Learning To Listen to God Achan – Disaster From Desire

Mercy or Justice? One of the most troubling Old Testament accounts is the death of Achan and his family. God-haters use stories like this one to frame God as a petty tyrant.

Mercy or Justice? Should we despise God for the occasions He punishes sin to the greatest degree? Or praise Him for his abundant mercy? Romans 6:23

The Fall of Jericho and Two Hebrew Words Joshua 6:17-19 – Instructions for sacking Jericho The city and everything in it is devoted to the Lord. Keep away from the devoted things. All precious metals are sacred to the Lord and go into His treasury.

Hebrew word #1 --CHEREM To be accursed. To be completely destroyed. All the people, belongings and items in the city were CHEREM. חרם

Hebrew word #2 --KODESH A holy thing A sacred thing All precious metals were KODESH The warning was exceedingly clear – the people got NOTHING! קדשׁ

Disaster from Desire Understanding the nature of sin Joshua 7:1 -- But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things [a] ; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, [b] the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel. Achan’s sin was a sin for the entire nation

The immediate result of the sin: Joshua 7:5 -- the men of Ai…killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water. Failure in battle!

The Lord Held All Israel Guilty of Achan’s sin Joshua 7:11 -- Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.

Achan’s Covetousness Joshua 7:21 -- When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

Achan’s End Joshua 7: Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today." Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.

Was God unfair? All sin punishable by death. Achan’s sin left 36 families without a father or son. Achan’s sin polluted the entire nation of Israel.

What Did Achan Know? Exodus 20:17 -- "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." He knew covetousness was a sin.

He Knew God Sometimes Punished with Physical Death Numbers 16:26-27, 31 – Korah, Dathan and Abiram revolt against Moses. God opens the earth and swallows them whole into the earth. Achan knew that he was wrong. He even names his own sin.

Lessons for us? Covetousness (Greed) is still a sin James 4: You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Luke 12:15 -- Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

We are KODESH The world and all its things is CHEREM 2 Cor. 6:14-18 Righteousness and wickedness have nothing in common. We are the temple of the living God. “Therefore come out from them and be separate….”

God knows why: Romans 9:14-16, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy and He hardens whom He wants to harden. The Potter has all rights over the clay.