Joshua 7 | Overcoming the Giant of Sin

Scripture Reader (Joshua 6:27-7:9)

The book of Joshua: God wants his people to experience a life of success and transformation.

Deuteronomy: God’s desire is to bless them through his promises and his presence among them. Success and transformation.

What a wonderful way to live!

According to Joshua 1:7, the way to success and transformation is by treasuring and obeying God’s Word.

But there are giants that stand in the way of experiencing a life of success and transformation. “Overcoming Giants” (Promised Land is not heaven. There is no fighting in heaven).

The Giant of Unbelief wants to disqualify you from the race

The Giant of Fear wants to debilitate you in the middle of the race

The Giant of Misplaced Priorities wants to distract you from the race

‌The Giant of Sin wants to completely destroy you and drag you from the race

In other words, the giant of sin does not mess around. Our mentality should be the same: we don’t want to mess around with sin either. Satan would love for us to pet and play with sin like a tamed cat rather than seeing it for what it truly is, a wild lion wanting nothing less than to tear us apart.

Let us allow the word of God to show us the seriousness of the Giant of Sin.

“These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us.” (1 Co. 10:11, NLT c.f. Ro 15:4)

The Bible is never casual about sin. Therefore, we must take sin and its consequences very seriously as presented in Joshua 7.

Summary: Everything is going well for Joshua in the Israelites in the first six chapters (Map: The setting of Joshua)

Ch 1: Joshua is given wonderful promises by God (Shittim)

Ch 2: God reassures the Israelites regarding the Promised Land (Spies bring positive report)

Ch 3&4: The Israelites cross the Jordan River.

Ch 5: Spiritual revival: commitment & fellowship with God (Gilgal)

Ch 6: The fall of the mighty city of Jericho

Chapter 6 ends with, “So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land” (Josh 6:27).

Up next: Ia

However, when you get to the next verse, which is Joshua 7:1, you’ll discover that the first word is “BUT.”

Joshua 7:1 “But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan took some of the devoted things.

Oh no! Why is this a big deal?

The answer is found in the previous chapter.

Joshua 6:18–19 “18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.””

Whoah!

The word “devoted things” is very significant.

Devoted things (Heb. ḥērem)

The noun can be rendered as “devoted things” or “destruction.”

The NIV text note makes clear the connection between the idea of devotion and destruction: “The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them.”

Joshua’s instruction were crystal clear:

But keep yourselves from the things set apart, or you will be set apart for destruction. If you take any of those things, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and make trouble for it. (Joshua 6:18, CSB)

The silver, gold, bronze and iron were devoted to worship idols. God is saying, “These things are to be devoted for my worship alone.” At the center of a successful life is a life that is devoted for the glory of God. God was commanding his people to display his glory alone.

Another significant word is “to break faith.”

To break faith (Heb. ma˓al)

The verb can be rendered as “to act unfaithfully, to betray”

The term ma˓al is used 7x in the book of Joshua to describe “the betrayal of God’s trust and the pursuit of some other object of affection.” (David Howard)

What is the essence of sin? According to 2 Corinthians 5:15, the essence of sin is living for ourselves rather than for God and the people around us.

Israel experiences defeat at Ia and Joshua is confused so he seeks God’s face in prayer.

Joshua 7:10–18 “10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 13 Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households. And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man. 15 And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’ ” 16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.”

The Giant of Sin: A pattern

Joshua confronts Achan.

Joshua 7:19–21 “19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” 20 And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.””

*Shinar, a place of rebellion against God, the mistreatment and persecution of God’s people, idolatry, and man-made religion (humanism).

Motto: “We will make a name for ourselves.” (Gen. 11:4). Mentioned 8x in the OT. (Genesis 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Joshua 7:21; Isaiah 11:11; Daniel 1:2; Zechariah 5:11).

Notice the pattern found in v.21:

The Sin Pattern:

I saw

I coveted

I took

I hid

In Genesis 3:6 the same verbs are used, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord.

Same thing with King David.

Achan is a picture of the human race. The problem is not out there. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

Covet is to worship something. Coveting is to deeply desire something to the point that you feel that without it (thing or person) you’ll never be happy.

Be killing sin or sin will be killing you. John Owens.

The Giant of Sin:

Lies, “God is stingy and doesn’t care about your happiness.”

Lies, “You can hide it. Nobody needs to know.”

Lies, “You deserve it.”

Lies, “The God of the New Testament is not the same God of the Old Testament.”

Lies, “It’s no big deal, it’s just…”

“Watch out for the four-letter word “just.” I can use the word “just” to justify just about anything.” Nick Stumbo

Lies, “It won’t hurt anyone.”

Joshua 7:22–26 “22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. 23 And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord. 24 And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.” (Trouble/affliction)

The Giant of Sin whispers “it won’t hurt anyone,” but the truth is that Achan’s sin affected his spiritual family and his physical family.

1 Corinthians 12:26 “If one member suffers, all suffer together.”

How to overcome the Giant of Sin

Become aware of your weakness (HALT)

There are certain times when everyone is vulnerable to temptation:

Hungry

Angry

Lonely

Tired

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything hidden in your life.

Confession positions you to the work of God in your life

Fix your gaze on the most beautiful object in the universe.

Jesus has the power to transform the Valley of Achor into a door of hope.

Hosea 2:15 “15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

Achan, representing the people, deserved to be killed for his sin. Jesus, representing his people, did not. “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22). In both cases we sense both the seriousness of sin and the lengths to which God will go to preserve his people from sin’s contagion and corruption. Both Achan and Jesus were executed to turn away God’s wrath. But in a breathtaking act of substitution, we sinners, deserving the fate of Achan, are freely forgiven and welcomed into God’s family because Jesus took our place and paid for our sins.