Joshua 7:10-26. What can I say the story is pretty straight forward.  God had given strict instructions for the battle against Jericho.  All the people and animals were to be killed, the gold, silver, bronze, and iron of the city were to be put aside for God (This would probably eventually be used for the priests and Levites although God may have had a future temple in mind.), and the city was to be burned.  Unknown to Joshua someone had violated the ban (Hebrew “cherem” which means dedicated).  In Joshua 6:18 God had warned that taking things that were supposed to be dedicated to Him would result in a curse on the whole group and that is what happened. So in the next battle God held back and the Israelites were defeated and about 36 of them died.

While Joshua and the leaders were mourning and complaining to God, God spoke to Joshua.  He basically told Joshua to get up and quit blaming Him.  They had broken the rules and He had warned them.  Then God went on and told Joshua how to figure out who had taken the stuff and what to do about it.  God was even involved in showing who it was to Joshua.

God revealed that a man named Achan was guilty.  When Achan was confronted he admitted to what he had done.  He said he saw the banned stuff and wanted it so he took it.  This is the same exact language that is used in Genesis 3:6 when Eve saw the fruit and desired it and took it and we all know where that ended up (If you don’t then read Genesis 3 and “The Old Testament Connection”).  Sin (disobedience) has consequences and the consequences usually go past us.  What we do effects others even if only by example.

The consequences for Achan and his family were severe death.  But in the parallel in Genesis we see that the consequences of sin are worse that just physical death.  When God warned Adam He told him that the very day he disobeyed he would die.  Adam did not die physically that day (though the process no doubt began) but he did die spiritually.  The idea behind the word death is the idea of separation.  Physical death is the separation of the soul and the body.  Spiritual death is the separation of our soul or spirit from God.  That is why God (who sees and knows everything) asked Adam where he was.  God knew but he was showing Adam that they no longer had a relationship.  Spiritual death is much more tragic that physical death, though both are bad.

The good news is the good news though.  God had a plan to fix the relationship and he told Eve, promising that one of her descendants would break the curse (both physical and spiritual), it would be Jesus (See “The Old Testament Connection”).  In our story today we see hope too.  God helped them find out who broke the rules.  God was willing to remove the curse from Israel if they would make it right.  They needed to show respect for God and his purity.  They did this by dealing appropriately with Achan.  It is too bad that his family had to die too but they were probably in on it.  It was around  5 pounds of silver, plus a robe, and over a pound of gold.  It wasn’t a coin or two in his pocket that he could explain away.  And he buried it in his tent.  Also his sin had caused the death of 36 other people.  Like I said the consequences of our sins usually go past us.  It amazes me that Achan actually confessed.  But like I said yesterday if we confess God will forgive (1 John 1:9) and Achan confessed.  That didn’t make the immediate consequences of his sin go away though.  And confessing and turning back to God won’t necessarily erase the consequences of what we have done either.  But it will restore our relationship with God.  It won’t fix our here and now but it will fix our eternity.  The best course is to follow God’s rules.  Trust that he will provide for you.  Don’t take things he has told you not to take.  God help me be satisfied with what you give me.  Help me not to want what is not mine.  Give me peace and trust.  And thank you for being forgiving and willing to help when I fail.  Let me return quickly.

By the way a little side note from yesterday.  In Joshua 6:26 Joshua cursed “the man” who would try to rebuild Jericho.  According to 1 Kings 16:34 in the days of Ahab, a wicked king of Israel, a man named Hiel lost his first born son as he tried to rebuild the foundations of Jericho and his youngest did as he set up the city gate.  This was an exact fulfillment of Joshua’s curse over 500 years later.  Don’t mess with God he is very serious about curses.

Joshua 6:17-7:9. Yesterday after all that marching and waiting the time finally came.  The long blast of the trumpet was blown, the people shouted (well technically Joshua told them to shout but they hadn’t shouted yet) and…….. the action stopped.  Why?

