Chapter6: Jericho, Achan, And Ai
THIS IS THE STORY of Jericho. To appreciate its force, we must deliberately put ourselves into the frame of mind that we are looking at space-time history. These events were real happenings; these people were real people, and the book of Joshua portrays the people involved with psychological depth.
Likewise, the geography is real space-time geography. It is especially important for us to picture the geography of the promised land because we are now studying a period of war. Geography has always been important in warfare, even more in those days than in our own. In warfare armies try to take the commanding points, especially the peaks of mountains, because from there they can control the roads, the rivers, the railroads, or whatever may be the main way of transporting supplies.
We can think of three campaigns in World War II in which geography affected tactics. When the Germans entered France, their tactic was to drive a wedge into the middle of France and then expand in both directions. When the Greeks were fighting the Italians, the Italians took the plain, and the Greeks took the hills. As a result the Greeks controlled the situation, even with less well-armed forces. The English smashed strongholds first and then fanned out into weaker areas. If we combine these three tactics of warfare, we have a picture of the God-given strategy for Joshua’s campaign to take the land.
Let us consider, then, some of the geography of the promised land. Standing at the Jordan River, which flows down into the Dead Sea far below sea level, one sees in the west steep hills that rise quickly from the valley. Gilgal was somewhere in the river valley between the river and Jericho. Jericho controlled the way of ascent into the mountains. At the head of the ascent was another fortress, Ai. The descents and ascents were made by old riverbeds that had carried the torrents down these steep hills. Swiss mountain climbers understand this well because the oldest roads and trails in the Alps follow old riverbeds. These are steep because the hills are steep. From a military viewpoint, the old riverbeds in that day were exactly what the railroads were up through World War II. If the Israelites were going to capture the hill country from which they could control the rest of the land, they would have to press past Jericho, which controlled the lowest part, go up the ascent, and take Ai. Then they would be on top of the hill country, able to expand their wedge and control the various parts of the country from there.
GOD’S STRATEGY AGAINST JERICHO
First, the Israelites had to defeat Jericho. Through archaeological digs we have a better idea of what Jericho was like than people did who read the Bible in years past. Jericho was not a big city; it was only about seven acres in its entirety. It was really more of a fortress—a very strong fortress prepared to resist siege.
Joshua did not take the city merely by a clever human military tactic. The strategy was the Lord’s:
Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD. And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD. (Josh. 6:1-7)
The people were to march for six days around the city, going around it once each day with the priests leading the way. On the seventh day everyone was to march around the city seven times. Then the priests were to blow the rams’ horns, and the people were to cry out. When this was done, God said, the walls of the city would fall down flat, and everyone could ascend up “straight before him.”
Since Jericho was a small city, as was normal for the walled cities of that time, the Israelite army was large enough to completely encircle it. So by the time the first troops had marched around the walls, the last troops would just be starting. On the seventh day when the army cried out and the walls fell, all that the soldiers would have to do is march straight ahead to the center of the city and thus capture it from all sides at once.
“You won’t even have to scale the wall, “ God said. “Every fighting man will be able to draw his sword and march straight forward. You will take the whole city with one blow.”
Joshua’s obedience revealed his faith.
And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns passed on before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout. So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rearward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city. (Josh. 6:8-16)
Because of the promise of God, because of his experience over the past forty years, Joshua expected the walls to fall. So “Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.” They had marched for six days in complete silence, but now they were to shout. When the fighting men did shout, the walls fell down, and the men marched in.
Was this a direct act of divine intervention, or did God simply use a principle of vibration, the principle that explains why an opera singer can break a glass by hitting the right note? We do not know because God has not told us, but it does not matter which is the case. This was God’s strategy, and there was a complete miracle in what occurred. God had made a promise, God had given the strategy, and the victory was accomplished.
At this particular moment Joshua remembered Rahab. All this time Rahab had been sitting in her house, surrounded by the power of the Amorite king. Now her deliverance was at hand. On the basis of the promises she had been given, in faith she had felt safe. Now she was to experience her safety in the midst of judgment. “The city shall be accursed,” Joshua said (Josh. 6:17). “Accursed” represents only a part of what the word in the original language means. The Hebrew word means both “accursed” or “devoted” (that is, given to God). Here it clearly means the latter: “The city shall be devoted, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.” In this way, Joshua gave the command for her protection.
Joshua’s commands to the people make clear that the city was devoted: “But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it ye take of the devoted thing; so would ye make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are holy unto Jehovah: they shall come into the treasury of Jehovah” (Josh. 6:18-19 ASV). The city of Jericho was a sign of the firstfruits. In all things the firstfruits belonged to God. Jericho was the firstfruits of the land; therefore, everything in it was devoted to God.
