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Joshua
Chapter
7
{Chapters
7 and 8 Ai Campaign}
1~~But
the children of Israel committed a trespass
in
the cherem /'accursed thing'
because
for Achan, the son of Carmi,
the
son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah,
of
the tribe of Judah,
took
of the cherem/'accursed things'
{a garment, 200 shekels of silver ($125), and a golden statuette -
see verse 21)
and
the anger of the Jehovah/God
was
kindled against the children of Israel.
{Note: Cherem - means to be accursed and not subject to redemption it and all in it is 'dedicated/sacrificed to the Lord' - see Leviticus 27. Cherem is a type of Christ. Christ was cherem so that we could be redeemed. He died for us because He took the cherem to Himself and He could not be redeemed. Jericho was the first city taken and was therefore the firstfruits of the land and dedicated the Lord and virtually all in it. As Christ will take cherem to us (with a good motive) Achan takes cherem to himself (because of greed). (SideNote: Achan, Achar, and Achor are all the same person with a change of spelling in converting a verb to a noun depending on the suffix use in the sentence.)}
{Note: Achan took the cherem to him as well as all of Israel. This is the same that Adam did. He took of the apple and took cherem to the entire human race. So, someone had to die to have the cherem removed - Jesus Christ.}
{Reconnaissance
Before Attack}
2~~And
Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai
{Ai means 'heap of ruin' it is an analogy for the old sin nature}
-
which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel -
and
spoke unto them, saying,
"Go
up and view the country.
And
the men went up and viewed Ai."
{Reconnaissance
Report}
3~~And
they returned to Joshua,
and
said unto him, "Let not all the people go up
but
let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai
and
make not all the people to labor there;
for
they {men at Ai} are but few.
{Note: True report if God was still behind them.}
{Defeat
of 1st Battle of Ai}
4-5~~So
there went up there of the people
about
three thousand men
and
they fled before the men of Ai. 5~~
And
the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men
for
they chased them
from
before the gate even unto Shebarim
{this is a stone quarry where they went in and was dangerous to
pursue},
and
smote them in the going down
therefore
the hearts/'right lobes' of the people melted,
and
became as water
{idiom for complete terror and cowardness}.
{Verses
6-9: Joshua Reacts}
6~~And
Joshua tore his clothes {his uniform},
and
fell to the earth upon his face
before
the Ark of the Jehovah/God
until
the eventide,
he
and the elders of Israel {senior officers},
and
put dust upon their heads.
{Note: The tearing of clothes and the dust on the head were Jewish ritualistic custom when grieving.}
{Prayer
of Inquiry}
7~~And
Joshua said,
"Alas,
O Jehovah/God 'Elohiym/Godhead,
why
have you at all brought this people over Jordan,
to
deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?
{he knows the purpose of the Lord is to give the land to the Jews
but does not know yet about Achan's act so he is very confused}
'How
I wish' we had been content,
and
dwelt on the other side Jordan."
{Note: This is the same principal of when a new believer has something go wrong and says 'why did I become a Christian?' I am going back to my unsaved friends - they treated me decently.}
8~~"O
'Adonay/Lord,
what
shall I say,
when
Israel turned their backs before their enemies!"
9~~"For
the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land
shall
hear of it,
and
shall surround us,
and
cut off our name from the earth
and
what will You do unto Your great name?
{Joshua is really disturbed because this destruction of the Jews will
not bring Glory to the name of the Lord! He is not afraid for
himself! Good Motivation.}
10-15~~And
Jehovah/God said unto Joshua,
"Get
you all up.
Why
are you lying thus upon your face? 11~~
Israel
has sinned
{only one man sinned but in the area of cherem ONE transgressor
affects all!},
and
they have also transgressed My covenant
which
I commanded them
for
they have even taken of the cherem/'accursed thing',
and
have also stolen,
and
'pretended not to' also
{idiom: literally is 'to act with a mask on'},
and
they have put it even among their own stuff.12~~
Therefore
the children of Israel
could
not stand before their enemies,
but
turned their backs before their enemies,
because
they were cherem/accursed.
