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JOSHUA 8
page 199
10 But the Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why
are you lying on your face like this? 11 Israel has
sinned and broken my covenant! They have
stolen some of the things that I commanded
must be set apart for me. And they have not only
stolen them but have lied about it and hidden
the things among their own belongings. 12 That
is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat. For now Israel itself has been
set apart for destruction. I will not remain with
you any longer unless you destroy the things
among you that were set apart for destruction.
13 “Get up! Command the people to purify
themselves in preparation for tomorrow. For
this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set
apart for the Lord. You will never defeat your
enemies until you remove these things from
among you.
14 “In the morning you must present yourselves by tribes, and the Lord will point out the
tribe to which the guilty man belongs. That tribe
must come forward with its clans, and the Lord
will point out the guilty clan. That clan will then
come forward, and the Lord will point out the
guilty family. Finally, each member of the guilty
family must come forward one by one. 15 The one
who has stolen what was set apart for destruction will himself be burned with fire, along with
everything he has, for he has broken the covenant of the Lord and has done a horrible thing
in Israel.”
Achan’s Sin
16 Early the next morning Joshua brought the
tribes of Israel before the Lord, and the tribe
of Judah was singled out. 17 Then the clans of
Judah came forward, and the clan of Zerah was
singled out. Then the families of Zerah came
forward, and the family of Zimri was singled
out. 18 Every member of Zimri’s family was
brought forward person by person, and Achan
was singled out.
19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give
glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, by telling
the truth. Make your confession and tell me
what you have done. Don’t hide it from me.”
20 Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned
against the Lord, the God of Israel. 21 Among the
plunder I saw a beautiful robe from Babylon,*
200 silver coins,* and a bar of gold weighing
more than a pound.* I wanted them so much
that I took them. They are hidden in the ground
beneath my tent, with the silver buried deeper
than the rest.”
22 So Joshua sent some men to make a search.
They ran to the tent and found the stolen goods
hidden there, just as Achan had said, with the
7:21a Hebrew Shinar. 7:21b Hebrew 200 shekels of silver,
about 5 pounds or 2.3 kilograms in weight. 7:21c Hebrew
50 shekels, about 20 ounces or 570 grams in weight.
7:26 Hebrew valley of Achor.
silver buried beneath the rest. 23 They took the
things from the tent and brought them to Joshua
and all the Israelites. Then they laid them on the
ground in the presence of the Lord.
24 Then Joshua and all the Israelites took
Achan, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his
sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats,
tent, and everything he had, and they brought
them to the valley of Achor. 25 Then Joshua said
to Achan, “Why have you brought trouble on
us? The Lord will now bring trouble on you.”
And all the Israelites stoned Achan and his
family and burned their bodies. 26 They piled a
great heap of stones over Achan, which remains
to this day. That is why the place has been called
the Valley of Trouble* ever since. So the Lord
was no longer angry.
The Israelites Defeat Ai
Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be
afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the
king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.
2 You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho
and its king. But this time you may keep the
plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an
ambush behind the town.”
3 So Joshua and all the fighting men set out
to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best
warriors and sent them out at night 4 with these
orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town
and be ready for action. 5 When our main army
attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight
as they did before, and we will run away from
them. 6 We will let them chase us until we have
drawn them away from the town. For they will
say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as
they did before.’ Then, while we are running
8
• Failure
JOS HU A 8:1
Because of sin, Israel had failed in its
battle against Ai. Now that the sin had
been confessed and removed, the people
were at a crossroads. Would they have
the courage to try again, or would they
be paralyzed by fear of another defeat?
Was their dream to inherit the Promised
Land too good to be true? But God
encouraged them to not be afraid or
discouraged, to learn from their failure,
and to move ahead. The lessons we
learn from our failures should make us
better able to handle similar situations in
the future. Since God is eager to give us
cleansing, forgiveness, and strength, the
only way to lose is to give up.