Joshua 7

[alon]

Joshua 7

The conquest of Yericho without fight had made the people of Yisro’el overconfident in themselves. The promises of God probably looked to them like a national right instead of a reciprocal relationship. They lost sight of the fact that victory over their enemies was theirs only as long as they were faithful to the covenant with God.

The land was divided into city-states, each ruled by its own king. Y’hoshua 12:7-42 lists thirty-one such kings. Ai was a relatively small place, only 12000 inhabitants according to Y’hoshua 8:25. However without God even the most insignificant opposition can be too much for us to handle.

Ai was an important city despite its size. It opened the road to Yerushalay’im to the south, and it controlled access to the heart of the country to the north. Morover the hill which separated the territories of Ai and Beth’el was a significant landmark to the Hebrew people. It was here Avram erected an alter when he entered the land for the first time. Here too he stood with Lot when the latter made his fateful choice of where he would reside:

Genesis 12:8 (ESV) From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

Genesis 13:4,10 (ESV) to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. … And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

The book of Joshua, and particularly this chapter stress the unity of God’s people. Just as later the sin of one could pollute the Temple and thus effect the entire nation, the sin of one man here involves all the nation. This is one reason the Jewish people today believe in a national salvation. Christians have lost sight of this concept, to the point the so called Christian World is today on the brink of destruction.

Achen’s sin was disobedience to the command of separation of “devoted” or “proscribed” things (cherem). The complicity of the people with this act of evil was responsible for their defeat.

Joshua 6:17a (ESV) And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.

H2764 חרם / חרם chêrem / cherem BDB Definition: 1) a thing devoted, thing dedicated, ban, devotion 2) a net, thing perforated 3) have been utterly destroyed, (appointed to) utter destruction

Yisro’el had to be taught victory was only possible where exacting obedience and sincere consecration were practiced. We simply cannot cope with what the world throws at us unless we live in clear fellowship with God, unclouded by sin.

2 Chronicles 15:2 (ESV) and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

Cana’an was a gift of Elohim, but it required a trusting relationship with Avinu Malkeinu, Our Father, our King. The spoils of Yericho were consecrated, set apart for their King. Therefore Achen committed the sins of sacrilege as well theft in taking those items. And because of this, the men of Ai at first overpower the Israelite army.


Verses 7:1-5—It is an immutable principal that we are most susceptible to temptation after a victory when our guard is down and emotions are high. The spies were tempted and became presumptuous; Y’hoshua became overconfident and did not consult Ro'eh Yisra'el, the Shepherd of Israel. But Aichen was tempted by covetousness, and he gave in to the temptation and disobeyed Elohim. He should have been tending to his duties, but his eyes wandered and walked right into sin.

Genesis 3:6 (ESV) So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

He placed more value on those things than he did on an obedient relationship with his God.

Psalm 119:62 (ESV) At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules.

Melech Shaul made the same mistake:

1 Samuel 15:3,9 (ESV) Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” … But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

God will not be with us while we harbor evil, and so even insignificant foes are able to defeat us. I have to wonder if, had Adonai-shammah, the LORD is present been with them, would all the people, including Y’hoshua have fallen so easily to temptation?


Joshua 7:1 (ESV) But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

The JPS translation says “The Lord was incensed” to describe the displeasure of HaShem. This term appears only once in the book of Y’hoshua, in contrast to its frequent usage in Shoftim (Judges). So the use of this word underscores the gravity of the spiritual situation the Hebrew people were facing.


Joshua 7:2 (ESV) Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai.

Ai means “the Ruin.” The name of this city appears twenty-seven times in chapters 7 and 8, thus calling attention to the rights of Yisro’el to this land. They would make a ruin of all that was before them.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18 (ESV) But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.

The taking of Ai was important enough that Y’hosua sent spies to reconnoiter the city. He was confident from their report that the city could be taken without much trouble. He thus forgot to consult God to make a plan; and like Shimshon would later experience “he did not know that the Lord had left” his people.

Judges 16:20 (ESV) And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.


Joshua 7:3-5 (ESV) And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

There is no mention of the presence of Elohim in the account of the first attack on Ai, and the result was a rout.


Y’hoshua 7:6-15 describes an exchange between Y’hoshua with the elders and the Lord. A complaint is laid, and Elohim is petitioned, then the Divine One gives an explanation and instructions. These leaders were before the Ark, where the divine presence rested.

Y’hoshua’s role here as intercessor is essentially the same as that of Moshe.

Exodus 32:11-12 (ESV) But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.


Joshua 7:6 (ESV) Then 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 they put dust on their heads.

“Tore his clothes” is here an act of penitence.


Joshua 7:7 (ESV) And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!

Use of the term Amori (Amorites) here is representative of all the inhabitants of the land.


Joshua 7:10-11 (ESV) The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.

The terms used here indicate that more than jus Achen is responsible for the violation of the covenant. He may have been the one who originally sinned, but others knew of this. Regardless, we never sin alone. Our sins affect others; and as well Elohim sees His people as one, so sin of Achan was as the sin of the entire nation.

1 Corinthians 12:12 (ESV) For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

In verse 7 Y’hoshua was looking back instead of looking forward. He needed to look back to find answers, but we never should wallow in self-pity and despair. It was time to get up, to find and then decisively correct the cause of the defeat of his army.

Hosea 5:15 (ESV) I will return again to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Hosea 6:1-2 (ESV) “Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.”


Joshua 7:12 (ESV) Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

Sin can only lead to defeat. The secret to success is understanding of and obedience to God’s word:

Joshua 1:8 (ESV) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Achan knew this, and yet he deliberately disobeyed his instructions, which he knew originated with YHWH-Tsidkenu, the LORD our Righteousness. In doing this he brought defeat to the army, death to thirty seven men, disgrace to the Lord, dismay to his commander and discouragement to his people.


