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10The Lord answered:
Stop lying there on the ground! Get up! 11I said everything in Jericho belonged to me and had to be destroyed. But the Israelites have kept some of the things for themselves. They stole from me and hid what they took. Then they lied about it. 12What they stole was supposed to be destroyed, and now Israel itself must be destroyed. I cannot help you anymore until you do exactly what I have said. That's why Israel turns and runs from its enemies instead of standing up to them.
13Tell the people of Israel, “Tomorrow you will meet with the Lord your God, so make yourselves acceptable to worship him. The Lord says that you have taken things that should have been destroyed. You won't be able to stand up to your enemies until you get rid of those things.
14“Tomorrow morning everyone must gather near the place of worship. You will come forward tribe by tribe, and the Lord will show which tribe is guilty. Next, the clans in that tribe must come forward, and the Lord will show which clan is guilty. The families in that clan must come, and the Lord will point out the guilty family. Finally, the men in that family must come, 15and the Lord will show who stole what should have been destroyed. That man must be put to death, his body burned, and his possessions thrown into the fire. He has done a terrible thing by breaking the sacred agreement that the Lord made with Israel.”
16Joshua got up early the next morning and brought each tribe to the place of worship, where the Lord showed that the Judah tribe was guilty. 17Then Joshua brought the clans of Judah to the Lord, and the Lord showed that the Zerah clan was guilty. One by one he brought the leader of each family in the Zerah clan to the Lord, and the Lord showed that Zabdi's family was guilty. 18Finally, Joshua brought each man in Zabdi's family to the Lord, and the Lord showed that Achan was the guilty one.
19“Achan,” Joshua said, “the Lord God of Israel has decided that you are guilty. So tell me what you did, and don't try to hide anything.”
20“It's true,” Achan answered. “I sinned and disobeyed the Lord God of Israel. 21-22While we were in Jericho, I saw a beautiful Babylonian robe, 200 pieces of silver, and a gold bar that weighed the same as 50 pieces of gold. I wanted them for myself, so I took them. I dug a hole under my tent and hid the silver, the gold, and the robe.”
Joshua told some people to run to Achan's tent, where they found the silver, the gold, and the robe. 23They brought them back and put them in front of the sacred chest, so Joshua and the rest of the Israelites could see them. 24Then everyone took Achan and the things he had stolen to Trouble Valley. They also took along his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys, and sheep, his tent, and everything else that belonged to him.
25Joshua said, “Achan, you caused us a lot of trouble. Now the Lord is paying you back with the same kind of trouble.”
The people of Israel then stoned to death Achan and his family. They made a fire and burned the bodies, together with what Achan had stolen, and all his possessions. 26They covered the remains with a big pile of rocks, which is still there. Then the Lord stopped being angry with Israel.
That's how the place came to be called Trouble Valley.
Reflect
This part of the story begins with a ‘buck up’ speech from God! It does not take long for Joshua to find out the truth about what is really going on. The people of God have disobeyed the source of their life and their power. They broke their covenant with God. God has not left them – they have left God.
The tragedy of this story as it unfolds is that people closest to Joshua are just as disobedient as many of the others. Achan has been a ring leader. The anguish of Joshua is palpable and his judgment is final. These were harsh times and that meant that harsh measures were often taken. Achan is stoned along with the others.
There is however, a wonderful line in the passage that often gets missed. ‘Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger.’ This idea occurs often in the scriptures. It’s worded in different ways but it is always a sign of the compassionate grace of God. In Jonah when the people of Niniveh repent, it says and the ‘Lord changed his mind’. Literally repented. What do you do with a God who never changes but changes his mind? A Righteous God, who at the same time, as he is all holy and righteous, is consistently willing to be compassionate and a God of grace.
This does not diminish God’s judgment but it portrays his amazing ability to hold in tension righteousness and compassion. We on the other hand are not that skilled at holding the tension. We err too often on the side of one or the other. Today we thank God for the consistency that God holds between the call to do the right thing in his eyes and the compassion from which his judgment flows.
Respond
God of all holiness and rightness, God of creation to whom we find our life and our being, Grant us the courage to live rightly with you. Give us the power to be in tune with the ways in which you created us. Above all else – grant us the blanket of your grace and compassion as we stumble heavenward. Amen.
Gary Nelson
Gary Nelson joined Tyndale University College & Seminary as President and Vice Chancellor in 2010 after serving in various pastoral roles and most recently as head of an international mission and development organization. Previous to that leadership role, he was involved in the revitalizing and renewing of an historic downtown church into a creative and dynamic contemporary congregation. Gary’s teaching and speaking has takes him around the world focusing on themes of missional living as the church, urban missiology and leadership. Publications: His writings include a coauthored book entitled Future Faith Churches: The Power of a Reconnected Gospel for the 21st Century (Woodlake Press, 1997) with Don Posterski.