Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

You might begin this week’s lesson by posting this quote: 

You could either ask your group to discuss what means, and/or explain that Donne was expressing how none of us “stands alone” like an island; what we do personally affects many others as well. And then point out that in today’s lesson we’ll see how even one man’s sin had a devastating effect upon a whole nation!

CONTEXT:

We’re moving along in our study of the book of Joshua. Last time we saw in Joshua 6 how the Lord commanded Joshua and Israel to take Jericho, following His specific instructions, and how they obeyed and the walls fell flat. And they did remember the promise to Rahab, reflecting the faithfulness of God. However, not ALL of Israel was faithful in their obedience to God’s command not to take anything from Jericho. This would have devastating consequences for the whole nation.

Joshua 7 opens with the sobering word: “BUT …”. “But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban.” They did NOT do what God told them to do: take nothing, burn everything, or give the silver and gold to the Lord’s house. It specifically says that Achan, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things that were under the ban.

So having taken Jericho, Joshua sets his sights on the next conquest, that of the little town of Ai. They spied it out, and the spies told Joshua, this place is small; we don’t need to send the whole army out, just send 2-3000. And they did. But the Bible says God was angry with Israel for breaking His command, and He allowed Ai to rout the Israelite army, and 36 of them were killed. Everyone was discouraged. It says their hearts “melted.” 

So Joshua 7:6 says Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground and called out to God: why did You bring us here only to allow us to be defeated. (Funny, isn’t it, how quickly we often blame GOD for things that WE have caused or done!) This brings us to our focus passage for this week, in Joshua 7:10-23, where God explains to Joshua what happened, and what they need to do next. 

OUTLINE:

I.   The Cost of Sin/Disobedience (:10-12)

II.  The Necessity of Holiness (:13-14)

III. The Omniscience of God (:15-23)

TEXT:  Joshua 7:10-23 

I. The Cost of Disobedience (:10-12)

:10 “So the Lord said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. 12 Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their [a]backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. 

So Joshua had been bemoaning the fact that “God had abandoned them” and not helped them — basically blaming God for their defeat: Why aren’t You helping us. But God tells him: “Get up … Israel has sinned.” He tells him they’ve taken things from under the ban which He specifically told them NOT to take.

Then in :12 God says, “Therefore …”. The “therefore” here means BECAUSE of that disobedience, this is the result/cost: 

— “they cannot stand before their enemies”

— “they have become accursed”

— “I will not be with you anymore”

All these things all describe the cost of Israel’s sin and disobedience. 

We see some more of the cost in the verses that came earlier:

— (:4b) “they fled from the men of Ai” — God didn’t bless their army

— (:5) 36 men were killed in the battle who need not have died

— (:5) “the hearts of the people melted like water” — it discouraged the whole nation

— (:6+) it totally discouraged Israel’s leader, the elders, and Joshua, and hurt his faith. 

This was no “light sin” with no real consequences. It had a deadly and devastating effect on many. 

We need to understand that sin always comes with a cost. Romans 6:23 says “The wages of sin is death.” Sin has “wages.” It always has costs. 

— The first and worst consequence is that sin always drives a wedge between us and God, as Isaiah 59:2 says; “Your iniquities have caused a separation between you and your God.” Adam & Eve experienced that — as does everyone who sins. 

— And like Israel, sin robs us of God’s power and blessing too, and it impacts not only ourselves, but countless others as well.

Adrian Rogers used to say: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” That’s a fantastic quote and application; you may want to let your group share their thoughts on that. 

The point is, we can’t sin and think there will be no consequences for it. We need to take our sin seriously. If you feel like something is “not quite right” in your spiritual life, and you know of a sin in your life that you’re just continuing in— you don’t need to look any further for the cause. Start right there. Get that out of your life, and see if things don’t improve. Sin will weight you down spiritually. 

Remember, God is a holy God: the angels continually cry out “Holy, holy, holy” in His presence. Not “justice, justice, justice,” or even “love, love, love,” but “holy, holy, holy.” The 3-fold emphasis means that God is ultimately holy. In light of this, how can we possibly think that God will bless our life, our family, church, and our relationship with Him, if we are toying around with blatant sin? He can’t. Our sin WILL impact our walk with God. It always separates us from Him. Now, if you’re a Christian, it doesn’t make you “lost” again, but it will put a “cloud” in your relationship with God, that won’t diminish until you deal with that sin.

