Week of April 10, 2016: Achan’s Sin and the Defeat of Ai

Bible Passage: Joshua 7–8

Main Point: God punished Achan for his sin.

Key Passage: Joshua 1:9

Big Picture Question: Whom can we trust? We can trust God.

Christ Connection: God punished Achan for his sin. The Bible says that the punishment for sin is death. (Romans 6:23) Because we sin, we deserve to be punished. Jesus came to take the punishment for us. God forgives our sin when we trust in Jesus.

When the Israelites conquered Jericho, God told them not to take anything. Everything in the city was to be destroyed and set apart for God. Achan must have assumed no one would notice if he kept a few things for himself. The cloak was beautiful, and he sure could use some pieces of silver and a bar of gold. No harm, no foul. Right? Wrong. God had commanded complete obedience from the Israelites.

Imagine Joshua’s surprise when a few men in Ai defeated his army of a few thousand men. Had God failed to keep His promise to protect them from their enemies? The next morning, God revealed that it was Achan who had sinned. Achan and his family were stoned to death.

The Israelites faced the people of Ai again. This time, God was with them. He had helped them destroy Jericho; now He would help them destroy Ai.

The story of Achan demonstrates that God hates sin. (See Prov. 6:16-19.) God is just to punish sin. Here’s the bad news: We are all sinners, and “the wages of sin is death,” but here is the good news: “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.