Rahab and Achan

The title of the sermon today, I've entitled it, Rahab and Achan, Defining Faith. Rahab and Achan, Defining Faith. Jericho, the city of palms, was a gateway into central Canaan. It was about to become a place of trumpet calls. God was about to fulfill his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob after delivering the children of Israel from Egypt and guiding them through the wilderness for 40 years. God had led them to the plains of Moab, to Acacia Grove, four miles east of the Jordan River. Ten miles west of their encampment on the other side of the Jordan River, the fortress city of Jericho barred their way. Now, the city of Jericho, indeed, was a fortress. The city's water spring and its finest buildings, its merchant stalls, its residences, including the kings, sat atop a hill that was surrounded by a mud brick wall that was six feet thick and 20 to 26 feet high. That's what our latest archaeological evidence is telling us. Now, the base of that wall, the city's upper wall, was 46 feet above the ground where any would-be invaders would be marching. But surrounding the bottom of that hill was a great earth and ram part or embankment with an outer stone retaining wall at its base. And that retaining wall was some 12 to 15 feet high, and on top of that was another mud brick wall 6 feet thick and again about 20 to 26 feet high. Now, it is in this fortress city of Jericho, a city god accursed for utter destruction, that two very different people made two very different choices about trusting and obeying God. Now, we easily remember the name of one of those two people, I believe. Her name is Rahaf. Or, because I don't want to try to remember how to pronounce that Hebrew name the rest of the sermon, I'm going to say Rahab, like most of us Americans do. Now, Rahab risked her life to save two spies sent by Joshua. And then, because of her belief and faithful actions, God saved Rahab and her family from certain destruction. Now, the name of the other person may not as quickly come to mind, but is also related to Jericho. There's a Han. Achan. Achan disobeyed God and stole what God had set apart for himself. And because of his lack of faith, his lack of obedience, God punished Achan and his family with death and destruction. Now, the stories of Rahab and Achan, each in its own way, do much to help us define faith, the type of faith God wants us to have. Nowadays, faith is a word whose true meaning has become, well, I believe it's become rather muddled and confused. Society in general has so watered down the meaning of faith, this word through its popular culture and all its different religious traditions and views, that for many people, and perhaps even us sometimes, it has lost much of its original meaning. Its flavor and vigor. Excuse me, vigor. It's been watered down a little bit. Faith for many now is mainly a strong feeling or a belief or conviction that God exists. And that part is very true. We must believe that God exists. But faith is far more than feelings or belief. True faith means more than saying, I believe in God. True faith also means to believe God and to do what he says.

In today's sermon, we will study the stories of Rahab and Achan to better understand what God has to teach us about real, living faith. We need to understand what faith requires so that we can have that faith that will assure us eternal life in the kingdom of God.

Let's start first with Rahab. In Rahab, we first find... well, let me back up. In Rahab, we first want to turn to Hebrews 11.30. I almost went to the Old Testament first, but I really do want to start in the New Testament. Let's turn to Hebrews 11, verse 30.

Hebrews 11.30-31. Paul mentions Rahab as an exemplar, a great example of faith for all Christians. Hebrews 11, verse 30, we read, By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, and after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace. Then, if we turn forward a few pages to James 2.25, Dr. Ward's been helping us through the Bible study in the book of James, and I'd like for his turn look here again. James 2.25. James explains in this very powerful passage about what faith requires, how it requires works. He also names Rahab as an example of someone who had living faith. James 2.25, he writes, Likewise was not Rahab the harlot, also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Rahab had faith, it tells us, because she believed, and her actions proved it. To help us understand the significance of Paul's and James' statements about faith and words and actions, I specifically, especially, want to focus on Rahab as we start. I like to try to analyze closely who people are. It's part of my training. And so today, as we start, I want us to take a little more time to really focus on what we know about Rahab. What can we gain from Scripture? And we look at the clues and tidbits and things that are there. We're going to analyze it a little bit, is what we'd say. So we're going to look at who she was, what we know about her, what made her faith so very exceptional, what motivated her. Let's start. Now we'll go back to the Old Testament. We're going to turn to the book of Joshua, where we hear most about Rahab and her story. Return to Joshua 2. Let's turn to Joshua 2, please, and we're going to begin there. Joshua 2, verse 1. Now Joshua, the son of none, sent out two men from Acacia Grove, despite secretly saying, Go, view the land, especially Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. Now sometimes in the Bible, now we hear the word harlot and some of us want to cover up the kids' ears. Don't do that. Okay, it's in the Bible. But harlot, you see, is an old-fashioned English word. We don't say that a whole lot nowadays. Today we would call Rahab a prostitute, and a prostitute is someone who provides sexual pleasure for money. That's a fact. Now many good people, well-meaning people, have tried to rewrite the Bible, tried to rewrite what Scripture says, because they really don't like the fact that Rahab is called a harlot, a prostitute. Somehow that doesn't fit with their idea of good people. But I didn't know God called just good people. So they don't like the fact that Rahab's a harlot. Some scholars through years have tried to rewrite her occupation, yet the Hebrew and Greek words agree. It says what it says. The Bible says she was a prostitute. But now we should also understand something about why women might find themselves in that occupation. Historically, most women who turned to prostitution have done so out of dire circumstances. They have no other way to provide for themselves and their families. They have to do something to survive and to avoid starvation. Now later we'll read that Rahab had parents and brothers and sisters, but no husband.

