When The People Sin, And God Does Nothing (Joshua 7:1-24) Series

Last week, we read about the conquest of Jericho. I tried to raise all sorts of weird, unpleasant questions, because I think the story raises these questions.

Why did Yahweh mark off Jericho as dedicated to himself?

Why were the Israelites supposed to kherem the city-- devote every single person, and every single thing, to Yahweh for destruction (with just a few exceptions)?

I promise I'll try to explain this before this series is done. But I don't want to rabbit trail down this, and lose our sense of the book as a whole. The idea of kherem is going to come up again in Joshua, and I think it'll be easier to explain there.

But when I was trying to mess with you, and get you to see how weird the conquest of Jericho is, I actually missed the main point of the story. I was so pleased to have made a decision about kherem, and so happy at messing with you to push you in the same direction (if I'm honest), that I didn't take the last verse seriously--the one where AJ explained what we were supposed to learn from the story.

So let's start by rereading the last part of Joshua 6, starting in verse 16:

(16) And then, at the seventh time, the priests blew on the horns,

and Joshua said to the people,

"Shout! because Yahweh has given to you the city,

(17) and the city shall be kherem-- it, and all that is in it-- to Yahweh.

Only, Rahab the prostitute shall live-- she, and all who are with her in the house--

because she hid the messengers whom we sent."

(18) while, only, you, keep (yourselves) from the kherem,

lest you are devoting to destruction (khereming),

and you take from the kherem,

and you make the camp of Israel for a kherem,

and you bring trouble on it,

(19) while all the silver and gold, and all the copper/bronze vessels, and iron, holy/consecrated, it is to Yahweh.

To the treasury of Yahweh it shall go,

(6:20) And the people shouted,

And they blew on the horns,

And then, as soon as the people heard the sound of the horn, the people shouted a great shout,

and the wall fell under it,

and the people went up to the city, each man straight ahead,

and they captured the city,

(21) and they kheremed all that [was] in the city,

both from men up to women, from youth up to old, and up to ox and donkey by the mouth of the sword,

(22) while to the two men spying/exploring the land Joshua said,

"Go to the house of the woman-- the prostitute--

and bring her out from there-- the woman and all who belong to her-- just as you swore to her,"

(23) and the youths-- the ones spying/exploring-- went,

and they brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all who belonged to her,

while all of her clan they brought out,

and they put/set them outside the camp of Israel,

(6:24) while the city they burned with fire, and all that was in it.

Only, the silver and the gold and the copper/bronze vessels and the iron they gave (to the) treasury of the house of Yahweh,

(25) while Rahab the prostitute and the house of her father and all who belonged to her Joshua caused to live,

and she lived in the midst of Israel up to this day

because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to explore Jericho,

(26) And Joshua swore at that time, saying,

"Cursed is the man before Yahweh

who rises and rebuilds this city-- Jericho.

By his first born he shall lay its foundation,

while by his youngest, he shall set up its gates,"

(27) And Yahweh was with Joshua,

And his fame/news was in all the land.

When we focus on verse 27, and let AJ (Author of Joshua) tell us what we should focus on, we are supposed to hear this story as teaching two things:

(1) Yahweh was with Joshua.

When we read this, we are supposed to find ourselves remembering the promises God made to Joshua at the start of the book. Joshua 1:4-9:

(4) From the wilderness and this Lebanon, and up to the Great River-- the Euphrates River-- all the land of the Hittites and up to the Great Sea, toward the setting of the sun shall be your territory.

(5) No man shall stand before you all the days of your life.

Just as I was with Moses, [so] I shall be with you.

I shall not fail/abandon you,

and I shall not forsake/reject you.

(6) Be strong,

and be brave,

because you shall give as an inheritance to this people the land