Joshua 7:13 (ESV) Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”

Instant self judgement and repentance are necessary to move forward. We must find ‘the devoted things in our midst’ and give them over to God.


Joshua 7:14 (ESV) In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the Lord takes [indicates by lots] by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households. [ancestral houses] And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man.

“Tribes, clans, and ancestral houses” comprise the Israeli sociopolitical structure. The basic unit of society was the “ancestral house” or family household. This represents the extended family and all its possessions.


Joshua 7:15 (ESV) And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’”

Severity is necessary in a “sin transgressed the covenant of the Lord.”

1 John 5:16 (ESV) If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.


Joshua 7:16-20 (ESV) So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise [and make confession] to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did:

The process of identifying the guilty party involved all Yisro’el in a dramatic selection process involving casting of lots. This had the effect of intensifying the notion of communal responsibility for obedience to the covenant. Immagine the trepidation Achen must have felt as the noose became tighter and tighter and detection grew imminent.

Each in his turn we all pass before the omniscient eye, and there is no hiding, no getting lost in the crowd. We cannot call on any other to save us. Each must give an account for himself.

2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

When God deals with sin He traces its’ geneology and totally destroys it. Achen’s family probably knew what he had done and was therefore complicent in it. To deal with sin thoroughly we need to go back to its sources.

James 1:14-15 (ESV) But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.


Joshua 7:21 (ESV) when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

Shinar is thought to be Babylonia.


Joshua 7:22-24 (ESV) So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.

Sin cannot be hidden forever. Achen’s family had must have known of his crime as well. It could scarcely be otherwise since the spoils were buried in the common family tent.


Joshua 7:25 (ESV) And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.

The reference to this trouble was foreshadowed:

Joshua 6:18 (ESV) But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.

“They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.” Probably means stolen booty was burned and guilty family stoned and possibly burned as well. Like severe ritual impurity, Achen’s sin had soiled the entire household. The punishment may seem severe to us, as notions of justice were stronger and harsher in that day than with those of us who today have been taught by the Christian church. But Achen knew the consequences of what he was doing.

Joshua 7:8-9 (ESV) O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”


Joshua 7:26 (ESV) And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor. [Achor means trouble]

And so the Israelites now erect another heap of stones, this time as witness to the trouble (Achor) sin causes. The instructive function of this chapter is made clear in the etiology of the sin and its consequences.

The “Valley of Achor” is a wordplay on ‘akhar, “to stir up calamity.”

Yet there is cause for hope and rejoicing:

Hosea 2:15 (ESV) And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

“When evil is put away, the door of hope stands open.” F.B. Meyer


The etiology of temptation and downfall is in the confession of Achen once he was exposed, “I saw … I coveted … and I took.”

The consequences of this sin were extremely ominous. The first fight Yisro’el experienced west of the Yardan had ended in defeat! Their enemies would see this as weakness, and if they combined they could squash the entire nation of Yisro’el just as they were set to take the land. It was also a debilitating blow to their morale, which would hinder their will and effectiveness in battle.

They had to be asking themselves if God had failed them. Could He keep His promises, or were they to perish after all? Their leaders lay all day in humiliation, with rent clothes and ashes on their heads like those in mourning. Here we see a contrast of leadership and those who only follow. The leaders beseeched God while the people wondered. The inward struggles of these leaders found its expression in prayer and trust in God. This is where we find victory over the world.

Oddly enough, in the midst of all this consternation and angst, the perpetrator of the crime which led to it all remained unmoved. He must have known in his heart that as long as his sin remained hidden Yisro’el would remain impotent in the face of her many enemies. But in the hardness of heart which sin produces he remained silent, along with his family. Even when the warning given the army by Y’hoshua just before the battle of Yericho came true, Achen remained silent and impenitent.

Exodus 14:15 (ESV) The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.

There is a time for prayer and also a time to get off your face and do something. The sin which was holding them back had to be exposed and dealt with. Achan’s sin was his own, yet he led his family to destruction and Yisro’el to defeat by his actions. Now I look at all this and see that Y’hoshua, the spies, and in fact the entire nation had some fault in this defeat. We’ve seen that they in effect decided they could take care of this one without God. He’d had His glory, what about theirs? Besides, Ai was easy pickin’s. They broke faith with God themselves, so why blame Achen? Because his original sin was disobedience and the breaking of the covenant. It was a sacrilege and profanation against God Himself. The people were led to repentance by their leadership. Achen remained impenitent and held out in his sin knowing the effect would be the destruction of his people and their relationship with their God.

That punishment for his sin involved his entire family may cause some people today consternation. However it is not open for debate*, as this was ordained by the very God who when He founded society, He also made the family the basic unit of that society. God deals with us not only as individuals, but as families and nations. You are your brother’s keeper, and share responsibility for his sins. I suspect that the attitudes which caused Achen to so egregiously sin were learned from his parents and passed on to his children. That is why everyone kept quiet. It is also very difficult for us to expose the wrongs of comrades, and so possibly those who saw him take the spoils from Yericho also remained silent. So the nation was punished by defeat, and Achen and his family were put to death.

This chapter is not only a lesson in dealing with sin, but it bears many lessons for us concerning spiritual warfare. The entire book of Joshua has lessons in these things; and moreover it is a primer on principles of leadership.

Dan C

Resources: JPS Study TNK, W Wiersbe, FB Meyer, MF Unger, Edersheim, Pastor Ed Cole, my father, Rav S and others

* Note: "not open for debate" does not mean not open for discussion. Just we need to look for the reasons and the lessons instead of arguing with God. It took me longer than I like to admit to figure out He's generally right and it is usually my understanding that is messed up. But that is just the way it is, and life's been a whole lot easier since I finally came to that conclusion.