Joshua 7-8

What’s Happening?

Israel is about to march against the fortress town of Ai—twice. And the first time is a disaster.

Before the battle we’re told that Achan, a soldier, has stolen some of Jericho’s treasure (Joshua 7:1). God warned them that if they stole anything devoted to him, they would be devoted to destruction (Joshua 6:18). And God makes good on his promise. Israel is routed at Ai and terrified that the God who was for them is now against them (Joshua 7:4-5).

Joshua doesn’t know about Achan’s theft. So he asks God why he didn’t fight alongside them at Ai like he did in Jericho (Joshua 7:9).

God tells him that Israel has already forgotten that this battle is not theirs to win. These conflicts aren’t about Israel getting richer, they’re about God keeping his promises to bring the Garden of Eden back to the earth. Someone forgot this and stole treasure from Jericho, the way Eve took the fruit. When Joshua finds the man responsible, Achan even offers the same explanation for his sin that Eve did—it just looked good to him (Joshua 7:21). Now the whole camp is in danger (Joshua 7:11). Not wanting to repeat the curse of Eden, they stone and burn Achan just as they burned down Jericho (Joshua 7:25).

Quickly, they return the Lord’s devoted things to the tabernacle, and God tells Joshua to take Ai in an ambush (Joshua 8:1-2). Joshua is to stretch out his javelin over Ai like Moses stretched out his staff over the Red Sea (Exodus 14:16; Joshua 8:18). And as the water swallowed the Egyptian army, Israel’s forces swallow the armies of Ai (Joshua 8:22). Unlike Achan, their obedience brings blessing.

Joshua then calls Israel together between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim to worship God and remind them of the covenant (Joshua 8:30-31). Just as the two battles of Ai offer pictures of God’s covenant blessings and covenant curses, these mountains represent the same. From one mountain the covenant blessings are declared over the people, and from the other the curses are pronounced (Joshua 8:33-34).

Where is the Gospel?

God tells Joshua he will not remain with Israel unless everything devoted to destruction is actually destroyed (Joshua 7:12). In other words, life with God requires that nothing aligned with death can remain in the camp. The sin of just one man threatened the whole community, because evil always spreads farther than the one who commits it. That’s the same point Paul makes about Adam—one act of rebellion rippled into the whole world (Romans 5:12).

And it’s also the point of Achan. Eve “saw” the fruit, Achan “saw” the treasure, and we too grasp for the things we call beautiful even when God calls them deadly. Our misplaced desires pull us—and everyone around us—toward destruction.

But Paul doesn’t leave us with Adam or Achan. He says that in the same way one act of disobedience infected the world, one act of obedience has begun to heal it (Romans 5:15). Jesus is the true human who refuses to grasp, refuses to take, refuses the counterfeit “beauty” of an easier way (Matthew 26:39). Instead, he walks directly into the places where sin and death gather their strength, and lets them spend themselves on him.

On the cross Jesus was destroyed, but not in the way Achan was. For Jesus did not reach for what was evil. Yet, though he was not devoted to destruction, Jesus entered the realm of destruction so that destruction itself can be destroyed.

Achan’s disobedience spread curse; Jesus’ obedience spreads life. Achan endangered the camp; Jesus secures the world. Achan brought defeat; Jesus brings a victory no ambush can overturn.

Jesus devoted the whole world to life by putting all the powers of evil under his feet. Through his atoning sacrifice, he cleaned the world to be the dominion of his kingdom.

And if God used Israel’s restored obedience to overthrow Ai, how much more will he use Jesus’ perfect obedience to overthrow sin and death? The new Eden really will come. And we will stand in it with God forever.

See for Yourself

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes to see the God who is devoted to destroying the evil that is destroying the world. And may you see Jesus as the one who devotes the world to life by overcoming destruction in his death and resurrection.