Devoted Joshua 6:18-7
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Pronounce (harem)
Joshua Joshua 6
The theology of ḥērem is placed in the center of this part of the narrative. The noun appears four times in vv. 17–18. It refers both to the things which have been “devoted to the Lord” and the condition of being so devoted. Hence the whole camp of Israel might become ḥērem if any of the people tried to take the devoted things for themselves. Ḥērem denotes a condition of being put beyond normal use, of having entered the holy sphere, that of God himself. Objects, such as those enumerated in v. 19, may enter that sphere by being dedicated to the holy space of God’s temple
Want to talk just a little bit about the end of . Last week we talked about how the army was supposed to march around the city for a week. Once a day for 6 days and 7 times on the 7th day.
We talked about how when they obeyed God that the mission they had was paved for them. God brought down the walls with their voices. An incredible history there.
But we didn’t talk about God’s plan for them once they got into the city. We need to do that because there is a very important command God gives to the people. He tells them to go in and take the city.
Because it isn’t just about being on the right side. It’s not just about wearing the right colors on your shirt. For Israel it isn’t even just about which army you are in. God is looking for worshipers of Him. Doesn’t matter what country you are from, doesn’t matter what language you speak, doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is, whether you are male or female, whether you are a child or an adult, God wants worshipers for Himself.
That brings us to the moment when the walls come down and the army goes in. What are they supposed to do? How are they supposed to act?
16 And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. 17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 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.” 20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. 21 Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.
God’s command was to take the city and we see an interesting thing here. God says that the city and all within it shall be devoted, devoted to the Lord.
What does devoted mean? Well on one level we see that it means to destroy. Destroy everything, from every inanimate object to every living being. The hard truth is that every thing in Jericho would be destroyed. But the term used is devoted. It is the word harem. Harem. It means set apart.
The term is interesting, it is the word harem. Harem. It means set apart.
Joshua Joshua 6
The theology of ḥērem is placed in the center of this part of the narrative. The noun appears four times in vv. 17–18. It refers both to the things which have been “devoted to the Lord” and the condition of being so devoted. Hence the whole camp of Israel might become ḥērem if any of the people tried to take the devoted things for themselves. Ḥērem denotes a condition of being put beyond normal use, of having entered the holy sphere, that of God himself. Objects, such as those enumerated in v. 19, may enter that sphere by being dedicated to the holy space of God’s temple
Way back God told Moses that this was going to happen. He describes what their responsibility is.
16 But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.
It sounds harsh but God is protecting His people. Remember, God’s truth, God’s ways are absolute. Let me say it this way, if it comes from God you can trust it. If it comes from God it is truth.
No matter how it makes you feel, no matter how it appears, even though it isn’t politically correct. There is only one way to salvation and that is through Jesus Christ. Any other thing that you trust in will fail. Not only that, but when you trust in something other than Christ for your salvation then you become an enemy of God.
Think about that for a minute. If you are not with God, on God’s terms then that makes you an enemy of God. So if the folks at Jericho were not submissive to God then they were enemies of God.
You cannot say, “well, they were innocent”, because according to God they were not and we have to trust in God.
Do we know who God is? God, the first and the last. God, the creator of the universe, God, the ruler and sustainer. Don’t let your opinions, don’t let your judgements blind you to the reality that God is righteous and good. We cannot judge God for His commands. God has His best interest in mind.
So when God says to devote this city to complete destruction it is not because God doesn’t like them, it is not that at all. God is protecting His very own children.
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.
God knows that the idols of other lands, He knows that the stuff that is connected to this city will hurt, not just hurt, destroy them. So he wants to rid the land of it to protect His own.
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.
This is hard! Especially in our society where we have so many people saying, “well, the people of Jericho were really innocent, I feel bad for them”. Then you don’t trust God and His ways. God really knows what He is doing and you can trust Him.
There is another aspect to this. Before you dismiss God as being unfair… Know that God is also very very patient. God is also all loving. Loving is defined by Him and not our feelings.
God is also merciful
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
This is who God is too.
The story continues in talking about Rahab. Remember her? Rahab was the prostitute who hid the men who came as spies into Jericho. She really covered for them in exchange for her life and the life of her family. That was the deal. I hide you guys and send my people on a wild goose chase looking for you and you let me and my family live.
She is fighting for God. She is going out on a limb for God’s plan. She sees what God has done and she knows that she has to be on THAT side. She needs to be on the winning side.
God honers what she does. He is merciful. So God doesn’t turn anyone away who comes to Him. Truly comes to Him.
And this is a principle we see even in scripture.
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
We see God’s mercy all over the place. God is merciful, don’t worry, He is.
Remember the book of Jonah? Jonah was running from God because of the wicked city of Nineveh. 100,000 people that needed God. They were destined for destruction. God sent Jonah the prophet to tell them the truth so that they would repent of their sins. He didn’t want to. God sent the fish to actually rescue Jonah, and rescue the 100 000 people of Nineveh. That city and all its inhabitants were going to be destroyed unless a prophet of God came to them and told them the truth.