That has led some scholars to speculate, well, perhaps Rahab's husband had died. Perhaps she was a widow, and circumstances have forced her to provide for herself. We'll never know in this life. But in any case, I would say that her profession would not have been an easy one for her. Could you imagine continually putting your life in the hands of other men, always at risk and in danger? However, as a prostitute, Rahab would have been acquainted with a variety of people, high and low, including travelers from near and far. In that place and time at Jericho, the house of a prostitute would have been a valuable source of news and of rumors of information. So, it's not unlikely that this could be a reason why Joseph's two spies would have first gone to this house of a prostitute. What better place to go to learn about the state of affairs than Jericho? He certainly isn't going to go to the king and ask what he thinks. So, you go to the underbelly of society to find out what's going on. But as we'll see, the king of Jericho also had his spies, didn't he? And keeping secrets in Jericho was not easy to do. So, let's go on and read in Joshua 2, verses 2 through 7. Now, let's see. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country. So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out the country. See, everybody knows what's going on. Eyes are everywhere. Then the woman took the two men and hid them, and she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out, where the men went. I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof. Well, then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords, the river crossing. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now, this verse suggests that, to me, as I look at what kind of person would be able to lie to the king's men, who already knew that those spies had been there.

I think these verses suggest that Rahab was probably a rather confident woman, intelligent, and very courageous at the same time. You see, the king commands her to turn over those two spies, and instead of lying outright, she tells the truth, but a little bit. She tells a very convincing half-truth. So when the spies first came to her, she probably honestly didn't know where they came from. That part was probably true. But then she lies when she says they already left. To lend credence to her lie, she knows how she mimics the fear of the king's men, the king's messengers. And so, to make her lie a little more convincing, she tells them, hurry up, go, go get them. They just went. I think that's pretty intelligent. I'm not recommending any children try that to be convincing to their parents, but we are talking about human nature carnality here, and it worked effectively to help protect Joshua's two spies. She was convincing, and they took off. Now continuing verse 8, So before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men, I know that the Eternal has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of land are fate-hearted because of you. Now that's exactly sort of information spies would like to know. For we have heard how the Eternal dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of Jordan, of Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. For the Eternal your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now don't these statements sound like statements of conviction?

If we study them closely, we'll find in them also an amazing statement of her faith and conviction in the God of Israel. I find these words especially meaningful because she's a Canaanite woman, a Canaanite. I know that the Lord, the Eternal, has given you the land.

It's capitalized here, L-O-R-D, uppercase letters. That stands for Yahweh. Some say Yehovah. The point is here, I believe, that she's using the proper name for the God of Israel.

It would be understandable if the children of Israel, those people, called their own God by his own sacred name. But she knows of it, and she uses that name, which seems rather significant. She also adds, because of what they have heard about the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt and the destruction of their neighbors, Sihon and Og, those kings would have been doing business all along with Jericho. They weren't that far away, maybe 15-20 miles away. News travels fast in a little part of the country like this. So, of course, they are terrified when they heard two other great kingdoms, city kingdoms, had fallen. And they had lost all courage and hope. And why? As she says in verse 11, because the Eternal your God, he is God in heaven, above, and on earth beneath. Her words ring with that sincerity in all. We should also appreciate, I think, the fact that the convictions about God here are solely based upon what she has heard. Did she see the destruction of these kings? Did she see them cross the Red Sea? She's only heard the stories. And the reason why Rahab did not turn the spies over to the king's men becomes very clear. It's because she's already convinced that their God truly is God.

Now, let's continue on verse 12 through 13. 13. Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Eternal, by Yahweh, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, in all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. She has acted in good faith, in great peril to herself, to save the lives of these two spies, these two strangers who have come to her home.

