Israel Suffers for 'the Accursed Thing'

Joshua 7 (KJV)

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai to gauge the situation. The men reported back to Joshua that it was only necessary for two or three thousand to defeat Ai. Joshua sent about three thousand who fled from the men of Ai. Thirty-six of them were beaten.

Joshua discovered from the Lord that Israel could not stand against their enemies because they were accursed. Also, God would no longer be with Israel until the accursed thing was destroyed from among them.

God commanded Israel to be sanctified for "[i]n the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man. And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel" (vs. 14,15). Israel had sinned against God and was going have to suffer the consequences.

"So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it" (vs. 16-21).

"So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, and after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day" (vs. 22-26).

Israel Takes Jericho

Joshua 6 (KJV)

Joshua was given commands by God to follow in order to take the city of Jericho that had been given to Israel. The commands were for the people of Israel to surround Jericho one time each day for six days and then on the seventh day to surround the city seven times. This was to be done with armed men going first followed by seven priests blowing trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord and people following behind the ark. "And Joshua had commanded the people saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout" (v.10).

Then, it came to pass on the seventh day at the seventh time of surrounding Jericho that Joshua said to the people, "Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city" (v.16).

Jericho and all therein were accursed to the Lord. All in the city was to be destroyed and none of the spoils were to be taken by the people of Israel because they would be cursed for doing so. "But all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord" (v.19).

There was one person, however, named Rahab who was saved along with her father, mother brethren and her belongings because she had helped messengers sent by Joshua.

"So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city every man straight before him, and they took they city. And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord" (vs. 20, 24).

"So the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country" (v.27).

Various Happenings Across the Jordan

Joshua 5 (KJV)

The Amorites and Canaanites had faint hearts and broken spirits when they received word that God had dried up the Jordan River to make way for the Children of Israel to cross.

The Lord commanded Joshua to circumcise the Children of Israel. The reason was because the children who were born during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness had not been circumcised. "And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day" (v. 9).

"And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land of the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year" (vs. 10-12).

"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so" (vs.13-15).

Stones from Jordan Set for a Memorial

Joshua 4 (KJV)

After all the Children of Israel passed through the Jordan River, the Lord commanded Joshua to have a member from each of the twelve tribes to take a stone from where the priests stood in the Jordan. The stones were to be taken to Israel's lodge across the river for a future sign to the children when they ask their fathers, "What mean ye by these stones" (v.6)? The answer for the children wil be "[t]hat the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever" (v.7).

In addition to the stones taken by the Children of Israel, Joshua "...set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day" (v.9).

Included among those who crossed the Jordan were people from the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh which in all numbered about forty thousand who were armed and ready for war.

"On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life" (v.14).

The Lord had Joshua to command the priests to come out of the Jordan with the ark of the testimony.

"And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before" (v.18).

"And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho" (v.19).

As God's hand safely helped the Children of Israel across the Red Sea, His hand safely helped them across the Jordan River. These miracles are a witness forever to all the earth of our loving and mighty God. "That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: they ye might fear the Lord your God for ever" (v.24).

Crossing the Jordan River

Joshua 3 (KJV)

Joshua and the Children of Israel left Shittim for the Jordan River. The time had not come to cross the river, so they lodged. After three days, the officers among the people commanded, "When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it" (v.3). The people were to follow from a distance of about two thousand cubits so they would know the way to go.

Joshua had the people to sanctify themselves in preparation for the following day because the Lord was to do wonders among them.

Time came for Joshua to command the priests to take up the ark before the people. "And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee (v.7).

Joshua said to the people, "Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites" (v.10).

"Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan" (v.11). "And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above..." (v. 13)[.]

When the waters were cut off from above, dry ground was formed in the midst of the Jordan for all the people to pass over to the other side.

Rahab Helps Spies Sent by Joshua

Joshua 2 (KJV)

Before traveling into the Promised Land, Joshua sent two men as spies into Jericho to search the country. On their journey, the two men lodged in the home of Rahab, a harlot.

The King of Jericho received word of the spies and sent some of his men to Rahab's to have the spies brought forth. Rahab hid the spies among flax stalks on her roof and told the king's men that the spies had left when the gate was closed. She told the king's men that if they pursue the spies quickly that they should be able to overtake them. The king's men left in pursuit of the spies.

When all was clear, Rahab went to the roof and expressed to the spies how the people of the land became discouraged because they had heard how the Lord parted the Red Sea. They also heard how Sihon and Og, the Amorite kings, were destroyed. Rahab knew how their land had been given by the Lord; therefore, she sought to have her life and her family's life spared from death. The spies said to Rahab, "Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee" (Joshua 2:14).

Then, Rahab helped the spies to escape by lowering them from her window. She instructed them to hide themselves in the mountain for three days until the king's men return. Before departing, the spies said to Rahab, "Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and they brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee. And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window" (Joshua 2:18-21).

The spies followed Rahabs instructions to remain in the mountain for three days before returning to report to Joshua. "And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us" (Joshua 2:24).

Resume Old Testament Search in Joshua

Joshua 1:1-18 (KJV)

Time has come to return to the Old Testament book of Joshua to learn of God and His hand in matters.

God spoke to Joshua after Moses' death to inform him to divide the land across the Jordan among the Children of Israel. God assured Joshua that He would be with him throughout his life as He was with Moses. God said to Joshua, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" (Joshua 1:9).

The Children of Israel accepted Joshua as their leader. They said, "According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage" (Joshua 1:17,18).