Lifting God’s Blessing

     Joshua 7: 1-26

 

 

          When the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, it was an event forty years in the making. Disobedience had cost the lives of a whole generation. But finally, the people of God were at the threshold of tasting the promise made so long before. The night before, they consecrated themselves for the crossing. The Jordan River stood still for probably close to a million people. When it was over, God told Joshua to command twelve men to remove twelve stones from the Jordan and mark the passage as a memorial. Joshua said to the people on the Lord’s behalf that the stones were a reminder “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

          At that point, the people of God must surely have known that they were blessed. They stopped for religious rites. The entire new generation was circumcised as a sign of God’s favor. Passover was celebrated. The people still had to take what was to be theirs, but they had God’s blessing.

          The next stop was Jericho, a fortified city with high walls. It was a daunting task. But God said to Joshua: “See, I have given Jericho into your hand.” Remember that. It becomes important later. For seven days, the armed men of Israel preceded seven priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant around the city walls seven times. Trumpets blew continually, but no one said a word. On the seventh day, everyone was cautioned not to take anything slated for destruction. “Devoted things” particularly were off limits. On Joshua’s command, the people all shouted and the walls fell down flat. The city was taken and God was at the helm.

          Now the people of Israel have experienced two miracles back to back. First the Jordan River has stood still for their crossing. Then the walls of Jericho came down on one shout from God’s people. In each case, the people are exhorted to pay attention, to be obedient to God, to observe his commands and to wait for God. The only thing God has asked of them is not to take the “devoted things” from Jericho. I’m thinking of another time when God asked only one thing. It was in the garden of Eden, and God asked Adam and Eve only one thing: not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That disobedience had some dire consequences.

          The first line of chapter 7 of Joshua is huge. It says that the people of Israel broke faith… for Achan took some of the devoted things. Listen again. The people broke faith…because Achan was disobedient. Do you see this? Because of the disobedience of one, the people had broken faith with God. And the result is that God’s anger burned against the people.

          So the next town in the path of God’s people is Ai. Ai is nothing like Jericho. Joshua sends scouts, who report that only 3,000 men should be needed to dispatch this little city. So Joshua, without speaking or praying to God, sends the men. Remember that at Jericho, God had promised that the city would be delivered into the hands of the people of Israel. No such promise is sought or given here.

          So a contingent of 3,000 fighting men go up to Ai. They are routed. Thirty six men of Israel are killed. The rest are chased away. The scripture says that the people of Israel melted and became as water. They were scared. They realized the something was different.

          Where is God? What happened? Actually, those are pretty much the questions that Joshua puts to God, right after he has torn his clothes and fallen on the ground before the Ark of the Covenant until evening, along with his elders. It’s cute the way Joshua confronts God. He talks exactly like the people talked to Moses a generation ago. They barely get out of Egypt and they are grumbling about how hard it is. Better they had stayed home where at least they had food. Joshua echoes this plea. Why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all? So that we can be destroyed? Maybe we should have been content to dwell beyond the Jordan. Look at us now. Why have you done this to us!

          It’s not what God has done to Joshua and the Israelites. It’s what they have done to God. You have to read it out loud to appreciate God’s answer. He starts with this. Get up! Get off your knees! It’s not me that let you down. It’s you who let me down!  Israel has sinned! They have stolen. They have lied. Get up! Clean your own house or “I will be with you no more.”              

          Look at what has happened here. One has broken with faith. One has been disobedient. But it is not one who will be punished. Already thirty six men have died. They have died because in the light of this intentional sin, God has withdrawn his blessing. The people of Israel are in big trouble. All of them may have to answer for the disobedience of one.

          God tells Joshua how to find the offender. By tribe, then clan, then household, then person. To Achan’s credit, he does not lie. He takes the blame for his act of disobedience. The people of God are going to be saved, but look at the cost. Thirty six dead in a battle where God’s help has been withdrawn. Then, Achan is stoned and burned. It would seem that his children are also stoned, as the scripture says that all the people of Israel burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. It is a group execution. No one person can be responsible for stoning. The responsibility rests upon all of God’s people in the same way that the disobedience of one rested on them all. It is only then that the Lord turns from his burning anger.

          Does God get angry? If you ever had any doubt, read this story. Yes, God gets angry. And sometimes, when he gets angry enough, he lifts his blessing from among us. And look at the consequences when he does. People get hurt. People die. And not just the people who anger him. God’s anger can have severe and long reaching consequences.

          Before we leave this story, we should take another look at leadership. Joshua is the leader here, and he also has something to learn. Before crossing the Jordan, Joshua talks with God. After crossing the Jordan, Joshua talks with God. Before going into battle in Jericho, Joshua talks with God. What happens at Ai? Joshua talks with his scouts. Maybe Joshua thought that Ai was no big deal like Jericho. Maybe Joshua assumed he had God’s blessing.  Maybe Joshua thought he was a good enough leader to go it alone and just consult with God along the way. Whatever Joshua may have thought, he thought wrong. Leadership in God’s world is not unilateral. It’s a consulting business. We ask. He answers. Don’t make assumptions.

          There is plenty of blame to go around here, from Joshua’s lack of godly leadership to Achan’s clear disobedience. There was a reason for God’s wanting his people not to hold on to the “devoted things” of other people. These were religious icons. They were in effect false gods. The only thing they could do for the people of God would be to compete with God himself. Achan coveted earthly value and wanted something like that in his home. He had God in his presence, and yet coveted stuff over that relationship. It cost him, his children and thirty six others their lives.

          When the people of Israel next went up against Ai, God was again in their corner. Joshua received the pre-battle words that made everything possible: “Do not fear…I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.”

          In this world where we are taught daily to look after number one, that I is the most important word, that our first duty is to ourselves, the story of Achan screams for attention. It was not just Achan who had false gods. We do the same today, only our idols are more contemporary.

When Achan sinned and was disobedient, it was the entire nation that paid for it. We do not live in a vacuum. This is particularly true for Christianity, the new Israel, as Paul puts it. We live accountable to one another. We live in community. When one trips, we all stumble. When we act in Christian concert, God is with us. When we do not go to God to get our marching orders before we march, we should expect to fail. Joshua learned that lesson the hard way.

          We are God’s people. Let us never do anything to cause God to lift his blessing from among us. Rather, let us live in such a way, and with such communication, that his hand remains upon us and our steps.