Please read Joshua 7:1-26 in preparation for today’s lesson.
Fresh off their victory over Jericho, the Israelites moved forward in taking over the land God had promised them by taking on the city of Ai, even as we believers can expect to grow and mature in our faith as we fight one spiritual battle after another. However, in today’s lesson, we see the Israelites battle with Ai and lose, but in due course, God provides correction and their eventual victory over Ai is won.
You’ll remember from our reading of Joshua 6 that when the Israelites were about to take the city of Jericho God gave directions to them stating that they may not take anything that belonged to Jericho, everything must be burned and totally destroyed.
Sadly, in direct disobedience to God’s command, a man by the name of Achan took some of the things devoted to destruction (a robe, some silver and gold), and he hid these items in his tent.
In Joshua 7:21, we see the age-old method that the enemy of our souls, the devil, employs when he tempts us. First, Achan “saw” the beautiful robe, the gold, and the silver. Then he lusted in his heart after them. Then he took them, and finally, he hid them. Oh, what a dangerous chain of events can happen when we first lay eyes on something forbidden. Achan’s sin illustrates the words of James 1:14-15:
James 1:14-15 (NIV) but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Question 1: Can you relate to Achan’s fall to temptation? Share your thoughts here.
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Kelly writes, "I am so familiar with Achan's path of sin. It's not only the path my heart traveled when sin was enslaving in my life but the path my heart always seem to follow even now as a Christian with every sin I fall into. I see some forbidden thing. Seeing then ignites desire, desire sparks imagination, imagination fuels lust and before long lust gives birth to evil actions. It's interesting that the meaning of the City AI is heap of ruin. Oh how I heap ruin upon myself when I travel these paths of sin."
We all have had the experience of falling to temptation, and sometimes the consequences of our sin are far reaching as in the case of Achan. Because of Achan’s sin, the Israelites lost the battle with Ai. Their defeat was swift and deadly. The text tells us that the Israelites ran back to camp with hearts full of fear, and 36 fighting men died.
Befuddled and grieved, Joshua cries out to God. And the Lord answers that it is the sin of the camp that has brought about the defeat of the Israelites. And by lot, Achan is revealed to be the perpetrator, so that what he thought was hidden from all is now exposed to all.
Question 2. According to Joshua 7:11, what was the reason the Israelites lost the battle at Ai?
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Kelly writes, "The Israelites lost the battle because of their lust. Becase their heart turned from hoping and trusting in God. He stopped being the treasure of their heart and they made the things they saw their new treasure instead. The Spirit really spoke to my heart in the last portion of this passage when it said they put the devoted things among their own belongings. I can really relate to doing that, trying to hold on to my sins and my God at the same time."