Joshua 7

Joshua chapter 7 is a very hard passage for those born and raised in a western postmodern individualistic society to stomach. The reason for this is that in this passage everything is done collectively, and people are collectively held responsible for sin. As much as it may be something that we do not like it is a reality of life, that our sins do damage far beyond ourselves. We have all been impacted by someone else’s sins and had to pay a price for them even when we have not committed any sins as egregious as the ones we may be impacted by. This is what is taking place with the Hebrew people, they are being impacted by the sins of one man and now have faced loss of life because of it.

               Although this is somewhat difficult for us it is the latter half of the chapter that is the harder portion. Here we see Achan commit a sin against God and take gold and silver that was devoted to God and took a cloak that was to be destroyed. For the sins he committed not just him but his whole family and even his livestock were put to death, which seem quite rash. When we see perplexing and difficult passages such as this one, we ought to lean into them because they are there for a reason and the reason ought to cause us and our students to do some spiritual self-reflection.

               The reason that Achan faced the fate that he did was because with the sin that he committed he revealed where his heart belonged. Last week we talked about Rahab being saved from the attack on Jerrico because despite her being from and living with people who are opposed to God, she was not like them and put her trust in the Lord. Here we see the opposite of what happened to Rahab. Achan is someone who lived among Gods people, but his heart was not like theirs but was like that of those of Jerrico. Therefore, because his heart was the same as theirs, he was to suffer the same fate as they did. Even in the imagery of his death visibly looked similar to the death of those who were in Jerrico.

               Therefore, the story of Achan is the antipode of the story of Rahab. If you are born into a great Christian family and go to a good church such as ours and never miss a Sunday or Wednesday, then you still have no guarantee of Salvation. It is the location of our hearts that determine our salvation and if our hearts are found with Christ. So, we should do some self-reflection and ask where our hearts are because if our hearts are not found in him then our fate will not be very different from the fate to Achan.

There is a link in the chapter 7 study page to a short but solid Gospel given by Voddie Baucham. The reason that I am placing that here is because this week in your groups it may be necessary for you to go over what the gospel is and clarify that salvation is not something that we can earn but is given though the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.