So sin always has consequences. ONE OF THE PRIMARY POINTS OF THIS LESSON IS THE EFFECT OF OUR SIN ON OTHERS:

This one man, Achan, sinned and took things from under the ban. And that one man’s sin caused 36 other people to die; it caused the whole army to lose God’s blessing, and the whole nation and its leaders to be discouraged. One man’s sin affected so many. We need to realize this: as Donne wrote, “No man is an island.” Our sin affects other people. 

ILLUSTRATION:

When we were growing up, one of our sisters did something wrong, and we all knew she had done it. But Dad didn’t. So he lined us all up and asked who did it. No one would admit to it. He said, If no one owns up to it, I’m going to give you all a spanking. We’re all looking at this sister, like, Come on, fess up! But she wouldn’t. And we ALL suffered the painful consequences of it! 

Now, that’s a relatively harmless illustration, but the truth in, our sins often affect many others besides ourselves.

???DISCUSSION/APPLICATION QUESTION???

“Can you think of some times when one person’s sin affects others besides him/herself?”

(There are many examples: a mother on drugs/alcohol, who passes harmful effects down to her baby; someone in the military who’s lax in his maintenance, which leads to the failure of an airplane that crashes and kills many; a contentious church member, whose divisiveness hurts the whole church and drives guests and lost people away … You/your group can think of many examples of this.)

AND/OR you might specifically focus the question to apply in the church:
“Can you think of times when one person’s sin might affect their whole church in a negative way, like Achan’s sin did Israel?”

(— Their immorality or unethical behavior can give the church a bad reputation in the community. 

— Their negative attitude can harm the spirit of the whole church

— Their lack of giving can hurt the budget and not allow the church mission to move forward; 

— Their lack of greeting/caring for visitors might cause some who need to be saved not to return; 

— Their lack of serving in the nursery might cause young adults not to get to attend worship. Or lack of serving in general might cause a ministry to have to shut down. 

And on and on. 

The point is: one person’s sin can hurt a family, a committee, a ministry, a church, a business, a military unit — and sometimes a whole nation, just like we see here in Joshua 7. Let’s ask God to help us not to be that person.

ILLUSTRATION:

Cheryl & I had an older friend, years ago, who was coaching his little boys’ baseball team. After practice one day he was smoking, and one of the boys came up to him and said, “Mr. Dale, why are you smoking, isn’t that bad for us?” That child’s question struck him to the heart, as he realized the impact his actions had on those kids, who were looking up to him. He put that cigarette out and he never had another one again.

We all need to realize that as the old poem says, “No man is an island.” What we do, impacts others. Achan’s sin caused the whole nation of Israel to fail. Let’s ask God to help us not to be the person whose sin impacts others and causes them to stumble.

II. The Necessity of Holiness (:13-14)

:13 “Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, “There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.” 

So what does God tell Joshua and Israel to do? “Consecrate yourselves.” The word “consecrate” here is the Hebrew word “kadash,” the word for “holy.” It’s reflexive, which means the person does this action for themselves, like “dress yourself,” or “clean yourself.” So this means “make yourselves holy.” It takes effort on our part. 

In this case, Israel needed to go through the camp and “remove the things under the ban.” They had to get rid of the prohibited things from among them. God wasn’t going to do it for them. They had to do it themselves. And they HAD to do it, if they wanted God’s blessing to be with them again.

This was a very specific command for Israel in Joshua’s day, but God also commands US to do the same thing. In II Cor 7:1 He commands us: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

This is a very similar command for us today. He tells us too, to “cleanse ourselves.” 

Israel was to cleanse themselves from things God had prohibited. What are we to cleanse ourselves from? He says:

— “ALL defilement.” In other words, we aren’t to “tolerate” or be satisfied with ANY defilement or sin in our life.

— “flesh and spirit” — all kinds of sin, physical and spiritual. 

— “perfecting holiness” — we’re aren’t to be satisfied with any level of holiness other than perfection. We are to keep on striving, keep on cleansing. 

This is a strong word about the kind of holiness God wants from us! 

And just like it was a necessity for Israel to consecrate themselves, in order to have God’s blessing, so we too must be holy if we want God to use us:

— II Timothy 2:21 “If a man therefore cleanse himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and USEFUL to the Master, prepared for every good work.” 

If we want to be used by God in a special way, we must “cleanse ourselves.” We must be holy.

Do you see how this requirement is repeated throughout scripture? 

— In Joshua He commanded Israel to cleanse themselves

— In II Corinthians He commands all of us to cleanse ourselves

— In II Timothy 2:21 He says we must cleanse ourselves to be used by Him. 

This is not optional. If we want to be used by God, we must “cleanse ourselves.” 