The tithe, the firstfruits, goes back at least to Abraham. It is another continuity that stretches through the Old Testament to us in New Testament times (in the sense that the New Testament commands proportional giving). Just as Abraham brought his tithes, so Jericho was to be the firstfruits.
As Jericho was being overrun, Rahab’s great moment came. “But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel” (Josh. 6:22-23). Here Rahab became completely identified with the people of God. Just as Noah went into the ark and was safe in the midst of the flood, just as Lot was led out of Sodom, just as the Israelites in Egypt marked their houses with the blood of the Passover lamb, so Rahab, on the basis of her belief, was safe in the midst of the judgment of the city of Jericho.
The city was totally burned (Josh. 6:24). It was neither spoiled nor plundered. Nothing was removed. Everything was burned as it stood because Jericho was devoted to God. Utensils and jars stayed in the houses. The grain remained in the grain pits. To give themselves stores during the siege, the inhabitants of Jericho had carved huge grain bins out of the center of the rock on which the city stood. Since the Israelites simply burned the city, the fire scorched the top of the grain while the rest remained viable. As a matter of fact, such grain from very ancient times has been found, has been planted, and has grown.
Joshua gave a prophecy about what it would mean to try to build the city again: “Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it” (Josh. 6:26). Later in the Old Testament we find that it was rebuilt, and with just such a tragedy as Joshua prophesied, but we will not deal with that here. (See 1 Kings 16:34.)
ACHAN’S SIN
The people had destroyed Jericho, and the bottom portion of the ascent was completely open. What remained was to take the smaller fortress, Ai, at the top, for then the Israelites would hold the hill country and could begin to expand their wedge. The greater place had fallen with ease; the lesser place stood before them. Joshua 7 begins with the word But and stands in antithesis to chapter 6, for it tells a tale of defeat.
We can well understand the psychological condition of these people. Everything must have seemed wide open before them. What was coming must have seemed simple. The men who were sent out to look at Ai reported to Joshua: “Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few” (Josh. 7:3). So only 3,000 men went up.
The way the story is presented, we cannot be certain whether the people were motivated by pride or faith. “God can do it with a smaller number,” they might have said in faith. Or, “It’s a small city. We can do it,” they could have said in pride. From what follows, pride seems to have been the motive, for there was a tremendous defeat. Thirty-six men were killed, and the rest were chased down the descent. They had gone up to this steep place above Jericho, and suddenly they were overwhelmed. Those who climb in the mountains can picture the difficulty of making haste down a steep mountain road, falling all over oneself in trying to get down in a hurry.
How could there be defeat? Didn’t they have the book? Didn’t they have the supernatural power? Didn’t they have the supernatural leader? Wasn’t it true that the national aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant was being fulfilled? Wasn’t it true that the spiritual portion of the Abrahamic Covenant had functioned in Rahab’s life? Didn’t the Israelites have the ark of God with which the Jordan River had rolled back? Hadn’t they commemorated this marvelous happening with two piles of stones? Hadn’t they been circumcised and put themselves under the external sign of the covenant? Hadn’t they celebrated the Passover? Hadn’t Jericho fallen? How, then, could there be defeat?
We must feel the tremendous upheaval in the minds of these people. If we do, we can understand Joshua’s lament:
And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? (Josh. 7:6-9)
Joshua tore his clothes. Going up to the ark, which represented the presence of God, he fell on his face and cried aloud: “Here are these people, the Amorites. Their iniquity is full. The cup has overflowed. Only judgment will do. Now they have defeated us, and what is this going to do to your great name, O God?”
God is brusque at times. He is brusque when those who have ample reason to know the answer forget it. So God responded to Joshua in a hard way:
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. (Josh. 7:10-12)
We find God saying to Joshua, “Don’t you understand? There is only one reason for this defeat, and you should know what it is. Sin has come among the people of God.” How could the defeat be? What caused the difference between the victory at Jericho and the defeat at Ai? Only one thing, and Joshua, remembering what caused the wandering for thirty-eight years in the wilderness, should have recognized its symptom. “Don’t you remember that, Joshua? You should not be here on your face. You should be out dealing with sin among the people, for sin has made the difference.”
Soon we learn that Achan had taken some of the things that were devoted to God. God told Joshua that the people “have also stolen” (Josh. 7:11). Stolen from whom? From God. Consequently, what Achan did was no small thing. He had not stolen a possession from another man; he had stolen the firstfruits.
Therefore, God ordered Joshua, “Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves” (Josh. 7:13). When the people first entered the land, before they began the conquest, there had come a call to sanctify themselves in the presence of God. Now in the midst of defeat, there was only one way to return: The people had to sanctify themselves again.
God himself pointed out the man who had sinned. The people came by tribes, and God pointed out the tribe of Judah. Next he pointed out the family, and the household came, man by man, until the one man, Achan, was indicated.
