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ACHAN’S SIN
Joshua 7:1-26
Key verse: 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.”
Last week, we learned of the fall of Jericho by the power of God. In their obedience to God’s command, the Israelites walked around the walls of Jericho for seven days and blasted a trumpet sound and loud shout. Then the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, and the Israelites charged straight in and took the city. The next city Joshua and Israel intended to conquer was Ai. It was about 20 km from Jericho. But in today’s passage, the Israelites are defeated at Ai because of one man Achan’s sin.
To understand today’s passage exactly, we need to back up and carefully see God’s command to Israel before the fall of Jericho in chapter 6. According to chapter 6:17-19, other than Rahab and her family, every living thing in Jericho was to be put to death, but every valuable thing was to be put in the Lord’s treasury. Simply, they should not keep anything in Jericho for themselves, because it belonged to God. God also warned the Israelites that if this command was broken, the entire nation would be liable to destruction and trouble. Except Achan, all the Israelites obeyed this command from God. Today, let’s learn of the severity of sin and God who purges sin from his people.
First, the Lord’s anger burned against Israel (1). Look at verse 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.”Verse 1 begins with the word “But.” Up to this point, God led Israel and Israel obeyed God. So in God’s powerful leading they had victory after victory. They crossed the Jordan on dry ground. They conquered Jericho not with swords or arrows, but with walking and shouting. The Israelites were on a great high. But while they won a great victory, a sin was committed secretly. Achan took some of the devoted things for himself. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel. Why did God’s anger burn against the entire nation of Israel, rather than just against Achan who had committed sin before God? Seemingly the Israelites were innocent victims, because one man’s private sin brought communal punishment to many innocent people who didn’t know about Achan’s secret sin. Maybe other Israelites had a desire in their minds to do the same sin Achan had done. Nevertheless, God dealt with the people of Israel as a unit. It was part of God’s commands warning to them that one sin of disobedience would bring trouble down upon the camp.
The fact of the matter is that sin is not private. Individual sin can harm many innocent people. Sin can be committed privately, but it always affects others to some degree. David’s secrete adultery with Bathsheba affected Bathsheba’s family as well as David’s family and his kingdom greatly. Bathsheba’s husband was murdered and David had tremendous troubles with his children later on. I also saw more than one example of one person’s “secret” sin breaking the hearts of his or her family and friends and even hindering the work of the Lord’s church. Years ago, an American president’s private sin hurt his family and corrupted the administration and made the whole nation very messy.
We live in an age of hyper-individualism. People think, “I am doing my business and you are doing your business. So just mind your own business.” But we cannot just mind our own business because our lives are complicatedly intertwined. We can either become an encouragement to others or be a discouragement to them. That was why God’s anger burn against Israel, instead of singling out Achan. That was why God said in verse 11a, “Israel has sinned…” Here we learn that we all pay a price when one of us sins. Because of one person’s sin, the whole church suffers. As we know Christian church is compared to a body that has many different parts (1 Cor 12:12). So “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it (1 Cor 12:26). No one in our church is an island. Our life can either give others strength and confidence and hope or cause them to be discouraged, weakened and hopeless. Whether we want or not, we make an impact on those around us. Do you know how much your sin cost Jesus? Death on the cross! We all need to ask ourselves, “What are the sins in my heart that make a bad impact on the lives of my kids, my spouse and my church?” We all know that we have a sinful nature. So the scripture tells us to struggle against sin. Hebrews 12:4 says, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” God hates sin. We should resist sin, instead of compromising it. If we are in sin, let us come to Jesus right away and be forgiven so that we can become source of blessing to others and the Lord’s church.
Second, Israel was routed by the men of Ai (2-15). While Israel was thrilled with the victory at Jericho, Joshua had plans for the next city to conquer. So he sent spies to the city of Ai. The spies came back and reported confidently that only two or three thousand men were needed to take the tiny city. They said, “General Joshua,it’s a piece of cake to take Ai. Just send a few thousand and other soldiers deserve a break after all this marching around Jericho.”After hearing their confident report and advice, Joshua sent 3000 people to Ai without praying and inquiring of the Lord. The outcome of the battle was that Israel was defeated by the men of Ai. They ran in terror back down leaving their 36 dead soldiers behind them.
What happened? They conquered the fortified city Jericho without any casualties. But at Ai, they were defeated. We all know that the root cause of this defeat was Achan’s sin. But beside Achan’s sin, we can see here that Joshua and the Israelites didn’t inquire of God. They forgot that it was God who had delivered Jericho to them, not the troops of Israel. They became self-confident and proud. They thought that without God’s help, they could take Ai easily. But this had disastrous results. What’s worse, verse 5b says, “At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.”Prior to this battle, the hearts of Canaanites and the Amorites melted in fear and they had no courage to face the Israelites. But now the table was turned and the hearts of the Israelites melted in fear to the point that it became like water. What a reverse! Why?
It was because Joshua and the Israelites didn’t depend on God. They walked by sight, not by faith.If Joshua had been humble before God and prayed to him, God would have told him of Achans’ sin and he could have dealt with it. But he didn’t. As a result 36 soldiers lost their lives and Israel suffered a humiliating defeat. Here we learn the importance of prayer to God. Like Joshua and the Israelites we have limited sight. Often times, we don’t know what is going on in people’s heart. I even don’t know what sin is in my heart. King David in Psalm 139:23-24 prayed to God, saying, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” We kneel down before God daily to check up any offensive way in us through prayers, and when God shows our sin we repent of it humbly.
