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If our study of Joshua 6 last week was one of triumph and celebration, Joshua 7 explores the costliness and danger of disobedience.
7:1-15 The Failure of Israel

Israel had just celebrated a dramatic victory over Jericho. God had delivered the entire city over to God’s people. However, Joshua 7 begins with an ominous note. The Israelites have broken faith with the LORD. Specifically, verse one tells us that one man — Achan took some of the “devoted things” from Jericho. In Joshua 6, God had commanded that Jericho and its inhabitants be completely destroyed. There was to be no taking of plunder by individuals. Only silver, gold, iron, and bronze was to be preserved as part of the treasury of the LORD. Achan acted alone, but his action damaged the entire community because his sin caused the LORD to become angry with God’s people. God’s people have a mission to fulfill. As we have seen in the previous lessons, the key to their success is the faithful obedience of the whole community.

Achan’s actions were unknown to Joshua and the Israelites so they carried on with their mission. The city of Ai was the next target. In verses 2-5, Joshua follows the same plan as used against Jericho. Spies are deployed. As before, the spies return to Joshua with a favorable report. In fact, the Israelites have grown in boldness and confidence. The spies recommend to Joshua that only two or three thousand people are needed to attack Ai. Joshua follows their advice but instead of victory the Israelites taste a bitter defeat. When the three thousand Israelites encountered the men of Ai, they fled before them. Moreover, thirty-six Israelites fall dead and the rest flee for their lives. Notice the end of verse five: The hearts of the people melted and turned to water. This is an astonishing detail. The Canaanites have now gained the upper hand. In 2:11 and 5:1, we learned that the Canaanite’s hearts had melted before Israel. Now it is Israel who is cowering. This episode is a reminder of the nature of the conflict in the book of Joshua. God is the ultimate decider of this war. It is not about human ability or military power of the sides. God is on a mission to give the land to God’s people as a means of blessing the nations, but for God’s people to succeed, they must practice faithful obedience. They represent a holy God before the nations so they must be holy in their actions.

Verses 6-9 narrate Joshua’s response. He assumes a position of repentance by tearing his clothes, putting dust upon his head, and falling with his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. The elders of God’s people join him. Joshua prays fervently. He does not understand the reason for their defeat, but recognizes that the solution is found in God alone. Verse 9 brings Joshua’s lament to a climax. He fears that God’s people will be eliminated and that this will reflect badly on God’s honor before the nations.

In verses 10-15, the LORD answers Joshua’s plea. He commands Joshua to get on his feet. Joshua has work to do. Israel’s failure is the direct result of transgressing God’s covenant through disobedience. God had commanded that everyone and everything in Jericho be devoted to the LORD. Yet Israel had retained some items. This breech in the relationship between God and Israel is serious enough that God refuses to be powerfully present with God’s people unless there is immediate repentance in the form of destroying the items that were taken. God commands Joshua to call the people together in order to identify the person guilty of disobedience. The guilty party along with the stolen items would be destroyed.

Joshua 7:16-26 The Purging of the Community
In obedience to the LORD’s command, Joshua brought together God’s people tribe by tribe. In verses 16-18, the process of identification is conducted methodically. Out of the tribes, Judah is selected. Then out of the clans of Judah, the Zerahites are taken. Then each family of the Zerahites makes its way near Joshua. The family of Zabdi is picked. Then as the members of Zabdi’s family process by Joshua, Achan is identified. God surely knew the actions of Achan and could have informed Joshua without resorting to mustering all Israel. But the effect of the identification process was to emphasize the communal dimension of Israel’s life before the LORD. God’s people exist as a community of faith. The actions of one member affect the corporate witness of the whole. Moreover Achan is part of the tribe of Judah. Judah is the Israelites tribe out of which will arise King David a few centuries later. Yet, the sin of Achan does not blemish the tribe so as to negate its future.

In verses 19-21, Joshua confronts Achan, and Achan confesses his sin. Joshua’s words in v. 19 function as an exhortation to Achan to glorify and praise the LORD by coming clean regarding his offense. The phrase translated “make confession to him” in v. 19 literally reads “give praise to him.” By owning up to his transgression, Achan glorifies and praises God by confessing to the community that God’s actions are just and right. Achan admits fully his guilt. He took a mantle, silver, and gold from Jericho and hid them in the ground under his tent. In v. 21, Achan attributes his actions to covetousness. Achan coveted the devoted items. This led him to break the commands of the LORD. The Ten Commandments warn against coveting (Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21). At its core, to covet is to desire something or someone to which you have no intrinsic right or claim. Achan did not resist his impulse because the mantle was “beautiful” and the gold and silver were valuable.

Before acting further, Joshua sends messengers to confirm Achan’s words by retrieving the devoted items from Achan’s tent (vv. 22-23).