That is indeed a great kindness. So she pleads for a similar kindness from them. What can you do for me? And notice she doesn't ask for herself first. She's also asking for her family.

More than just herself, for her family. Just like we saw with the king's messengers, his guards, she seems rather bold, doesn't she? She's not afraid to speak up. Very bold, not afraid to ask. And when she begs them to vow by Yahweh to spare their lives, she again reveals her faith and conviction about God. And this time in the power of a vow, given in the name of their God, the God of Israel, the God that she seems to be rather convinced is the true God. The two spies agree, and will do as she asks, but there are some conditions. First, Rahab and her family must keep secret, must keep silent until no one about their coming there. Verse 14-16. So the men answered her, and said, Our lives for yours. If none of you tell this business of ours, and it shall be when the eternal has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall. That would be the outer wall. That's where the poor people lived. Okay? The upper wall, upper city, were for the wealthy. So she's living on the lower wall at the bottom of the hill. And so she lets them down by the rope. She dwelled on the wall, and she said to them, Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. She's giving them advice. She seems like she already knows how they're going to go about looking for them. Hide there three days until the pursuers have returned, and afterward you may go your way.

It's interesting how her words and actions must have quickly went over the two spots.

You know, they're strangers. They don't know each other, but how quickly they, they quickly trust each other, believe each other. And as we'll see later, these two spies do exactly as she says. Continuing on, verse 17, So the men said to her, We will be blameless of this oath of yours, which you have made us swear, unless when we come into the land you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down. And unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. Okay? To your own home.

And so it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. They have to keep their part of the bargain. And whoever is in your house, his hand shall be on our head if a hand is laid on them. Somebody hurt you in your house, and we said they wouldn't? Well, then that's on us. They're both putting their lives on the line for each other. And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath, which you made us swear. So the conditions of their oath to one another are clear. Rahab, who has risked her life, everything, to hide these two spies would continue to risk her life by keeping their secret. And in return, the two spies vowed to save the lives of Rahab and her family when Jericho would be destroyed. You notice neither Rahab nor the spies have any doubt that Jericho is to be destroyed? How's that for believing God? There's no question. They're not arguing that it's not going to happen or not. So she has to bind the scarlet cord in her window and keep all her family within her own home when the attack finally comes. Ultimately, all would need to trust God to see their oaths fulfilled. And so Rahab accepts the terms of agreement without really any hesitation, and she does exactly as they said. Verse 21, she said, according to your word, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed, and she bound the scarlet cord in the window. The spies likewise, as I said earlier, they followed her directions exactly in verse 22. What do they do? They departed and went to the mountains and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned, just like she said to do. And the pursuers sought them all along the way, but they did not find them. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over. And they came to Joshua, the son of none, and told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua, truly the Eternal has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint-hearted because of us. Even reporting, it seems to me, the very words of Rahab to Joshua and their report.

Well, if the spy is gone, it doesn't mean that Rahab's situation is any less precarious. Everyone in Jericho knew the Israelites and their God were coming.

All of them said they were terrified. Courage and hope were gone. But Rahab showed the courage and conviction, and we're going to call it faith, to turn to this powerful God of the Israelites, who is about to destroy them all.

Who better to turn to than the God who's already proven that he can destroy any enemy? Wouldn't that make sense to get on that side real quick? Again, I think she's a rather intelligent woman. She believed God would save her family. She had heard and believed the stories about this mighty God. So instead of trusting Jericho's mighty and man-made walls, Rahab did what no one else in Jericho did. She chose to trust entirely in the God of Israel, but one true God in heaven above and on earth below. That's what she said. And her conviction directed her actions and proved the depth of her faith. Now we're next going to read about Rahab and Joshua 6. Turn forward, please. A few pages. Joshua 6. Joshua 6. We're going to start down to 17. Joshua 6. Joshua receives the spies' reports about Rahab.

And he actually directs the men of war specifically to spare Rahab and her family. Joshua 6, 17.

Now the city shall be doomed by the eternal to destruction and all in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. Did Joshua have to pay attention to the spies' oath to her? I guess so. I guess they're all very faithful and devout to God.

