1 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed:take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai:see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king:only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves:lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai:and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
4 And he (Joshua) commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city:go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:5 And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city:and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them, 6 (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first:therefore we will flee before them.
(Remember that once before they tried to take Ai and they were defeated because they had an accursed thing hidden in the midst of the nation of Israel which was taken from a previous battle and God was not with them so they were defeated by Ai.
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.
13 Up, 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.
Achan confessed to taking the accursed thing ...
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.
22
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it
was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 And they took them out
of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the
children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.
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.
What is the "accursed" thing? It is anything that is not right in the sight of God. Achan was covetous. If you bring such into the congregation, you damage the congregation and exact a penalty from God.
The apostle Paul explained this in I Cor. 5 ... Paul said ...
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
We cannot allow the "accursed" to be in the congregation for to do so contaminates the congregation and curses the entire congregation.
And in our own lives, we must be very careful about our associations and those we choose to keep company with ... You may have to work with them at a secular job, but when you choose to keep company with that person, you may end up "cursing" yourself by their words.
I Cor. 15 ... 33 Be not deceived:evil communications corrupt good manners. 34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God:
Why would you want to join with darkness when you are light?
II Cor. 6 ... 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
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Joshua 8
7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city:for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. 8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire:according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9 Joshua therefore sent them forth:and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai:but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai:now there was a valley between them and Ai.
12 And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. 13 And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city.
15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them:and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. 17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after Israel:and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand.
And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city. 19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand:and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire. 20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way:and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
22 And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side:and they (Israel) smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. 24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
25 And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.
26 For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua.
28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide:and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal, 31 As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron:and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
33 And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.
34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
Comments by Joan Boney
Joshua was so faithful to God ... Joshua read all the words of God to the people ... Joshua did not leave out any word... Joshua didn't reason by his own mind but faithfully recorded everything.
You can do great harm to both yourself and to those that hear you if you leave out portions of the word, thinking you do good. If you think the word will harm them and you don't want to hurt anyone and you leave portions out, you exalt yourself above God. You think you know better than God. If you speak, you must speak every word given you by God. To do less will harm you and them.
Also Joshua was faithful to do what God told him to do ... to kill all the enemy.
You can't mix light and darkness. These scriptures show us we can't compromise relationships and mix strange people with us. They will pollute us, pulling us away from the way of God ... or if we speak they will flee from us. If we withhold speaking they will pollute us with their words and ideas. And when we speak they flee. This is the reaction of light and darkness. When you flip the light switch to on, what happens in the room when the light comes on? The darkness flees. And so it is with relationships. The world will stay around as long as you do not speak of God.