Today’s reading starts with the rest of what Joshua said.  The city is under a ban.  In those times when a place was invaded all of the stuff was up for grabs.  The invaders took whatever they wanted, including slaves, wives, what ever, sort of like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride on steroids.  But the Israelites were told to kill everyone and every thing, put all of the gold, silver, etc. in a pile for God, and then burn the city to the ground.  Can you imagine the complaints, “Hey I haven’t had a new pair of sandels in 40 year.”

So the people shout and the walls fall down.  The Hebrew words here mean the walls fell down on themselves.  Archeologists know where the city of Jericho’s remains are.  They have been excavated and explored.  Several times.  In ancient times when a city was destroyed it was common to rebuild a new city right on top of the rubble of the old.  It was too much work to move it all away so they would fill it in and build on top of it.  Because the place the city had been built was a good place for a city they usually would not move it.  Cities were located so they would be easy to defend, had good access to things like water, harbors, roads, and good farm land.  Jericho was located on a small hill (Easier to defend).  There were two walls around the city about 12 feet apart.  There were rooms (like apartments) between the walls.  The outer wall was on the very edge of the hill.  The archaeologists have discovered remains of a city that existed at the time that Joshua invaded.  The outer wall fell over down the hill and the inner wall fell into the space between the walls.  There is also evidence that the city was burned.  Cool, just like the story.

Joshua also told the men who had been spies to go get Rahab and bring here and her family out to safety.  Which they did.  Joshua also cursed the city (See “What’s in a Name”).  This invasion made quite an impression on the people of the land.  According to what Rahab had said the people were already afraid of the Israelites, now they could see just how powerful their God was.

Next in line was a city called Ai.  Again spies.  “Easy city, no problem.”  Not for God of course but there was a problem. Someone had not obeyed the command to put all the gold into a pile for God.  God was mad.  Not that He needed the gold, but that they had disobeyed.  The Israelites attacked Ai and got chased out.  Joshua and the elders cried and mourned until evening by the Ark of the Promise.  Ok, good move.  When things go wrong talk to God.  But then Joshua complained to God and accused Him of abandoning the Israelites.  “Hey God what will the Canaanites think of You now”, he wanted to know.  We already know what went wrong, disobedience.  What good would God’s name be if God could be what ever you wanted Him to be?  Any God would do.  God’s name is only as good as His character and His character is holy (pure and separate).  If the Israelites were going to show God to the world they needed to get the picture right.

Tomorrow Joshua will find out what went wrong and we will see what God does about it.  It’s too bad that Joshua accused God of abandoning the Israelites, He was really looking out for them.  But it is cool that God didn’t strike him with a lightning bolt right then and there.  God allowed Joshua to vent.  One of my favorite books in the Bible is Job.  In that book Job suffers some pretty bad things.  And Job did plenty of complaining  but he also always trusted God.  And God told Job’s friends that Job was right with Him.  I suppose Joshua was still trusting God but didn’t get it and was frustrated.  When we get frustrated and don’t get it we need to talk to God too.  And be honest.  God already knows what we are thinking so it’s not like you are hiding anything from Him.  But like Adam and Even in the Garden, God wants us to admit what we have done (Genesis 3:6-13).  John told some early followers of Jesus that if we confess to God that God will be faithful and will apply Jesus’ sacrifice to us.  He will forgive and clean us up (1 John 1:9).  So be honest with God, come clean, and let Him help you live for Him each day.  Lord thank you that I can be honest with you.  I don’t always see what you see and I don’t always get what is going on.  I also know that the world is full of death and destruction.  Decay brought on by sin.  And sometimes I think you aren’t looking out for me, pretty stupid and pretty selfish.  You died for me, of course you will take care of me (Romans 8:32).  Please help me trust you in the mean time.  And if you don’t mind help me understand sometimes what is going on.  But let me trust no matter what.