Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel…. I WANTED THEM SO MUCH that I took them.” – Joshua 7:20, 21b (NLT))
“You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.” – Joshua 7:13b
— My sins will hinder God from winning victories for me, eventually entering my Promised Land… Lord, please remove Idolatry, greed and disobedience in my heart… help we not to want anything or anyone more than I want you… In Jesus Name. Amen.
Sin is sin throughout the entirety of the bible. The OT was fulfilled through Christ yes but it does provide a foundation of laws that are relevant still today.
Encouraged by 1 Cor that my hope is completely in Christ and his faithfulness – that, even when I attempt to share the gospel with others, my hope is not in my eloquence or wisdom, but is in the power of the cross.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
1 Cor. 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. Foolishness to unbelievers. Precious wisdom to believers. How I view, treat, and respond to the Bible says a lot about the state of my soul
Josh 7:10-11 “So the Lord said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.
31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
When bad things happen I wonder if it’s God humbling me and reminding who is in control. May I sacrifice my pride at the cross and remember that I only boast in the croas
I think about the sin of one man destroying his whole family. There were consequences to their behavior. These people lived under the and when it was broken they paid a heavy price for the offense. I am so glad we now live under grace throughJesus.
Really makes you think about the contagion and consequences of sin in the world around us, even in our own lives! I wonder how many times I’ve accidentally made someone stumble or caused consequences on another person because of sin in my life that I’ve refused to repent from or put aside
The battles in Joshua are all punishments for very sinful nations, not just wars of conquest. Total destruction of the culture insured less rebellions later as well which actually saves life. I would also had that most ancient societies would’ve been far crueler in their warfare, especially towards women and this would’ve been clear. All you need to do is look at Ancient Persian practices or even Roman. But it’s important to remember that it is all God and the difference between the old and new testaments is a human face to explain the reasoning. Many people think the “Old Testament God” is cruel but he’s not. What we don’t have recorded are decades ( at least 4 when the Israelites were wandering and probably more) that were given to these nations to change and repent. Eventually evil must be dealt with by a truly just God. Jesus did not erase that justice just gave it a human face so that we could better understand it.
I’m going to go a little geeky now. Think about how a fish must think about the hand that feeds it. It’s mysterious, may seem cruel because it only gives measured food at certain times, moves him around to clean his water, etc. to the fish it all seems capricious because there’s no explanation. But send the hand in as a fish to explain why these things happen and suddenly things all seem differently, done in love and care. We are lucky because we get to read the Old Testament with this in mind the writers didn’t have that luxury.
Thank you amber. I’ve been plagued in my Mind about the same thing. I’ve been repenting about questioning God’s Word as I know he does everything for good not evil, but still the same thoughts creep in. Thanking God for you and your wisdom and thanking God for this group that allows us to study his Word together
Great explanation, Amber! And yes, the cities that the Lord commanded to be totally destroyed were cities that were involved in worshipping gods by doing things like sacrificing their own children. There are also examples of God commanding the Israelites to leave some cities alone like in Numbers 20 with Edom. God was not just out for total destruction, nothing about God is random or chaotic. God in the OT is the same God in the NT, just working in different ways.
It feels heartbreaking and harsh. But in truth, our God is so perfectly Holy that every bit of that brutality was deserved. We still deserve that. We have such an incredibly undeserved gift in grace, in Jesus.
Our Pastor once said, if the Doctor tells you that your hand must be cut off in order for the cancer not to spread throughout your body, do not think that he is bad… he is doing this for greater good..
I’m totally behind, forgive my very late comment… But, as I was reading these comments I thought of basically the same example, but from the Bible, lol! I believe it’s Matthew where Jesus tells the people if a man sins with his body (paraphrasing of course!) to cut that body part off or pluck it out (eye) for it is better for the man for the body part to suffer than the entire body. Same concept here both with Achin as well as with the cities being destroyed.
I pray that God will use my weaknesses to showcase His power
Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel…. I WANTED THEM SO MUCH that I took them.” – Joshua 7:20, 21b (NLT))
“You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.” – Joshua 7:13b
— My sins will hinder God from winning victories for me, eventually entering my Promised Land… Lord, please remove Idolatry, greed and disobedience in my heart… help we not to want anything or anyone more than I want you… In Jesus Name. Amen.
