WHAT A VICTORY! But now there were many more cities that needed to be defeated, such as the city of Ai which was next on the agenda.
We do not know a great deal about Ai.
• The reason we do not know a great deal about this town is because of its insignificance
• We know that it was located east of Bethel and near Bethaven. The scripture tells us it had a population of around 12,000 inhabitants. This is about all we know about this small town.
Look at verse 2, “And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.”
Joshua and the army of Israel recognized the insignificance of this city, by stating that it could be captured by only sending a small group of soldiers.
Look at verses 3-4, we read, “And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.”
Look at the confidence they had, the spies said in verse 3, “…Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai…”
Joshua took their advice and sent THREE THOUSAND men to take the city. As they endeavored to take the city, look at-
I. THEIR SURPRISE
Look at verse 5, we read, “And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.”
Life is full of surprises, but when Israel sent those three thousand men, they got the surprise of their lives. The Bible tells us that the men of Ai tore them up!
This was the upset of the year!
Illus: When football coaches make out their schedule for the coming year, they always find the worst team on their list to play for homecoming. Why? Because a football team never wants to lose, but especially not at homecoming!
If Ai had been a football team, they would have chosen Israel to be their homecoming game.
Out of the three thousand that Joshua sent:
• Thirty-six men were killed
• The others were chased off like scared rabbits
After their big victory at Jericho, this was a total surprise.
Illus: If Las Vegas had been betting on this battle, they would have given odds of 100 to 0 that Israel would win.
WHY WOULD THEY HAVE GIVEN SUCH HIGH ODDS?
• God had opened the Red Sea for these people and they marched across on dry ground, while the army of Egypt was drowned in the same sea
• These were the people who had already won several big battles with Og and Sihon, on the other side of Jordan
• These were the people that Joshua led through the Jordan river on dry ground. God had caused the water to back up, flooding the land
• God led Joshua and these people to march around Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down
Now they come to a little hick town like Ai, with only 12,000 people, and they beat the stuffings out of the army of Israel. THIS WAS A SURPRISE!!!
If anyone placed a bet on this battle they would have placed it on Israel with their track record, but they would have lost big time. This was THEIR SURPRISE! But look at -
II. THEIR SORROW
After the victory at Jericho, they were grinning from ear to ear. But after Ai, that smile was wiped off their faces.
Look at verses 6-9, we read, “And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?”
In these verses, we need to see several things.
A. JOSHUA ARGUED WITH GOD
Joshua did something we all do at times, that is, when things were not going as he wanted, he became very angry with God and wanted to blame Him for their defeat. Look at some of the things he hurls at God!
Look again at verse 7, “And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?”
Notice -
• This mighty man of God, that always had such strong faith, now seems to have no faith whatsoever
• This is the man that came back from the Promised Land and told Moses, “We are well able to possess the land, let us go at once!”
But now this same man is accusing God of bringing them this far to just deliver them into the hands of the Amorites.
But notice one more thing he said to God in the last part of verse 7, he said, “…Would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!”
JOSHUA ARGUED WITH GOD, but also-
B. JOSHUA ADMONISHED GOD
Look again at verse 8-9, we read, “O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?”
Look at the word “Environ”, this is the word “Cabab” (pronounced as Saw-bab” which means TO REVOLVE AROUND, SURROUND, COMPASS EVERY SIDE.
Joshua is saying that when the Cananites and all the inhabitants who are having to flee for their lives hear about this defeat, they are going to surround Israel and destroy them, then he said, “…And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?”
Listen when bad things in our life come, some people:
• Get mad at God
• Argue with God
• Pout with God
• Admonish God
But none of these things are going to help, because God is not the problem. WE ARE THE PROBLEM!
Illus: If you have transmission problems with your car, and it runs backwards when it should be running forward, you can play around with the carburetor all day, but it will not do a bit of good. Only when you recognize what the problem is and attack the problem will get some help.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? The problem is a SIN PROBLEM. God never has and never will bless a sinful people.
Illus: For God to bless mankind when they sin, would be like parents rewarding a child for purposely throwing a baseball through a window.
We have people who think that is true for others but it is not true for them. But when sin enters the camp, it is a problem for everyone. Let’s look at-
III. THEIR SINS
God had specifically told them that once they entered the city, they were not to partake of any of the accursed things.
Why is it that when God speaks, some folks think He does not really mean what He says? God meant what He said, and He expected them to obey His command.
Because they did not obey, they suffered a terrible defeat. And Joshua and the people wanted to blame the defeat on God, but God would not accept the blame.
Look at verses 10-12, “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.”
God is saying, “Joshua, get up and quit your squalling. You want to place the blame on me, but the problem is that ISRAEL HATH SINNED!”
HOW DID ISRAEL SIN? You have to go back to the previous chapter, before they attacked Jericho, to see how they sinned.
Look at Joshua 6:18, God said, “And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.”
God’s Word is coming to pass, and in Chapter 7, they are no longer the BLESSED PEOPLE, but the ACCURSED PEOPLE!
One man had chosen to ignore God’s command, and now he has brought trouble to Israel.
WHO WAS IT THAT BROUGHT THIS CURSE ON ISRAEL? They had to weed them out and find out who it was. Look at-
IV. THEIR SEARCH
Look at the instructions God gave to Joshua in searching for the one disobedient person that brought sin into the camp and:
• Cost the lives of 36 men
• Brought a reproach on the name of God among the surrounding nations
The search starts. Look at verses 14-23, we read, “In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man. And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.”
We see the seriousness of sin in these verses. This man had caused a horrible reproach on the name of God.
We have people today doing all kinds of terrible things, and bringing a reproach on the name of God, and they think nothing of it.
They might not but God does, and one day when they stand before Him for the reproach they have brought on His name, they will not be laughing as they give account for their evil.
God revealed the man was Achan. Look at -
V. THEIR STONING
Look at verses 24-26, we read, “And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.”
The punishment may seem harsh, but when you consider what his sin did, it was not harsh!
The sins of this man cost:
• The lives of 36 men who died in battle
• The lives of his sons
• The lives of his daughters
• His livestock
• His testimony
Listen dad, you can take the teaching of God’s Word lightly if you want to, and choose to disobey, but it is going to cost you and your children.
Once Israel dealt with sin in the camp and got things right with God, God could bless them again. BUT NOT UNTIL THEN!
They are now ready to take on Ai again, being right with the Lord. Joshua was a military strategist, look at-
VI. THEIR STRATEGY
Look at Joshua 8:1-2, we read, “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.”
The rest of this chapter tells about the ambush that Joshua set for the people of Ai. He was instructed to send 30,000 of his best soldiers and hide near Ai.
He then told the rest of the men to attack Ai and when Ai responds, flee like they did before. And when they start to chase them, the thirty-thousand will come out of hiding and destroy them. All twelve thousand were destroyed.
Conclusion:
I. THEIR SURPRISE
II. THEIR SORROW
III. THEIR SINS
IV. THEIR SEARCH
V. THEIR STONING
VI. THEIR STRATEGY