He has them do exactly what they said they do. And also, he also gave special orders to those two spies down in verse 23. And the young men who had been the spies, those two young men, same two men, they went in, he ordered them, they went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. It's appropriate that he sent the two men who had already made the oath with her. And of course, they probably knew the way to her house. They knew the way that would have been the smart thing to do. But it's amazing how they would have been there and led her and her family through the ruined walls of Jericho. Everything would have fallen flat outwards, which makes a nice ramp, like a wheelchair ramp, to get them in and out. They got them in and out safely. God honored the oaths made by Rahab and by the two spies. God rewarded Rahab's faith and obedience in him. And God did even more than that. What else did God do for Rahab? Well, you may recall something in Matthew 1. Let's flip forward to Matthew 1. I bet most of you know this. But you know what? There's a lot of people out there that don't pay attention to genealogies.

But let's turn here. Matthew 1. Rahab's name is mentioned here, too. Matthew 1, in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. In verse 2, Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zera by Tamar. Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amenadab, Amenadab begot Ne'chon, and Ne'chon begot Solomon. Solomon begot Boaz by Rahab.

He begot Boaz by Rahab. Boaz begot Obed by Ruth. Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. Rahab became the great-great-grandmother of King David. That also made her an ancestor of Jesus Christ. Not many people realize that, but I think we may have known that before.

It's simply amazing, I think, to the degree to which God will bless those whose attitudes and convictions and actions prove that they believe Him. It proves that they have living faith. Living faith in God. They believe God. Now, the other person that was there, Jericho, let's shift our attention here and consider Achan. Achan, as we probably know, I've told you, and you've read your Bibles, you know this. Achan was also at Jericho the day the walls fell down.

I think it's ironic when you think about it. While these two young men were leading Rahab and her family out of Jericho, on those broken-down walls, and to the safety outside the walls of Jericho, while the two young men are leading Rahab and her family through the rubble of Jericho, Achan was somewhere nearby, stealing what was God's.

What was God's? In bringing God's doom upon Himself and His family. And as we know later, He also brings doom upon His entire people, the children of Israel. I find it amazing and ironic you can imagine these two events occurring simultaneously, perhaps, right under God's eyes. One is going to be blessed for her faith. The other is going to be cursed for his lack of faith.

Now, who was Achan? We studied a little bit into Rahab. Don't you want to know a little bit about Achan too? I sure did. What kind of person was he? What had been his experiences in life? And why would he disobey God? We first read of Achan in Joshua 7. The first time we see his name, it's kind of at the end of things, but that's where we need to go. In Joshua 7, we're going to read verse 1. This is where we first read about Achan. The children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things. We're going to find out more about that too in a bit.

They made a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zira of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things, so the anger of the eternal burned against the children of Israel. Now, compared to Rahab, we don't know anything about Rahab's ancestry, do we? Until she gets to be a part of the tribe of Judah through marriage, we know nothing about her lineage, where she came from, who her parents were, but Achan's is well known. Achan was the great-grandson of Zira, a son of Judah by Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law. That's interesting. We also learned that Achan was a man of means, and he had a family. Let's look in Joshua 7, verse 24. You can go down a few scriptures there. Joshua 7, 24. We find out some more about Achan here. Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan, the son of Zira, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the valley of Aachar.

Again, we're looking at the outcome of decisions here, but I'm wanting to look at this because it gives us clue about who this man was. So we notice here that Achan had children, yet sons and daughters. But it's interesting, again, we have no mention of a spouse, no mentions made of a wife. Perhaps he was a widower. Also, I'd point out to us that he was by no means a poor man. He was not destitute. To have oxen, donkeys, and sheep in this time period was a sign of great comfort, a wealth, we might even say. He was not destitute. He was not a poor man. Not like perhaps Rahab was.

Poor woman. Now, what might have Achan experienced through his lifetime? Again, who was this person? If we're doing a character sketch to see who was this person that caused such trouble for Israel and dissipated God, who was he? What might he have experienced during his lifetime? Well, if we read the history of ancient Israel since coming out of Egypt and reading those events and matching the time period Achan was alive, we can come up with some pretty good ideas of what he might have lived through, what he might have experienced.

He would have likely shared in most of the experiences the Israelites had that we have recorded in the books of Deuteronomy and others. First, let's turn to Deuteronomy 29 to get a clue of what was going on, perhaps recently in his life and previously. What was going on in Achan's life? Who was this man? Who was this man Achan?

What can we know about him? In Deuteronomy 29, I'd like for us to start in verse 5. This is a summary we could say given by Moses of the incidents the children of Israel had experienced since coming out of Egypt, since their deliverance. I think it's interesting if we read this with Achan in mind. Achan might well have witnessed and experienced most of these events for himself, depending on how old he was. If we put Pisa together, he was likely, he couldn't have entered into the Promised Land if he was over 60.