Then followed Achan’s instructive explanation of what he had done and what he had stolen: “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment [a beautiful robe from Babylonia], 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” (Josh. 7:20-21). Achan thought, With piles of stuff lying around, who’ll know? So he carted off the booty, dug up the earth under his tent, and buried the loot. And he thought nobody knew. But God knew.
While it is wonderful to have an infinite God, this means we must take his omniscience into account in our daily lives. There is nothing we do that God does not know. There is no night so dark, no coal mine so deep, no astronaut so far out in space that God does not know it. God knows every single thought, every single action. He knew when Achan first coveted, and he knew when Achan acted on his covetousness.
Achan expressly said, “I coveted them.” Sin always begins in the mind. As a work of art begins in the mind and then is externalized, so also does sin. It is from the heart, Jesus said, that sin comes. The last commandment of the Ten Commandments is “Do not covet,” because coveting precedes every other sin. Before we break any of the other nine, we have coveted internally something either of God’s or of another person’s. Then we externalize the sin. Achan coveted; then he stole.
As a result, thirty-six men were killed. Just imagine. Here was a man going up the hill, perhaps in pride but nevertheless in expectancy, and all of a sudden an Amorite took a spear and thrust him through. In the moments before his death he must have been filled with the realization that something had gone wrong. Achan thought he could hide his sin, but these thirty-six men knew when they had been struck down. Soon the whole camp of the Jews knew that the blessing had stopped. At the judgment of Achan, everybody knew he had sinned. Jesus said that the things that are done in darkness will be known in the light (Luke 12:3).
What Achan took is also instructive. He stole two kinds of things. First, he took two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight. We can understand easily why he took something that had monetary value. But he also took a “goodly Babylonish garment” or a beautiful robe from Babylonia. Why did he bother with this? The Hebrew literally calls it “a mantle of Shinar.” Because Shinar is Babylonia, the Authorized Version translates it “Babylonish garment.” Babylon was one of the great cities of the world—the cultural center of Mesopotamia. It stood for success and power. Anything from Babylon was chic. Even in Assyrian times, Babylon was a great place. As far as military might was concerned, Babylon was strong in Hammurabi’s time and again in Neo-Babylonian times, but it kept its cultural prestige even throughout its periods of military weakness. In 606 B.C. it returned to military greatness and soon overflowed the Jewish nation. At the period of the Israelites’ conquest of the promised land, Babylon was weak militarily but still tremendously great in everybody’s mind.
So this mantle of Shinar was not just an old shepherd’s cloak but a very stylish garment. It marked somebody as being “in,” as really being “a man of the world.” This garment, therefore, becomes important for understanding the story. Achan bothered to take it because he wanted to be marked with success, to be chic. Achan’s sin, then, had two parts: simple theft and prideful desire deep in his heart. What should this teach Christians? Do we struggle against the danger of stealing from God because we want a mantle of Shinar? Does it teach us to beware of grasping for affluence, for prestige, of trying to be a VIP?
When judgment came upon Achan, all the people of God joined in the judgment that God directed. All the people had seen the results, and so all the people applied the discipline. They stoned Achan and his family (Josh. 7:25). After the nation was cleansed, all the people moved against Ai.
God now sent out the many to defeat Ai for the same reason he sent out Gideon’s few—so that men could not boast, but had to credit God for the victory. In Gideon’s time God emphasized “take just a few” so that the victors could not boast. The people under Joshua had boasted, “We need only a few,” and they had lost. So now God said, “You need everybody to take the city.” It was the opposite approach, but the same lesson was learned: People must look to God for the victories, and not boast, or there will be no victories.
The sequence of events at the fall of Ai was completely different from what had happened at Jericho. At Jericho there had been a miracle: The walls had fallen. At Ai there was no miracle. The Israelites had to take the city through the normal processes of war. God is not mechanical but personal. He is not going to deal with every situation in a mechanical way. We must not think that because God acts one way in one moment, he will act the same way in another. We must recognize that God is free. He uses many methods. At Jericho there was a miracle; at Ai, none.
We Christians should not be surprised when the Holy Spirit leads us in different ways at different times. He will not contradict his own principles or character as set forth in the Scripture, but he will not act like a machine, always responding to similar situations in exactly the same ways. When a Christian falls into the idea that because Jericho has been taken one way, Ai must be taken the same way, he has stopped thinking of God as personal.
There is another interesting contrast between the destruction of Ai and of Jericho. Jericho, as we saw, was the firstfruits to God; therefore, the men were not to touch anything in it. Achan was punished because he had stolen from God. At Ai, this instruction was reversed. The tithe had already been given; so the people were free to take spoil from this city. Tragedy came to Achan and to the people of God because Achan had been impatient. Had he waited obediently, he could have had the blessing.
