Joshua 7

Joshua 7

As I mentioned in chapter 6, God is the God of exceptions.  Here in chapter seven we see Achan as an exception but in opposition to Rahab.  Rahab was initially not apart of the covenant with God.  Her and all she owned was doomed for destruction.  But because she acted in faith when she delivered the Hebrew spies, the Lord “saved” her and her entire family with all she owed and accepted her into covenant Israel, insomuch Rahab is apart of the lineage of Christ.

Rahab’s situation could not be more different than Achan, a man who belongs to covenant Israel by blood.  But he rejected the Lord in unbelief by taking the “accursed thing”.  Someone reading this account should not be too wrapped up in what the accursed thing actually was.  It was not cursed because it had some sort of evil magic or demons swirling around over top of it.  In all appearance, the things Achan took were simply valuables, silver and a change of nice clothes.   However, Achan took such things while knowing good and well that the Lord gave commandment against it.    Jesus later interprets the OT scripture for us by saying, “If ye love me, keep my commandments”.   And certainly the principle already existed in Achan’s day.  Achan took the things he loved more than the God who is there.

Achan’s actions of unbelief earned him the same damnation of the things he loved and took.  His unbelief was not thinking there is no God, for of a surety he knew God existed and even saw His great power, but this unbelief was more of a despising of God’s commands and by extension God Himself.  God reveals Himself to us by His word, and if one should despise His commands or despise His word, then that person would not really like to be reconciled with God intimately, as in a covenant relationship.  That person would   be separated from the rest of the congregation that does truly desire to be with God, more than anything else.  This is what God wants, a people to love Him more than stuff, it is also a good definition of biblical “belief”.

I know I have often been guilty of letting things take the attention of my heart instead of giving it fully to God.  It is passages like this that prompts me to take take inventory of my life and my stuff and once again put my whole-self on the altar for a living sacrifice.
Joshua makes his next few decisions without consulting God (7:2). When God blesses us, we tend to get overconfident, and we forget to seek His counsel. People will begin to trust in their own counsel, because they are surrounded and feeling secured by God’s blessings. 36 men will die in battle from this error and Achan’s sin (7:5). Joshua become discouraged and questions God (7:7), but it is not because of God’s failure, it was the failure of the people who did not check themselves, or seek the counsel of God. When we do no consult God says, we sin, and our sin will carry into the future and even affect other people around us, just like Achan’s sin.