THE SIN OF ACHAN
Part 37
Joshua 7:1-5
Morning Mediation 11/16/14
Verses 1-5 say, “But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.”
On our recent trip to the Holy Land we visited Jericho and saw the excavations. They testify to the truth of the Word of God. Of course that does not surprise the Bible believer. We passed near Ai. Our guide just pointed in a direction and said it is over there. We didn’t have time to go to all the sites. But Israel suffered an astonishing defeat here. Where they should have lost (at Jericho), they won. Where they should have won (at Ai), they lost. Israel was dismayed. Our text puts it, “ . . . wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.” Let’s look at some lessons in this chapter.
God allows the army of Israel to be defeated at Ai as a means to make them aware that a sin had been committed. This sin cost them thirty-six of their fighting men. When sin has been committed, the Captain of the LORD’s hosts will stay home and drink coffee and wait for the news of the battle. Israel will discover that they are not equal to the enemy, i.e., they are no match. It is the LORD’s battle. When He is with them, He fights the battle. He is the answer to their success. When He is not with them, they will be fighting a battle already lost. They ran in utter confusion before the enemy. They came home to announce a defeat that was not supposed to happen.
Joshua does exactly what he was supposed to do as the leader of God’s people. He fell on his face before the ark of the LORD. Joshua is here to find the answer for the defeat and his prayer is recorded in verses 7-9. Joshua registers a little disappointment in the people in verse 8: “O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!” Joshua will have to be taught that the courage of Israel is going to come from the assurance of the presence of the LORD. If the LORD is not with us, there is only one thing left to do. Run! When defeat is suffered and we do not know why, we need to seek the answer from the LORD.
The LORD listened to Joshua’s prayer. Verses 10-12 say, “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.”
You will notice the LORD said, “Israel hath sinned.” What one man did in the nation, God held the entire nation responsible for. It is a lesson for both the individual and the nation. The nation will learn that sin tolerated in an individual can weaken the entire nation. Achan will learn that nothing can be hidden from the LORD. He will learn that he has the blood of thirty-six men on his hands. He will learn that when he took of the accursed thing, that he brought a curse on his entire family. There are so many who think they can violate the will of God and it does not hurt others. It hurts others. God held the nation responsible. He holds America responsible for abortion, homosexuality, pornography, divorce, and allowing the theory of evolution to be taught in our public schools. I fear that one of these days America is going to go up against some country like Iraq, and we will receive the news that Israel received after the battle of Ai.
The LORD told Joshua what to do to uncover the sin. So he begins the process. The Lord has His way of uncovering and dealing with sin. There is no capital punishment in the church. There was in Israel and this illustrates it. In the church the ultimate punishment is recorded in 1 Cor. 5:4-5 and it is recommended by Paul. There was a man committing fornication with his step mother (vs. 1). Paul said, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” This is one of the ways God deals with His children in this church age. The sin of fornication is a sin unto death for a Christian if it is carried far enough. Evidently, the man in First Corinthians five had been confronted and he had refused to get right. I believe that what Paul tells the Church at Corinth to do is a last resort. But it is the responsibility of the Church to take this step when it becomes necessary. IT BECOMES THE SIN OF THE CHURCH WHEN THE CHURCH TOLERATES ITS EXISTENCE WITHOUT DEALING BIBLICALLY WITH IT. To confirm what I have just said, I will give you Bible authority: “ . . . Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” Could Paul have been thinking about Israel at Ai when he said this? Achan’s sin rendered the entire nation powerless against its enemy until it was corrected. The “lump” here is talking about the local church in Corinth. The “leaven” in this case is the sin of fornication. Paul says if you leave this man in the Church, the entire Church will be corrupted and will be seen by the Lord as leavened, i.e., guilty of this sin of fornication.
I can just hear someone say, “Preacher, this scares me to death. I have committed fornication. Does this mean that I have committed the sin unto death? What am I to do?” What have you done about it? Are you still committing this sin? You say, “I have repented and asked the Lord’s forgiveness.” Then take His forgiveness and move forward. Do not go around condemning yourself over what God has forgiven. The man in First Corinthians five was unrepentant. A Christian who commits this sin and refuses to respond to God’s efforts to bring him to repentance is in danger. God will not tolerate this sin in His children forever.
Joshua is bringing Israel before him just as the LORD had commanded. When he came to Achan, he asked Achan, “ . . . 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” (vs. 19). The next verses tells us how Achan broke down and told all. Joshua and all Israel took this man and his family and stoned them and burned them (vss. 24-26). Joshua and Israel were the instruments of God to exercise His judgment upon a man who had been responsible for the death of thirty-six innocent men. Those men went into battle against Ai believing that the LORD was with them. It was not their fault. Sometimes God’s lessons are harsh. But one does not forget this kind of lesson. Remember Ananias and Sapphira in Acts Chapter five? Is that sin committed today? You know it is. And while the same visible judgment is not brought against many such individuals, the seriousness of their sin still stands illustrated in the Word of God. God has not changed His mind.
Is there a lesson for the Church today in Achan’s sin? I believe there is. We are not under law but under grace. GRACE DOES NOT LOOK AT SIN WITH ANY LESS DEGREE OF HATRED THAN DOES THE LAW. But the Church is not commanded to stone individuals. We are told how to deal with those involved in sins of this sort. Since there are no public stonings of those who commit such sins today, there is a tendency to believe that God does not take them as seriously. This is not true. God has not changed. He is a holy God and when we begin to represent Him as One who winks at sin, we are ourselves in danger of His judgment. I personally believe that one of the weaknesses of the Church today is our unwillingness to deal with CHRISTIAN SINS as we are instructed.. What if Joshua and Israel had said, “LORD, you are just too hard on this man. We know he has sinned. But we do not believe this sin is worthy of stoning and burning.” Joshua had already learned enough about the LORD not to begin an argument with Him over this matter. They assumed He was right and carried out His Word. They were right.
Many preachers will not deal with CHRISTIAN SINS because they fear a mass exodus will occur and it will not make a good report in the associational annual to see the NUMBERS GOING DOWN INSTEAD OF UP. There are other preachers who would do right in this manner but they have a deacon board who will not tolerate Church discipline. And the deacons in many Churches are the ones who keep the preacher in line. There are other times that the Church itself refuses to deal with the problem of sin in its membership. What do you do? You go against Ai without God. When you get tired of losing, go back to the basics and do what God says and He will identify with you again. If He is there, there will be no lost battle.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
