Hidden Treasures

Joshua 7

God specifically said everything in Jericho must be destroyed except for the gold, silver, bronze and iron, and that is to be given to the Tabernacle. But Achan wasn't listening.

After the fall of Jericho, Joshua sent spies to Ai. The spies came back saying 'No problem. There aren't very many people there, just a few thousand of us can take them.' So he sent those few thousand men to Ai and they became afraid. Thirty-six men were killed and the Isrealites lost their faith.

Now even Joshua began to blame God. 'Why did you have to bring us here, to kill us? We were just fine on the other side of the Jordan. It was nice enough. Now all the Amorites and Canaanites will hear this and they will come kill us.'

Wow, how many times, when things get hard, do I do the same thing? God wins a battle with Satan and I'm feeling good and suddenly something tries to kill me and all faith is lost. I begin to whine to God. "Now look. Everyone's going to see what happened and they're gonna start talking..."

God quickly called Joshua out of this despair. "Isreal sinned", God reveals, "they are cursed because they took what didn't belong to them--after I told them to destroy it." He continues to tell Joshua to get up and find out who did it and destroy those things or else they are on their own. Following God's commands, Joshua brough the people before him tribe by tribe, family by family, household by household, person by person. Finally, Achan was taken and when asked, confessed to taking silver and gold and hiding them beneath his tent. Everything that belonged to Achan, including his wife and children, were taken to the Valley of Achor, and they were stoned and burned. Destroying Achan and his property was the only way to destroy the sin in the tribe. Removing the sin was the only way for the people to be redeemed. Fortunately for us, Christ made that redemption possible for us. Through His death, our sin has been removed.

Notice that Achan hid the treasure? He wanted it so badly that he stole it, yet when it was his, he couldn't even enjoy it because he had to hide it to keep from being found out. I frequently read the blog Encouragement for Today by Proverbs 31 Ministries. In today's entry, Lisa Whittle talks about the secret thins in our heart--"those secret places that reside deep within our soul that we keep hidden from others and even try to hide from God?" She notes "The crafty, conniving one knows that if he can get us to continue to bury our secret places deep within our heart, we can’t be effective for God. He knows that thoughts of our private sins will eventually eat away at us, causing us to feel fraudulent and unworthy of the love and acceptance of others, and most of all, our Heavenly Father." Whittle goes on to remind us of the redemption we have in Jesus Christ and gives practical ways of combating those secret-keeping habits.

The people then built a memorial of stones in the Valley of Achor. This memorial reminded them that disobedience brings destruction, but also repentence brings redemption. In my Memorials post, I mentioned memorial stones in our spiritual lives. Brian commented, "...Some remind us of times when we were just plain stupid and others are very painful...." The memorial built in the Valley of Achor is one such set of stones. They remind Isreal of a time when they messed up and found themselves on their face in destruction. But when we look back on these stones, they also remind us of the forgiveness and mercy of Christ and what He brought us from.

An Outward Sign

Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you."
(Genesis 17: 9-11)

Circumcision was a sign -- an outward, physical sign of a covenant between God and Abraham. God promised to bless Abraham, to make him the father of many nations, to be his God and the God of His decendants, and to give Abraham's decendants everlasting possession of Canaan. Abraham's part? Abraham was to trust God as his God--to follow and obey Him in trust to care for His every need. And, Abraham was to circumcise himself and every male in his family or possession, and every child born to his family when he turns 8 days old.

There was rules to partaking in the Passover. When God gave Moses and Aaron the regulations for the Passover, every male in the household must have been circumcized (Exodus 12). Now, Joshua is leading the Isrealites and it's time for the Passover, but none of the Isrealites had been circumcised since they left Egypt and all those who left Egypt had died in the wilderness. So Joshua circumcised this generation. That day, when the Isrealites performed the outward sign that they were children of God, God removed the shame of slavery from them. Then, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the plains of Jericho, the Isrealites celebrated Passover. As they entered into the Promised Land, they were reminded that this inheritance was because of their simple faith in the blood of the Lamb.

That day, the Isrealites ate food from the land and the manna stopped. In the Promised Land, God provided food from crops. The Isrealites no longer needed manna, but they would have to assume some responsibility to working the land to get their food.

"In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." (Colossians 2:11-12)

We no longer have to be circumcised, but we do have to realize that we are free from the shame of sin. We need to realize that we are free and will receive the promises of God simply because of the blood of the Lamb.