“Y’hoshua said to ‘Akhan, ‘My son, swear to Adonai, the God of Israel, that you will tell the truth and confess to him. Tell me, now, what did you do? Don’t hide anything from me.'”-Joshua 7:19
Because of Achan’s crime, Israel has communally broken their faith with the Lord and now the big question up in the air is…
…how in the world can they restore their damaged relationship with Him?
This is actually a question that has captivated Bible scholars to no end.
The Lord has supernaturally revealed to the community that the Lawbreaker is Achan.
So Joshua goes up to him and in a rather fatherly manner tells Achan to confess and hold nothing back.
Literally in the original Hebrew, the reason Joshua says Achan must confess is so…”the glory of Adonai may be established“.
Alrighty folks, our learning begins right here.
The beginning of restoring any damage that has been done to our relationship with Hashem must begin with a confession.
Through the lots, God has shown Israel that Achan is the criminal and now he must publicly confess that nothing can be hidden from the Lord and that His justice is perfect.
Achan starts his confession by saying…
…“It is true: I have sinned against Adonai, the God of Israel.”
Achan here shows us the proper way to give a confession.
First, he admits that ultimately any sin or lawlessness (breaking the Torah) is an act against God.
If we lie or steal, at the end of the day, we have lied or stolen against the Lord.
Hence, it is to the Lord to whom our confession must be given.
Let’s take a look at what Achan confessed next.
“…Here is exactly what I did: when I saw there with the spoil a beautiful robe from Shinar, five pounds of silver shekels and a one-and-a-quarter-pound wedge of gold, I really wanted them. So I took them. You will find them hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
What Achan did was caused by a form of temptation we all fall into.
He was taken in by the lust of his eyes.
He decided to steal things that were very valuable (materially speaking) and looked pleasing.
We’re told the first thing he ripped off was a robe from Shinar.
Shinar was an area in Babylon and had a reputation for producing the very best in luxury goods.
Most likely the robe he stole originally belonged to royalty and could probably be sold on the cold market for a ton of cash.
In addition to the robe, he also took a huge amount of silver and gold.
Man, Achan just went hog wild in Jericho.
And he knew what he did was a crime because we’re told he hid everything he stole in the ground under his tent.
After Achan confessed, Joshua ordered some soldiers to search Achan’s tent and sure enough all of the items were found exactly where Achan said they were…buried inside a hole under his tent.
What happens next is a perfect demonstration of the Law of Herem or “The Ban” being put into action.
Achan, his family and all of his possessions, not just the items he stole, but everything he owned including his livestock and personal possessions were taken outside the camp to the Valley of Achor.
What happened next was as terrifying as it is instructive of how the Lord operates when it comes to theft of His holy property.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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