of the day before was so easy that the men of Ai might have imagined that it was real fun to go out and put the second scare into this despicable crowd of immigrants.

Or, as one has suggested (but in my judgment less likely), this might have been the first time that this strategy had been used, and proving so successful, it has been utilized ever since.Again, some will ask the question, Why, when God had promised them victory, strategy needed to be resorted to at all?God’s promises do not as a rule propose to dispense with man’s endeavor, but to employ, approve and empower, rather. The man. therefore, who has a Divine call to preach and does not feel it necessary to prepare himself by education and consecration, will find that God’s approval upon his course is a prime essential. The man who plans to put his money on the altar and consequently claims the right to riches without endeavor, will shortly discover the meaning of Solomon’s proverb, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6).The victory of Israel was not partial, but complete.“And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.“For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.“Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the Word of the Lord which He commanded Joshua.“And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day” (Joshua 8:25-28).Some of us are in doubt whether God ever does anything in any other way than perfectly. The issue may seem to have many defects, but we are inclined to think that those are the influence of men upon the same. People sometimes profess to have been partially saved. We doubt if there are any such.

We believe that when God saves He saves entirely. We meet those who profess to have been partially healed.

We also doubt if they have had the Divine touch. We are inclined to think that when God does the work He does it perfectly.This doctrine is delightful when it takes the form of mercy, and frightful to contemplate when it takes the form of judgment. If one would know its full significance to fear the same, let him read Revelation 20:11-15 :“And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.“And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire”.Judgments evidently from God have a tendency to turn the true believer to God’s Word. That is why Joshua felt the necessity of giving almost a day to the simple reading of Moses’ Law. “Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal,“As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the Children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lifted up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.“And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the Children of Israel.“And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the Ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.“And afterward he read all the words of the Law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.“There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them” (Joshua 8:30-35).When God’s people have gone wrong, the way back to Him is the way of His Word.