(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Joshua 7:16–26, “So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. And 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 all 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.”
Moses, commanded by the Lord, had ordained Joshua to use the proper method of determine the guilt in Israel. After praying, Joshua went ahead to determine the man responsible for the defeat at Ai. Each of the tribes was brought to Joshua and the priest used the stones to determine which tribe was responsible. The Lord showed them that the tribe of Judah was responsible. The process was repeated until and individual, Achan was determined to be responsible. When Achan knew that he had been found out, he confessed to his sin. During the battle of Jericho, Achan had seen and coveted some precious items. He saw a very nice garment, gold and silver so he took them and hid them in his tent. Joshua didn’t condemn Achan out of hand but sent responsible people to find the evidence and when that evidence was found he passed sentence on Achan. The evidence was presented to the entire nation, this was so that justice could be seen to be done as well as the proper punishment followed through. Not only was Achan condemned to execution but his entire family was condemned with him. While this may seem harsh it was also in keeping with the instructions of the Law. (compare Deut 13:6–11, “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.”) Achan’s family were complicit in his sin because they didn’t let the leaders know that he had coveted the good and worshipped the riches before the Lord. Because Achan took the booty and his family didn’t follow the Law other Israeli soldiers were killed in battle.
No comments:
Post a Comment