The Sinful Achan

You remember that they have wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.  I heard someone say the other day that they were just a step away from victory.  Well, the Israelites were just a step away from victory, but they wandered for 40 years.  You can be just a step away for 40 years.  They wandered for 40 years in the wilderness in defeat, dismay and despair when just about a day’s journey away was all God had promised them.  They could not enter in because of their unbelief.

Finally, they learned their lesson as sometimes we do!  God began to lead them into the promised land, and they met one victory after another.  Of course, the most notable victory was the victory at Jericho. They are getting ready to go into Jericho; the Lord is going to be their defender; he is going to bring about the victory.  But God has a few things he wants to say to them.

The city shall be accursed, that word accursed in the Hebrew means dedicated or devoted.  Any thing that is devoted to the Lord is accursed to man if he touches it.  Isn’t it funny how we translate this word accursed?  It is a curse.  The ark of the covenant was where the glory of the Lord dwelt, but if you touched it, you would be cursed.  You would die. The Lord was very redundant there.  He kept repeating.  He wanted the folks to understand exactly what he was saying.