JUNE 26, 2016
THE REMOVING OF THE CURSE
INTRODUCTION:
1. Because of the sin of one man in Israel the anger of the Lord was kindled against them. This fact was only made known after they suffered defeat in the battle of Ai. This tragedy melted the hearts of the people and caused Joshua to despair. (Verses 1-7)
2. Hope was restored, however, when the Lord revealed the reason for Israel’s trouble, and that there was a way that the situation could be remedied.
a) First a positive message of hope was perceived in the Lord’s negative statement, “neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed thing from among you.” It was the equivalent of “Ye shall perish except ye repent.” (Verse 12b; Luke 13:3)
b) Second, faith was restored when the Lord gave positive instructions for the removal of the curse. (Verses 13-15)
3. Thus, the people were informed of the cause of their defeat, and instructed to prepare themselves to appear before the Lord the day following. It would be that on the morrow the Lord would reveal who the guilty party was, so that by his destruction the curse might be removed from Israel.
4. God was going to visit His people in judgment, for which visit they were to prepare by sanctifying themselves. Though it was a fearful and unpleasant business that faced them, to have the restored blessing of God would be well worth it all.
I. HERE IS THE PROCESS BY WHICH THE ONE WHO TROUBLED ISRAEL SHOULD BE DISCOVERED. (VERSES 16-18)
A. GOD WAS TO VISIT HIS PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT TO IDENTIFY THE GUILTY ONE FOR EXECUTION.
1. The identification would be determined by the casting of the lot. By that process God would reveal, first the tribe, then the family, then the household, and finally the individual in that household who was guilty.
2. Joshua had commanded the people on the night before to prepare themselves to appear before the Lord. “Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow.” (Verse 13)
3. Surely every devout Israelite spent the night in solemn heart-searching. “Lord, is it I?” (Matt. 26:22) “Search me O God, and know my heart…” (Psa. 129:23, 24)
4. Perhaps Joshua was hopeful that the solemn prospect would cause the guilty party to confess, thus sparing the people the whole process. Such a solution was not to be.
B. JOSHUA WAS ZEALOUS TO SEE THE ACCURSED THING PUT AWAY. (VERSE 16)
1. No one having come forward to confess, Joshua rose up early in the morning to begin the process of discovering the guilty party. This shows his zeal in putting away the accursed thing, and his earnest desire to have divine favor restored.
2. How earnest and careful we should be in putting away anything and everything that might rob the church of the Lord’s presence and power.
C. AS THE PRESCRIBED PROCESS WAS FOLLOWED THE DISCOVERY WAS MADE. (VERSES 17, 18)
1. The Lord revealed by the lot that the guilty man was of the tribe of Judah. If the tribes were called as to order, we may assume that Reuben, Simeon, and Levi had already been cleared at the time when Judah was called.
2. Of the families of Judah (five in all; see Num. 29:17-21) the family of the Zarhites was identified by the lot.
3. The family of Zerah was examined man by man and the lot fell on Zabdi.
4. Zabdi’s household was brought man by man until Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah was taken.
5. How foolish men are to imagine that they can sin in secret and remain undetected. (Jer. 23:24; Eccl. 10:20; Psa. 94:7-11)
II. HERE IS ACHAN’S CONFESSION AFTER HIS SIN WAS DISCOVERED. (VERSES 19-21)
A. JOSHUA TENDERLY DREW FROM ACHAN WHAT APPEARS TO BE A HEART-FELT CONFESSION.
1. Joshua’s manner and language seems wonderfully gracious and kind, considering the awful trouble that this man’s sin had caused. “My son…” (Verse 19)
a) He appealed to Achan as a father to his son.
b) His aim seems to have been to bring from him the confession of a true penitent, one that would be to the good of his soul. (I Cor. 5:5) His temporal sentence would be death (the death of the body) but it need not be his eternal sentence (the death of the soul, or the second death).
