1.) How on earth did Joshua convince all those who marched around Jericho for 7 days to keep quiet? This was a people known for their complaining and mumbling.
"And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall [any] word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout." Joshua 6:10
2.) Why did God wait until after the initial defeat at Ai to tell Joshua that there was sin in the camp? Joshua 6:27 says that "the Lord was with Joshua" which indicates a good relationship. Why allow the death of 36 innocent people and the guilt on Joshua?
3.) Why did God give the guilty party a whole day to to sanctify themselves if the judgement was going to be meted out regardless? Achon had until the next day to 'get right' with God and sanctify himself and even confessed his sin before all Israel but the judgement was still handed down. Stoned to death and burned. Why the delay? Didn't God usually act swiftly when it came to His judgement?
I am sure that there is more that I am missing but those three things just got me thinking.
2 comments:
I don't have an answer for your first question.
36 innocent people? How do we know they were innocent? That was a lot of loot. He didn't carry it all by himself. Who saw him? How many times do see things that aren't right but keep silent?
Besides sin does not just affect the individual but has repercussions to those close to us. Look at David and Bathsheba. David's actions had repercussions that affected his family and inner circle for years. Even though we may be forgiven, there are consequences that we and our loved ones have to deal with.
Why didn't God tell Joshua about it in the first place? God is patient and we should police ourselves. Also being God he has his own agenda. The reoccurring theme in the Bible is God's will would be done.
Back to whathisname in Joshua. He had ample time to confess. He chose not to. He only confessed when directly confronted. Confessing after you get caught, how far does that get Jordan out of trouble? :-)
Good insight Mike! You are right about Jordan too. I am always telling both kids that it is far better to confess BEFORE I find out, and YES, I will find out eventually! God is so gracious with us and it serves us well to learn lessons from others like Joshua and Achen so we don't have to go through the often painful process ourselves.
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