HISTORICAL BOOKS
JOSHUA
CHAPTER
7
1. But the Israelites broke faith in regard to the devoted things: Achan 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 Israelites.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 1)
Oh God my Father even though You have warned us many times regarding contact with anything and anyone that can be harmful to us on many levels especially spiritual, we still keep on disobeying and taking unnecessary risks which place both ourselves and others at risk. Typical risks are the abuse of wuiga boards and other negative means that the market is offering them under the form of board games for pleasure.
2. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 2)
Oh God even through Your people broke trust, when the first situation tested them, You did not tear up the contract of salvation and send them to Egypt or to a state of bondage as they deserved. I thank You for being so kind, patient and merciful in the way that You deal with us humans. Amen.
3. Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Not all the people need go up; about two or three thousand men should go up and attack Ai. Since they are so few, do not make the whole people toil up there."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 3)
Oh God this is an important lesson for all managers in the distribution of resources. How many people are really needed to perform a task. If too many people are sent time is wasted and although the task may be done some of those sent to do the task may not have anything to do, or even worse may shirk the responsibility and so others may do a greater fraction of the job while all the employees are being paid to perform the whole task.
4. So about three thousand of the people went up there; and they fled before the men of Ai. 5. The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, chasing them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim and killing them on the slope. The hearts of the people melted and turned to water.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 4 to 5)
Oh God it seems that something went wrong in the assessment of the situation. It may be that either Joshua was misinformed, regarding the strength of the enemy, or somebody from Israel wanted to make Joshua look bad in the eyes of the people as a bad leader to try and take his place. Oh God no information is always better than bad information. Therefore it is important especially when speaking with people who do not yet believe in You my God, that we give the right information for this can do more harm than good, and can even reflect the quality of our faith. In order to view the route map from Jericho to Ai please click on the following link:-
Map from Jericho referred to as LOD to Ai click on show map
Map from Jericho (Lod) to Ai
6. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground 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.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 6)
Oh God during such moments of crisis, when our worlds seem to be crushing down on us, everybody behaves differently. There are those who go to the pub and become stone dead with alcohol, while others become totally downcast and others commit suicide. However as in the case of Joshua there are others who become closer in their relationship to You by means of the same tribulation.
7. Joshua said, "Ah Lord GOD! why have you brought this people across the Jordan at all, to hand us over to the Amorites so as to destroy us? Would that we had been content to settle beyond the Jordan! 8. O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned their backs to their enemies! 9. The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?"
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 to 9)
Oh God our plans are different from Yours. We perceive a negative experience as a downfall or reason to be afraid as in the case of Joshua, however You view the problem as a situation and not as a problem. Situations are momentary, while problems can be long term. When we have You oh God in control of the situation, any problem becomes a situation that can be dealt with.
10. The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! Why have you fallen upon your face? 11. Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their own belongings. 12. Therefore the Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they turn their backs to their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted for destruction themselves. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 10 to 12)
Oh God how heavy are the consequences of our sins. They have a strong impact on both our social life and even our spiritual life as witnessed in the case of Joshua and the people of Israel.
13. Proceed to sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "There are devoted things among you, O Israel; you will be unable to stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 13)
Oh God how high and noble are Your aims and values. Your most important priority was that of safeguarding the sanctity of Your people before the complete conquest of the Holy Lands that You had promised to them. Oh God the crucial lesson is that although You give us difficult trials that stand before us, if we remain in Your presence they will dissolve in front of us, for they are only test that do not stand a chance with You on our team.
14. In the morning therefore you shall come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD takes shall come near by clans, the clan that the LORD takes shall come near by households, and the household that the LORD takes shall come near one by one. 15. And the one who is taken as having the devoted things shall be burned with fire, together with all that he has, for having transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and for having done an outrageous thing in Israel.'"
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 14 to 15)
Oh God this is judgement day. The day when we are to appear before You in order to receive either Your blessings for the life we had lived or the condemnation for our transgressions. As head of household I would be first to appear to represent my family or tribe, but ultimately every member is to give ones account of our life on earth.
16. So Joshua rose early in the morning, and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17. He brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken; and he brought near the clan of the Zerahites, family by family, and Zabdi was taken. 18. And he brought near his household one by one, and Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 16 to 18)
Oh God I thank You for giving us the wisdom and the knowledge to make good decisions for the good of all. I bless you for giving us the illumination of the Holy Spirit to help us in our ways Amen
19. Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son give glory to the LORD God of Israel and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 19)
It is interesting oh God how Joshua as even in Your approach referred to the confession of sins and giving glory to You before the giving back of the devoted things. Therefore this confirms the real priority for the sin of Achan had had negative side effects on all Israel and therefore the virus or threat needed to be removed before it infected the whole system. The impact had been so strong that it had made Israel weak before its enemies. Today oh God we are also weak before our real enemy that is the prince of lies. Our sins are increasing but not all of us are confessing their sins, therefore the whole world is weak and suffering the consequences of each others sins. What is of great consolation oh God is that You already paid the price of our sins, however this does not mean that we do not need to make an honest confession of our sins. Amen.
