Good Morning Friends,
When Joshua and the people of Israel
conquered Jericho, God had instructed that all of the possessions of those
people were to be devoted to Him and none kept by the people themselves. That
instruction was followed by all of Israel, except one man. Achan hid some of
the spoils from Jericho in his own tent.
The next city that the people of Israel went
against was the small village of Ai. After conquering the formidable city of
Jericho with such ease, they were convinced Ai would be no problem and Joshua
sent only a small number of the men of Israel against Ai. And the men of Ai
defeated the army of Israel and several Israelites were killed.
When Joshua went before the Lord to find out
why they had been defeated, why His favor had been lifted from them, this was
God’s response.
“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 own
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. Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate
yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of
Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand
against your enemies until you remove it.’” (Joshua 7:11-13)
The sin of one man affected the entire
nation. Until Achan’s sin was dealt with, God’s favor would not return to the
people of Israel.
The point of the story is to emphasize how
much God is grieved by sin and to show that a person’s sins do not just affect
him, but those around him, too. Achan is the only one who had sinned, but Achan’s
sin kept the whole nation from being able to enjoy the blessings of God.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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