God’s Not Kidding

Joshua 7:1-9

¹But 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. ²Joshua 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. ³And 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.” ⁴So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, ⁵and 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. ⁶Then 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. ⁷And 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! ⁸O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! ⁹For 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?”

After Israel’s stunning and simple victory over Jericho, they assume that any future attempts to conquer the land will meet with success. What the leadership does not know is that Achan has disobeyed God’s command about the “devoted things” and kept some for himself. God’s anger about that crime causes all of Israel to suffer and Joshua’s army suffers their first defeat – and so shortly after Jericho falls. Their confusion is understandable. Joshua does the right thing; he goes before the Lord in prayer and repentance.

This incident opens up the discussion of “who’s to blame” and “who pays the price”. This is most definitely one of the themes that runs throughout the entire Bible. Theologians throughout the ages have addresses this issue, for in our puny minds, the first thought that occurs is, “It’s not fair.” That very thought points to the fact that we cannot ever see the whole picture as God does.

One ungodly person often causes an entire state and whole nation to perish and to be in great misery. The Scriptures are full of examples of this. In this way, on account of Achan, who had stolen an accursed thing, the Lord afflicted the people of Israel in a terrible way, as we see in Joshua 7. On the other hand, the single man Moses often accounted for the safety of the entire nation of Israel. …These things are examples of God’s judgments, who does not deal unjustly, although it seems quite different to us.

Luther, Martin. AE 19:14

My sins may bring damage to others and theirs to me. Others may suffer the same physical disasters as the sinner, or the sinner may be physically safe while others are injured as a result of his action. The drunk driver behind the wheel may escape injury while his crash victims perish. Sin always harms others as well as the perpetrator. There is no such thing as a victimless sin. Even if an evil behavior does not appear to affect anyone else, it incurs God’s wrath and has consequences for the transgressor that will affect all those who live, work, and interact with the perpetrator.

Harstad, A. L. (2004). Joshua (pp. 304–305). Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.

As we know, the first example of this principle is the fall of Adam and Eve into sin. While you and I did not stand there and urge them to eat the fruit, we bear the scares of that choice in our very DNA. Their sin is held against all of mankind. This is supreme example of collective retribution. Paul addresses this with clarity in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 5:12-17

¹²Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— ¹³for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. ¹⁵But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. ¹⁶And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. ¹⁷For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

We dare not question God’s economy. He imputed Adam’s sin to the whole race, but so too did He impute the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ to us for the forgiveness of that fallen state. As we travel through the rest of Joshua, and learn of the punishment Achan will bear, we must acquiesce to God’s divinely perfect will and ways. I’ll be honest with you; the rest of Joshua is difficult. But God’s ways are always right and perfect, and so we will receive the remainder of Joshua’s story with that in mind.