The Book of Joshua – Part 8a:  Freewill Ruthlessly Stoned in its Infancy and Raised as a Memorial “to this Day” (Eph 1:11) – Joshua 7:1-9

[Study Aired 8, April 2023]

In the previous Study, Part 7, the Priests carrying the Ark, together with the company of armed men and a representation of the Camp, encompassed Jericho once daily for six days. Their daily procession ended with them remarkably compassing the city on the seventh day seven times. 

We must remember that ‘young’ Israel is specifically being set up as a carnal model for the Elect of God to learn His plan of redemption for the First Resurrection. The Bride of Christ learns through the burden of Israel’s physical applications, emphasising for us the incredible brightness of Christ by their comparatively mild spiritual demands.

Mat 11:28 Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.
Mat 11:30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

Moses instituted the seventh day Sabbath, as written on the stone tablets, before Israel entered the Promised Land. For six days, the Israelites worked by marching around Jericho as the Lord commanded, carrying the Ark and blowing the seven ram’s horns. Enthusiastic Israel purposefully, as best as flesh could, attempted to keep all the Lord’s commands as He instructed. Typically for the flesh, the “accursed thing” was soon found endemic within.

Exo 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

God has allotted mankind six thousand years to toil by the sweat of his brow, as noted by Israel marching around Jericho six times. In that time, we are embroiled in the ways of Babylon, getting married, doing business, and having children, always holding the Lord’s name in vain.

At Christ’s death on the sixth day, a major part of His work in the flesh for mankind was done. The Apostles and other faithful who worked with Christ while He was alive had begun overlapping their spiritual learning from what Law-encrusted Israel demonstrated in the flesh. The seventh day is the Lord’s Sabbath, on which He arose (sometime towards its end), introducing the future first resurrection when He demonstrates His power through His Elect ruling with His rod of iron in the one-thousand year reign.

The fall of Jericho for the Christs today corresponds with us having gradually been given power over our enemies within for a symbolic six thousand years culminating in the Sabbath that spiritually is Christ and Him coming in the first resurrection for our literal seventh-day rest in him.

God’s perfect love is demonstrated by Him creating man out of the dust of the ground in the form of decaying flesh. A colossal part of that love is His choosing His Elect to come out of the world, called Egypt, Assyria, Mt. Sinai (Old Jerusalem) and Babylon, to suffer trials and become as He is. Their embodiment as the Elect is hidden in the Priests of Israel carrying the Ark that represents Christ.

The tumultuous applause by all of Israel for Joshua’s powerful headship is typical of us when we have a series of wins over the flesh; we feel good about ourselves even if we praise the Lord for His work within. Classically, we immediately return to the ways of the flesh, as does Israel, and for our benefit, gloriously portrayed by Achan.

Jos 7:1 But the sons of Israel committed a sin in the cursed thing. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the thing which was cursed. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the sons of Israel. 
Jos 7:2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Bethel. And he spoke to them, saying, Go up and look over the country. And the men went up and spied out Ai. 
Jos 7:3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, Let not all the people go up. But let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Do not make all the people labor there, for they are few. 
Jos 7:4 And about three thousand men of the people went up there. And they fled before the men of Ai. 
Jos 7:5 And the men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them, for they chased them from before the gate to Shebarim, and struck them in the road going down. Therefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water. 
Jos 7:6 And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of Jehovah until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust on their heads. 
Jos 7:7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why have You at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? And, oh that we had been content and lived on the other side Jordan! 
Jos 7:8 O, Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns their backs before their enemies? 
Jos 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear, and shall surround us, and shall cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name? 

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Jos 7:1 But the sons of Israel committed a sin in the cursed thing. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the thing which was cursed. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the sons of Israel.

We learned in Part 7 that an “accursed thing” is something the Lord has specifically detailed as unclean and fit for utter destruction, regardless of how trifling we might think the cursed thing.

The man Achan and his sin is the prime theme of Joshua 7. It is beneficial for us to spiritually understand his sin to better understand some of the events leading up to his scandal in verse 21 to juxtapose the preceding verses.

Jos 7:21 When I [Achan] 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.

