Restoration Through Repentance and Obedience

Not every failure in a Christian’s life should be traced back to some sin. Nevertheless, we must be willing to soul-search and seek the Lord in every such event. The Bible does not teach us fatalism, things don’t just happen to us because they were bound to happen; rather, the Bible calls us to be wise and to “understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17).

Joshua was a godly leader, and so when Israel got defeated in the battle, despite God’s promise that “no man shall be able to stand before you,” he immediately knew something was wrong. So, he fell to the ground before God and sought to know His will and the reason behind their failure. And God did reveal that to him.

God’s answer was straightforward and clear. Israel had sinned, disregarded His covenant and violated His commandment by taking some of the accursed or banned thing (Heb. herem). By doing that they became accursed (herem) and so could not stand but had to flee from their enemies. God would not be with them anymore unless they destroyed the accursed thing (herem) among them (Josh 7:13).

It is important to understand the nature of Achan’s sin before we can understand the nature of the path to cleansing and healing.

The Two Types of Herem

The word herem generally carries the meaning of “forbidden for human use” or “ban” but has been translated as “devoted” or “accursed” in English translations leading to some obscurity of understanding. Probably it would have been more helpful for readers if the technical term herem was kept as it is, similar to how the word baptisma was transliterated in the New Testament. The Arabic Bible usually preserves the word herem in its cognatesharam or Muharram. 

There are two types of herem that we see in the Old Testament, 

“But the field, when it goeth out in the jubilee, shall be holy unto the LORD, as a field devoted [herem]; the possession thereof shall be the priest’s.” (Lev.27:21)

“Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing [herem] like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing [herem] .” (Deut. 7:26)

In both the passages, the referred object is forbidden for use; in the first, because it is holy unto the Lord and only to be used by the priest; in the second, because it is an abomination before God [the passage talks about heathen idols] and must be burnt with fire and destroyed (Deut.7:25).

Violating the herem commandment infects the entire camp with the herem. Thus,

“Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing [herem] like it…” (Deut 7:26)

Even if it were a type 2 herem, forbidden for personal use but consecrated to God, violating it makes the camp guilty of herem. Inthe Jericho case, both the types of herem are applied. Thus,

1. Herem Type 1: “And the city shall be accursed [herem], even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house… And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing [herem], lest ye make yourselves accursed [haram], when ye take of the accursed thing [herem], and make the camp of Israel a curse [herem], and trouble it.” (Josh. 6:17-18)
2. Herem Type 2: “But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated [qodesh] unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.” (Josh.6:19)

This consecration of metals for the Lord’s treasury makes them herem (forbidden) for personal use by the people. Obviously, by the rule of Deuteronomy 7:25, the silver and gold adorning the idols had to be destroyed along with the idols. However, Joshua instructed that the other silver and gold unrelated to idols were to be consecrated to God, thus making them a herem for the people. Achan had violated both type 1 and type 2 herem commandments. 

The Nature of the Sin

Achan’s sin had become Israel’s sin and the sin is described as follows (Josh 7:1-7):

1. Unfaithfulness in regard to the herem
2. Transgression of God’s commanded covenant
3. Taking some of the herem items.
4. Stealing
5. Lying
6. Putting herem among their own belongings.
7. an outrageous thing or folly

In the military conquest of Canaan, the Lord’s covenantal command was to heremize (devote for utter destruction) the cities the Israelites would conquer by destroying their altars, breaking down their images, and burning their graven images with fire (Deut.7:1-5). Joshua’s express military order was the same for Jericho.

Disobedience of military orders and acts of treachery during wartime are universally regarded as extremely serious offences. Sections 34 and 37 of India’s The Army Act of 1950, for instance, list acts of cowardice, treachery, sleeping on duty when posted as sentry during war, or leaving guard or post without orders from superior officer as offences punishable with the death sentence. Achan’s sin, however, was much more serious because it despised the commanded covenant of God in favor of the forbidden herem. It was an act of unbelief, treachery, betrayal, folly, idolatry, spiritual adultery, covetousness, theft, falsehood, and homicide because Achan never confessed his folly until he was caught and his treacherous actions led to the death of thirty-six men who suffered the consequences of his sin. By his secret act of theft and betrayal, the whole congregation had become herem before God.

The Path to Healing

“Get up!” said God to Joshua, “Consecrate the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow: for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, “There are herem in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the herem from among you.” (Josh.7:13).

When suffering is due to sin, there is no point crying before God. No amount of prayer will work. 

“Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak to deliver you;his ear is not too deaf to hear you.But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God;your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers.For your hands are stained with bloodand your fingers with sin;your lips speak lies,your tongue utters malicious words.” (Isaiah 59:1-3, NET)

Identifying the Problem

God instructed them to find out the main culprit by casting lots. While modern dictionaries define casting lots as a practice of determining a matter by chance or randomly, we understand that there is nothing really random in the universe. All things are causally connected. Regarding lots, the Bible specifically tells us that the “lot is cast into the lap; but its every decision is from the LORD” (Prov.16:33). As the commentator John Gill puts it, “there is no such thing as chance, or events by chance; those events which seem most fortuitous or contingent are all disposed, ordered, and governed, by the sovereign will of God.” 

