Scripture: Joshua 1:1-6; Joshua 5:13-6:2; 6:17-19;
7:1, 15; 24-26
For our problem today, we’ll consider one of the
issues that is so prevalent and painful throughout the Hebrew text, and to a
much lesser degree, into the New Testament – the issue that God’s way is
absolute and unchanging, and that no one is allowed to deviate from it, upon the
penalty of death.
The book of Genesis and Exodus are filled with the
death of those who defy God’s edicts.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; the plagues in Egypt, especially
the final one – death of the first born; the drowning of the entire army of
Egypt, including their horses; and the list continues with each and every
nation that Israel meets during their 40 years in the wilderness.
People, even those who have a deep faith in God and
his ways, struggle to varying degrees with the concept that those who stand in
Israel’s way are nearly always killed, usually violently in battle, but sometimes
at God’s hand. Why doesn’t the Lord just
change their hearts, or at least lead the nation around those areas that cause
conflict for the people? Why does death
have to be the penalty for defending the homes and cities that belong to
non-Israelis? It would seem that God, apparently,
must be a god of vengeance and retribution and prideful arrogance!
So often, death is fostered upon those of other
nationalities, but in today’s passage, it also comes to one of Israel’s own who
disobeyed a command, and the penalty comes down on not only the man who committed
the offense, but upon his family. So now
another question – is God so hateful that he would even punish innocent
children? What kind of God is this?
Read Joshua 1:1-6
Moses had left this life, and Joshua, chosen by the
Lord, was taking his place. Years
before, Moses had sent 12 men, 1 from each of the 12 tribes, into the Promised
Land to scout out the residents, their cities, and their crops. When they all returned, it was only Joshua
and Caleb who reported that all was ready for their entry, while the rest were
frightened, and refused to go in (Numbers 13-14). Moses had accepted the “majority report”, and
they wound up roaming through the wilderness for 40 years – until the 10 who
were negative, as well as all of the warriors, had perished, including Moses. Only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to
join the rest of Israel as they received their Godly inheritance of the Land.
Joshua would also inherit the leadership of all
Israel, and would guide them for many more years as they entered and took
possession of Canaan. But he wouldn’t be
a routine type of leader who had risen through the ranks to gain the top
spot. He had been chosen, and was being
blessed and anointed by the Lord God Yahweh himself. Joshua would be given the same promise that had
been given to Moses so many years before (Deuteronomy 11:22-25), and he accepted
the Lord’s promise that he would never have to lead alone – that his God would
be with him every step of the way, whether in times of peace, or in times of
conflict, or in times of governance. “No
one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was
with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor
forsake you.” For God, a promise given is a promise kept.
In Deuteronomy 11:26-32, Moses is told that the
leadership role came with both a blessing and a curse – that if the man was
obedient, the blessing would be his, but if he disobeyed the Lord’s commands
and he turned away to follow other ways, the curse would come upon him. But interestingly, Joshua doesn’t get the
full message that Moses received – there was no pronouncement of a curse, and
the man would be the leader who God needed him to be. For Joshua, a promise accepted is a promise that
must be lived.
Read Joshua 5:13-6:2
Jericho had been a major city in Canaan for around
6,000 years, and still exists in a modern context to this day. It is considered as the city with the longest
existence in the entire world – about 10,000 years.
The city had been scouted so that Israel would know
all about the people and community, and God was now promising that this strategically
located place had already been guaranteed to become the possession of his
people. King, army, people, and land
were already theirs, the land had been declared to be holy in Yahweh, and the
only thing left to do, before they took possession, was to follow the Lord’s
instructions.
The city was prepared for war, but the Lord’s “military
commander” was also prepared for the battle, with the outcome already determined,
so the army of Israel would have little to do, except obey!
We all know the story of the fall of Jericho, where
the nation marched quietly around the city once every day for six days, with
the Ark of the Covenant in the lead, until the seventh day arrived, when they
circled the walls seven times, and on the seventh, the seven trumpets sounded
and all of the people shouted, and “the walls came tumbling down”!