We must remember that the hapless soul, Achan, and his sins were written in his book for the Elect’s sake before the foundation of the Earth. His mother and father undoubtedly loved the exasperating little guy they named Achan, whose name means H5912 – ‘troubler’; a heap of ruins; to bend, twist, to be perverted, iniquity’, and probably tried hard to raise him to fear the Lord. He is us, on many occasions, spiritually taking an “accursed thing” and thinking it insignificant.

The Lord specifically told Israel in Joshua 6:18, before taking Jericho, to utterly destroy everything in the city, including men, women and children; to not keep any spoil whatsoever, and in Joshua 6:19 to only take for Israel’s treasury the silver, gold and vessels of brass and iron as not deemed “accursed”. Israel, full of bravado at having effortlessly defeated Jericho, thought the Ammonite city of Ai (ah-‘ee – ‘heap of ruins’) would likewise be a pushover. 

The Body of Christ is well-versed in the spiritual meaning of a “goodly Babylonish garment”. The city of Babylon was located in Shinar, of the Chaldeans, on the banks of the Euphrates River, where many years later, the northern tribes of Israel were taken captive to eventually spread throughout the world. Life in Babylon was an eye-opener and vast contrast to keeping the Lord’s commandments and was designed to titillate every sensory delight for its richness. Babylon’s opulence preceded Israel’s imagination of what their Lord could provide in their Promised Land of milk and honey; a “goodly Babylonish garment” was a strikingly rich sample.

Surely it is a “trifling” thing to save such a splendid garment from destruction? Achan’s ‘troubles’ are our troubles when the three foundations of sin are breached, primarily the first two leading to the third, the capstone of all three.

1Jn 2:15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 
1Jn 2:16 because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

As were hundreds of thousands of people in Israel’s time, even millions of people in our time, they were appointed by God as examples of us, for us. Achan was one such “ensample”.

1Co 10:6 And these things were our examples, that we should not be lusters after evil, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7 Nor should we be idolaters [worshiper of false gods], even as some of them, as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” [… and upon the Lord destroying Jericho, the Israelites unconsciously felt that her destruction was a result of their eminence of power given them by the Lord ~ they felt indestructible by their pride of life and got up to celebrate ‘their power’]
1Co 10:8 Nor let us commit fornication, as some of them fornicated, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 
1Co 10:9 Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted Him and were destroyed by serpents. 
1Co 10:10 Nor murmur as some of them also murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer. 
1Co 10:11 And all these things happened to them as examples; and it is written for our warning on whom the ends of the world have come [a warning to the Elect of God].
1Co 10:12 So let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 
1Co 10:13 No temptation has taken you but what is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation also will make a way to escape, so that you may be able to bear it. 
1Co 10:14 Therefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our [The Elect of God’s] learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels [Elect of God today] desire to look into.

There is nothing wrong with wearing splendid clothing; it is the ruling desire for the item when it is beyond our financial means, social standing, or some other God-deemed non-necessity. Who knows where Achan thought he could sport such grandeur in Israel’s Camp without all eyes agog. 

So Achan hid the beautiful garment in the earth beneath his tent, a metaphor for suppressing our lust for the pride of life in the filth of dust we are when instead, we are to learn to wear our Lord’s clean white linen representing His righteousness.

Eze 33:13 When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live; if he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it. 
Eze 33:14 Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turns from his sin and does justice and right; 
Eze 33:15 if the wicked gives back the pledge, gives again what he had robbed, walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, then he shall surely live; he shall not die.

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 

Eph 5:5 For you know this, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous one (who is an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars [accursed things], will have their part in the Lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. 

In Jos 7:1, Achan’s lineage had him squarely related to none other than Esau (Zerah – H2226), the one hated before he was born. Once again, Achan, Esau and we do not have a say in how the Lord designs the ‘pot’ that we are (Jeremiah 18). 

Rom 9:12 it was said to her, “The elder shall serve the younger.”
Rom 9:13 As it is written, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” 

Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder [Esau] shall serve the younger [Jacob before they were born].

Achan’s sad account continues; … [he also took] “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.” 

