The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/joshua/7.htm

Now, the time had come to move forward, and Joshua picked two spies and told them to travel to the town of AI and scout it out. They did, and when they returned, they informed Joshua that there weren’t many people there, and instead of taking the entire Israeli army, only 2000 to 3000 men would be needed.

So Joshua sent about 3,000 men to fight with the city of AI, and were routed. AI caused them to retreat, chased them a great distance, and even killed a few dozen.

Joshua was distraught, and threw himself face down on the ground in front of the Ark of the Covenant and stayed there until evening. Then God spoke to him, asking why he was laying there, that he needed to get up and sanctify himself. God explained that someone within the group had sinned, that Joshua needed to find out who it was, or else God would not be with them, and they would lose every battle until the sin had been rectified. God said that “someone” had taken something “accursed” from Jericho. When God sends His children to battle, He tells them what kind of spoils to take, to leave, or too eradicate.

As instructed by God, they discovered the thief by process of elimination. God is all-knowing, and He knew who it was from the beginning. But He went through the process because He was working through Joshua. And when they went through the tribes, the families, and the households, it was narrowed down to an Israeli named Achan.

Achan confessed to coveting some Babylonian fabric and some silver and gold, and had taken it without authorization and had buried it in his tent. So Joshua sent men to Achan’s tent to retrieve the items.

Here is where things get fuzzy, and I confess that I don’t have a definitive answer, but I have the answer that I choose to believe.

I always keep in mind, WWJD, What would Jesus Do, because, and I repeat myself, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father”. God is just like Jesus and vice-versa, so there is no doubt in my mind that, while God is just, He is loving and merciful just like Jesus.

When one takes the scripture at face value, it sounds as if God is ordering Joshua to kill Achan for his sin, but that is not what scripture says. According to the instruction of the Lord, He said to find out who committed the sin shall “be burned with fire” (Verse 15). God doesn’t mention stoning, God did give a direct order to burn Achan, and God did not mention anything about Achan’s family.

And it’s difficult to determine if Joshua and the children of Israel stoned and burned Achan, or Achan and his entire family, because there are a lot of contradictions between “he” and “them”.

So given the scripture as it is written, and given the fact that God is just as loving and merciful as Jesus, it is my opinion that God’s intention was to show Himself to Achan to see if Achan was righteous enough to withstand the Glory of God. Of course God knew this already or He would have said, “We’ll test him with fire”, rather than “he will be burned with fire”.

Instead, Joshua and the children of Israel took it upon themselves to stone Achan or Achan and his family, then burn Achan, or Achan and his family themselves. The Bible isn’t clear one way or the other, but I have an extremely difficult time seeing Jesus want to burn someone to death because they sinned. Jesus forgave Mary Magdalene, He didn’t burn her. He forgave the thief on the cross, He didn’t burn him.

So, I may be wrong, but I don’t believe God was going to burn Achan for is sin.

Furthermore, you can tell by scripture that Joshua was very angry with Achan. ““Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” Achan’s sin not only led to their defeat at AI, but it cost the lives of three dozen men. After all that God, and Moses, and Joshua had done for the children of Israel, to think one of them would knowingly and intentionally sin had to anger Joshua. So, I think maybe Joshua took matters into his own hands.

“So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.” (Verse 25). God said nothing about stoning, that is what the children of Israel did, apparently on their own. They they burned Achan with fire, and while that was the end-result of what God planned, I don’t believe it was the manner in which God wanted it carried out.

I guess when we get to heaven, we can ask God what really happened with Achan.

The Bible isn’t always going to be easy to interpret, and we always can’t rely on what we’re told in The Church, Inc. So we simpy have to pray for understanding, and if it is important, I have no doubt God will teach us.

And perhaps this scripture is worded this way to test our faith, faith in a kind, loving, and merciful God.

God bless. Amen.