In verses 24-26, Achan, his immediate family, all his possessions, and the stolen items are brought before all Israel in the Valley of Achor. Upon arrival, Joshua pronounces judgment upon Achan and all Israel stones Achan and his family. Israel burns them along with all of their possessions and buries their ashes under a large piles of stones. The heap stands as a witness and warning to the community regarding the costliness of disobedience. The actions of Israel against Achan restore the favor of the LORD. This episode in Israel’s life causes the valley to be named “Achor” which in Hebrew means “trouble.” The judgment pronounced on Achan, which extended to his family as well as to his possessions, was heavy. It stands as a testimony to the seriousness of sin, the costliness of its effects on the community as a whole, and the necessity for God’s people to walk in faithful obedience to the LORD’s commands for the sake of God’s mission. Details matter in our walk of faith.

Josh 8:1-29 Israel’s Obedience and Victory at Ai
Joshua 8:1-29 narrate Israel’s victory over the city of Ai. In vv. 1-2, the LORD charges Joshua to go and capture Ai. God exhorts him to turn away from fear because God has granted Joshua and Israel victory. Joshua is commanded to destroy all the people of Ai as he did at Jericho, but unlike Jericho, Israel is able to keep all the possessions and livestock of Ai. God also orders an ambush as the tactic for capturing the city.

In verses 3-8, Joshua gives details of the battle plan to his army. He will send a detachment of warriors under the cover of darkness to hide near Ai. Then Joshua will approach Ai openly with the remaining forces. When the army of Ai comes out of the city to fight Joshua as they had before, Joshua will withdraw his forces to simulate a retreat. As the men of Ai pursue the retreating men of Joshua, those hiding in ambush will seize the now defenseless city and burn it.

In vv. 9-17, the Israelites carry out the ruse to perfection. After spending the night in camp, Joshua stations a group of 5000 warriors behind the city in ambush. Meanwhile, he led the remaining forces in plain sight against the city of Ai. As expected the king of Ai marched out to meet Joshua in battle. He arrogantly assumed that they would enjoy the same success as before (7:2-5). When the forces of Israel and Ai clashed, Joshua and Israel feigned defeat and began to flee away from Ai. The king of Ai then called for all inhabitants of the city to come out in pursuit of Israel. Verse 17 reports that there was not a man left in the town. The trap was now set.

At that moment (v. 18), the LORD commanded Joshua to stretch out his hand to the city and promises that Joshua will be victorious. Joshua immediately stretches out his hand with his sword pointed toward Ai. Don’t miss the importance of this statement. We have seen in our Bible lesson that God pays attention to details. Joshua does precisely as he was commanded. Our text mentions Joshua’s outstretched hand four times in vv. 18, 19, and 26. This emphasizes Joshua’s obedience and reminds us that the victory’s ultimate cause was God.

As soon as Joshua raised his hand, the soldiers waiting in ambush arose, entered the city, and put it to the flame (v. 19). The men of Ai saw the smoke, but it was too late (v. 20). They were now caught between forces in the open and were annihilated (vv. 22-26). Only the king of Ai was captured alive, and he was brought before Joshua (v. 23).

Verses 27-29 record the aftermath of the battle. They portray Israel in faithful obedience to the word of the LORD. First, God’s people collect the livestock and other treasures from Ai for themselves as God had permitted on this occasion (v. 27). Second, Joshua oversees the destruction of the city of Ai (v. 28). It is burned and turned into a heap of rubble. Our text mentions that it remained a site of destruction to the day of the author of Joshua. Last, Joshua hanged the king of Ai. The LORD had commanded the destruction of all of Ai’s inhabitants. The king had been captured alive. Joshua kills him in obedience to God. He is buried under a pile of stones as a reminder of God’s work at Ai.

Joshua 7:1—8:29 offers two contrasting portraits. This narrative exists to remind God’s people of the costliness of disobedience and spoils of obedience. Israel captures Ai by carefully following the instructions of God. Their victory depends not on their own power or resources but on the graciousness of God who works through the obedience of his people. Achan’s sin stands as a testimony of the grave effects of individual sin on the success of God’s mission through his people.

Joshua 2 narrates the actions of two spies whom Joshua sends ahead of Israel into the land of Canaan. The spies do their work but they must rely upon the daring hospitality of Rahab to complete a narrow escape. They return to Joshua and Israel with a positive confession of the victory that awaits them.

2:1-11 The Hospitality of Rahab
The Israelites are poised to enter the land of Canaan. God has commissioned Joshua (1:1-9), and all Israel is ready to follow his lead (1:10-18). In preparation, Joshua sends two men across the Jordan from Shittim to spy out the land including the important city of Jericho. Shittim was Israel’s final campsite in the plains of Moab on the eastern side of the Jordan River (Num 33:49).