20. And Achan answered Joshua, "It is true; I am the one who sinned against the LORD God of Israel. This is what I did: 21. when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. They now lie hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 20 to 21)
As humans oh God we are tempted by our sinful nature and by the evil one, who manipulates our feelings and desires in order to continue making such bad and evil decisions which at times may have negative consequences on both a micro scale meaning the family as in the case of gambling or compulsive on line gaming, and even on a macro level such as scandals of corruption on a very large scale, which may even be the cause of a company to close down its doors and stop functioning for good at the consequence of many people becoming unemployed and the cause of financial debt on the stakeholders and their debtors. This is a vicious circle all the cause of one or more bad decisions. I pray oh God that Your presence may be felt stronger in us during such moments of temptation, so that we will be able to stand and confront evil in all its ways of appearance Amen.
22. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. 23. They took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites; and they spread them out before the LORD. 24. Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, with the silver. the mantle, and the bar of gold, with his sons and daughters, with his oxen, donkeys, and sheep, and his tent and all that he had; and they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 22 to 24)
Although this scene may reflect a great waste of life and resources, obedience to the will of God was a priority over the obedience to the self, or the ways of the world. On the other hand the penalty that Achan and his family and all his belongings was going to experience would set an example for the rest of the people in the sense of acting as a deterrent if the same negative action would be repeated again.
25. Joshua said, "Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD is bringing trouble on you today." And all Israel stoned him to death; they burned them with fire, cast stones on them, 26 and raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore that place to this day is called the Valley of Achor.
(Historical Books Chapter 7 verses 25 to 26)
In Fact Joshua in truth God does not bring trouble on us. The trouble that we bring upon ourselves is mainly the consequences of our sins. Moreover God can make use of even a negative event in order to pass on to us a positive message. God never stops working. He is a full timer in our lives, but He never imposes Himself on us. Before He acts God always waits for our decision as in the case of Mary the Mother of God. The angel left as soon as she said 'Yes' to God's request.
Oh God I would like to end this chapter with the following prayer:-
Oh God I pray that You always keep Your eyes on us, like a hen that takes care of its chickens. We cannot afford to remain without Your protection for even one second for we are weak and may easily be attracted by the sinful ways of the world. Oh God we have only You as our God, and there is to be no other who attempts to take Your place. As in the case of Israel when we make man made gods, we create problems of dis function that may have long term consequences.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 1)
Oh God my Father even though You have warned us many times regarding contact with anything and anyone that can be harmful to us on many levels especially spiritual, we still keep on disobeying and taking unnecessary risks which place both ourselves and others at risk. Typical risks are the abuse of wuiga boards and other negative means that the market is offering them under the form of board games for pleasure.
2. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 2)
Oh God even through Your people broke trust, when the first situation tested them, You did not tear up the contract of salvation and send them to Egypt or to a state of bondage as they deserved. I thank You for being so kind, patient and merciful in the way that You deal with us humans. Amen.
3. Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Not all the people need go up; about two or three thousand men should go up and attack Ai. Since they are so few, do not make the whole people toil up there."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 3)
Oh God this is an important lesson for all managers in the distribution of resources. How many people are really needed to perform a task. If too many people are sent time is wasted and although the task may be done some of those sent to do the task may not have anything to do, or even worse may shirk the responsibility and so others may do a greater fraction of the job while all the employees are being paid to perform the whole task.
4. So about three thousand of the people went up there; and they fled before the men of Ai. 5. The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, chasing them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim and killing them on the slope. The hearts of the people melted and turned to water.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 4 to 5)
Oh God it seems that something went wrong in the assessment of the situation. It may be that either Joshua was misinformed, regarding the strength of the enemy, or somebody from Israel wanted to make Joshua look bad in the eyes of the people as a bad leader to try and take his place. Oh God no information is always better than bad information. Therefore it is important especially when speaking with people who do not yet believe in You my God, that we give the right information for this can do more harm than good, and can even reflect the quality of our faith. In order to view the route map from Jericho to Ai please click on the following link:-
Map from Jericho referred to as LOD to Ai click on show map
Map from Jericho (Lod) to Ai
6. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground 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.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 6)
Oh God during such moments of crisis, when our worlds seem to be crushing down on us, everybody behaves differently. There are those who go to the pub and become stone dead with alcohol, while others become totally downcast and others commit suicide. However as in the case of Joshua there are others who become closer in their relationship to You by means of the same tribulation.
7. Joshua said, "Ah Lord GOD! why have you brought this people across the Jordan at all, to hand us over to the Amorites so as to destroy us? Would that we had been content to settle beyond the Jordan! 8. O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned their backs to their enemies! 9. The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?"
