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March 17 – Joshua 7:1
Hello and thanks for joining in on to today’s daily devotion. Today is Thursday. March 17th. The 5th day of the Hebraic week. Our verse today is Joshua 7:1.
But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the YHWH’s anger burned against Israel.
We are all familiar with the walls of Jericho falling down because of Israel. However, many seem to look over this element of that story. The Israelites were commanded to stay away from the spoils of war in this encounter.
But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to YHWH and must go into his treasury.
The problem was that one individual didn’t obey. This resulted in Israel losing their next battle. Shocked and distraught, Joshua fell before YHWH but YHWH commanded him to stand up and have all of Israel appear before him the next day to have the sinner revealed. It all came down to the man Achan.
Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the YHWH, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
One man brought a defeat to the whole army of Israel. All for just a few things that he hid under his tent.
Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against YHWH, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 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.”
All for things he had to keep hidden. He and his family were stoned to death as a result. The saddest part of this story, and I believe the most important part, is that if he had just waited for the next battle, he could have gathered all the spoils of war he wanted for himself and his family. YHWH gave all of Israel the spoils from the next battle. They had to show themselves faithful first. If Achan had just obeyed, he would have been able to choose all the spoils of war he wanted AND not have to hide them. Only if he had obeyed, he would have been rewarded.
Be faithful to YHWH and you will be rewarded.
Let this be a focus in your time of meditation throughout the day. Until tomorrow, shalom!