God can use all kinds of people with shortcomings:

ILLUSTRATION

You may know that Charles Spurgeon was saved in a Primitive Methodist Church he stumbled into “by accident” because of a snowstorm. He later said that the man who spoke was a “stupid” preacher (his words). And yet God used this man’s message on Isaiah 45:22, “Look to Me and be saved,” to speak to Spurgeon’s heart. So God could use a “stupid,” untrained layman to see man saved who would impact the whole world!

God can use an ignorant person

God can use an uneducated person

God can use a young person

He can use an old person

He can use a weak person

He can use a tired person

He can use an untrained person

BUT HE CANNOT USE A PERSON WHO IS NOT HOLY! 

God is saying to us today as He did to Israel in Joshua’s day: “Consecrate yourselves.” Make yourselves holy and useful to Me.

???DISCUSSION/APPLICATION QUESTION???

“What are some specific things we can do today to “make ourselves holy”?

(Answers could include: 

— Cut out worldly media that feeds ungodly attitudes in your life.

— Get rid of things from your home that might tempt you or lead you astray.

— Ask someone you have hurt to forgive you, and/or seek to repair a broken relationship.

— Spend more time God’s word and prayer than you do on less profitable things. 

You/your group can think of many. But the point here is, God is a holy God. If we want to be close to Him, and to be used by Him, we must take steps to “consecrate ourselves” and be holy.

III. The Omniscient God (:14-23)

:14 “In the morning then you shall come near by your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes by lot shall come near by families, and the family which the Lord takes shall come near by households, and the household which the Lord takes shall come near man by man. 15 It shall be that the one who is taken with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

16 So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 He brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 He brought his household near man by man; and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.” 20 So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and [c]this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”

22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it. 23 They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the Lord.”

So God gave them instructions about exactly what to do next. This is a long section, in which God commands them to identify the tribe, then the family, and then the individual man who was the guilty party.

How was this done? It says “the tribe which the Lord takes by lot” — and the family, and so on. “Take by lot” is the Hebrew word “lakad,” which means “to capture, seize, or take by lot.” We do not know exactly what the “lots” they used were.  They had the Urim & Thummin in the High Priest’s breastplate, which God had commanded them to use for making decision, so it might well have been those. We do NOT have detailed information on what these were. 

We DO, however, have some historical evidence about this process, in a couple of places:

— The Jewish Talmud (collection of Jewish traditional interpretations of the Law) says: “The High Priest would mix the lots in the lottery receptacle used to hold them and draw the two lots from it, one in each hand.” (Mishna Yoma 4.1)

— Homer’s classic, the Iliad (written 600-800 B.C.) has this account:

“When each of them had marked his lot, and had thrown it into the helmet of Agamemnon son of Atreus, the people lifted their hands in prayer, and thus would one of them say as he looked into the vault of heaven, “Father Jove, grant that the lot fall on Ajax, or on the son of Tydeus, or upon the king of rich Mycene himself.” As they were speaking, Nestor knight of Gerene shook the helmet, and from it there fell the very lot which they wanted- the lot of Ajax.”

These accounts seem to describe just what Israel did in casting lots here in Joshua 7: it fell first for the tribes, then the families, and then the individual Achan. Whatever the details were of how they did it, God identified the guilty man, which is really the main point we’ll get to in just a moment. 

When he was identified, Achan admitted his guilt in :20, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord.” There’s an interesting sequence that unfolds in Achan’s confession in :21. He says: “I saw … I coveted … I took.” That’s instructive to us, isn’t it? 

— First he SAW the items. Nothing wrong with “seeing.” He just noticed them. We can’t help what we see.

— But then he COVETED them. He desired what God had forbidden. That in itself is sin, as the 10th Commandment makes clear. It’s one thing to “see” something; it’s another to keep looking at it, and begin to think about it covetously.— And then, having coveted them, he TOOK them: the final step of this process of sin. 

Tellingly, the same words “saw” and “coveted” here were used to describe Eve’s actions in the Garden of Eden with the forbidden fruit. That’s because this is the process of sin. This is how it works. James 1:14-15 describes it: “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” It starts with the lust/the coveting/the thought in the heart — and then it leads to further, greater sin in actions. This is why it is so vital that we “take every thought captive” (II Cor. 10:5) and not let our minds wander/harbor wrong thoughts. It will lead you to worse things. 

