Why Have You Troubled Us? - Joshua 7:25

In the book of Joshua, we learned how, “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 in chapter seven and verse twenty-five of the book of Joshua, we learn how, “Joshua said, Why have you troubled us?” where we read, 

And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? the LORD shall trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

The verse reads, “And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? the LORD shall trouble you this day.” Joshua or the writer began with the words, “and Joshua said” which means “and Joshua whose name means Jehovah is salvation uttered, declared, proclaimed and asked”, “why have you troubled us” or “for what reason and cause have you, Achan, disturbed, stirred up and caused calamity among us, Joshua and the people of Israel”? “the LORD” which means “Jehovah who is the existing One and the proper name for the One True God” “shall trouble you this day” or “will disturb, stir up and cause calamity toward you, Achan, this particular sunrise to sunset”. Joshua asked “Achan” for the reason that he stirred up calamity against him and the people of Israel, and Joshua told him that calamity by Jehovah God would be stirred up against him that very  “day”. 

 

The verse continues, “And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.” Joshua or the writer added the words, “and all Israel” which means “and each, every, the whole and everyone within Israel whose name means God prevails and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob” “stoned him with stones” or “slayed or killed him, Achan, by the use of throwing rocks and stones at Achan and his family”, “and burned them with fire” which means “and kindled them, Achan and his family, by the use of fiery fire”, “after they had stoned them with stones” or “following the time they, the people of Israel, slayed or killed them, Achan and his family, by the use of throwing rocks or stones at them”. Joshua or the writer shared how everyone within “Israel” threw rocks at “Achan” and his family until they were dead, and they used fiery fire to “burn” them following their death. 

When we meditate upon words in this verse, we discover such a horrible consequence for “Achan and his family” because he took the “accursed thing”. Everyone within “Israel” was involved, and they threw rocks at “Achan and his family” until they were dead. Afterward they burned “Achan and his family” with fire. Sin had left it’s mark, and “Achan and his family” paid the penalty of death for his violation to God’s command. God knows we all have sinned and come short of his glory, and the consequences of those sins is death. (See Romans 3:23; 6:23) Ezekiel the prophet said, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die”, and “the soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” (See Ezekiel 18:4, 20) God sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for our sins and in our place, and He raised Him from the dead after three days so when we put our faith and trust in Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put His Holy Spirit within us to guide us into all truth and give us the power to resist temptation and sin that have consequences that are far beyond what we can imagine or think.

Next time we learn how “they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".