The two hundred shekels of silver are a witness against Achan’s lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes is consolidated by his pride in hiding the entire treasure trove in his flesh beneath the temporary dwelling he represents by his tent (or tabernacle). The number 10 is the same metaphor for 100, or 1,000 and relates to the completeness of the flesh, the power of corruptible dying flesh, and the completeness or fullness of a thing multiplied by the witness of 2 ~ just as the Ten Commandments being smashed the first time resulted in a second set that condemns sinful flesh for the ultimate path to purity and redemption in Christ by his word represented as silver.

Both silver and gold are the Lord’s, and we steal them anytime we speak above what is written, thus claiming our righteousness (Hag 2:8-10; Eze 16:17).

We shall step back to see how Achan’s narrative pans out.

Jos 7:2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai [a heap of ruins], which is beside Beth-aven [a reasonably significant location where Ephriam worshipped; much the same as Bethel], on the east side of Bethel. And he spoke to them, saying, Go up and look over the country. And the men went up and spied out Ai.

Just as the Elect of God are rightfully and secretly spying out their inheritance, which is Christ by his direct guidance, Israel preceded us physically as a type of us by them spying on Jericho and Ai, part of their inheritance of the Promised Land. Of course, Babylonian Christians place no value on what the Lord is doing within His Body and laugh in derision at the absurdity. We feel a wry joy when our enemies speak evil of us, as their contempt more likely affirms the righteous path we are given to tread.

Luk 6:24 But woe to you who are rich! [rich in imagined spiritual discernment] For you have received your consolation. 
Luk 6:25 Woe to you who are full! For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now! For you shall mourn and weep. 
Luk 6:26 Woe to you when all men shall speak well of you! For so their fathers did to the false prophets. 

Jos 7:3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, Let not all the people go up. But let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Do not make all the people labor there, for they are few. 

Israel is pretty confident about what the Lord has done for them by the accounts of their dead fathers all the way from Egypt, and now the miraculous crossing of the Jordan, the dramatic destruction of Jericho, and boldly now, the expectation, “Wow, what will the Lord do for us with this pushover pagan town?”  They were correct with their faith but for one God-given, incredibly accursed performance by one of their members, Achan.

For righteous Israel or Christs, the Lord is all we need in taking Ai with only a representation of two or three thousand men of the nation to glorify the Lord. For our learning, David fighting Goliath is one example, and the classic of Gideon’s more than thirty-two thousand fighting men stripped down to three hundred men is synonymous with Israel’s now three thousand men, two other examples.

Israel was confident that no soul belonging to the Lord would be slain, let alone frightened ~ and so can we. We look behind us to all these “ensamples” and parallel our forebearers’ wickedness similarly with ours for our learning, filling up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ.

Psa 91:5 You shall not fear the terror by night; nor because of the arrow that flies by day; 
Psa 91:6 nor for the plague that walks in darkness, of the destruction laying waste at noonday. 
Psa 91:7 A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; it shall not come near you.
Psa 91:8 Only with your eyes you shall look and see the reward of the wicked.
Psa 91:9 Because You, O Jehovah, are My refuge; if You have made the Most High Your dwelling-place, 

Jos 7:4 And about three thousand [Israelite] men of the people went up there. And they fled before the men of Ai.

The lesson here is that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts while searching our hearts daily with a good conscience, knowing that we haven’t submitted to a “trifling” innocuous sin.

Israel’s fate is unwittingly sealed before they march on Ai, particularly by the number 3, representing the progression of judgment and 2 for witness. The small town (“few”) chased Israel’s unspecified count of two to three thousand valiant armed men away. The difference of one thousand men is one-third of the whole. Such was Israel’s utter faith in the Lord’s power going before them since it didn’t matter to them if two, maybe three thousand, nonchalantly give or take a thousand (‘who cares’) went up to fight.

Knowing the end of the fight from the beginning, we see the Lord’s mercy in permitting only “about thirty-six” men sacrificed for Achan’s sin. The Lord was just as “froward” to Israel as they were to him.

