If Achan had been patient, he would have enjoyed the booty of war without any problem!
Pastor Tunde Dada
The story of Achan in Joshua 7 is very pathetic. It is a story of covetousness, lack of patience and lack of spiritual understanding. This is what is happening in the lives of some believers today hence you need to make amends and change. Covetousness is dangerous and can lead to untimely death as we saw in the life of Achan.
Joshua led the children of Israel to fight Jericho. God stated in Joshua 6:17 that the city of Jericho shall be an accursed City and gave instructions in Joshua 6:18 that they must not keep or take anything in Jericho for themselves otherwise they would bring a curse to the Camp of Israel and trouble it. Achan (just like some people today) did not listen. He was part of the soldiers that fought the battle in Jericho. He saw some of the accursed things in Jericho, he coveted them, kept and hid them. Joshua 7:21. Nobody knew. Joshua did not know either except God. God sees everything. Psalm 139:7 says “where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?…”. Psalm 139:12 says light and darkness are the same before God. Therefore, be careful!
Thereafter, the children of Israel went to fight Ai (a very small country) and they lost the battle. Thank God for discernment and boldness to ask questions. Joshua asked God, “Lord, why did we lose this battle”. Joshua 7:5-9. God responded and told Joshua that there was sin in the camp. Investigations was conducted and Achan was fished out.
This is where I am going. After Achan had been punished for his sin (Joshua 7:25-26), God gave Joshua instructions on what to do concerning Ai in Joshua 8:1-2 which says “And the Lord said unto Joshua, fear not, neither be thou dismayed; take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people and his city, and his land; And thou shall do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king; only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves; lay thee an ambush for the city behind it”. I hope you can see where I am going. If Achan had been patient, he would have gotten a booty of war from Ai without bringing problems to himself and his family.
Second, the spiritual implication of what happened to Achan is this. Jericho was the first City to be possessed by the children of Israel. Anything first belongs to the Lord. Exodus 13:2, Numbers 3:13, Exodus 22:28-29. Since Jericho was the first City to be possessed, I strongly believe that was the reason God told Joshua in Joshua 6:19 that all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord and they should be brought into the treasury of the Lord. It was part of these silver and gold that Achan took as he confessed in Joshua 7:21 that “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”.
Brethren, lets learn to be patient and be satisfied with whatever we have. Many have lost wives, husbands, children, possession, anointing etc due to covetousness. Ask God to take away the spirit of covetousness from your life. Ask God to have mercy and deliver you. He will help you. Cry to Him.
