JOSHUA 7
We have been looking a little at the irresistible power of the ark in relation to Jordan, and in relation to the walls of Jericho — a power so great that nothing can stand before it. I suppose the enemy very soon realised that his only chance was to corrupt the people of God in order that the power of the ark might not be practically available. We can see the power of the enemy at Ephesus; the walls of Jericho had fallen at Ephesus with a tremendous crash, but the enemy went to work in a subtle way to displace the ark in the affections of the people of God, so the Lord had to say that they had left their first love. If the ark lost its place in the affections of the people of God, as happened with Achan, the end must be the extinction of the light.
We have considered the spiritual education that the people had for seven days going round Jericho in company with the ark, and listening all the time to the priestly trumpets sounding continually. They were to learn by this to take account of all the world power, but to take account of it in relation to Christ — the ark — so that at the end of the week they could shout. When we have had a spiritual education, we have to pass our examination at the end of the term. That is a fixed principle with God; there is always a test. If there is a special ministry of Christ among the people of God, He will send a test. God will give seven days of education, a full term, and perhaps His people will learn to shout; but sometimes we shout before we have reached in our hearts what we are shouting about. Achan perhaps was shouting, but he had not in his heart what he was shouting about. If he shouted it was in response to the priestly trumpets, and they no doubt announced the glory and the power of the ark. It is one thing to shout in response to the priestly trumpets — to appreciate current ministry and shout in response — but it is another thing to have the power of it in one’s soul. The test comes, the examination day comes, to see whether we have learned our lesson, whether we have it in our heart. If there has been a precious ministry of Christ in priestly holiness and power, and the people of God have been educated to the point of shouting in response to an enemy fallen publicly, we may depend on it the enemy will suddenly change his tactics and make another move, a more subtle move, because it is a move in the affections of the people of God, a corrupting move in their affections. Achan’s sin brought to light that he was not in his own spirit governed by the ark. He had been following it, perhaps shouting with it, but in his own affections he was not governed by the ark.
Ananias and Sapphira are the Achans of the New Testament; when the examination day came they had not learnt their lesson. They wanted to clothe themselves with the ornament of great devotedness to Christ. They wanted to have the credit amongst the people of God of a devotedness which was not in their hearts — that is a Babylonish garment. One could not be on that line if one was governed by the ark. If we see the wonderful place that Christ has as the ark, we should be in harmony with the Spirit of Christ as expressed in Joshua. Joshua had said that all the silver and gold were to be held for Jehovah, and they were all to be put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah. Now that was the mind of the Spirit of Christ, but Achan was quite out of tune; he took the silver and the gold and added it to himself. It was a gross act of unfaithfulness; it was robbing God.
He had not apprehended the stones in the bed of Jordan. A man who had seen his place in the bed of the river, and put himself there, would not want a goodly Babylonish garment — he would not want to connect a single divine thought with himself as a natural man. I suppose the silver and the gold represent what has value with God, though it may be incorporated with the Jericho system. There is an immense amount of silver and gold in the Jericho system today. Men have taken almost everything of God and used it to enrich and beautify the Jericho system; all the light of Christianity is taken to enrich the Jericho system. Here we see that principle of using things for the exaltation of the natural man, the man after the flesh, introduced into the heart of Achan. It is not Jericho with its towering walls in view objectively, but it is the Jericho system set up in the heart of an Israelite; and that is a worse kind of Jericho than the other. It is a very solemn thing to take up what is of God and use it on the Jericho principle. It is possible for us to take the truth of God and use it to glorify ourselves instead of seeing that everything that has divine value must go into the treasury of the house of Jehovah. Everything precious must be connected with Christ and must stand connected with the saints as Christ’s body.
[p. 40] The mystery of God is the treasure now, because in it “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”, Colossians 2: 3. Every piece of silver and gold, everything of value and excellence which God can attach worth to, had to go into the treasury; and, particularly in this type, all the things which men have stolen from God and appropriated, or misappropriated, and used for their own glory. In christendom divine truth is connected with the wrong man, and man has used it to magnify the importance of that man who is under the curse of God. We have to see to it that we are not in some way setting up that man, or connecting things with that man, instead of connecting things with Christ, connecting ourselves and all the brethren with Christ. The sectarian principle brings in something that is not Christ.
