The Failure Of The

First Offensive Attack

By

Holy Caleb De Warrior

Unexpected defeat

So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water. Joshua 7:4,5

Joshua Laments

Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, "Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all — to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?" Joshua 7:6-9

Have you heard what Joshua said?

He said that all the surrounding nations shall hear of the shameful defeat and death of the Israelites, and rise against Israel.

The Sin of Achan And The Severe Consequences Of Unholy Things

So the Lord said to Joshua: "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. Get up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: "There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you." In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.'" Joshua 7:10-15

Things Devoted To Yahweh

Son of man, what are the devoted things?

The devoted things were the gold, silver and other things from Jericho which were dedicated to God. It also refers to the righteousness of God, replaced with various bad behaviours, which the Israelites learnt from other nations. God had warned the Israelites not to learn the ways of the Gentiles – the foreigners and non covenant-keeping nations, not to emulate other nations, because the Israelites were a chosen people, a holy nation, chosen to be God’s people. The Israelites were totally different from the other nations of the world.

Whenever the Israelites were away from the covenant, when they stop keeping their covenant with God, it makes the anger and wrath of God to befall them, before the Israelites would know and repent. If the Israelites repented, even so God moved His anger and wrath away from the midst of the Israelites. And His blessings and grace would abound in the midst of the Israelites.

Do you congregation not know this?

Chukwudi: We know.

The Spiritual Investigation

So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. Then he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. Joshua 7:16-18

The Purposes Of The Examination

Why did God ask Holy Joshua De Conqueror to examine the Israelites, tribe by tribe and family by family?

It was because various families in different tribes were among the defaulters, who offended God by taking devoted things and by breaking the covenant laws of God. Even so the tribes were examined one by one, until the defaulters were found out.

God did the examination tribe by tribe, family by family and household by household, to make it clear to all the Israelites that they were among those who provoked the anger of God. Son of man, the eyes of God was ranging over all, seeing all of us, one by one. God was warning the Israelites, all the Israelites, and not one or few people only, so that everybody should repent.

The devoted things were not only the gold, not only the silver. It included the behaviours they learnt from various nations, which behaviours they used to break the laws of God. Including all the people who were still planning in their hearts to do similar bad things. God was asking the Israelites to remove all the bad ways of life, which they had learnt from other nations, for the Israelites to keep themselves holy, so that God will come in their midst, in perfection, and fight battles for them.

Confessions And Confirmation

Now Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me."

And Achan answered Joshua and said, "Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it."

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. Joshua 7:19-23

Method Of Interrogation

Son of man, if you people catch somebody who is guilty, what do you people do the person?

The first thing to do is to ask the person to confess, to say what happened and how it happened. What saved Achan was that he confessed what he did. The confession serves as confirmation that the person is not being accused wrongly or falsely, and as a confirmation of what God was saying.

“You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.” Exodus 23:1-3

"If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying, 'Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods"' — which you have not known — then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock — with the edge of the sword. And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and completely burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again. So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 13:12-18

The Purposes And Method Of Confession

Why did Joshua ask Achan to give glory to God?

What Joshua said explained that God is the God of salvation. This is number 1.

Number 2, when the people who have committed sins accept that they have sinned and repent in spirit and in truth, God forgives such sins, because the people have accepted and repented. Confession – is very important and compulsory.

But all the people who do not have remorse, who do not have grief and regret for doing bad, who refuse to make confessions, such people have not repented at all.

That is why when God warns the Israelites, saying, “This is what you people are doing, which myself does not want. You are breaking my laws. You people have turned your back on me – you have stopped abiding by my laws and rites of holiness.”

What have you heard that the Israelites usually did?

Ourselves would grieve, fell to the ground, humbled ourselves. And when we humbled ourselves, we did confess our sins, so that we shall become one with God, make peace with God. That is what the congregation shall be doing.

Number 2, another point, if you are condemning somebody in the presence of God, and you want the person to say the truth, do not use harsh voice in speaking to the person. Instead, treat the person as your brother – use peaceful, gentle, soft and good voice. At that time you treat the person as a brother, all his heart shall be coming home – he shall feel free, feel at home, to say the facts willingly, and it shall grieve his heart that he has done wrong.

Yourselves, the judge or investigator, should not be a person who disorganizes and scatters. You have to be an organizer who makes peace to reign.

Wrong Approach

Ourselves were doing according to what God said. Yourself do not have to judge the defaulters instantly – without due interrogations and investigations.

And if you are merciful, would you be more merciful than God who created all things?

The God that created Achan has decided what shall, be done to him.

Don’t you know that what he did was disobedience?

Between himself and God, who shall you be merciful unto?

The will of God has to be done. God wants the Israelites to do His will. But Achan was doing his own personal will.

God the Father is a righteous and just judge. That is why, if God tells you what to do, you do it exactly the way God said. You are not more knowledgeable than God, and you are not wiser.

The Penalty

Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day." So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day. Joshua 7:24-26

Why Achan Was Killed

The reason why God told the Israelites to kill him, and burn him with fire, is to remove various evil things from the Israelites. What Achan did brought anger and wrath of God upon the Israelites. Many Israelites died. The Israelites encountered many sufferings. That was why he should not be allowed to live.

Why His Children Were Involved

Son of man, number 1, Achan did what he did out of disobedience. And his children knew about it.

How could they not have known about what their father did?

Ourselves asked them questions. They were confessing about their father, and they said where their father hid the stolen things.

Do you see that his children knew?

The children of Achan knew about the laws of God, and they that God warned the Israelites not to take any of the devoted things. They should have asked their father to return the stolen things. And if their father refused, they should have reported him to Joshua. That was how they could have saved themselves from the penalty, but they did not do so. They were equally guilty because they knew and kept silent. They kept the offence secret, and many Israelites died or suffered severely because of what their father did.

Lessons For The Future Generations

Son of man, when God tells you what to do, do not argue about it. God has reason for telling you to do so. And there was a teaching that God wanted to use the case of Achan to teach the future generations.

The Head: In every situation, do not go contrary to what God said. Do not disobey the word of God. And do not join others in doing what is evil. If you find people doing evil, warn them to repent and stop the evil. Do not join evil doers in concealing their sins and crimes. By so doing, yourself shall be free from guilt and penalty during judgment.

Chukwudi: It served as a deterrent to the generations of the Israelites then, and to the future generations. None would accept to commit evil.

The Head: Unfortunately, all these facts and lessons were hidden from humanity, especially the Christians. And that is why many things are going wrong today, and the Christians are the ones suffering.

Because Of Jesus Christ

Is it because the FirstSon of God, Jesus Christ, is in the midst of humanity now?

Is that why humanity are not obeying the word of God?

They are not keeping the Everlasting Covenant of God, which covenant is for the salvation and wellbeing of humanity.

The Head: Those who refuse to do the will of God, go to hell fire, where there are endless sufferings. But mercy, deliverance and salvation are for those who repent, for those who obey God and do His will.