This narrative is similar to Num 13-14 where Moses had sent out 12 men to explore Canaan forty years before. This earlier expedition had ended disastrously as ten of the twelve spies reported the beauty and fertility of the land but also announced that Canaan was filled with heavily fortified cities and huge warriors. This had caused Israel to lose heart in the desert and rebel against Moses and the LORD’s plan. Israel was reduced to wandering in the desert for forty years until that rebellious generation had passed.

Interestingly, instead of spying on the land, the Israelite men enter the house of a prostitute named Rahab. This action goes without comment by our text. The reference to Shittim may come into play in this regard. It was at Shittim that the Israelites had engaged in sexual immorality and committed acts of religious apostasy with Moabite women (Num 25). Perhaps we are to expect another dismal episode of failure for God’s people. Instead, this story carries a few surprises.

In verses 2-7, our story moves away from any thoughts of sexual impropriety to a story of cat and mouse intrigue. The king of Jericho has been alerted to the presence of spies and discovers that they have visited Rahab. He demands that Rahab surrender the men because they have come “only to search out the whole land” (2:3). The king recognizes the intentions of the spies and he announces this to Rahab. This ought to suggest to Rahab that she is in danger because of the Israelites—they are threats to her future as a Canaanite. Astonishingly, Rahab sides with the Israelites. She responds to the king’s inquiry by hiding the men and denying that she knew their intentions. Furthermore, she deceives the king by stating that the men had left in the evening when the city gate was about to be closed. She continues her gambit by encouraging the king to deploy troops to hunt them down. Meanwhile, the two Israelite spies were hidden safely on the roof of Rahab’s house where she had covered them with stalks of flax that were drying on the roof. Rahab’s deception works and the king’s men pursue the supposedly on the run spies as far as the fords used to cross the Jordan River.

Verses 8-11 demonstrate the rationale for Rahab’s act of courage and good will. Rahab goes to the spies before they go to sleep. Her words are remarkable. In verse nine, she confesses her belief that the LORD has indeed given the land to Israel. Moreover, she states that all of Canaan exists in a state of fear and is cowering at the approach of Israel. It is vital to remember that Israel is not some world super-power approaching Canaan with a massive army equipped with sophisticated tactics and superior weaponry. God’s people have been wandering in the desert for forty years and had previously been enslaved in Egypt for generations. The Canaanites were the ones with fortified cities and strong armies. Yet they are the ones who are afraid. This is a sign to the spies of the work of God. God had promised to send terror and dread ahead of his people (Exod 15:15-16, 23:27).

What is it that has caused this fearful response from the Canaanites? Verses 10-11 focus on God’s actions on behalf of God’s people from the time of the Exodus up to the present moment. The testimony of LORD’s mighty acts of deliverance has reached the ears of the Canaanites. God’s acts of salvation in the past have guaranteed Israel’s success in the present and future. Israel’s story is world changing because it is a confession of how Israel’s God the LORD acted on behalf of an enslaved people and rescued them from the hands of a world renowned superpower—Egypt. This is a subversive and counter-cultural story because it is good news for the vast majority of people on earth. The LORD is a god who doesn’t automatically side with the powerful—He is for the people. Moreover, the LORD brought God’s people out of Egypt by guiding them through the Red Sea on dry ground and defeated two prominent Amorite kings in the Transjordan, Sihon and Og.

These past historical actions demonstrate the power, prestige, and person of the LORD. God’s acts carry a missional function. They are not ends in themselves but a means of testifying to the world the greatness and majesty of Israel’s God. This is a key theme in the early part of the Old Testament. Speaking to a stubborn Pharaoh during the Exodus, God says, “But this is why I have let you live: to show you my power, and to make my name resound through all the earth” (Exod 9:16, italics added cf. Exod 15:14-16). In Exod 18:8-12, Moses tells his father-in-law Jethro of God’s mighty acts of deliverance and Jethro responds, “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods…” (Exod 18:11a). God’s actions brought salvation to Israel, but testimony of the deliverance served as a witness to the surrounding nations.

Notice that Rahab’s response ends with a pivotal conclusion: “The LORD your God is indeed god in heaven above and on earth below” (verse 11). In verses 9-11, Rahab articulates her own personal response to the knowledge that she has gained. All of the Canaanites have apparently heard about what God has done for Israel. This is indicated by the use of “we” and “us” language in Rahab’s statement. But Rahab also includes her own words that affirm God as Creator. Verse 11 indicates that Rahab has acknowledged the authority of the LORD. This is remarkable. An outsider to God’s people makes a confession of faith in the LORD because she has heard a testimony about God. As we continue to study the book of Joshua and are confronted with tales of warfare, we must remember that there was another avenue open to the Canaanites. Instead of opposing God, they could have embraced God’s people as Rahab did.

