GOD PUNISHES HIS DISOBEDIENT PEOPLE

PROCLAMATION

“Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them; for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.  Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their back before their enemies, because they were accursed; neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accused from among you.”  Joshua 7:11-12 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Joshua under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  The Lord God told the Israelites not to keep any of the spoils from Jericho after they took the city.  The precious metals were to go into the treasury of The Lord. (Joshua 6:18-19)  But Achan, from the tribe of Judah, took some of them for himself and this angered The Lord God. (Joshua 7:1)  So when they went to war against the army of Ai, God was not with them and they were routed. (Joshua 7:4)  Afterwards, Joshua asked God why they lost and what were they to do? (Joshua 7:6-9)  The Lord God told him that Israel had sinned and violated His covenant.  They had taken from the spoils of Jericho which was to go into the treasury of The Lord. (Joshua 7:11)  Then Joshua examined the people, tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family, and man by man, until Achan was found and admitted what he had done. (Joshua 7:16-21)  They gathered all that he had taken, and his family, and his animals, and all that he owned and took them to the Valley of Achor.  There they stoned him, and them, and then burned them, and then buried them all under a large pile of stones. (Joshua 7:22-26)

 

APPLICATIONS

Don’t play with God.  Don’t say that you are a believer, and then go about and act like a non-believer.  We should search ourselves, our hearts, and our homes to make sure that we are not harboring something which The Lord God abhors, or holding back something which should be given to Him.  Unrepentant sin can not only bring God’s wrath down upon the individual sinner, but also upon his children, his grandchildren, and on their children. (Numbers 14:18)  One day, all that we thought, said, and did will be judged, it will all pass through the fire of judgment.  All of it that gives God glory will pass through the fire, and we will be rewarded for it.  However, everything else will be burned up and we will suffer a loss, but we ourselves will be saved. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)  Let us do all that we can to the glory of God.  When we pray, let us ask to be forgiven for sins of omission as well as sins of commission.