Psa 18:20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

That is precisely what the Lord did to Israel and to us anytime we think the “accursed thing” is of no consequence. Thirty-six men died, and two to three thousand courageous men were humiliated because lust ruled in one man’s heart only.

Psa 18:21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 
Psa 18:22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. 
Psa 18:23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.

In those preceding verses lies our conscience that stands or falls before God.

Psa 18:24 Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. 

… and that is exactly how He treated the mighty army of Israel before the pip-squeak town of Ai; He judged Israel according to their righteousness.

Psa 18:25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
Psa 18:26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. 
Psa 18:27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. 

It humiliates the elect of God anytime his arrogance is called out. To boot, every member of the Body has been in that place of shame and hedges the debased one in love. We learn to cheerfully accept humiliation in gladness since one more impurity is hopefully being burnt out of our conscience.

Jos 7:5 And the men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them, for they chased them from before the gate to Shebarim [H7671 – the breaches; breaking, fracture, scattered], and struck them in the road going down. Therefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
Jos 7:6 And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of Jehovah until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust on their heads.
Jos 7:7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why have You at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? And, oh that we had been content and lived on the other side Jordan!
Jos 7:8 O, Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns their backs before their enemies? 
Jos 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear, and shall surround us, and shall cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name? 

The intense humiliation of Joshua and his ‘dauntless’ army was a classic example of our proud flesh being a two-fold child of hell (Mat 23:15) determined to live and preach the word of God in unwitting self-righteousness. When we become puffed up, thinking that we have arrived with the fullness of the Lord’s understanding and get struck down like Saul (who became Paul) on the road to Damascus, our hearts melt and become like water. In our spiritual infancy, we weep and wail in humiliation as we pray ceaselessly while staunchly claiming our righteousness in utter bewilderment for the Lord’s apparent departure. The near-parallel of our blindness is graphically portrayed by Job in chapter 27.

We try to shame the Lord for the supposed goodness of His heart when all the while, the problem lies squarely in our hearts. While in our spiritual immaturity, and as many have done, we may contemplate as Joshua and Israel did, ‘spitting the dummy’ [as a toddler spitting out the pacifier] by severely questioning the Lord’s intent. Of course, we know that the Achan within pricks our conscience because it is the Lord Himself who, through Satan, gives us the sore trial as He did Job.

Mat 20:15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my own? Is your eye evil because I am good? 
Mat 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen. 

As we learn to be grateful in the fire, the painful lessons become more easily dealt with by the Lord exercising our faith. With AI technology (8-dimensional Artificial Intelligence, not the city Ai) booming, no doubt the enemies of the Christ and His Christs will use lying AI videos to greatly embellish our public sins to condemn us, depicting far more despicable acts than the reality (Rev 22:15). As the outward Great Whore ramps up her persecution of the Saints with the abusive use of AI, we, suffering humiliation by our sins among our brothers’ and sisters’ gentle goodness, is far preferable and an immensely valuable lesson for us learning to cope with the future garnished sins. 

Joh 15:18 If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

2Sa 24:14 And David said to Gad, I am in great distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Jehovah, for His mercies are great. And do not let me fall into the hand of man. 

Luk 21:10 And He said to them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 
Luk 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in different places, and famines and plagues. And there shall be terrors and great signs from Heaven. 
Luk 21:12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.
Luk 21:13 And it shall return to you for a testimony. 
Luk 21:14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand what you shall answer. 
Luk 21:15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

Earlier, I described the upcoming sin of Achan as “glorious”. The Elect of God’s discretion under Christ in the resurrection to judgment will be given the glorious task of no doubt fewer stripes for Achan and his family since the physical judgment was harrowing for the viewers, participants and particularly Achan and his family. Achan will see, as we do today, that all things are for your sake so that the superabounding grace might be made to abound through the thanksgiving of the greater number, to the glory of God (2Co 4:15). 

Achan and his family will bow before the Lord and His Christs upon being refined in the fiery judgment and, like the entirety of humanity, give God the glory for His wondrous works in every soul’s excruciating birth of the spiritual man.

Lord willing, next week, we shall study in detail how Achan’s sin relates to the relatively light pain of our ‘first fruits’ birthing.