Joshua 7:8-198O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? 10And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. 12Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. 13Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. 14In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man. 15And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. 16So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: 17And he brought the family 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: 18And 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. 19And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. (Joshua 7:8‑19)
Just as Achan’s sin hindered victory for Israel, so if the flesh is allowed among the people of God, the Spirit is hindered in bringing our souls into the enjoyment of our portion in Christ. Then when trouble comes, as it did here, the first thought of our natural hearts is to try to escape the. This, we believe, is the reason why, when trouble comes into an assembly, some are turned aside, while others fear to act in faithfulness.
At this point, therefore, God spoke to Joshua saying, “Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies.” It was a fine thing for Joshua and the elders of Israel to humble themselves before God, but when unbelief came in as to the path God had chosen for them, and when they thought more of themselves than of what was due to God, God had to rebuke Joshua. We hear much about the importance of prayer, and this indeed a necessary and important thing, but when action has to be taken according to the Word of God, and we refuse or hold back, then prayer k of no avail. The word then is, “Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?” Unless prayer is the expression of our dependence and confidence in God and in accordance with His revealed mind and will, it is only a repetition of words, and may even become a wish on our part that God would acknowledge our wills instead of His own perfect will. This is deeply solemn.
Israel had sinned. Although it was only one man who had done the evil act, God says “they,” and tells Joshua in detail all that had taken place, sometimes we would like to blame some other person when difficulties arise, thus justifying ourselves, but when failure comes in among the people of God, God would have us confess our part in it, for “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” 1 Corinthians 5:66Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? (1 Corinthians 5:6). We all have our part in these things, and we ought to own this to God, for the whole testimony is weakened, and God is publicly dishonored by sin among His people, We are all affected and ought to all own it.
And so God told Joshua that this was the cause of their shameful defeat at Ai, and moreover, He said He would not be with them any more if they did not deal with the evil that was among them. There is no easy way out of trouble. Sin must be dealt with according to God or we cannot stand before our enemies, whether it be the children of Israel in Canaan or ourselves today. God has told us that holiness becomes His house forever. (Psalms 93:55Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever. (Psalm 93:5).)
God then told Joshua what was to be done. There was to be no delay, now that God had made the evil manifest. Sometimes we have to wait upon God to bring things to light, but when He does we ought to act at once for His glory. The next morning, therefore, God said all the children were to be brought together, and to pass before Joshua tribe by tribe. God then manifested that it was in the tribe of Judah, and so they were taken family by family. God showed Joshua that the evil was in the household of Achan, and so Joshua asked Achan to confess what he had done to the Lord and to him, and he did so.
ML 03/22/1953