Amen! Well put!
This is so true! Thanks for your encouraging prayer.
Amen!
Ladies, remember this is the Old Testament version of sin, not our new found grace through Jesus.
Sin is sin throughout the entirety of the bible. The OT was fulfilled through Christ yes but it does provide a foundation of laws that are relevant still today.
Encouraged by 1 Cor that my hope is completely in Christ and his faithfulness – that, even when I attempt to share the gospel with others, my hope is not in my eloquence or wisdom, but is in the power of the cross.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Amen :)
1 Cor. 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. Foolishness to unbelievers. Precious wisdom to believers. How I view, treat, and respond to the Bible says a lot about the state of my soul
Josh 7:10-11 “So the Lord said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.
31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
When bad things happen I wonder if it’s God humbling me and reminding who is in control. May I sacrifice my pride at the cross and remember that I only boast in the croas
I think about the sin of one man destroying his whole family. There were consequences to their behavior. These people lived under the and when it was broken they paid a heavy price for the offense. I am so glad we now live under grace throughJesus.
Yes, it also reminded me that there is nothing hidden from God. He already knows all our sins.
Really makes you think about the contagion and consequences of sin in the world around us, even in our own lives! I wonder how many times I’ve accidentally made someone stumble or caused consequences on another person because of sin in my life that I’ve refused to repent from or put aside
I’m struggling to understand how God can command so much brutality.
if you’re tslking about Joshua’s verses, it was a way for God to answer His People’s prayers
Lauren I often wonder the same thing. Hopefully soon I will be able to wrap my mind around it.
The battles in Joshua are all punishments for very sinful nations, not just wars of conquest. Total destruction of the culture insured less rebellions later as well which actually saves life. I would also had that most ancient societies would’ve been far crueler in their warfare, especially towards women and this would’ve been clear. All you need to do is look at Ancient Persian practices or even Roman. But it’s important to remember that it is all God and the difference between the old and new testaments is a human face to explain the reasoning. Many people think the “Old Testament God” is cruel but he’s not. What we don’t have recorded are decades ( at least 4 when the Israelites were wandering and probably more) that were given to these nations to change and repent. Eventually evil must be dealt with by a truly just God. Jesus did not erase that justice just gave it a human face so that we could better understand it.
I’m going to go a little geeky now. Think about how a fish must think about the hand that feeds it. It’s mysterious, may seem cruel because it only gives measured food at certain times, moves him around to clean his water, etc. to the fish it all seems capricious because there’s no explanation. But send the hand in as a fish to explain why these things happen and suddenly things all seem differently, done in love and care. We are lucky because we get to read the Old Testament with this in mind the writers didn’t have that luxury.
Thank you amber. I’ve been plagued in my Mind about the same thing. I’ve been repenting about questioning God’s Word as I know he does everything for good not evil, but still the same thoughts creep in. Thanking God for you and your wisdom and thanking God for this group that allows us to study his Word together
This really helped me to understand some of the Old Testament better. Thank you!
So good, Amber. So so good!
Wow, that was good Amber. Thank you!
Great explanation, Amber! And yes, the cities that the Lord commanded to be totally destroyed were cities that were involved in worshipping gods by doing things like sacrificing their own children. There are also examples of God commanding the Israelites to leave some cities alone like in Numbers 20 with Edom. God was not just out for total destruction, nothing about God is random or chaotic. God in the OT is the same God in the NT, just working in different ways.
It feels heartbreaking and harsh. But in truth, our God is so perfectly Holy that every bit of that brutality was deserved. We still deserve that. We have such an incredibly undeserved gift in grace, in Jesus.
Our Pastor once said, if the Doctor tells you that your hand must be cut off in order for the cancer not to spread throughout your body, do not think that he is bad… he is doing this for greater good..
Great example!
I’m totally behind, forgive my very late comment… But, as I was reading these comments I thought of basically the same example, but from the Bible, lol! I believe it’s Matthew where Jesus tells the people if a man sins with his body (paraphrasing of course!) to cut that body part off or pluck it out (eye) for it is better for the man for the body part to suffer than the entire body. Same concept here both with Achin as well as with the cities being destroyed.