2:12-21 The Escape and a Promise
After securing the safety of the spies, Rahab pleas for her own life as well as for her extended family (2:12-14). She asks that the spies show a reciprocal kindness and mercy to her in return for her providing security during their visit to Jericho. Rahab’s request affirms the heart of her confession in 2:9-11. She recognizes the power and greatness of the LORD and truly believes that Israel will inherit the land of Canaan. In essence, her plea involves a request for inclusion with God’s people. It is an audacious one.

The spies agree to her request by making an oath with her. They pledge their lives in exchange for hers. If Rahab agrees to remain silent about their whereabouts and activity, then she will be treated kindly when the LORD grants Israel the land. This is not asking much of Rahab because she has demonstrated fully her fidelity toward the LORD and Israel by harboring the spies in the first place and deceiving the king of Jericho. Her life is already on the line for God’s mission.

In verse 16, Rahab provides the Israelites with an escape plan that will allow them to leave Jericho, hide in the wilderness for three days, and return safely to their camp across the Jordan River from Shittim. The distance between Jericho and Shittim would have been about 12 miles. If the men made their way in haste, they could have covered the ground in a day. Her exhortation to hide for three days was more than adequate to insure their safety as the king’s troops would have given up the search by then. The territory around Jericho is dry and the terrain in unlevel. It provided excellent cover for a couple of spies to disappear temporarily from sight.

Verses 17-20 contain final instructions to Rahab before the departure of the spies. They provide Rahab with a crimson cord to tie in the same window through which she lowered them out of the city to safety (2:15). Her home was attached directly to Jericho’s wall so that she actually lived within it. The crimson cord would serve as a signal to the Israelites of Rahab’s location. This sign would save her and her family as long as they remained inside her home. The spies would be released from the oath if Rahab or her family ventured outside. As long as they had the cord in the window and stayed put, the spies pledged their lives for her help. They end their oath with a second warning against Rahab revealing their presence or activities to the authorities (2:20 cf. 2:14).

In verse 21, Rahab agrees to the oath without any revisions. She has received everything that she requested and furthermore she has already explicitly aligned herself with the LORD through her actions. She immediately ties the crimson cord in the window. When Israel captures Jericho, the spies keep their word and rescue Rahab and her family (6:23-25). She becomes part of Israel and she ends up serving as a descendent of Jesus Christ (Matt 1:5). She is counted as a model of faith (Heb 11:31) and faithfulness (James 2:25).

2:22-24 Mission Accomplished
Our narrative concludes with the return of the spies to the Israelites camp. They depart from Jericho and hide in the surrounding hill country for three days until it is safe to cross the Jordan. They bring a favorable report to Joshua that affirms the LORD’s promises in Josh 1:1-9 and stands in marked contrast to the negative report of the previous generation of spies in Num 13-14. Israel is poised to receive the gift of the land from God. Moreover as Rahab’s actions and words suggest, there will be Canaanites (outsiders to God’s people) who will be open to accepting and confessing the LORD as their God.

There is irony in the last verse. God has already promised Joshua that the land will be given to Israel. Yet verse 24 reads as though it were a confession of faith by the returning spies. Rahab has already affirmed Israel’s victory in 2:9. It is worth observing that in this story an outsider to God’s people seems to have a deeper faith and insight into God’s purposes than did the spies.

Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden died yesterday (June 4, 2010) at the age of 99. The tributes are starting: here is the LA Times.

I’ve been a Wooden fan since hearing an interview with him a couple of years ago. I’ve enjoyed several of his books. Last year I read Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organizaion by John Wooden and Steve Jamison. This book distills the wisdom and leadership principles embodied and taught by legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. It is an outstanding read whether or not you enjoy basketball. Wooden’s approach to coaching is applicable to life in general. One of his mottos: “Make every day your masterpiece.”

One of Wooden’s strengths was his ability to grow continually. One of his best known quotations is this: “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” Here is a collection of some of his best wit.

On the critical importance of lifelong learning (especially after tasting some level of success), he writes:

It is very easy to get comfortable in a position of leadership, to believe that you’ve got all the answers, especially when you begin to enjoy some success. People start telling you that you’re the smartest one around. But if you believe them, you’re just the dumbest one around. That’s one of the reasons it’s extremely difficult to stay at the top-because once you get there, it is so easy to stop listening and learning.

Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organizaion, p. 101

How are you continuing to learn and grow? This is a fitting question worthy of the legacy that Wooden lived and left for us.

I preached today at Melbourne Community Church over on Florida’s Space Coast.

Here is the Scripture passage:
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Listen to the audio of the message. A new window will open.

Englishman Francis Bacon was a 17th century thinker and statesman: “They are ill discoverers that thinketh there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.” From The Advancement of Learning

Jurgen Multmann: “Only someone who finds the courage to be different than others can ultimately exist for ‘others,’ for otherwise he exists only with those who are like him, And this is not much help to them.”