Oh, Achan!
So now we turn to the
breaking of faith. Notice that it
doesn’t really take all that long. The
first battle! The first victory! One demonstration of the Lord’s power and
already someone has fallen away. Sigh.
We never get away
from sin in our community, do we? Sometimes we can’t get away from our own
desire to sin. Other times we can’t get
away from the effects of other people’s sin.
The truly tragic thing is that in a roundabout way, 36 Hebrew warriors
died because of someone else’s sin. As I
said, we can never get away from the effects of sin in community, can we?
Joshua’s Overconfidence
I wonder if part of
the problem wasn’t an initial problem with Joshua, too. As a leader, I am struck by the fact that we
are only told of his turning to the Lord when they fail to capture Ai. Look at the text for yourself.
- Joshua sent men up to Ai to scout.
- Joshua trusted the scouts’ report that they could take the city.
- Joshua made the plan without consulting the Lord and it fell flat on its face – at least from what we can tell from the account given us in Joshua 7.
What a stark contrast
to Joshua 6! In Joshua 6 God’s plan
prevails because God’s righteous power is displayed. In Joshua 7, the conquest of Ai fails because
mankind is proven all too easily tempted into unrighteousness.
Now, clearly the
point of this passage isn’t to focus on the failing of Joshua, but rather the
failing of Achan. Joshua may have failed
in leadership in being hasty and trusting in man’s word without proof from the
Lord. In fact, it seems that all of the
Hebrew people were overconfident in their abilities and not feeling the need to
rely upon God. But ultimately it is
neither Joshua nor the Hebrew people that God holds accountable. It is ultimately Achan upon whom God lays the
blame. And rightly so.
Joshua’s Response to Defeat
Before we get to
Achan, though, let’s do look at Joshua’s response. When it fails, Joshua immediately turns to
God and say the equivalent to “Uh, God? Why
did you bring us into this land only to destroy us?”
Now stop for just a
moment. Joshua just experienced the
incredible outpouring of God’s power at Jericho. After a single defeat in which only 36 people
were lost, he’s already throwing in the towel!
He’s back to assuming defeat after only a single small set-back.
I’m not picking on
Joshua. I’m the same way. I expect things to go great. But when I encounter a little pushback I
immediately assume the sky is falling. I’m
willing to bet most of us do this. It’s
a natural reaction to failure. When we
fail, we panic. We try to put measures
in place so that we don’t lose more than we have to.
Eventually, though, I
come through the panic of defeat and begin thinking with a level head. Actually, this process doesn’t usually take
that long with me. Sometimes
minutes. Other times a few hours. Rarely days – and only with the bigger
events. It is so easy to fall into the “Why,
God?” panic when failure comes, but thanks be to God that we don’t have to stay
there for very long!
In fact, although
Joshua begins his panicked prayer, look at how he ends it. “What will be the impact of our sin upon the
greatness of your name?” While Joshua
begins his prayer seeming quite petty, he ends His prayer in truth. The concern is for God’s name and its
proclamation upon the earth. It matters
not what happens to me or you or anyone else.
God can take care of that in the end.
What is important today is the proclamation of God’s name upon the
earth.
God understands this
better than Joshua. Look how God treats
Joshua. Here comes the challenge! God looks at Joshua and essentially says to
him, “Really? You’re in this much panic
over a single defeat? Why are you on the
ground? Get up!”
Then God does
something really neat. God shows Joshua
the path out of failure. God tells
Joshua that the people have sinned and then gives him the means to overcome the
sin. Joshua listens and executes the
plan. Failure – and the panic it brings –
falls away and Joshua begins to recover.
Achan
So now let’s move to
Achan. Clearly he sins. There isn’t any doubt of that. I think his sin is very
self-explanatory. He stole from God.
But notice
something. In the midst of his sin he
confesses his sin. Don’t lose sight of that fact.
Yet, he is still
stoned and burned. There is consequence
for his sin. He still dies. Confession does not eliminate consequence. It never should. Just because a person confesses to their sin
doesn’t mean that proper reparations are not required.
Achan, his family,
and his property are destroyed. But the
story is not without hope. In fact, we
should not read this story with a note of hopelessness towards Achan and his
family. The valley of Achan is not seen
throughout scripture as a place of death.
Hosea 2:15 looks back to this story and declares that the Valley of
Achan will become a door of hope.
Confession leads to consequences, sure.
But there is hope beyond the consequences. Achan and his family had to pay the
consequences; after all, 36 Hebrews had died because of his
unfaithfulness. But because he confessed
and repented, there is hope for Achan beyond his death.
Again we see the
story of Joshua speak to our spiritual life.
Even after we turn to Christ and follow Him to the cross, the truth is
that we are sinful human beings. Even
when we confess our sin, we must still deal with the consequences of that sin.
Paul tells us in
Romans 6:23 that the “wages of sin is death.”
Although we turn to Christ and repent, we still must die. Death is the consequence of our sin.
Yet as with Achan,
our death need not be a bad thing. Our
death is actually a door of hope. We
pass through the grave and the gate of death and emerge a new creation through
the power of God and the gift of eternal life given through Christ Jesus. The consequences of sin are not ultimately
the end of the story, just as the death of Achan is not the end of the story
here in Joshua. Repentance, consequence,
hope. That is the pattern of Achan and
it is the pattern of the follower of Christ Jesus.
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