In our last study the Israelites had crossed the Jordan and had taken Jericho. Nothing now stood in their way to moving on into the rest of the Promised Land. But.
Joshua 7:1-26
Read Joshua 7:1
1 But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.
Notice how the sin of one man labelled the whole community ‘unfaithful’ and incurred the Lord’s wrath against them all. Would the same apply in our Christian community? (At least some people are quick to label all Christians when someone sins)
But as yet, in the narrative, no-one was aware of what he had done, or the potential consequences.
Read Joshua 7:2-9
2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, ‘Go up and spy out the region.’ So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, ‘Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.’
The spies are super-confident. With the defeat of Jericho, nothing can stop them now.
4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.
This was a double disaster – 36 people killed unnecessarily, but more than that ‘the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water’. Up to that point everyone had confidently trusted the Lord to give them the victory, now they were discouraged.
6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell face down to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! 8 Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 9 The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?’
It had all gone wrong and Joshua immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion.
What did he think must have been God’s purpose in bringing them across the Jordan? (v7 their destruction)
What did Joshua think the outcome would be? (v9 their name would be wiped out, and God’s name tarnished)
It seemed that Joshua considered that God himself must have suffered a great setback.
Read Joshua 7:10
10 The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?
This reminds me of the passage where Elijah had just been involved in the demonstration of God’s power on Mount Carmel, but had lost his nerve and run for his life. Hiding in a cave up a mountain he heard a still small voice saying ‘What are you doing here Elijah?’
‘Stand up!’ said the lord, and I’ll tell you what the problem is.
Read Joshua 7:11
11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.
Note again, it is all Israel collectively who are accused of sinning – the act of one has tainted them all.
Read Joshua 7:12
12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you any more unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
If you want me to be your God you must be prepared to obey me completely.
That meant whatever was the problem must now be ruthlessly removed.
Should that still be true for us as Christians today?
Read Joshua 7:13
13 ‘Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, “Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: there are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.
What does Consecrate mean in this context? (I wonder how many others had thought about keeping some of the ‘devoted things’?)
Read Joshua 7:14-18
14 ‘“In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the Lord chooses shall come forward clan by clan; the clan that the Lord chooses shall come forward family by family; and the family that the Lord chooses shall come forward man by man. 15 Whoever is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the Lord and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!”’
16 Early the next morning Joshua made Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was chosen. 17 The clans of Judah came forward, and the Zerahites were chosen. He made the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was chosen. 18 Joshua made his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was chosen.
We are not told, so we don’t need to know how the choice was made, but it was direct and accurate.
Read Joshua 7:19-23
19 Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honour him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.’
20 Achan replied, ‘It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 when I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.’
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. 23 They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord.
Maybe it didn’t look much, but symbolically it was immense. The people must be shown the enormity of intentionally disobeying God. (Intentionally? Achan was not ready to confess until he was called out by name.)
Read Joshua 7:24-26
24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, ‘Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.’
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.
Why destroy everything – wife, children, animals included?
The destruction of the Canaanites was the execution of Divine punishment, not a personal vendetta between the armies of the Israelites and Canaanites. God’s command was that everything had to be ‘dedicated’ to him. That then would be Achan’s punishment, and his line would be terminated.
(Achor = ‘punishment’ and a word play on Achan)
Joshua 8:1-35
Read Joshua 8:1-2
1Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.’
What was the difference between the two attacks? No, not the size of the army! Compare Joshua 7:2 ‘Now Joshua sent’ with Joshua 8:1.
Having given his life to the Lord’s service, Joshua needed to learn that he would have to be guided by the Lord in every decision he took.
Do we have to learn this too? That’s easier said than done – would anyone like to share their tips for living like this?
Read Joshua 8:3-8
3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4 with these orders: ‘Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, “They are running away from us as they did before.” So when we flee from them, 7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. 8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.’
Look back at the end of verse 2 ‘Set an ambush behind the city’. That seemed to be a short throw-away line, but Joshua was listening, and it became the secret of his success.
Read Joshua 8:9-18
9 Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai – but Joshua spent that night with the people.
10 Early the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai. 11 The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12 Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So the soldiers took up their positions – with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled towards the wilderness. 16 All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. 17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Hold out towards Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.’ So Joshua held out towards the city the javelin that was in his hand.
I’d love to know how ‘the Lord said to Joshua’. But he listened well and responded immediately. (Just like us . . . ?)
Read Joshua 8:19-26
19 As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.
20 The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing towards the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. 21 For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from the city, they turned round and attacked the men of Ai. 22 Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives.
23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day – all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai.
Again, the word ‘destroyed’ in verse 26 specifically meant the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
Read Joshua 8:27-28
27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day.
It’s well to point out that although the Canaanites had names for their cities; the Israelites were not interested in them. They would give them new names, often that of the head of the family that took them. Here the name Ai simply means ‘The Ruin’
Read Joshua 8:29a
29 He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening.
That might seem a bit gruesome for us today but it was a fairly normal practice to make an example of someone who was particularly disgraced.
It was usually to display the dead body, not a method of execution.
Read Joshua 8:29b
At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.
I wonder if Joshua relied on the Levites to keep him informed of the laws given by Moses: Look at Deuteronomy 21:23: ‘ you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.’
Then, he was reminded of Deuteronomy 27 (you may want to look at it).
Read Joshua 8:30-35
30 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel,
31 as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses – an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.
Why was it specified that the altar was to be made of ‘stones from the field’ (Deuteronomy 27:6) and ‘do not use any iron tool upon them’? (27:5)
Man might glory in the skill he used to shape the stones. He might try to add embellishments of his own design. Man could never be allowed to imagine he could improve on God’s handiwork.
32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. 33 All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.
(Deuteronomy 27:12-13)
34 Afterwards, Joshua read all the words of the law – the blessings and the curses – just as it is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.
Is it necessary to read the Old Testament today?
It reveals: a Creator God, a Loving God, a Law-giving God, sin and its consequences, and God’s plan for a saviour.
