“21 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.” Joshua 7:21
In
the sixth and seventh chapters of the book of Joshua we find the recording of
the battles of Jericho and Ai. The
children of Israel (descendants of Abraham; God’s chosen people) at this time
were being led by Joshua. The successor
to Moses and a mighty man of war. Jericho
was the first city they encountered upon entering Canaan. It was a mighty city, an impenetrable
fortress; but the Israelites defeated Jericho in the most unorthodox way by
simply obeying God; but the topic of this discourse is not Jericho but the next
battle…..Ai.
The
battle of Ai followed the great victory over Jericho. All things considered, this should be an
“easy win” for Joshua and his army. Ai
was considerably smaller, less formidable, and weak by comparison. In the confidence of their own strength and
wisdom; the Israelites sent a smaller battalion to Ai; no need to trouble the
whole army with little Ai. However,
there was another enemy, not without, but within, and the great victory of
Jericho was soon overshadowed by the obvious defeat at the hands of the
Amorites. So the question in Joshua’s
mind becomes; “why can we conquer the city of Jericho, and not little Ai?” God responds: “because of Achan and his
disobedience.” Achan was a man in the
camp of Israel who disobeyed God. Israel was given specific instructions to
refrain from taking anything from Jericho.
They were not to take the “spoils of war.” Achan did; he took a Babylonish garment and
some money, and he hid it in his tent.
All the wealth of Jericho was to be left alone; it was to be consecrated
to God. However, the pride of victory
filled his heart and he took but a little.
A little disobedience is still disobedience. I ask all, as I ask myself, are we not in
danger of doing the same thing? We are
often defeated, not because of the strength of the enemy, but because of the
condition of our heart. God brings many
through a fierce battle and they find victory on the other side; only to carry
the “spoils of war” with them. By and by
they begin to think that the victory was won not by God, but by man, by
themselves. We must remember that God
wins the battle and he gets the glory.
It is not always the Jericho that defeats us, but the next battle. It is the small things that we do not
consecrate to God, combined with a little temptation appropriately placed by
the devil, which brings the once victorious Christian back into the depths of
defeat. Take for example the man or
women who comes to God broken and obedient.
God then gloriously saves them from numerous sins and changes their
heart making them a “new creature in
Christ” (2 Cor 5:17). A great
victory won, but by and by the cares of this life sweep in. They forget to pick-up the Bible, don’t take
the time to engage in prayer, their lives become so busy that they can’t even
carve out a few hours a week to attend church to praise Him who hath called
them “out of darkness into the marvelous
light.” (2 Peter 2:9) The failure to
consecrate takes its toll on their soul, and then when a convenient day comes
the littlest temptation slips up to them, and sin enters the camp. If your soul is for sale, the devil will
front the cash. Whatever it is you want,
he will find a way to put it in front of you.
Never
forget that the next battles is God’s, the same as the last battle was. Nothing leaves Jericho. Whether it is Jericho or Ai, it is God’s
fight, God’s glory, and obedience towards him in every way; obedience towards
God in the great big things, and obedience in the little things.
