Joshua 7:22-26 – Render to the Lord what belongs to Him

Realizing that he could no longer hide his misdeed, Achan admitted to Joshua. His was a confession wrung out of him. The words of his admission were captured in Joshua 7:21. He said, “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.” Sin is a very insidious thing. James 1:14-15 said, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” Hence, we got to be careful what our eyes see, our ears hear, and our minds dwell upon all the time. It will do us well to guard what we see, what we hear and what our mind entertains. They are all possible avenues for the entrance of sin.

On hearing Achan’s admission, Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent and retrieve the items he stole from the Lord. Finding the articles in Achan’s tent, they brought them out before the eyes of the people and the Lord, to show conclusively that he was the culprit. The articles were to be destroyed and the whole nation took part in the judgment by stoning Achan and his family, after which they were burnt. Such a drastic judgment was required to make a public example of how serious it was to offend the Lord. The severe punishment serves as a reminder that our God is a holy God and He is the all-consuming fire when His anger is provoked. The sin of Achan was not just a simple misdeed, it was a sacrilege. He had the audacity to claim for himself what rightly belonged to the Lord. Never should we claim any glory of the Lord for ourselves. What we see in this account will help us to see that all the hidden things done in darkness are never occluded from the eye of our God.      

The place, where Achan and family were judged and punished, came to be named Achor or trouble. Just as a heap of stones was built at Gilgal to remind the people of God’s faithfulness, a heap of stone now stands in Achor to remind the people how offensive a sacrilegious act could be to the Lord. Spiritually speaking, the valley of Achor is a “place” we should avoid. Remember that there is no secret sin that will not ultimately be revealed. For God is not mocked, what a man sows he shall also reap. As Galatians 6:8 so aptly reminds us, “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Let us sow to the Spirit and not our flesh. Remember the promise of our Lord Jesus. He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” If we refuse to entertain sin in life, there is no telling of the measure of His presence that will be wonderfully experienced in life.