The point here is the universality of the thing; it says, “The children of Israel committed unfaithfulness in that which had been brought under the curse ... and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the children of Israel”. As we know later in the book, Joshua says, “Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing? and wrath fell on all the assembly of Israel, and he perished not alone in his iniquity”, chapter 22:20. It shows the peculiar bond which God recognises in His Israel, that what one man did actually involved all Israel. None of us are independent units. If the element of unfaithfulness is introduced, even if it only comes in in one man, under the eye of God it characterises the whole people until they judge it.
It would be good for us to consider how the assembly is involved in the action of one person. We may think that we can hide things in our own tents, and nobody will know anything about it. But what we have hidden in our tent, some thought or desire to have something connected with ourselves as living in the world, has an effect under the eye of God upon the whole assembly. It is a searching exercise. Things come to light in the assembly; if there is a principle of unfaithfulness, God will bring it to light. Any unfaithfulness in Israel must be judged; otherwise Israel would cease to be the Israel of God.
In verse 11 every detail done is attributed to Israel: “They put it among their own stuff”. It shows us God’s way of looking at things. We might have thought that if there was only one person unfaithful, it was his own affair. The Lord said at the Supper table, “One of you”, and the exercise was taken up by them all; they all said, “Is it I?” Each apostle took up personally the exercise, whether he was the betrayer or not. We need a deeper sense of the bond in which we are set as of the assembly. “Wrath came on the assembly” — it did at Corinth. There was a certain disorder connected with eating the Supper, and judgment came on the whole company: “On this account many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep”, 1 Corinthians 11:30. The Lord judged the whole company for the disorder on the part of perhaps a small proportion. It brings home to every true Israelite the necessity of unsparing judgment of unfaithfulness. No one is exempted; every Israelite had to put his own hand to the judgment of this unfaithfulness.
Even Joshua did not know about it until Jehovah told him. We need spirituality to judge things according to God. Sometimes we have to learn things through sharp discipline. That was the case here; there was no exercise in Israel until they found themselves unable to go on in their victorious way. They found the Lord’s support withdrawn, and they were smitten and fell before their enemies. It must have been a terrible discipline to undergo in Canaan in view of the promises God had given them. It is a principle that, when elements of unfaithfulness have a place with us, we underrate the power of the enemy.
The people had to hallow themselves (verse 13). I suppose it was an exercise in regard to their moral state in view of divine testing. Jehovah was going to find out where the unfaithfulness was, and it called for much exercise. Every time the Lord calls His saints together in assembly, He calls on us to hallow ourselves as to what we have been allowing, what has governed our spirits and ways, and what we have in our tents. If Achan had hallowed the ark in his affections he would have rejoiced to put the silver and the gold into the treasury.
The people had not returned to Gilgal after their victory at Jericho, and that has an important bearing on the matter. We have had some very blessed things before us in this book; and now this chapter comes to pull us up, and to give us searchings of heart whether we have understood what it means to go through Jordan, to be circumcised, to keep the passover, to eat the old corn of the land, and to go round Jericho with [p. 42] the ark. Have we got it in our souls, so that we are commanded in our affections by Christ?
Similar feelings to those expressed by Joshua in verses 7 - 9 often come up in the exercises of the people of God. There is a thought, If we had remained on lower ground we would have acquitted ourselves better. I suppose we all know what that kind of feeling is. But Joshua does not finish with that, he finishes with the thought of Jehovah’s great name: “What wilt thou do for thy great name?” After all, whatever failure there might be, the possession of the land and victory over the enemies in the land were matters that touched the name of Jehovah. His honour and His glory stood connected with it. If we apprehended that the glory of God and the honour of Christ stand connected with the full measure of spiritual blessing according to His own purpose, we could not think of being content with anything short of that. It might be easier and we might do better on a lower ground, but faith never entertains such a proposition.
The valley of Achor will be “a door of hope” (Hosea 2:15), suggesting that the remnant will come back by that door in the confession of Israel’s state, and in complete judgment of it. It becomes a place of pasturage according to Isaiah 65:10. This shows how God uses every exercise that comes among His people, even though through their own unfaithfulness, and makes it contributory to His own thoughts.
All Israel judged the sin, for they all stoned Achan. That is a principle for us, for any element of unfaithfulness that comes among the people of God has to be judged by all His people. Whatever has to be judged locally, a judgment is formed in view of all Israel and all Israel share in the judgment, so, discipline is exercised in any locality, the saints there act representatively for the whole assembly, and so as to carry all their brethren with them.