The whole city repented, all of them. The city was spared. They humbled themselves and called on God. God was merciful to those who humble themselves to Him. And look, it was no accident. God sent Jonah to that city because God wanted to save that city. He wanted it so bad and sent this prophet so that the city would repent. God is merciful, God is loving, God is kind. He seeks to save
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16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
God is looking for excuses to save the lost. That is what He does. So don’t think that God is unloving. Don’t think that the devoting of the city was something bad or even wrong. Look at Rahab. She knew that God would be her God and she was spared.
Rahab, a canaanite, which is bad, would be spared by God. She would become a follower of the Lord. She would then call Yaweh her God and live for Him and became a part of Israel. She would even be in the blood line of David and even Jesus.
Now if we
Just because she wasn’t born in the Jewish nation meant that she was evil. Just as if she were to have been born Jewish would have brought favor on her.
Joshua 7
1 But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.
Basically here is what happened. They defeated Jericho without any problems. Then they came to the next city, Ai where Joshua sent some spies into the land to see how they were going to go up against them.
The spies reported back and said, it’s not too bad. We only need 2 or 3 thousand fighters to go up. Not that big of a city. So that is what they did. They sent 3000 and something happened. They had to run away and 36 of Joshua’s army were killed!
This was not supposed to happen. What was going on here? God’s army was supposed to walk right through these cities like they walked across the Jordan river. Something is weird!
Even Joshua can’t figure out what is going on here.
6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! 8 O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”
They are in a predicament. Their men were not supposed to die. They weren’t supposed to have any issues. But God reveals to Joshua what has happened.
But I do love that the first thing Joshua does is he goes to prayer. He goes to God. He doesn’t turn and send the whole army. He goes before God.
How many of us first turn to God in our distress? It is really important that we do that. If we truly trust in God, then He is the first name that comes out of our mouths in times of trouble. So Joshua Goes to God and God answers him.
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.”
We will be talking a little bit more about this next week. But we read here in about a guy named Achan. Achan.
Achan took some of the devoted things. He saw something he liked and he grabbed it. No one saw it, no one would know. He took things that were strictly forbidden by God to take. And guess what? There were consequences, heavy consequences.
Achan took some of the devoted things. He saw something he liked and he grabbed it. No one saw it, no one would know. He took things that were strictly forbidden by God to take. And guess what? There were consequences, heavy consequences.
God told Israel that they were to make sure not to take things that belonged to God, or were devoted to God. When Achan did that he was stating that he didn’t care that this belonged to God and that He wanted his stuff more than he wanted to trust in God. He would disobey God to get it.
Eventually Achan would be found out. He was found out pretty early actually. And his consequence was the same as the city that they took. He died along with his family, along with all his possessions. His name wiped off the face of the earth.
Again, not fun to talk about, but just a reality that you cannot fool God. You cannot act like sin doesn’t matter. Sinning against God is a really big deal. The story of Achan attests to that.
But what I want us to look at is the difference we see between, Rahab and God and Achan. Jericho was supposed to be destroyed because of God’s command. That is God’s justice and His promise.
Rahab was a prostitute and she was the enemy of God’s army. Yet she would be spared because she feared the Lord even though she was “the enemy”.
She fought for the Lord, put herself on the line and her life was spared. Achan sinned and took some of the devoted things. Just because he was part of Israel doesn’t mean that he gets a pass for disobeying God. Just because he is one of God’s nation doesn’t mean that he can sin and get away with it. Not at all.
His sin, his blatant refusal to obey God carries the same consequence that it does for the people of Jericho. He doesn’t get off free because he was one of those walking in the wilderness for 40 years. No. He and all that belongs to him gets the judgement of God.
This goes to show you that God IS a God of justice. God will have His commands listened to and respected.
See, this is why God wanted everything associated with the city to be destroyed.
I feel that I need to stress the fact that just because we call ourselves Christians does not mean that we don’t ignore sin. Just because we call ourselves Christians doesn’t mean that we can do those things God tells us not to do and get a pass.
God forgives our sin, yes but that doesn’t mean that we can consciously sin because we know that God will forgive us. Not at all. There are people who think that. There really are people in the world that think all you need to do is make sure you pray that prayer of forgiveness and you can do whatever you want to.
Is that the kind of God you want to place your trust in? The kind of God that you can trick or fool The kind of God that you can get one over on? You can’t! You can’t get one over on God like that.
This is why Achan was found out by his sin.
Paul says in
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Romans
If you call yourself a Christian, a believer, then you have died to sin. It means that you don’t do it any more. And if you do, then you need to get before God and plead for His help to overcome it.
Rahab wasn’t one of God’s but she acted like one of God’s and God honored it. Achan was supposed to be one of God’s but he didn’t obey and he suffered for it.
Where are we this morning? Are you a Christian in name only? The t shirt? The tattoo? The facebook post? Please, make sure that you are actually living your life for God, not just paying lip service. It really does matter.
Because God isn’t looking for people to go through the motions. He is seeking out those who will really live for him.
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
It means that your going through the motions and still choosing to ignore what God wants you to do or even sinning is not winning you any favor with God.