He was probably no older than 59. If he was a man of war, you couldn't be a man of war unless you were at least 20. He is between the ages of 20 and 59. He has pure speculation with sons and daughters, mid-20s, 30s. He is a full-grown man.

Perhaps, as we might say, he should know better. He was an adult. He wasn't a youth. But let's look at verse 5. Let's see what this summary by Moses tells us about some of the things Achan might have experienced for himself. We read here in verse 5, and I have led you, Moses speaking, I have led you 40 years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Eternal your God.

And when you came to this place, Sihan, king of Hashban and all king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, to the half tribe of Manasseh. Therefore, keep the words of this covenant, and do them that you may prosper in all that you do. Now, this account by Moses reminds us of the history and recent events Achan and all the Israelites would have experienced.

I kind of bulleted the items here a little bit. You don't have to write them down, but just think about this. Achan would have stood with all Israel and heard with his own ears these very words of Moses that we just read. Moses had stood before the children of Israel and spoken these words that are recorded here in Deuteronomy 29. Now, if he was a good Israelite, he would have been right there listening all along himself. Achan could have witnessed, as a child, if he was a little older, he could have been a child, as a child he could have witnessed the many plagues and wonders of coming out of Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. And if he wasn't born until after the children of Israel left Egypt, just imagine all the eyewitness accounts, everybody's eyewitness accounts of that movement out of Egypt through the Red Sea and the miracles.

Surely he would have heard all those from his own family members and people. We know how people love to tell stories about the good old days, right? He would have heard those as a child growing up if he hadn't actually seen it for himself, if he was too old for that. Achan would literally have followed God along with all other Israelites for most, if not all, of his life.

He would pull her fire by night, cloud by day. His clothes and his sandals never wore out. I went and all of his parents loved that for our kids. His clothes and shoes never wore out, ever. That's a miracle. Achan had been eating manna for most, if not all, of his life. Achan, time to go get some manna. Oh, Mom, do I have to? That may have been part of his growing up. That gift of God, manna from heaven. Now, if we assume he was a man of war, and since he's in Jericho, I'm kind of making that assumption, if he were a man of war, then Achan quite possibly witnessed the astonishing defeat of Sihan, King of the Amorites, and Og, King of Beshan.

He would have been there, possibly fighting right there in the midst of it. He would have seen the destruction of the Midianites, including the prophet Balaam.

He would have been a part of that, possibly. Now, unlike we who can only imagine these scenes in our little video machines in our brains, Achan would have actually seen and heard and experienced many of these things for himself, wouldn't he? Now, the question I have—maybe you're getting where I'm going with this—wouldn't all this have made it easier for him to believe and trust God?

You understand what I'm saying? You see all this?

Boy, if I saw even one of these little things, I'd probably be really scared straight, if you know what I mean. What else would Achan have recently experienced? What else? What else? Let's turn to Deuteronomy 34. Deuteronomy 34. Deuteronomy 34, for example, most recently—well, maybe not most recently, but more recently in his life at this time—these are around Jericho—more recently, Deuteronomy 34.8, Achan, along with all the children of Israel, would have just finished mourning the death of Moses, the man that the only leader they had only known, he had died. Deuteronomy 34.8 says, In the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab—that's the Acacia Grove—thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended. He was there.

More recently in his life, about one week after the two spies had fled from Jericho, Achan would have crossed the Jordan River during flood stage.

Now, it's impossible from what we read of historical accounts in even recent days, until they built these beautiful superstructures and feats of engineering. It would have been impossible back then to cross the Jordan River during flood stage. And indeed, that's what we read in Scripture. It's an impossible feat without the direct intervention of God. But let's look at this. Joshua 3. Joshua 3, 14-17. They're here at the River Jordan, and they're about—well, they're going through at this point.

They're witnessing for themselves—perhaps many of these that most of them never have seen the Red Sea crossing—but they're getting something like it in miniature, aren't they? Here's this miraculous crossing reminiscent of that great crossing of the Red Sea forty years earlier, and it's described here in Joshua 3.14. Joshua 3.14. So it was when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan—they're leaving Acacia Grove four miles away, traveling to the River Jordan—they come from their camp to cross over the Jordan with the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people. And as those who bore the Ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priest who bore the Ark dipped in the edge of the water, for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest. This would be the spring harvest. This is—we usually associate this event with the spring holy days. When their feet touched the water, that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap bunched up, very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zeratan, so that the waters that went down in the Sea of Araba, the Salt Sea, the Dead Sea, failed and were cut off, and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Wow. Could you imagine what impact this miraculous crossing would have had—you think it would have had—on the mind and heart of Achan? Imagine he's crossing there. He and his sons and daughters, driving their oxen, their donkeys and sheep across this dry riverbed. Now the River Jordan. Have you ever tried to drive donkeys and sheep? Maybe they got loose over this riverbed. You know, it was work. I wonder if you thought about the miracle that was going on. And Shirley Achan would have watched as Joshua then, later on, ordered and took 12 stones, gathered from the midst of this riverbed, and set them up as a memorial at their new camp at Gilgal.