2. Achan’s confession appears to have been quite sincere. Although a confession that comes forth only after sin has found out the sinner can be suspect, this one has the marks of genuineness about it.
a) He owned that his sin was against God first and foremost. (Psa. 51:4)
b) He laid out honestly those three familiar steps that have led to many a sin, “I saw…I coveted…I took.” (James 1:15; Heb. 13:5)
B. ACHAN’S CONFESSION REVEALS THE PROGRESSIVE NATURE OF SIN. Besides that of seeing, then coveting, and finally taking, there is an increasing boldness that is encouraged when sin is allowed an entrance.
1. The first act, though forbidden, seemed quite harmless. He saw a garment that was destined to be destroyed anyway, so what could it hurt to take it? Of course, the harm was that in taking it he transgressed the Law. It is not for us to decide what sins are more or less serious, but rather, to endeavor to keep every known commandment, knowing that sin breeds sin, and little sins lead to bigger sins.
2. He then became more bold in his sin, taking a bag of silver and a wedge of gold. If he did reason that retrieving a garment from the fire was a harmless act, he certainly could not apply that thinking here. All precious metals were to be collected and preserved for the Lord’s treasury. (Ch. 6:19) Once sin is allowed, even so called harmless sin, bargaining with the conscience becomes easier and easier.
3. The shameful nature of sin is seen in that he hid his stolen goods in the earth under his tent. (Verse 21b)
III. HERE IS ACHAN’S CONDEMNATION AND EXECUTION. (VERSES 22-25)
A. THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE WAS RETRIEVED FROM HIS TENT AND PRESENTED BEFORE THE COURT. (VERSES 22, 23)
1. The items were “laid…out before the Lord.” Joshua conducted this trial in God’s stead.
2. Joshua certainly needed nothing beyond the verdict which God had revealed through the lot to convince him of Achan’s guilt. However, this being a capital offense, and it being the duty of the people to execute the criminal, compelled him to satisfy any possible question or doubt.
a) The lot fell on Achan.
b) Confirmed by his own confession.
c) Established upon physical evidence.
B. HIS GUILT THOROUGHLY ESTABLISHED, ACHAN WAS TAKEN TO THE PLACE OF EXECUTION. (VERSE 24)
1. He was taken outside the camp as an accursed thing. Our blessed Lord, when He became a curse for us, “suffered without the gate.” (Heb. 13:12, 13)
2. The divine historian refers to the place by the name given to only after Achan’s execution. At the time of the writing of this history it was called “The Valley of Achor.”
3. It was there that the unpleasant but necessary work was to be carried out by the people, whose obligation it was to put from them the accursed thing.
C. THE GUILTY MAN WAS MADE TO FACE HIS CRIME, AND THE ADMINISTERING OF DIVINE JUSTICE IN HIS EXECUTION. (VERSE 25)
1. He was reminded, as were they all, of the solemn warning that he had contemptuously ignored. “Why hast thou troubled us?” (See Ch. 6:18)
2. His punishment, even capital punishment, as it was administered by the people, and under due process, was God’s work. “The Lord shall trouble thee.”
a) God has ordained the powers that be. (Rom. 13:1)
b) They are to govern in God’s stead, as extensions of Himself.
IV. WHAT THE PEOPLE DID HERE WAS PAINFUL, BUT IT WAS FOR THEIR OWN GOOD. (VERSE 26)
A. ONLY BY THIS EXTREME ACTION COULD THE LORD’S ANGER BE TURNED FROM THEM AND HIS FAVOR RESTORED. (VERSE 12; MATT. 5:29, 20)
1. He had instructed them that in order to have His anger turned away they must destroy the accursed thing.
2. “So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger.” Having the Lord’s favor will cost us our sins.
B. THAT WHICH HAPPENED HERE WAS MEMORIALIZED.
1. A heap of stones marked the place where Israel’s troubler was slain and the curse lifted.
2. The valley was renamed “The Valley of Achor” that is, “the valley of trouble.”
3. The valley of Achor is said to have been given for a door of HOPE. (Hosea 2:15)
a) Our HOPE begins where sin is put away.
b) Our blessed Lord made the accursed place of the skull our door or hope, for at Calvary He took away our curse.
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