Ai, like Jericho, was completely overthrown. Now the Israelites controlled both the top and bottom of the gorge. The whole land was open before them.
THE PRINCIPLE OF JUDGMENT
As we think of Jericho, Achan, and Ai, let us notice a principle. There is a sequence of factors that is relevant to the people of God in all ages. First, Achan stole from God just as a man today might steal by promising to give a tithe and failing to do so. Second, though only one man sinned, the blessing stopped for the people of God corporately. Third, when judgment was applied, victory came. This simple yet profound process explains all the rest of the Old Testament. It explains the period of the judges, the period of kings, the captivities under Assyria and Babylon, the Jews’ return from Babylon, and the Jews’ dispersion in A.D. 70 under Titus. It explains Romans 9—11, which speaks of the Jews turning away from God and yet at a future day coming back to God and once more, as a nation, being the people of God. First comes blessing; then if sin enters, judgment comes. If the people of God return to him after the judgment, the blessing begins again and flows on.
This process is as much a universal as any continuity we have studied so far. It is the principle of God’s judgment of his people. It is unchanging throughout Scripture because God really is there. God is a holy God, God loves his people, and God deals with his people consistently. God blesses his people, and one thing can spoil the blessing—sin, either individual or corporate. When either life in the church or doctrine is not cared for, the blessing stops as much as when an individual sins. Sin among the people of God either diminishes the blessing or brings the blessing to a halt until that sin is confessed, judged, and removed.
Does this continuity really flow into the New Testament, to this side of the cross and Pentecost? Or is this something that applies only in the Old Testament? Achan’s sin, we recall, came at the beginning of a new era. The people had received the law of God and a new order of worship; the race had become the nation; the nation was possessing the land. It was important that the people learn at the beginning of this new era that sin is not to be dealt with lightly.
Another new era began at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was given to all the people of God. In John 7:39 we are told that the Holy Spirit was not given before Pentecost because Christ was not yet glorified. This does not mean that there was no Holy Spirit, that he had not previously worked in regeneration, that he had not come upon prophets, kings, and priests in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He has always existed and has always been active. But at Pentecost all the believers became priests of God, all the believers were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and a new era began.
A little later we read:
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. (Acts 4:31—5:11)
At the beginning of this even greater period of God’s redemptive activity, exactly the same thing occurred as in the story of Achan. Achan stole and Joshua reprimanded him, “You’ve stolen from God.” Peter said to the sinning couple, “You have lied to God.” Ananias and Sapphira were not lying to the church; they were lying to the Holy Spirit. Money was involved, and in its own way a Babylonian garment was too. Achan wanted to be like the world; so he took the garment. Ananias and Sapphira wanted a different kind of garment—social acceptance in the church of God. They wanted to have the mark of the elite, the mark of the most spiritual and consecrated. They didn’t want to be generous: “We sold this possession, and we’re giving you such and such a percentage.” Everybody in the church would have said, “That’s fine,” and God would have said, “Thank you.” But they did not. They put on their own kind of Babylonian garment. This desire can easily become a sin in any Christian’s heart. It is wrong to perform an action merely to be accepted in our own Christian group. It does not matter how good the act is in itself or how good it looks.
The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was followed by judgment because sin would have stopped the church’s advance. The church had just experienced a second great filling of the Holy Spirit. Power was there—power to face the lost Greco-Roman world. If this sin of acting from bad motivation in order to be superficially accepted by the church had been allowed to grow in the church’s heart, the whole advance would have been endangered. But after the judgment, the early church went on in power.
We are not in the beginning of a new era (that beginning was almost 2,000 years ago). Can we breathe easily then? Can we count sin lightly, whether individual or corporate, just because this is no longer the opening thrust of the church, as it was after the resurrection of Christ, his ascension, and the giving of the Holy Spirit? Can we now have quiet hearts about sin? “No!” the Scripture answers.
We must be careful here. First, not all weakness comes because of sin. Our physical or mental weaknesses do not prove that we have sinned. Second, we must avoid falling into a new legalism, either for salvation or for the Christian life. Equally bad, however, is falling into the mentality of antinomianism— the notion that because we are saved by grace on the basis of the finished work of Christ, it does not matter how we live. We must resist always equating weakness with sin; we must resist creating a new kind of legalism. But the Word of God makes plain that we equally must oppose all forms of antinomianism.
Thus in the book of Joshua we have one more great flowing continuity: the principle of the judgment of the people of God. It runs like this: 1) When we sin, God knows because he exists and is infinite. 2) When we sin, the blessing slows or stops. It can even stop for a whole group on the basis of the sin of one or a few. 3) There will be judgment either from ourselves in confessing our sin, or judgment from God. 4) If we turn from our sin, the blessing rolls on again.