You probably would have seen that. Joshua 4. Let's look at Joshua 4, 21-24. This was a very big event in the lives of the children of Israel. After 40 years of—and longer—hundreds of years of promises that they would go to the Promised Land, Achan is alive. He's one of the chosen that's right there going over the river. He's entering in the Promised Land. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob look forward to this day. He's actually living it! Joshua 4. 21-24. Then he spoke to the children of Israel, Joshua, saying, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, what are these stones that they've set up? Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land. For the Eternal your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Eternal your God did the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over. That all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Eternal, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Eternal your God. You may fear the Eternal your God forever. How deep of an impact did Joshua's words have upon Achan's mind? This is for everybody else to know what's going on. He just lived it.

Did he fear God? Now, shortly after Joshua erects this memorial at Gilgal, God does something else very memorable, especially for all the male Israelites.

Yeah. He commanded that all the male Israelites be circumcised.

None of them, it seems, had been circumcised during their years in the wilderness. Joshua 5, 7-8. Joshua 5, 7-8. So Joshua circumcised their sons whom he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way and the way of the wilderness. So it was when they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Now, it's quite possible that Achan had been born in the wilderness. He would have been circumcised, and certainly his sons would have been circumcised at this time as well. This was necessary to reestablish, to reaffirm the covenant relationship God had made with the children of Israel. That symbol of circumcision had to be there, or he would not give the promised land to them. That was part of the covenant of circumcision.

So reaffirming the covenant relationship with God would allow the children of Israel to receive their land and all the blessings promised to them. Achan was there, possibly painfully aware of what was going on. It should have been something memorable. He should have understood the significance of this. We would hope, we would think. Well then, four days after crossing the Jordan River, the Israelites kept the Passover now at Gilgal. Now the Passover especially marked the ending of many things that Achan and all the Israelites there had known, most of them for all their lives. But it also marks their new beginning in the promised land. Back in Joshua 5 verse 10.

Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho, Gilgal. In the aid of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and the parched grain on the very same day.

Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but the eighth of food of the land of Canaan that year. Achan would never again taste manna, but only the food of the promised land.

They come all the way. After all those years of promising, they're there, and Achan is right there, right there.

Now what's the point I'm making with all this?

The point I'm making or trying to make, hopefully I'm making, the point I'm making here is that due to all these miraculous and memorable events in Achan's life, we would expect him to fervently believe and obey God. He had actually lived in close proximity to God every day of his life. He had eaten manna, his shoes and clothes never wore out, he crossed the Jordan River without getting his feet wet, and he had committed himself to God's covenant through circumcision. He had likely marched around Jericho for seven days as well, and witnessed with his own eyes the walls come tumbling down.

He was one of God's chosen people.

Rahab. Rahab had only heard stories about God and his chosen people, yet she believed and acted with great conviction and faith. Surely his faith would have been stronger than Rahab's. But it wasn't. Why is that? Why wasn't his faith like her faith? He'd seen more, done more. So now we're going to turn and focus on the events specifically surrounding Achan's actions that day in Jericho, beginning in Joshua 6. We're going to skip around a little bit in Joshua 6. Now, in Joshua 6, Achan, but this time before the walls, they get their directions from Joshua, who got them from God. Achan would have known God's clear directions about the pillaging of Jericho, because Joshua shared God's directions, his commands, with the people. What were those directions? In Joshua 6, 17 through 19, we've read this before, Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to eternal to destruction, yet in all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she in all who are with her, in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you, you men of war, you people, by all means keep yourselves from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. But all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the eternal. They are to be set aside to God. They are gods. They are accursed to anybody, but to God. They are His.

They are to be consecrated to the eternal. They shall come into the treasury of the eternal.

Sounds pretty clear to me. God had clearly commanded that everything there, all who are in it, were to be destroyed. The people, the animals, everything became God. The people and animals were to be killed. They were the accursed things. The accursed word for accursed here is the Hebrew word kiram, and it means a thing appointed to utter destruction. And if they took these things, you can imagine they suddenly became the accursed thing.

