MY SHORT REPORT JOSHUA 5 - JUDGES 2
The link that brought you to this page and the page title are a bit of a misnomer, because this short report is not long enough to cover so many chapters of the Bible. What the link and the title do, however, is track where we are in our plan to read through the entire Bible in 1 year. May each report pique your interest and help you to draw near to God. The Bible, James 4:8, tells us if we do so God will draw near to us. Works cited are at the end of the report. Internal links provide additional information.
BIBLE READING—WEEK 11—JOSH 5 – JUDG 2: In Last week’s Short Report I looked at a term found in the First Commandment—other gods—which is given to us in the twentieth chapter of Exodus and again in Deuteronomy 5:7—“You shall have no other gods before me.” To that end, the false worship of idols such as Baal, Asherah, and Chemosh were put in focus. This week I study a key person in the book of Joshua—Achan—an idolater and answer a simple question, “Is God cruel?”
There are many fascinating people and accounts in Joshua, including crossing the Jordan River, the battle for Jericho, the day the sun stood still, the time Israel was deceived by the Gibeonites, and the epiphany of Christ among others. Yet, I decided to report on Achan because sin matters.
When I read the Bible I see that God does not have a problem making His perfect will known to man. Rather, in his rebellion man has a problem obeying God. He wrote His moral Law into nature and into the very essence of mankind. Paul says, “Even Gentiles, who do not have God's written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it” (Romans 2:14 NLT).
Everyone knew, even Achan, “that the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction” (Joshua 6:17 ESV). Moreover, they were told not to take any of the plunder from Jericho and so bring trouble into the camp of Israel, because all the gold and silver, and all of the metal containers “shall go into the treasury of the LORD” (vv. 18-19). But Achan could not resist the temptation, so he alone stole from the Lord’s treasury. He must have felt secure with his secret plunder. At least until the report came back from Ai. Israel was defeated. The Lord was no longer with them. In fact, His anger burned against them. At this point, because of the sin of one man, the promise of the Promised Land came to a halt. God told Joshua, “I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you” (7:12).
Joshua went through each tribe—“tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken” (v. 16). Judah was whittled down by each clan, to a household, and then to a single man, Achan, who then said to Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel” (v. 20). Achan, his stolen plunder, his household and livestock, and all that Achan owned were taken to the Valley of Achor, which means the Valley of Trouble, and stoned to death, burned, and entombed in a covering of rocks.
Some say this action against Achan and his family was a cruel act. They also say the Flood was cruel, God’s treatment of Sodom and Gomorrah was cruel, His treatment of the followers of Korah was cruel, etc. The list can be long and complicated, and so can the response. I want to keep my answer short and simple: no. … But please read on…
As I stated earlier, Achan, and everyone, knew that God had established Jericho and everything associated with the city to be destroyed with the exception of metal and precious metals that belonged to the Lord’s treasury, so Achan was not an innocent man, but what of his family? In his book 735 Baffling Bible Questions Answered Larry Richards says, “The best solution to this problem is suggested by Joshua 7:22, which says that Achan’s loot was ‘hidden in his tent’. As the entire family shared the tent, it is unlikely that any of them would have been unaware of Achan’s acts and thus would have been participants with him in the crime” (96).
That’s a fair answer. Nonetheless, I don’t want to leave the impression that we, His creation, can rationalize, categorize, or in any way judge the things that belonged to God—for who can counsel God? (Isaiah 40:13) Or who can teach God, or say to Him, “You have done wrong”? (Job 36:22-23) Or who can understand the depth of His wisdom? (Romans 11:33)
And these questions of unbelief are at the center of the question, nay, the interrogation, which is what is really going on when the clay examines the potter—for we are the work of His hand (Isaiah 64:8). How did the psalmist put it? “You have searched me and know me…You knitted me together in my mother's womb” (Psalm 139:1, 13). In addition, Jeremiah reminds us that, as the Potter, the God that can forgive a nation that repents is the same God that can rework the clay, or break and destroy it (18:1-11). And Saint Paul, speaking of authority, has this to say, “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval” (Romans 13:3). As one that stood against authority Achan and his family was a cancer to the community.
Last thought (for now): Is a doctor that cuts away gangrene to save a limb, or a surgeon that destroys cancer cells to save a life an agent of cruelty or one of goodness and love?
There are many fascinating people and accounts in Joshua, including crossing the Jordan River, the battle for Jericho, the day the sun stood still, the time Israel was deceived by the Gibeonites, and the epiphany of Christ among others. Yet, I decided to report on Achan because sin matters.
When I read the Bible I see that God does not have a problem making His perfect will known to man. Rather, in his rebellion man has a problem obeying God. He wrote His moral Law into nature and into the very essence of mankind. Paul says, “Even Gentiles, who do not have God's written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it” (Romans 2:14 NLT).
Everyone knew, even Achan, “that the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction” (Joshua 6:17 ESV). Moreover, they were told not to take any of the plunder from Jericho and so bring trouble into the camp of Israel, because all the gold and silver, and all of the metal containers “shall go into the treasury of the LORD” (vv. 18-19). But Achan could not resist the temptation, so he alone stole from the Lord’s treasury. He must have felt secure with his secret plunder. At least until the report came back from Ai. Israel was defeated. The Lord was no longer with them. In fact, His anger burned against them. At this point, because of the sin of one man, the promise of the Promised Land came to a halt. God told Joshua, “I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you” (7:12).
Joshua went through each tribe—“tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken” (v. 16). Judah was whittled down by each clan, to a household, and then to a single man, Achan, who then said to Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel” (v. 20). Achan, his stolen plunder, his household and livestock, and all that Achan owned were taken to the Valley of Achor, which means the Valley of Trouble, and stoned to death, burned, and entombed in a covering of rocks.
Some say this action against Achan and his family was a cruel act. They also say the Flood was cruel, God’s treatment of Sodom and Gomorrah was cruel, His treatment of the followers of Korah was cruel, etc. The list can be long and complicated, and so can the response. I want to keep my answer short and simple: no. … But please read on…
As I stated earlier, Achan, and everyone, knew that God had established Jericho and everything associated with the city to be destroyed with the exception of metal and precious metals that belonged to the Lord’s treasury, so Achan was not an innocent man, but what of his family? In his book 735 Baffling Bible Questions Answered Larry Richards says, “The best solution to this problem is suggested by Joshua 7:22, which says that Achan’s loot was ‘hidden in his tent’. As the entire family shared the tent, it is unlikely that any of them would have been unaware of Achan’s acts and thus would have been participants with him in the crime” (96).
That’s a fair answer. Nonetheless, I don’t want to leave the impression that we, His creation, can rationalize, categorize, or in any way judge the things that belonged to God—for who can counsel God? (Isaiah 40:13) Or who can teach God, or say to Him, “You have done wrong”? (Job 36:22-23) Or who can understand the depth of His wisdom? (Romans 11:33)
And these questions of unbelief are at the center of the question, nay, the interrogation, which is what is really going on when the clay examines the potter—for we are the work of His hand (Isaiah 64:8). How did the psalmist put it? “You have searched me and know me…You knitted me together in my mother's womb” (Psalm 139:1, 13). In addition, Jeremiah reminds us that, as the Potter, the God that can forgive a nation that repents is the same God that can rework the clay, or break and destroy it (18:1-11). And Saint Paul, speaking of authority, has this to say, “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval” (Romans 13:3). As one that stood against authority Achan and his family was a cancer to the community.
Last thought (for now): Is a doctor that cuts away gangrene to save a limb, or a surgeon that destroys cancer cells to save a life an agent of cruelty or one of goodness and love?