ECLIPSING SIN
Heroes—The Secret (Part 4)
THE “HEREM” FACTOR AT JERICHO
The city [Jericho] and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. Joshua 6:17 (NIV)
Why would God order Joshua and Israel’s army to completely destroy the people of Canaan?
For God to establish Israel as a faith incubator in which the Messiah would eventually be born, it was necessary to destroy the peoples of Canaan, as terrible as that was.
In times of combat a chaplain learns that he spends most of his time with the corpsmen or medics. And quickly you learn this word that you were happily ignorant of before…triage. Triage is the process by which medical personnel determine who can and can’t be saved. In a matter of moments they tell you whether someone is too far gone to be helped. That way, they can focus their attention on those who can be saved. God triaged Canaan and Israel. God determined that the Canaanites had to be destroyed in order for Israel to be saved…a difficult but necessary decision.
DETESTABLE PRACTICES OF THE CANAANITES
Completely destroy them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--as the Lord your God has commanded you. [18] Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 20:17-18 (NIV)
No question the Canaanites believed differently from Israel—one God vs many gods, idolatry vs worship in Spirit, sexual immorality vs. sexual purity to name a few. But detestable? What was so bad that God labeled them detestable and triaged them as a culture that was too far gone to be saved.
Ray Vanderlaan addresses that in this video.
Roll Video “Innocent Blood” Here
God wasn’t being capricious when he marked the Canaanite culture for destruction. There’s evidence that even the Romans thought the Canaanites were “out there.”
So God warns Joshua and all his soldiers that Jericho is “Herem.” It is devoted to God…everything is to be destroyed except the precious metals and 100% of them is to go to God’s treasury.
AN OMINOUS WARNING
But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. [19] All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury." Joshua 6:18-19 (NIV)
God clearly spells out the expectation and he clearly spells out the consequences of messing around with the “herem.” If you take them you will seal your own destruction and make Israel liable to destruction and trouble.
So with this warning echoing in their ears, the soldiers marched around Jericho for seven days. And events unfolded just as God said they would.
JERICHO: THE THRILL OF VICTORY
When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. Joshua 6:20 (NIV)
So everything looks great! The soldiers return from Jericho confident. They had been untested. They had struggled with doubt, but they did what God ordered them to do and it couldn’t have turned out better.
News spread throughout Canaan that Joshua and the people of Israel had destroyed the impregnable fortress of Jericho after only a seven day siege.
Joshua must be thrilled. He knows now that God is fighting on his behalf and it’s just a matter of time until the enemy is completely eliminated and Israel can get down to the business of living life in the Promised Land.
But Joshua doesn’t know that something is wrong…something is terribly wrong. Joshua doesn’t know it yet, but something has changed in the unseen world. Something horrible has happened that will affect the entire nation of Israel.
But right now Joshua is happily ignorant of what has happened. He orders a recon team to check out their next military objective a little town at the top of mountain called Ai.
The recon team checks out Ai and returns to Joshua with encouraging news. Ai is no Jericho. It’s a small town and only a few battalions of soldiers will be necessary to take it down.
Joshua orders 3000 men to attack Ai…he doesn’t know it yet but he’s about to experience the agony of defeat.
AI: THE AGONY OF DEFEAT
So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, [5] who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water. Joshua 7:4-5 (NIV)
As thrilling Jericho had been…Ai is agonizing. Joshua and the whole nation were reeling. If they can’t defeat Ai and take the high ground the campaign to liberate Canaan is doomed to failure.
What could have happened? Apparently God had abandoned Israel’s military efforts. But why?
News spread of Israel’s defeat and the people of Canaan realized that their invaders were not invincible. This news emboldened Isreael’s enemies. Now Joshua new that every fight would be tougher and more difficult that it needed to be.
Joshua slumps into his tent…shocked and awed by the pasting that his soldiers had taken. Depressed and heartbroken with visions of doom and annihilation in his head he reaches out to God for answers. He’s about to discover that all sin is not created equal.
ALL SIN IS NOT CREATED EQUAL
O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? [9] The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?"
[10] The Lord said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? [11] Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. [12] That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; Joshua 7:8-12 (NIV)
God reveals to Joshua what has happened in the unseen world. God’s favor has left the armies of Israel. The ominous warning that God had issued just before the battle of Jericho had gone unheeded. Someone had taken some of the items from Jericho as loot when they were supposed to be “herem.”
The result: Just as God had predicted, trouble and destruction had come upon Israel.
Perhaps Joshua was thinking what we’re thinking. If trouble was going to come on someone, why not just the perpetrator? Why not, single out the guilty party? Why let 36 soldiers who marched off to battle, totally unaware of what had happened, pay the price for one man’s sin. Why not, indeed!?
The fact of the matter is: There’s no such thing as a private sin. Modern life still illustrates the fact that all can suffer for the sins of a single man.
I love football. When one guy loses his temper and does something stupid like a late hit or take a swing at an opposing player the whole team moves back 15 yards, not just the guy who took the swing.
We see this today when the stakes are so high in our society. We saw it recently at Fort Hood, Texas
But Hasan isn’t the sole guilty party. The US Army’s unforgivable political correctness is also to blame for the casualties at Fort Hood.
Given the myriad warning signs, it’s appalling that no action was taken against a man apparently known to praise suicide bombers and openly condemn US policy. But no officer in his chain of command, either at Walter Reed Army Medical Center or at Fort Hood, had the guts to take meaningful action against a dysfunctional soldier and an incompetent doctor.
Had Hasan been a Baptist or a Methodist, he would’ve been gone years ago. But officers fear charges of discrimination when faced with misconduct among protected minorities.
Now 12 soldiers and a security guard lie dead. At least 38 people were wounded, 28 of them seriously. If heads don’t roll in this maggot’s chain of command, the Army will have shamed itself beyond moral redemption.
There’s another important issue, too. How could the Army allow an obviously incompetent and dysfunctional psychiatrist to treat our troubled soldiers returning from war? An Islamist wacko is counseled for arguing with veterans who’ve been assigned to his care? And he’s not removed from duty? What planet does the Army live on?
For the first time since I joined the military in 1997, I’m ashamed of its dereliction of duty. The chain of command protected a budding terrorist who was waving one red flag after another. Because it was safer for careers than doing something about him.
But when do we, the American public, knock off this politically correct nonsense?
These horrible events are what happens when we cover up sin. This is what happens when we allow sin to run rampant without restraint. This would be akin to Joshua watching Achan take the loot out of Jericho. Watching Achan bury the loot underneath his tent. Hearing God say, “Don’t let him get away with it.” But doing absolutely nothing about it.
DEALING WITH SIN
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. [26] 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.
[8:1] Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. Joshua 7:25-8:1 (NIV)