Read Joshua 6:7a, 18-19; 7:1,15
Now here is the problem – we
read that the entire city was to be destroyed and burned, after every man,
woman, child, cattle, sheep and donkey were put to the sword, except for
Rahab and her family, because she had helped the Israeli spies escape from the
city. (Joshua 2) So because a
prostitute had done something to help God’s people, she and her entire
household would be spared from the destruction that was forced upon the rest of
town.
Surely, there would be some who would have been
willing to join Israel and work with them in the new nation. Why would the Lord have them killed? Why not just take the entire city into
slavery? Why not allow the animals to live as a gift for his people? And why keep all the valuable artifacts and
precious metals for himself! The Lord
does some strange things at times! Why?
Traditionally in that day, the “spoils of war” would
become the possession of the government, so in Israel’s case, the one to
receive the dedication and sacrifice of the city was the Lord. But then God is never bound by the traditions
of earth.
In the New Testament, under the teaching of Jesus, we
see love and compassion being offered to all, including the Gentiles, so why
would only the sinner Rahab and her family be offered that love, and the rest
of her city condemned? Is God that
irrational and inconsistent?
Ethnic cleansing?
Destruction of sinners? 1,200 BC
politics? Distrust of a different people and their lives of faith? None of these answers seem to satisfy what we
know about the Lord, and even scholars disagree over the “WHY” of God. Could it be that the people took the decision
upon themselves, regardless of what Yahweh desired, but when we consider the
faithfulness of Joshua, would he ever allow such a divergent atrocity to
occur? Perhaps it is simply a question
of the obedience that Rahab exhibited, versus the disobedience that rested on
the rest of the populace, but even that is a stretch that doesn’t really work
for us.
There is another possibility, though, that it may be a
theological lesson for Israel regarding the eschatological significance of faith
versus denial at the Final Judgment. But
there is no real evidence that this is the reason for all the destruction either,
and anyway, it seems to be a rather disagreeable lesson at that!
For now, there may not be a reason that is available
to us, but the lesson of obedience continues for Israel in the example of
Achan. He disobeyed God’s command to
keep the sacrifice of the city holy, including the commitment of the “devoted
things”, the religious items, for the Lord’s temple. The penalty, even for Israel, was death and
burning. “He has violated the
covenant of the Lord, and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!”
And the trouble that Achan had gotten into wouldn’t
end with him, but that his possessions and family, as well as Israel as a
nation, would suffer until the wrong had been resolved.
Read Joshua 7:24-26
As we consider the impact of these verses, we discover
that the penalty was identical to the fate that was determined for the people
of Jericho – death, destruction, and burning for all – the man, his children,
and all of his herds and flocks. At least
we see that God is never inconsistent – that the penalty for disobedience is
the same for all!
And the penalty that Achan and his family pays is
sufficient to allow God to shed his anger, and to restore Israel to “favored”
status – at least, for now.
But what about the lesson? Well, perhaps God’s lesson is actually about righteousness
versus sin. Ephesians 4:17-28
tells us that we should always live the life that gives God the glory, that we
are not to live as though in the darkness, but rather that a life in the Light
of God is the only way. We are to put
off our old, corrupted self that can only bring deceitfulness and sin, and to
let the newness of Christ fill our lives instead. Lies, and even anger are not of the Lord, but
the interesting command with anger is not that we are never to become
angry, but rather to never let the sun go down on our anger, and to
never give the Satan a foothold in our lives.
Or, perhaps the lesson is about forgiveness and what
it requires. As in the case of Jericho
and Achan, it requires sacrifice. In our
case, it required the sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary, and our surrender
of our sinful ways. In Matthew
6:14-15, we discover that the degree of forgiveness that we receive is
based on the quality of our forgiveness of others. In Matthew 9:1-8, we read of the
paralytic who was brought to Jesus for healing, and after Jesus forgave his
sins, he told the man to get up, take his mat, and go home – and he did. Forgiveness will always require some form of
sacrifice – that of Jesus, that of us, that of others, but when it is complete,
great healing will always result.
And maybe this is the lesson of Jericho and Achan –
that there will always be consequences for not following the way of God, but even
in that, forgiveness can still be ours, by faith in Jesus.
This may not excuse or even explain the apparent
disregard for life in scripture, but then who can ever truly explain God or his
ways without considering the entire story. And maybe that is part of today’s lesson for
our lives, too.
