Joshua 7:10 - Meaning and Application

Here is God’s answer to Joshua’s prayer. We can suppose it came from the Lord through the oracle above the ark, before which Joshua had fallen down, as verse 6 says. Those who want to know God’s will must come with earnest desire to his word and wait for his guidance there. If people find themselves under signs of God’s displeasure, they should not complain about him, but bring their complaint to him. Then they will receive a peaceful answer.

The answer came at once, while Joshua was still speaking, as in (Isaiah 65:24), and as God answered Daniel in (Daniel 9:20). God first encourages Joshua in his discouragement and fear about Israel’s condition in (Joshua 7:10): “Get up. Do not lie there face down.” Joshua had done right to humble himself before God and mourn under God’s displeasure. But now God tells him to stop staying in that sorrowful posture. God does not delight in the grief of repentant people any longer than it helps them toward pardon and peace. Even mourning has its proper ending. Joshua had stayed in mourning until evening, as in (Joshua 7:6), so late that nothing could be done that night to find the guilty person. Daniel, in (Daniel 9:21), and Ezra, in (Ezra 9:5-6), stayed in mourning only until the evening sacrifice, and that renewed them both. Joshua went beyond that time, so he is told to rise and not lie there all night.

Still, Moses did fall before the Lord for forty days and forty nights to plead for Israel, as in (Deuteronomy 9:18). Joshua must rise because he has other work to do. The devoted thing must be found and removed, and the sooner the better. Joshua is the one who must act, so it is time for him to put off mourning and take up the work of a judge. He must clothe himself with zeal, as with a cloak. Weeping must not keep a person from doing the next duty. One duty of faith should not crowd out another. Everything is beautiful in its proper time. Shechaniah may have had this in mind when he spoke to Ezra in a similar case, as in (Ezra 10:2-4).

Second, God tells Joshua the true and only reason for this disaster, and why he was contending with Israel in (Joshua 7:11): “Israel has sinned.” Joshua must not think God has changed his mind, shortened his hand, or failed in his promise. No, sin, that great troublemaker, has stopped God’s blessings and brought this breach on them. The sinner is not named, although the sin is described. At first it is spoken of as Israel’s act in general, until they discover the one who did it and clear themselves, as in (2 Corinthians 7:11).

Notice how serious the sin is made to look. First, they have broken God’s covenant, an open command with a penalty attached. God was to have all the spoil of Jericho, while Israel was to keep the spoil of the other cities of Canaan. By taking what belonged to God, they broke that covenant. Second, they took some of the devoted thing in contempt of the curse spoken against anyone who dared to seize what belonged to God. It was as if that curse meant nothing. Third, they stole it secretly, as if they could hide it from God’s all-seeing eye. They acted as though the Lord would not notice such a small thing out of such a large spoil. So they treated God as if he were just like them. Fourth, they lied about it. After the action was over, Joshua likely called the tribes together and asked whether they had followed God’s command about the spoil. He probably charged them, if they knew of any violation, to admit it. Achan, however, joined the others in a general claim of innocence and kept silent. He was like a woman guilty of adultery, who eats, wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wrong.” Fifth, they put the cursed thing among their own goods, as if they had as much right to it as to anything else they owned. They did not expect to be called to account, and they did not plan to give it back.

Joshua, though wise and watchful, knew nothing of this until God told him. God knows all the hidden evil in the world, even when people around it know nothing. God could have told Joshua exactly who had done this, but he did not. He did this, first, to stir up Joshua and Israel to search out the guilty man. Second, he did it to give the sinner time to repent and confess. Joshua likely announced at once through the camp that such a sin had been committed. If Achan had then given himself up, admitted his guilt, and stopped the inquiry, who knows whether he might have received the benefit of the law that allowed a trespass offering, with restitution, for those who sinned unknowingly in holy things, as in (Leviticus 5:15-16). But Achan did not reveal himself until the lot found him. That showed the hardness of his heart, and so he found no mercy.

Third, God wakes Joshua up to continue the inquiry. He tells him, first, that this was the only reason for the dispute God had with them, and nothing else. So when this cursed thing was removed, Joshua need not fear, and all would be well again. Their victories, once this one barrier was gone, would flow as strongly as before. Second, if this cursed thing was not destroyed, they could not expect God’s gracious presence to return. In plain words, “I will not be with you anymore as I have been, unless you destroy the cursed thing,” that is, the cursed person made so by the cursed object. What is cursed will be destroyed. Those whom God places in authority bear the sword in vain if they do not make it a terror to the evil that brings such judgments on a land. By personal repentance and change, we destroy the cursed thing in our own hearts. Unless we do that, we must never expect the favor of the blessed God. Let everyone know that sin alone separates people from God, and if it is not truly repented of and left behind, it will separate forever.

Fourth, God tells Joshua how to carry out the inquiry and punishment. He must sanctify the people overnight, that is, as verse 13 explains, he must command them to sanctify themselves. What more can rulers or ministers do toward sanctification? They must prepare people to stand before God and submit to his searching eye. They must examine themselves, now that God is coming to examine them, and get ready to meet their God.

They were told to sanctify themselves when they were about to receive God’s law at Sinai (Exodus 19), and they must do the same when they were about to come under God’s judgment. In both cases, God must be approached with the greatest reverence. “There is something cursed among you,” so “sanctify yourselves.” In other words, let everyone who is innocent clear themselves and be even more careful to keep themselves clean.

The sin of others can also help us grow in holiness. The shameful sin in the Corinthian church led to a good reform there (2 Corinthians 7:11). Joshua was also to bring the whole people under the searching of the lot (Joshua 7:14). First the tribe of the guilty person would be found, then the family, then the household, and finally the person himself. This judgment came in stages so he might have room to step forward and confess. God does not want anyone to perish, but wants all to come to repentance.

Notice that the Lord is said to take the tribe, family, and household on which the lot fell. The casting of lots is under the Lord’s direction, even when it seems random. His wisdom and justice rule over it. This also shows that when sinners are found out, God must be seen in it. He is the one who arrests them, and the arrest is made in his name. “God has found out your servants’ sin” (Genesis 44:16).

This also shows how surely and rightly the righteous God will tell the difference between the innocent and the guilty. For a time, both may seem to be caught in the same judgment, as the whole tribe was when it was first taken by lot. But he who has his winnowing fork in his hand will surely separate the precious from the worthless. So even if the righteous belong to the same tribe, family, and household as the wicked, they will never be treated as the wicked (Genesis 18:25).

When the guilty person was found, he had to be put to death without mercy (Hebrews 10:28), and the punishment had to show holy hatred of the sin (Joshua 7:15). He and all that belonged to him had to be burned with fire, so that nothing of the cursed thing would remain among them. The reason for this severe sentence was, first, that he had deeply insulted God by breaking the covenant of the Lord, who especially guards the honor of his holy covenant. Second, he had done great harm to God’s people. He had brought foolishness on Israel, shamed a nation that was known among its neighbors as wise and understanding, infected a people set apart for God, and troubled a people whom God protected.

Since these crimes were so serious and so harmful in their effect and example, the execution, which might otherwise seem cruel, was in fact necessary justice. It was sacrilege, a crime against holy things. It meant taking what belonged to God, using it for private gain, and treating as personal property what had been given to God’s glory and set apart for his sanctuary. This punishment was meant as a warning to all people in every age to be careful not to rob God.