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 to 9)
Oh God our plans are different from Yours. We perceive a negative experience as a downfall or reason to be afraid as in the case of Joshua, however You view the problem as a situation and not as a problem. Situations are momentary, while problems can be long term. When we have You oh God in control of the situation, any problem becomes a situation that can be dealt with.
10. The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! Why have you fallen upon your face? 11. Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their own belongings. 12. Therefore the Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they turn their backs to their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted for destruction themselves. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 10 to 12)
Oh God how heavy are the consequences of our sins. They have a strong impact on both our social life and even our spiritual life as witnessed in the case of Joshua and the people of Israel.
13. Proceed to sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "There are devoted things among you, O Israel; you will be unable to stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 13)
Oh God how high and noble are Your aims and values. Your most important priority was that of safeguarding the sanctity of Your people before the complete conquest of the Holy Lands that You had promised to them. Oh God the crucial lesson is that although You give us difficult trials that stand before us, if we remain in Your presence they will dissolve in front of us, for they are only test that do not stand a chance with You on our team.
14. In the morning therefore you shall come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD takes shall come near by clans, the clan that the LORD takes shall come near by households, and the household that the LORD takes shall come near one by one. 15. And the one who is taken as having the devoted things shall be burned with fire, together with all that he has, for having transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and for having done an outrageous thing in Israel.'"
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 14 to 15)
Oh God this is judgement day. The day when we are to appear before You in order to receive either Your blessings for the life we had lived or the condemnation for our transgressions. As head of household I would be first to appear to represent my family or tribe, but ultimately every member is to give ones account of our life on earth.
16. So Joshua rose early in the morning, and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17. He brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken; and he brought near the clan of the Zerahites, family by family, and Zabdi was taken. 18. And he brought near his household one by one, and Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 16 to 18)
Oh God I thank You for giving us the wisdom and the knowledge to make good decisions for the good of all. I bless you for giving us the illumination of the Holy Spirit to help us in our ways Amen
19. Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son give glory to the LORD God of Israel and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verse 19)
It is interesting oh God how Joshua as even in Your approach referred to the confession of sins and giving glory to You before the giving back of the devoted things. Therefore this confirms the real priority for the sin of Achan had had negative side effects on all Israel and therefore the virus or threat needed to be removed before it infected the whole system. The impact had been so strong that it had made Israel weak before its enemies. Today oh God we are also weak before our real enemy that is the prince of lies. Our sins are increasing but not all of us are confessing their sins, therefore the whole world is weak and suffering the consequences of each others sins. What is of great consolation oh God is that You already paid the price of our sins, however this does not mean that we do not need to make an honest confession of our sins. Amen.
20. And Achan answered Joshua, "It is true; I am the one who sinned against the LORD God of Israel. This is what I did: 21. when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. They now lie hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 20 to 21)
As humans oh God we are tempted by our sinful nature and by the evil one, who manipulates our feelings and desires in order to continue making such bad and evil decisions which at times may have negative consequences on both a micro scale meaning the family as in the case of gambling or compulsive on line gaming, and even on a macro level such as scandals of corruption on a very large scale, which may even be the cause of a company to close down its doors and stop functioning for good at the consequence of many people becoming unemployed and the cause of financial debt on the stakeholders and their debtors. This is a vicious circle all the cause of one or more bad decisions. I pray oh God that Your presence may be felt stronger in us during such moments of temptation, so that we will be able to stand and confront evil in all its ways of appearance Amen.
22. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. 23. They took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites; and they spread them out before the LORD. 24. Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, with the silver. the mantle, and the bar of gold, with his sons and daughters, with his oxen, donkeys, and sheep, and his tent and all that he had; and they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.
(Historical Books Joshua Chapter 7 verses 22 to 24)
Although this scene may reflect a great waste of life and resources, obedience to the will of God was a priority over the obedience to the self, or the ways of the world. On the other hand the penalty that Achan and his family and all his belongings was going to experience would set an example for the rest of the people in the sense of acting as a deterrent if the same negative action would be repeated again.
25. Joshua said, "Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD is bringing trouble on you today." And all Israel stoned him to death; they burned them with fire, cast stones on them, 26 and raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore that place to this day is called the Valley of Achor.
(Historical Books Chapter 7 verses 25 to 26)
In Fact Joshua in truth God does not bring trouble on us. The trouble that we bring upon ourselves is mainly the consequences of our sins. Moreover God can make use of even a negative event in order to pass on to us a positive message. God never stops working. He is a full timer in our lives, but He never imposes Himself on us. Before He acts God always waits for our decision as in the case of Mary the Mother of God. The angel left as soon as she said 'Yes' to God's request.
Oh God I would like to end this chapter with the following prayer:-
Oh God I pray that You always keep Your eyes on us, like a hen that takes care of its chickens. We cannot afford to remain without Your protection for even one second for we are weak and may easily be attracted by the sinful ways of the world. Oh God we have only You as our God, and there is to be no other who attempts to take Your place. As in the case of Israel when we make man made gods, we create problems of dis function that may have long term consequences.