Neither
will I be with you any more,
except
you destroy the cherem/accursed from among you. 13~~
Get
Up {an order},
sanctify/'set
apart' {I John 1:9 - back in fellowship}
the
people, and say,
'Sanctify/'set
apart' yourselves against tomorrow
for
thus said Jehovah/God 'Elohiym/Godhead of Israel,
There
is a cherem/'accursed thing' in the middle of you, O Israel.
You
can not stand before your enemies,
until
you take away the cherem/'accursed thing'
from
among you. 14~~
In
the morning therefore
you
shall be brought according to your tribes
and
it shall be,
that
the tribe which Jehovah/God takes
shall
come according to the families thereof;
and
the family which the Jehovah/God shall take
shall
come by households;
and
the household which Jehovah/God
shall
take shall come man by man
{that
is how they get down to Achan - an orderly narrowing
down - all tribes to Judah - then all family heads in Judah and on
own}. 15~~
And
it shall be,
that
he that is taken with the cherem/'accursed thing'
shall
be burnt with fire,
he
and all that he has
{Achan and ALL his family and their possessions}
because
he has transgressed the covenant of Jehovah/God,
and
because he has 'horribly brought dishonor' {n@balah} in Israel
{only used here and Genesis 34:7 - it means to commit a crime so
horrible there is no reconciliation because the honor of Israel is
involved - someone must die}."
16~~So
Joshua rose up early in the morning,
and
brought Israel by their tribes;
and
the tribe of Judah was taken
{the High Priest had a breastplate called Urim and Thummim (see
Exodus 28:30). It had 12 stones - one for each tribe. So here
when the Judah tribe stepped out most likely, the Judah stone
lighted}.
17~~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.
{Final
Positive - God Identifies Culprit}
18~~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.
19~~And
Joshua said unto Achan,
"My
son, give, please/'I pray you',
glory
to the Jehovah/God 'Elohiym/Godhead of Israel,
and
make confession unto Him
and
tell me now what you have done -
hide
it not from me."
20~~And
Achan answered Joshua, and said,
"Indeed
I have sinned against Jehovah/God
'Elohiym/Godhead
of Israel,
and
thus and thus have I done. 21~~
When
I saw among the spoils
a
'costly and beautiful Babylon type' coat,
and
two hundred shekels of silver {about $125},
and
a statue of gold of fifty shekels weight,
then
I coveted/lusted after' them,
and
took them
and,
behold, they are hid in the earth
in
the middle of my tent,
and
the silver under it."
{Note: His entire family who know what he did. They are all guilty. They are all involved in this sin.}
22~~So
Joshua sent messengers,
and
they ran unto the tent;
and,
behold, it was hid in his tent,
and
the silver under it.
23~~And
they took them out of the middle of the tent,
and
brought them unto Joshua,
and
unto all the children of Israel,
and
laid them out before the Jehovah/God.
24~~And
Joshua,
and
all Israel with him,
took
Achan the son of Zerah,
and
the silver,
and
the garment,
and
the statue 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
{ALL was cherem - not one stitch of cherem can remain}
and
they brought them unto the valley of Achor/Achan
{new name for the valley after the man who did this - Achan}.
25~~And
Joshua said,
"Why
have you Achan'ed/troubled {`akar} us?
{Achan's name means 'troublemaker'}
Jehovah/God
shall achan/trouble {`akar} you all this day.
And
all Israel stoned him with stones,
and
burned them with fire,
after
they had stoned them with stones.
26~~And
they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day.
So
the Jehovah/God turned from the fierceness of His anger.
Therefore
the name of that place was called,
The
valley of Achor/Achan, unto this day.
{Note: See also Hosea 2:15 and Isaiah 65:10 for more references to the valley of Achan.}
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