Now to be sure, coveting itself is sin. But when Achan actually took the items, he broke the command of God to keep everything in Jericho under the “ban.” This is an important point: You may have heard the saying, “All sin is sin.” And it is. Just coveting the items was sin. But the thing is, not all sin has the same consequences. Had Achan only coveted but gone away without the items, Israel would not have broken the ban, and the deaths and discouragement and all the evils of that action, would not have happened. So yes, “all sin is sin.” But not all sin is equal to every other sin. Not all sin has the same consequences. (If you have time you might discuss the different impacts of sin: to covet someone’s spouse does not have the same devastating impact that physically committing adultery does; to be angry with someone does not have the same consequences as actually murdering them, and so on.) Some sins are more consequential than others. And Achan’s was one of them. 

What he took was “a beautiful mantle from Shinar” (Babylonia); 200 shekels of silver (about 80 oz.) and a 50-shekel bar of gold (about 20oz.) (Gold right now is about $4000 an ounce, so about $80,000 just for the gold.)  As David Howard points out in his commentary on Joshua, the sad thing is, God allowed the people to take plunder from Ai, the next city. He wrote: “He could have had anything he wanted, if he had only waited on God.”  

As :15 tells us God commanded the violator to be burned by fire  (and :25 just after our focus passage says he was stoned first).

If that sounds harsh to you/your group members, consider the following:

1) God had specifically commanded not to do this, and they knew what the consequences were. 

A very recent ILLUSTRATION might be Brendan Sorsby, the college football quarterback who lost his eligibility by gambling on his own team. He appealed that, but was denied. I saw a poll where 90% of Americans supported the ban, because it has been repeatedly drilled into the athletes that you cannot do this, or you will lose your eligibility. He absolutely knew the consequences of his actions. So did Achan.

2) it’s been pointed out that Achan had time, in the process of the lots, to confess his sin beforehand, and he did not do it.

3) think also of the dire consequences of his actions: his disobedience led to the deaths of 36 other men, as well as all the other consequences. 

4) this would also serve as a deterrent to others. Deuteronomy 13:11 says, “Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and never again will they do such an evil thing.” (This was also the logic many used regarding Sorsby’s case as well. His punishment will serve as a deterrent to others).

5) But ultimately, the worst element of any sin is that it is a sin against GOD. No sin is “light;” it’s all treason against the King of the Universe, and we need to stop taking our sin so lightly! 

Verses 14-23 is a long section describing the lots and so on, but the main point is really one thing: GOD KNOW who did this, and He was able to “pinpoint” exactly who it was, and hold him accountable. Achan could not hide his sin from God. 

And the clear lesson of the Bible, is that neither can we! The doctrine of God’s Omniscience (all-knowing) is emphasized all through scripture, through both verses and narrative events:

VERSES include:

+x Psalm 90:8 “You have placed our iniquities before You; our secret sins in the light of Your presence.” 

+x Psalm 139:7, 12 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? … Darkness and light are alike to You.” This can be taken in a COMFORTING way: God is always with us; that should encourage us. But it’s also CONVICTING: it means that NOTHING we do is hidden from Him. 

A couple of example NARRATIVES of God’s omniscience include:

— Elisha’s servant Gehazi in II Kings 5. After the Lord healed Naaman, Naaman wanted to give Elisha something, but he refused. Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, thought this wasn’t right, and went after Naaman and told him that two prophets had just come to visit, and Elisha needed a talent of silver and two changes of clothes for them. He gave him even more, and Gehazi hid them in his house, then returned to Elisha. But as soon as he stood before Elisha, he said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He said, “Did not my heart go with you” when you took all that. 

God saw the whole thing. He couldn’t hide what he did from Him.

— We see the same thing in the New Testament, in Acts 5, when Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property and lied about what they got for it when they “gave it to the church” but secretly kept some of it back. Peter said “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit” and they were both struck dead. They couldn’t hide it from God. 

God says in Jeremiah 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart; I test the mind.” You can’t even hide sin in a corner of your heart! God sees and knows it all. You cannot hide anything from God, and you cannot escape escape the consequences of your sin. Jonah found that out, didn’t he? God is “the Hound of Heaven,” as Francis Thompson wrote. 

So we need to learn the lesson of Psalm 32, “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away … for day and night Your hand was heavy upon me.” (:3-4) But then he says in :5, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.’ You forgave the guilt of my sin.” 

That was true for David in Psalm 32, but today we have even more certain forgiveness for our confessed sins, through Christ. I John 1:9 is an “anchor” verse for us: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

So encourage your group, like Psalm 32 says: bring your sin to the Lord. If you will, you will find mercy and forgiveness from Him. As we’ve seen, He already knows it all anyway; you can’t escape His all-seeing eye. But if you will humble yourself and ask Him to forgive you, because of Jesus’ death on the cross, He absolutely will, every single time. We should praise God for that every day!

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