DEVOTE YOURSELF

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, 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.

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.

When they returned to Joshua, they said, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there." So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 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 and became like water.

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown 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. And Joshua said, "Ah, 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! O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 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?"

The Lord said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 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. 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 anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

"Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it.

" 'In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the Lord takes shall come forward clan by clan; the clan that the Lord takes shall come forward family by family; and the family that the Lord takes shall come forward man by man. He who 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 a disgraceful thing in Israel!' "

Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was taken. The clans of Judah came forward, and he took the Zerahites. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was taken. Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me."

Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord.

Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. 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. 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.

Joshua 7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Fresh off the defeat of Jericho, Joshua set his sights on a new conquest…Ai, which scripture tells us was “near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel”. As he did with Jericho, Joshua sent spies out in advance to “spy out the region” and they returned with favorable news. "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai”, they told Joshua. “Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there." And so Joshua sent “about three thousand men” to Ai, confident that victory would be certain just as it had just been in Jericho. In fact, Joshua was so confident that he didn’t consult God first…something that he should have done because he might have found out ahead of time that God was not happy with Israel. In fact, “the Lord's anger (was burning) against Israel”.

Why? Well, our passage tells us that “the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things”…the things that they were ordered to devote to God from Jericho. Instead, “Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah” decided to keep some of the spoils for himself, retaining “a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels”. Achan coveted these items by his own confession and buried them under his tent. Initially, the Lord would hold all of Israel accountable until Achan was exposed.

This is why the nearly three thousand men “were routed by the men of Ai” who “killed about thirty-six of them” before chasing “the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and (striking) them down on the slopes”. These events caused “the hearts of the people (to melt) and became like water”.

Joshua was also thrust into mourning, tearing his clothes and falling facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord where he would remain until evening. He was joined by the “elders of Israel” who “sprinkled dust on their heads” as a sign of repentance. Why had God not been with them? Why would He allow such a defeat? Joshua had trouble understanding.

This is why he cried out, “Ah, 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! O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 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?" Joshua, who decided to not consult God before sending his men into battle now begins to question God about His absence to include asking why God even brought them to Canaan in the first place. Further, Joshua is now concerned that Israel has lost its competitive edge against its adversaries. When word spread about its defeat, then other enemies would feel confident in coming to attack as well. As we see in scripture, God allows Joshua to whine for just a short while before intervening.

For we see the Lord tell Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 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. 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 anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction”. God makes it very clear that Israel has brought all this on themselves by taking items that were designated devoted. Granted, Achan was the one who took the items but sin wasn’t just an Achan problem, it was an Israelite problem. It was a Jericho problem and God judged Jericho. Now He shows that His judgment could extend to His own people as well if they chose to be disobedient.

So what could Israel do to get back into good grace with God? The Lord tells Joshua to “Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it”. In other words, nothing was going to change until the problem at hand was resolved…the problem being the things taken and the person responsible. In order to find this person, the Lord used a process of elimination.

We read where He first would take a tribe, then a clan from that tribe, then a family from that clan and finally a man from that family…this man being the guilty party. And woe be it to that person for God makes it clear regarding the consequences he or she will face. For the person “caught with the devoted things” was to be “destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him” for he had “violated the covenant of the Lord” and, in doing so, “done a disgraceful thing in Israel!"

So “early the next morning”, Joshua had Israel “come forward by tribes” and the Lord took Judah. This eliminated the other eleven tribes. Next, the clans of Judah came forward and the Lord “took the Zerahites”. Then when the “clan of the Zerahites come forward by families”, the Lord selected the family of Zimri, after which Joshua had each person come forward “man by man” before picking the guilty man, “Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah”.

With the guilty man exposed by God, Joshua tells Achan, "My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me." And Achan comes clean replying, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath." So Joshua sent messengers to Achan’s tent to see if his words were true and they were. The items were right where Achan had said they were and the messengers “took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord”.

So with Achan exposed and the stolen devoted items recaptured, scripture tells us that “Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor”. There, Joshua asked Achan, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today." And all of Israel passed judgment upon Achan and everything he owned by first stoning and then burning everything. And over Achan, they “heaped up a large pile of rocks”, a solemn reminder of the consequence for breaking God’s covenant promise.

Chapter 7 of Joshua serves to remind us that God expects integrity in His people, especially when it comes to dealing with Him. You’ll recall that in Chapter 6, the Lord gave the following order to Israel just before their conquest of Jericho:

“…But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury."

Achan, in his greed, had brought destruction down on his fellow Israelites. Close to thirty-six of his brothers in arms had died because of his actions. And so, we saw where Achan’s punishment was just as severe. The penalty fit the crime.

Through Achan, we need to understand that our sinful actions sometimes have far reaching ramifications. People around us can be hurt and hurt badly if we decide to selfishly seek to satisfy our own wants, even if it means we need to sin to do so. We need to also understand that God will not let the selfish sinner go undisciplined and the discipline might be extremely severe. Don’t think we don’t serve a God who won’t correct us. He loves us yes…He wants the best for us yes…He is merciful and gracious yes…but He will not tolerate us not respecting His word, His will and His way. Know and trust in that.

So given this, my prayer is that we will always think twice before we fall victim to any sinful action...any action that would draw us into disfavor with the Lord. And here’s a tip for you. As you go through each and every day, if you’re feeling a sense of conviction about doing anything…a sense that what you’re about to do is wrong…then don’t do it! You’re feeling that way for a reason because God is trying to stop you before you get yourself into trouble. And we all would be well served to first seek and then follow God’s lead. For it’s then and only then that we can assure ourselves to devote the most important thing to God for God…that being ourselves. Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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