However, as we know, when previously read in Joshua 7-1, Achan did fail to obey God's directions. Joshua 7-1, again, he took of the accursed things, and so the anger of the eternal burned against the children of Israel. Sadly, Joshua wouldn't find out that someone had broken God's command and taken something from Jericho and kept it for himself. He wouldn't learn of this act of disobedience until he had already sent 3,000 men to take the nearby city of Ai. What should have been an easy victory for them turned into a rout. The Israelites fled, leaving 36 dead behind them. For them, that was a military disaster. It was a sign that God had suddenly withdrawn his blessing from them. By his action of disobedience to God, Achan had not only made himself accursed to God, but to all Israel as well. The source of God's displeasure had to be removed. And so Joshua, obeyed God's warning, told the people to prepare themselves in picking the story line up in verse 14, Joshua 7-14. We read, verse 14-15, In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes.

And it shall be that the tribe which the Eternal takes shall come according to families, and the family which the Eternal takes shall come by household, and the household which the Eternal takes shall come man by man. Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire. He in all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Eternal, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.

All Israel then, surely including Achan, had all night, because this is the next morning, they had all night to weigh these fearful words of God. Surely Achan knew that God would find him out. Why didn't he go quickly to Joshua, or Eliezer the priest, and confess what he did? Get it out! Perhaps God would be merciful. Now scripture doesn't specifically tell us how God indicated to Joshua which tribe and clan household. Eventually, a person did this. Some scholars say maybe it was the ephod, perhaps a lottery of sorts. We don't really know but it became known. Achan was revealed to be the guilty man. Yet even then, I'm beginning to think Achan's a little stubborn, yet even then Achan seemed unwilling to confess his sin. Notice how in verse 19 Joshua approached Achan and begged him to confess. Joshua says, chapter 7, Joshua said to Achan, my son, I beg you, give glory to the eternal God of Israel and make confession to him and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me. Finally, he coughs it up as we'd say nowadays. Finally, he admits his sin. He answered Joshua, verse 20-21. He said, indeed, I have sinned against the eternal God of Israel and this is what I have done. When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with the silver under it. Now, besides the Babylonian garment, we get this from Josephus. Josephus says that Babylonian garment was made of gold. Sounds attractive. A little flashy, but he wanted it. But other other evangelical sources say it was made of fine wool. We don't know. But Achan had stolen, buried in a hole in her tent, along with that, about five pounds of gold, and a little bit of silver. That's what the shekels would come out to. Talents and shekels, and nearly 20 ounces of gold. Now, according to most recent data on the price of gold and silver, that silver and gold would be worth about $30,000 today. I looked it up today. It'd be worth about $30,000. That's how much gold and silver he had taken. Now continuing verse 24. Then Joshua and all Israel with him took ache in the son of Zera, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, oxen, all his wealth, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, all that he had, and they brought them to the valley of Acre. And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? The Eternal will trouble you this day.

So all Israel stoned him with the stones. And this is a part that's disturbing to us, isn't it?

He stoned Achan, the sons, and the daughters, even those animals.

And then after they were dead, they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

Achan's choice to disobey God led to his own dishonorable death, the death of his family, destruction of all he had, all he valued, because grief and other people's family, 36 other men of war, had been killed.

Even his name and reputation became his words for scorn and derision. His name now means trouble-er and became forever associated with this sorrowful place near Jericho, where he was stoned. And we see it named here. It's called the Valley of Acre, or the Valley of Trouble. It's named after Achan.

How unlike the outcome of Rahab's choice to obey God? You know, if we turn back to Matthew once more, I found something interesting here. Matthew 1, one more time. Let's look at that genealogy one more time. I find it interesting how it just amazes me. I'm not... it's just amazing what you find when you study things closely.

If we go back to Matthew 1 once more, I'd like for us to know something... I don't know how significant this is, necessarily, but it's just really interesting and fascinating to me. And as we noted earlier, Achan's great grandfather was Zerah. All right? Zerah. Look in verse 2. Let's see, not verse 2. Verse 3. Verse 3, Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

That shows us that Zerah, Achan's great grandfather, was a brother of Perez. Those were the twins that were born to Judah and Tamar. Perez is a branch that Rahab was to join by marriage, and it's that branch that brought forth King David and Jesus Christ.

