Joshua 7-8
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
1 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.
Remember, they weren’t supposed to take any of the loot from Jericho, it was all supposed to go to the Lord
we see that God was watching, and He knew what happened with just 1 guy in secret
the items and the city itself were accursed, remember, Joshua announced that in the previous chapter
so Achan had brought impurities into the camp and God was not having it
This is similar to the golden calf incident, there was an idol/accursed item in the same area where the presence of God was
also similar to when the philistines stole the ark, put it in a temple, and God kept knocking the dagon idol down that was beside the ark
imagine if you have a church, and then some kind of crazy scandal happens, people don’t wind up talking about all the good the rest of the church has done, but they talk about the scandal
2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.
3 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.
4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.
5 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.
We don’t really know where Ai is for sure, as in having an archeological site
The children of Israel were in good spirits, they had just annihilated Jericho with the help of God, truly a glorious thing
having God on your side is a powerful thing
They were obviously feeling confident, because they didn’t even send all their people, just a small force of 2-3k
they said Ai was small, and that they wouldn’t need to make the whole army work when they didn’t need to
even against this small force they were totally routed, 36 died and they were chased all the way to another location
we notice that nowhere in this plan is God mentioned, and we can see the result of that.
also we see that the Israelites are completely demoralized by this, they had just come off of a huge win at Jericho, but now they can’t even defeat ai?
6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.
Joshua freaks out, for good reason, he not only fears about the fact that he was defeated, he also feels like he has lost the backing of God
7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!
8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
Joshua is kind of having a moment here, he’s emotional, he’s freaking out, he says if this is going to happen we should have just stayed on the other side of the jordan
this is similar to when the previous generation would say they should have just stayed in egypt
He’s also scared that the canaanites and the amorites and others will hear of it
they were known before this as a super powerful army with God on their side, getting defeated by ai would have told them that they are now weak and could be defeated
importantly, he’s also worried about God’s name being sullied
are we worried about this? are we worried about God’s reputation, and the glory of His name in the world?
10 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
11 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.
12 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.
13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man.
15 And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.
God essentially tells Joshua to snap out of it, and that Israel has sinned and it needs to be taken care of, and this is why they lost the battle to Ai
God tells them if they do not take care of it, He will not be with them anymore, because God cannot coexist with sin, which is why we need a savior
God tells them there is a cursed item in the group, and in the morning they are going to take care of it
they will come up tribe by tribe, and household by household, and man by man, and find out who has the items
whoever has it, Achan, will be sentenced to death, because God told Israel not to take anything, and to give all the spoils of war to the Lord’s treasury
essentially, Achan had stolen from the Lord’s treasury because he kept some stuff for himself, greedily
he knew not to do it, but did anyway, and it cost 36 people there lives and harmed Israel’s reputation
16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:
17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:
18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
19 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.
20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:
21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.
Achan admits to what he’s done, having a babylonian robe, a bunch of silver and a bit of gold hidden under his tent
sure enough, Joshua’s people found it right where he said it was.
23 And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.
24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.
25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
The children of Israel laid out what Achan had stolen for himself and kept from the Lord in front of the Lord, likely in front of the ark
Joshua laments that Achan has done this, and they proceed to put him under the capital punishment that God commanded, because his sin had caused much trouble and death to people, as well as disrespecting God’s command to them
They stoned him, there are different ways of stoning people, but one popular way was to stack stones upon their chest and suffocate them
it seems as if that’s what they did to Achan here
Once things were made right, God turned His anger from them, because God is a God of justice, mercy, and love
1 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
We see that God encourages Joshua, as He’s done so many times, and it would surely be helpful to him after what’s just happened
We notice that NOW God is involved in the fight for Ai, and we’ll see the difference now that that is the case
God says He has already given them the city and all that’s in it
God mercifully tells them that THEY can have the loot they get from ai this time
see, God had a plan, He got the firstfruits at Jericho, and now they get to keep the loot from Ai, He provides for them as He has so many times before
God’s plan was for them to ambush the city from behind
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
5 And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,
6 (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.
7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
this time, they had 30k people, 10x as many as last time
they go by night, a somewhat common battle tactic
in the morning, they will draw them out of the city and pretend to flee, and then they will set up an ambush and go into the city and seize it
They are to set the city on fire and totally destroy it, according to what God had commanded them
in the conquest, the cities aren’t usually totally destroyed, we see it with Jericho and ai, but later they will take the city and keep the city for themselves
10 And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
11 And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
9 Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11 And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai.
12 And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city.
13 And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city.
15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
16 And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.
19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
22 And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
25 And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.
26 For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua.
28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
THE ALTAR
this is one of the greatest discoveries we have regarding Bible archeology
30 Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal,
31 As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
33 And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.
34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
show mt ebal video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZglPosex_8
Joshua told wrote the law on the altar, read it aloud to all who were with him, and Joshua gave them the whole law, so they were refreshed and knew exactly what to do
this shows that Joshua was a cultured man who could read and write