Read: Joshua 7:16-9:2; Luke 16:1-18; Psalm 82:1-8; Proverbs 13:2-3
You can feel the intensity growing as God narrows down the clan, to the family, to the members, to Achan. He was smart to confess, even if it did cost him his life. He died for 200 silver coins, a bar of gold and a robe. If he had just waited, he would have gotten to keep all the plunder he wanted from the next towns. Jericho was the tithe - the first fruit that was to be given to the Lord. The rest of the towns and plunder was all theirs.
The temptation to get what we want before God’s timing has been man’s greatest temptation. All the temptations of Jesus were things that he would eventually get…just not yet. He had to go to the cross first. I wonder if the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden wasn’t there for them to eat at a later time, when they would be able to handle it. I don’t think that the tree was evil, they were just not mature enough to handle it yet. God’s timing is always best.
God gave them great strategy in taking Ai. All Joshua had to do was to hold out his spear. Moses held out a staff as his authority because he led them like a shepherd. Joshua held out a spear because it was now time to fight. Crossing the Jordan gives you authority and power to engage in spiritual warfare. Crossing the Jordan is a picture of being baptized into God’s Spirit. It is Jesus’ baptism. The Red Sea was John’s baptism.
In Luke, Jesus gave a parable about an unwise manager who wasted his master’s money. Jesus was using this parable to point to the Pharisees and religious leaders. They had been given the office of teaching the people about God and his laws but they had been foolish with God’s word and changed and added to it. There lives were a mockery of righteousness.
Instead, they should use their position to bless others and give, not extort and enslave. Our natural lives mirrors our spiritual. If we are generous with our natural possessions, time and energy, then we will be generous with our spiritual possessions, time and energy.
Jesus ended with the example of “putting away” a wife and taking another. They were “putting away” their first wife without the legal writ of divorcement and marrying a new wife thus causing anyone who married her to be committing adultery. This was pointing to what they were doing with the law. They had put away Moses’ law - their first wife, though they still claimed to be following it, and had written their own laws - their new wife - causing them to be committing spiritual adultery in their hearts.
Lord, help us to walk with you, our first love. Help us to wait on your timing for our blessings and promises to come true.
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