The lots were cast and Achan of the tribe of Judah was taken and when called, he confessed his sin saying, “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” (Josh 7:20-21).

Community Dealing with the Problem

Since this was a national sin having national consequences, it had to be dealt with openly before all. Therefore, all that he had, and his sons and daughters, were brought out before the people. Many commentators, including Rabbinic sources, do not believe that Achan’s children were also punished. Some think that the statement “all Israel stoned him with stones” indicates that only Achan was stoned to death, and the statement “and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones” only applies to his things and cattle, not to his children. This owing to the law of individual culpability in Deuteronomy 24:16 that says “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” 

Also, the express sentence of God in this matter was that the one who took the herem was to be burnt with fire along with all that he had, but there is nothing said about children or family there (Josh 7:15). So, his children would only have been punished if they were involved in this sin of Achan by either complicity or silence. For only “the soul who sins shall die” (Eze.18:4). It is noteworthy that Achan’s wife is not mentioned here. Probably, she was either deceased or was not complicit in the crime. As some have noted, it would have been impossible for his family to be unaware of Achan’s sin given that he had hid the forbidden items in his tent where they all supposedly lived together; if so, they would have become participators in the theft and fell under the ban, consequently. But since the text does not expressly state that, we can only safely draw the conclusion that only the one who was guilty of the breach of trust in this matter was brought under the ban (herem) along with his belongings. Thus, as Jericho being under the ban was burnt, so was Achan and his things. His children would only have suffered the ban, if they were intentionally guilty of the breach of trust.

After they had eliminated the herem, it says “The LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger” (Josh 7:26) and fellowship with God was restored.

Lessons to Learn

There are a number of lessons that we can learn from this story:

1. God can only work among us when there if covenantal faithfulness. In Mark 6:5-6 we read that Jesus could not do any mighty work in Nazareth and marvelled at their unbelief or lack of faith. In 1Peter 3:7, Peter tells husbands to act with understanding towards their wives and give honour to them as unto the weaker vessel so that their prayers are not hindered. Since God is the God of covenant, any act of unfaithfulness is herem before God. In Malachi 2:13-14, God says that He did not receive people’s offerings while they covered the altar with tears, with weeping, and with crying out because the men had been unfaithful to their wives and dealt treacherously with them. 
2. In the Church age, we are not a warring political community like Israel was, yet the principle of herem does apply. When Jesus went to Jairus’ house, he did not allow anyone in except Peter, James, John and the girl’s parents and he put all others, who laughed at him, out (Luke 8:51,54). Then he raised the dead girl to life. At Ephesus, when they received the Gospel, believers brought all their magic books and burnt them publicly (Acts 19:19). They estimated the value of these books as 50,000 pieces of silver (or drachmas). Given that a drachma was usually a day’s wage, suppose we were to calculate the value in Indian rupees, the total would amount to 5,00,00,000 rupees (around 5 crores), that is 50,000 days or 138 years of full wages. If we were to use the gold-conversion method (because gold is more stable than “wages” and ancient “silver” was more expensive), then the amount would go to about 24 crores rupees today. That tells us how important Christians regarded the elimination of these items was, in light of their newfound relationship with Christ. Are there any godless objects that God despises in your house or life?
3. Paul declares that “if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema” (1Cor.16:23). Mickelson’s lexicon defines the Greek word anathema as an “irrevocable religious ban”, the same as herem. Together with the word Maranatha, it means “devoted to divine destruction at the Lord’s appearing”.  Together with 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10, it spells out the eternal sentence against those who spurn the Covenant of Christ and disobey the Gospel: “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” The severity of knowingly breaking faith is expressed in Hebrews 10:28-29. “Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (ESV).
4. Understanding the law of herem may help us understand Paul’s application of the herem ban in Church excommunication. In 1 Corinthians 5, he instructs the church to deliver the member involved in adultery to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1Cor.5:5). He then reminds them that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6) implying that the Corinthian church cannot be regarded as celebrating Christ our Passover sacrificed for us if they were insincere and tolerating sin among them (1 Cor. 5:7-8). He then warns them not to associate with sexually immoral people who claim to be Christians (1 Cor. 5:9-11) because none of these will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10). He tells them: “Purge the evil person from among you” (1 Cor. 5:13), that is imposing a ban on that person by forbidding the church to treat him as a believer any longer or fellowshipping with him—“let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (cf. Matt. 18:17).
5. With regard to idolatry (both spiritual and physical) which is herem in the Bible, the New Testament warns against it (Rev.21:8; 22:15) and commands Christians to keep away from idols (1John 5:21). 
6. Finally, we need to remember God’s call to holiness and purge our hearts of anything that is displeasing to God, and always seek to know and do His will (Rom.12:1-2). Obedience is better than sacrifice (1Sam.15:22).