Eliminate the cause of the title defeat
Contents
Joshua 7:1-13
As I meditated and thought about Joshua 7 over and over again and prepared this sermon, I realized one thing strongly. It is to eliminate the ‘cause of defeat’ in your life and my life. You and I have experienced big and small failures and defeats throughout our lives.
Every defeat in life has an exact reason. If you live your life without thoroughly diagnosing the cause, the biggest cost to you is bankruptcy of your life. Today we're going to think about a man named Achan, but from a human point of view, Achan's problem doesn't seem so fatal. He was just fighting and putting some of the trophies of victory into his veil. He never thought that his life would be ruined in such a way that this incident that he had secretly put in would ruin his life. What's more, he would not have known that his little thing would lead to the defeat of the entire Israeli community. But in reality it happened.
We have a bad image of Agan. From the outset, you might think that Achan is a heinous criminal, the kind of face that would make you wonder who would otherwise be Achan if someone committed a crime, but I think any of us can suddenly become the protagonists of these fatal consequences.
If you watch TV news, you will see the head of a fairly decent family who suddenly commits suicide, points a knife at the end of a fight with his wife, or is handcuffed while robbing a woman for lack of pocket money. There are cases where a person dies after getting drunk while having an argument. Nowadays, there are many homeless people in Jeongseon Casino who just went on vacation and gambled, but their life went bankrupt and they couldn't even go home. I see a lot of couples whose marriages end in bankruptcy, saying they didn't know it would be like this. I didn't want to do that, but I thought it would never happen, but he says that's how things turned out. Among those who have been contemplating with such a bewildered face, there is Achan today.
Let's look at verse 1. The children of Israel sinned because of the “sacrificial thing,” because a man named Achan took the “sacrificed thing.” In Chapter 7, the expression “sacrificed object” appears a total of eight times. What is a 'sacrifice' in this context? Think about it. The word dedicated is the original Hebrew word ‘herem’. Let me explain this a bit. It is a term used when offering sacrifices. The war against all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan is the Herem war, which means complete annihilation, so the Canaanite people are slain and destroyed, and Canaan is offered to God. When it becomes a Herem, when it is completely annihilated, Jehovah God is supposed to be glorified by it.
Israel must destroy all the inhabitants of Jericho to be dedicated to God, and all the treasures of Jericho must be dedicated to God's treasury. The problem is that if the complete annihilation of the ‘herem’ is not implemented, the destruction will be the responsibility of the individual and the community who did not implement it. In that sense, the Herem is the work of Israel's thorough victory and annihilation of Jericho, and if Jericho is saved or the treasures of Jericho are taken, it will not become a Herem. This becomes a very solemn rule of war. Jericho's jewels, livestock, and everything else are objects of Herem. So, if none of them are fully dedicated to God, and they are left behind and taken by themselves, the drunken person will be completely destroyed. Verse 1 tells us that Achan was caught in this very part.
What to do with the spoils of Jericho to the entire Israeli army has been strictly ordered. Let's look at 6:18. Joshua clearly explains how to defeat Jericho when the walls of Jericho fall, when Israel advances into Jericho, how to win the city of Jericho, and how to deal with the spoils of victory. If you read Chapter 7 carefully, everything that violated the military guidelines after the victory in 6:17-18 unfolds as it is. 6:18 So we should meditate on it carefully. If this is neglected and violated, it is usually not a problem.
Military Guidelines 1) All spoils are dedicated to Jehovah! 2) Save the prostitute Rahab and her family 3) Refrain from taking anything to be sacrificed, and if someone gets drunk, the next thing is important. Not only that individual, but the entire camp of Israel will be offended! This is translated in the English Bible as two dimensions of destruction. The one who takes the sacrifice will bring his own destruction, and that will lead to the destruction of the whole community! This is it.
Today, Achan doesn't think what he ought to think about, and he thinks about what he shouldn't. But let us keep in mind why and for what reason did Achan break the law of Herem, which Joshua clearly and solemnly warned of, and lead him to a fatal defeat in life? This is it. We need to realize two principles while looking at Achan's catastrophe. And you have to stay awake.
First, uncommitted greed leads to the ruin of an individual's life.
In verse 1, Achan sees the booty in the victorious atmosphere of Jericho and takes some. The sacrificed items refer to all the treasures in the city of Jericho. However, Achan, who appears to be in charge of handling the loot, gathers things and puts them into the tent of God, and his eyes are focused. It is at this point right here that we should pay attention. The things that came into Achan's eyes and couldn't take his eyes off of them are not found in verse 1, but are detailed in verse 21.
A beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and fifty shekels of gold, so what was the cause of Achan's fatal failure? A cloak made in Babylon, and an unspeakable obsession with gold and silver. Often we do not have an accurate self-understanding of our addictions or addictions. Most of the time, what people say when the problem gets bigger is, I don't know, I don't know why I did it then! I don't know, I can't even explain it at the time!
Did you not hear the instructions on the spoils of Jericho, which Joshua solemnly proclaimed by Achanman? Didn't he stop knowing that this battle was the Herem War? Didn't he hear that Achan would destroy all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan and that all the first harvest should be dedicated to God? But it was not Joshua's solemn proclamation that was decisive in Achan's heart and actions. It is not even the word of truth from God. It's not even his mission. The only thing that one is attracted to is what the Bible calls greed.
This is different for each person, so some people are obsessed with clothes and some people are obsessed with their dishes when they wear clothes casually. Some people are obsessed with shoes. Ladies and gentlemen, the cloak from Shinar was probably one of the few brands of clothing worn by the kings of Jericho or the most noble nobles. A cloak studded with gold and silver and precious stones, perhaps the first time he had ever seen Achan, his eyes widened.
I need to make sure I know what I am obsessed with. Each of us has so many different and subtle obsessions that there are obsessions with the visible, but also the obsessions with the invisible. Obsession with clothes is actually an obsession with brands, and sometimes it is an expression of obsession with rising status. Sometimes this obsession turns into a very positive one.
The Pharisees' obsession, for example, is a black hole's obsession with respect and honor. The obsession with children is wrapped in a pretty wrapper of love and nurturing, and it looks beautiful at first glance. It is this problem that is the one that leads our lives to defeat. Achan crosses the line drawn by God through his obsession with gold and silver and his beautiful cloak from Shinar.
When I look at Hong Seok-hyun, the US ambassador these days, I feel pity for seeing all of his life plans and visions go to waste overnight. After serving as the president of the JoongAng Ilbo, he was selected as the US ambassador. He said he wanted to go to the United Nations and show his will on the international stage. However, the deep thoughts and words he shared about twenty years ago were spread out in the bedrooms of the people of the country, and his political career ended in bankruptcy. Achan must have held a fairly high position in the Israeli army. A job of sorting loot and storing it in a warehouse was a pretty good job at the time. But his life collapses horribly in front of all Israel.
The events of verses 16-26 are a tragic picture of Achan's personal life being destroyed in front of all communities. God tells us to find those unconsecrated ones. From verse 16, Joshua brings together all of Israel in a humble manner and identifies those who are not dedicated by tribe, by chieftain, by family, by individual. I would like to apply this verse in this way. We also need to identify areas of our lives that are not yet committed. Joshua doesn't roughly do this.
Because God looks at Joshua with his flaming eyes to see if Joshua handles the matter carefully. Moreover, if this identification is not done correctly, it is clear that all future battles in Canaan will be on the same level as the defeat of the city of Ai. A saint whose undedicated area is hidden because of that problem, he stops growing, always falls because of that problem, and suffers from stagnation because of that problem.
With Joshua's fierce discernment, Achan is finally called before the community. And he offers what he has drunk with greed. The cloak from Shinar, which was hidden deep in the tabernacle, fifty shekels of gold, and two hundred shekels of silver. Verse 21 tells the reason why Achan himself sinned, but when I saw it, I coveted it. It's greed. Greed is the opposite of dedication and devotion. From verse 24, Achan was stoned to piles of stones, not only with himself, but with all his sons and daughters, along with the gold and silver cloak that he had taken, and all the tents of his family, and all his cattle, donkeys and sheep. and get burned.
Think about why God treated Achan so terribly. This is because all the battles in the land of Canaan must not end in defeat. If the root of greed is not cut off and left without surgery, undedicated people and people who do not want to give to God are mass produced, and if they are God's people and remain unconsecrated, the land of Canaan will be victorious. is not guaranteed.
Second, greed without commitment leads to the defeat of the whole community.
Achan's obsession eventually leads to crime and contaminates the entire community. Until verses 2-5, the battle of Ai fortress leads to a huge defeat that I never expected. It's zinc-colored. From verse 4, it is the exact opposite of the battle of Jericho. The soldiers who had gone up against Ai immediately fled, and Israel went down the slope.