The story of Achan represents a theological problem for many pastors, preachers and Bible teachers.
Why?
Because they just can’t get their heads around the fact that a merciful and loving God would also destroy Achan’s family, his possessions and also his livestock.
It’s because they feel so uncomfortable with parts of the Scripture like this that they start concocting all manner of unscriptural doctrines and theories.
They’ll say “well that was what the Old Testament God was like but in the New Testament God has changed” or some other such nonsense.
Again, the reason most pastors, preachers and Bible teachers have difficulty with the more graphic parts of Scripture depicting God’s wrath and judgement is because they don’t know Torah, period.
They don’t understand the principle of HEREM and the Biblical rules that govern a true holy war.
The simple truth of the matter is Achan stole holy property and as a result contracted God’s holiness.
What happened afterwards is when he returned home, he most likely infected his family members who also became contaminated with God’s holiness.
And then no doubt everyone else in the family ended up coming into physical contact with all of their animals and personal property resulting in all of the livestock and possessions becoming contaminated.
Since everything became contaminated with God’s holiness minus His divine permission, everything had to be destroyed, period.
The takeaway here is clear.
We often think the sins we commit secretly and alone won’t harm anyone else but ourselves.
As the story of Achan illustrates, nothing could be farther from the truth.
The sins we commit in the dark will affect everyone around us and as demonstrated in Achan’s case may cause the very death of innocent people whom we love.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN JOSHUA CHAPTER 8
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