Days 68&69: Joshua 7-14

The Israelites have defeated Jericho and now they are to move on into the land and start taking it over. Not just that, but they were to destroy everything and kill every living thing. These were their instructions. This was the way God was planning to punish the people living there for their evil and barbaric ways. Ok...while it seems sort of savage to me, I get it. But before they really get started we read these words:

But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel. (7:1)

Now, God is not only angry at the pagan people the Israelites are supposed to destroy, He's angry at His own people, too. This sin of Achan was costly. According to what we read in the rest of chapter 7 it was holding the entire nation back from being able to accomplish what God had instructed them to do. So after a process of sifting through the entire nation if Israel they finally discover, with God's leading, who the culprit was. God wants this dealt with. The people follow His instructions. What was Achan's punishment? Here  it is:

   Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today.”
   Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since. (7:24-26)

I have to say, if I'm being honest, that this makes me extremely uncomfortable. It raises a lot of questions in my mind. I understand that God expects His people to live exemplary lives...but does this punishment really fit the crime? What did Achan's sons and daughters have to do with it? The cattle and donkeys and sheep...really? And even Achan himself? Doesn't he get a chance to repent and do better next time? Maybe some time banned from the camp or some time in servitude...but death? As far as we know (which I admit, isn't very far) this was a first offense. Were there NO second chances? I accept the fact that God doesn't need to answer to me and my fallen sense of right and wrong but there are times when I realize that I have a lot to learn about God and how He is both a God of justice and grace.

On a completely different subject...I have to say that, over the past couple of years I suppose, I've been trying to deal with the whole concept of getting old...and what that means. It is absolutely true that it isn't until you've lived a LOT of years that you sense how truly brief this life is. The first verse of chapter 13 hit me like a ton of bricks this morning:

When Joshua had grown old, the LORD said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over." (13:1)

Wow. When I was younger, that verse sounded different. Then it seemed to speak of a lack of obedience to take all the land. Now it speaks to me of how quickly a life can slip by before we accomplish all that God may have in mind for us. I don't think Joshua really stopped being a faithful and obedient servant of God. I think maybe he just sort of got distracted. They had taken a LOT of the land. The nation was being established and stuff had to be done. Details had to be attended to. But the land was still out there...waiting.

I pray that I keep my mind and heart on the big picture. How sad it would be if one day God said to me, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over."

Caleb! Now there's a guy who aged well...and was ready to keep "taking the land":

“Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” (14:10-12)