Now, I don't know what... I just want you to think about that. Two twins. Two totally different outcomes. Achan and his bloodline were cut off, pruned away, you might say. How very sad. After living his entire life hearing and seeing and experiencing for himself God's miraculous and observable presence in his life and the lives of others, he did not obey God's rather simple directions. Yet Rahab, she gets joined to the branch under Perez that brings forth King David and Jesus Christ. She was a Canaanite prostitute, only heard stories about the God of Israel. She risked everything, believed God, acted to aid his spies, and Joshua's two spies. She had only heard the stories that Achan had experienced, yet the things she heard instilled within her such an awe and fear of God that she willingly placed herself, her life, the lives of her family, all that she had into God's care and hands. She willingly risked her life to save the spies and do exactly what she was told to do. Why did they act so differently?

The difference seems to be in their attitude. It seems to be in their attitude and mindset about God. There's something Moses tells the Israelites at Acacia Grove. This is back in Deuteronomy 9. You can turn back there and read it if you like along with me, but I'm going to read it from another translation because I really like the wording. It fits well with what we're talking about here. Deuteronomy 9, verses 3-6. Before he dies, Moses is giving the children of Israel. The Israelites a warning. He says this. I'm reading from God's words translation. Deuteronomy 9, 3-6. Here's how it reads in this translation. It tells the Israelites, Realize today that the Eternal your God is the one who is going ahead of you like a raging fire. He will wipe them out and use you to crush their power, the Canaanites and other peoples. You will take possession of their land and will quickly destroy them as the Eternal promised you. When the Eternal your God expels these people in front of you, don't say to yourselves, because we've been living right, the Eternal brought us here to take possession of the land. No, it's because these nations are so wicked that the Eternal has forced them out of your way. It's not because you've been living right or because you're so honest that you're entering to take possession of their land. It's because these people are so wicked that the Eternal your God is forcing them out of your land. It's also because the Eternal wants to confirm the promise he swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So understand this. Achan would have heard this. It's not because you've been living right that the Eternal your God has given you this good land to possess. Moses, you are impossible to deal with. That's what Moses had to say about the throne of Israel.

Now I wonder, is it possible Achan had this very attitude Moses is warning them about?

Perhaps he'd become a little too casual, a little too careless, and lackadaisical in his relationship with God. Perhaps he thought he was so right with God as one of the chosen people that he had become apathetic in his thoughts and approach to God. Perhaps Achan had come to believe in God more than he believed God. There is a significance between the two. He would never deny that God existed, but he failed to act as if he believed God would punish him for disobedience. That may be the best way to explain the difference between Rahab and Achan. She believed God. Achan believed in God. I think people today still do that. Both acted accordingly, and one was blessed with life and honor. The other was cursed with death and infamy. So what lessons? I know you're probably, hopefully you're getting great lessons out of this. That's my intent. But what lessons? I'll give you two, at least two things I think we can gain from this. It can help us with our relationship with God. From Achan, we should be learning that having a living faith in God requires more than an outward form or expression of belief.

Matthew 7 21. I'll just read this one. Matthew 7 21 23. Remember this one?

Depart from me you who practice lawlessness. That scripture should remind us to obey. It should frighten us a little bit. There's more to faith than just believing in God and knowing that he exists.

To be a little more to the point, we must be doing more than just going to church.

Marching along with the right crowd. That's what Achan was doing.

We got to do more than watch the miracles, be a part of the miracles of God's interventions around us. And God does intervene in our lives. He does. He has.

Something deeper and more profound must also be happening in our lives.

Rahab's example, I think, teaches us that living faith requires absolute trust in and obedience to God and the actions to back it up. There's an old saying, put your money where your mouth is. If you believe in God, you better be showing it.

James 1, 22. James 1, 22.

James 1, 22, 25. But be doers of the word and not hearers only. Deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. Now, those words should sternly remind us that there is no withholding even a part of ourselves from God. When it comes to believing God, we must change the way we live.

Living faith requires our absolute willingness to submit all we are, all we have, all we value entirely and completely to our Father and to Jesus Christ, His Son.

So, I think it's time for us all, brethren, to evaluate our lives. In fact, isn't it always time to evaluate our lives? I've got to do it more than once a year, I think.

Do we live out our lives for God? Do we have living faith? Do we believe in God? Or do we believe God? Don't forget the difference. I'm trying not to.

You know, the Feast of Trumpets will soon be here.

It's amazing, isn't it, how quickly it's coming this year. The Feast of Trumpets will soon be here and reminds us that God will soon bring down the walls of this worldly Jericho we live in.

Will we be a Rahab or an Achan? Will we give all up for God and be worthy of entering His kingdom? Or will we hold back and become accursed? God has given us that choice.