When Joshua experienced a defeat, and hit a concrete wall, he stopped everything, tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before God. He remained there till evening. He prayed to God in verses 7-9. In his prayer he basically asked God, “Why? Why has this happened?” At the time of defeat and failure, Joshua didn’t fall into doubt and became fearful like the troops of Israel. He humbly came to God with torn clothes (meaning repentance) and asked God what God was doing. In that sense, failure was good to Joshua and Israel, because they could return to God humbly and examine themselves and walk by faith again. We must learn of Joshua’s humble prayer at the time of defeat and failure. Through prayer sincerely to the point of falling facedown to the ground, we need humble prayer struggle before God.
It seemed that God was waiting for Joshua and the elders of Israel to come to him in humble prayer. When Joshua came before him, then God told him the real reason why Israel was defeated. Look at verses 10-12. “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 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.’” In short, the Israelites were defeated by the men of Ai because there was sin in the camp of Israel. God knew a secret sin committed in the camp of Israel. And that sin broke the relationship with God and God could not be with his people. This is the biblical principle that runs throughout the Bible. Apostle John says in 1 John 1:5, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” In short, it is impossible that we sin and at the same time we have fellowship with God.Achan hid secret stash that broke the fellowship with God. And God could not be with Israel at Ai. It was like the electric wire of fellowship between God and Israel was cut off and as a result, there was no power to flow. And God knew who cut the wire. And God cannot and will not tolerate sin.
Someone said that the human heart is designed to beat in unison with God’s heart. When our hearts beat in unison with God’s we experience a deep and satisfying peace and God empowers us to make a real difference in the world. But when they don’t beat in unison with God’s, i.e. when we reject God’s life-giving words, we are just like cut flowers in a vase or cut wires that are powerless and useless. Do you have uneasiness in you as you stand before God? We must recognize that uneasiness is the companion of hidden sin. When we have uneasiness, it is the time we come to God, examine our lives and repent. We can deceive people even very close ones, but we cannot deceive God.
Nobody knew that Achan committed sin until he confessed it. But God knew it. In verses 13-15, God told Joshua to have the people come forth the next morning, first, tribe by tribe, and then clan by clan, and then family by family, and then individual by individual until the guilty person was discovered. It would be God who would choose the tribe, then the clan, then the family and finally the individual who was guilty. God would punish the person with sin. How amazing and even beautiful it is that sinners take initiative to come to God voluntarily with repentance and to ask God for his forgiveness. But sinners in general harden their hearts and refuse to repent. God knew that Achan would not repent until God exposed him. This reminds us of God’s final judgment. We cannot hide our sin to the end. At the judgment seat, God will expose all our sins. When God exposes our sins, it is too late to be forgiven. Let us humbly come before God and repent so that we can be forgiven and have God’s gracious life.
Third, Achan’s punishment (16-26).Verses 16-18 show that Joshua followed God’s instruction to discover the guilty person. And finally Achan son of Karmi was discovered. Most probably it had taken hours. Imagine Achan’s fast heart beating as tribe by tribe, family by family, Joshua’s pursuit closed in on him. But he remained silent until the very end. Seemingly God had given him a change to admit his sin and ask God’s forgiveness by taking long hours of investigation. But Achan was rebellious to the end.
In my childhood, I learned the principle of punishment that it is always better to admit my sin to my parents rather than have them discover it. I still get punished, but not as severely, because I haven’t added to my sin by trying to hide it. Do you know that the agony of hiding is far worse than the agony of confession?
Finally Joshua said to him, “Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.” Achan was now quaking and replied in verses 20-21, “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 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.” Here we learn that sin is a process. Achan first saw the forbidden things, then coveted them and finally took them and hid them inside his tent. Eve in the Garden of Eden took exactly the same step. She first saw the forbidden fruit. Then she coveted because the fruit looked good for food and pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some and ate it. When Achan was captured by his covetous desire he tried to justify his next action to steal them and hide them. Sin always works in this way. But what Achan didn’t know that sin would inevitably break out into the open. So Numbers 32:23b warns, “And you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” In reality there is no such thing as a secret sin. God always sees what we do. Our conscience also sees what we do. Our sins will eventually find us out. Let us repent of our sin now before it is too late to repent. We should not delay our repentance stubbornly and willfully.
Verses 24-26 describe Achan’s punishment. They took Achan and his family and livestock to the Valley of Achor and executed God’s justice. He and his family who helped him to hide his sin were stoned to death. They burned them there. The Valley of Achor means the Valley of trouble. It is the Valley of punishment. The destiny of sinners is the Valley of Achor. But God promised to turn this dark and hopeless place to be a way to restoration and peace. In Hosea 2:15 God promised, “I will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.” The Valley of Achor is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ cross. Jesus was troubled for us in taking the punishment of our sin. Jesus went down into the dark valley of judgment and opened the door of hope for those who confess their sins and accept Jesus and his salvation work on the cross. As we come to Jesus with our humble repentant heart, may God forgive our hidden sins and make us clean and new.