Pam Padgett ... teacher
When the children of Israel went up to fight Jericho, they were given the following instruction ...
Joshua 6:17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that
are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all
that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we
sent. 18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing,
lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing,
and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19 But all the
silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto
the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.
But one of the men did not obey this instruction. Instead, he took and
hid some of the spoils. The anger of God was kindled against Israel
because of this, and when they went up against Ai, they could not take
the city but, instead, retreated. When Joshua turned to God, God told
him the following ...
Joshua 7:11 Israel 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. 12 Therefore 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.
At God's direction, Joshua called all the congregation together, and God
identified that Achan was the transgressor. Achan then admitted what
he had done ...
Joshua 7:20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have
sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 21
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two
hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight,
then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the
earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
Achan, his family, and all that he had were destroyed, as God had directed ...
Joshua 7:24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of
Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his
sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and
his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of
Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall
trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned
them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26 And they
raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned
from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was
called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
While thinking about what happened here, two things stood out to me.
First of all, how critical it is that we obey God, not counting His Word as trivial, but seriously and prayerfully
considering it and applying it to our lives, as led by the Holy Spirit.
The second thing that stood out to me is that nothing is hidden from
God. We may be able to hide from man, but we cannot hide from God.
Jesus told us the following ...
Luke 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the
light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be
proclaimed upon the housetops.