and his army won the battle of Jericho. Before that battle, God commanded them not to take anything in the city for themselves. When the walls fell down they were supposed to go right through the city. What they did take, like gold and silver, they were to save and put aside for when they made a temple for God.
If you had all the money in the world, what would you want to buy?
Achan was walking through Jericho after the walls fell down. He looked in an empty house and saw a beautiful robe and thousands of dollars in gold and silver. Achan needed the money, and he had always wanted a robe just like the one he saw. It was even his size! So he took the robe and the money and hid them under his tent. No one knew Achan had stolen. No one saw him take the stuff or bury it. He hid his sin completely, and did it when he was alone, so no one could get hurt, right?
Have you ever had something terrible happen that you didn’t understand? What was it? Why do you think God allowed it to happen?
God wanted Joshua to attack another city after Jericho. It was a little city called Ai.
Joshua sent an army of three thousand men to battle Ai. They got ready. They polished their shields. They sharpened their swords. They exercised. They prayed. They weren’t too worried, because Ai was a small, wimpy city. It wasn’t a big city with huge walls like Jericho. “This will be no problem,” the men probably thought. Then they attacked Ai. All three thousand of them fought against the little city. Their shields were shiny. Their swords were sharp. They were in shape. They had even prayed the night before. But when they went into battle against the wimpy city, they lost. They lost big.
The army of Ai killed thirty-six of the men from Joshua’s army. Thirty-six boys no longer had dads. Thirty-six wives no longer had husbands. Thirty-six moms and dads no longer had their boys. Thirty-six brothers were gone forever.
Joshua felt horrible. He bowed down. He cried. He prayed. He wouldn’t eat. He could hardly sleep. He kept asking God, “Why did this happen? How could this happen? I don’t understand! We came all the way from Egypt. We’ve waited all this time to go into the Promised Land. We won the battle of Jericho. Now we’ve lost the war of Ai. What are we going to do? We have thirty-six men to bury. This is awful!”
What is sin? [Disobeying God, missing the target of living like he wants us to.] Sin often hurts other people. Can you think of a time when someone’s sin hurt you? [Being called names, having something stolen, etc.] Can you think of a time when you have hurt others?
You know what God said when Joshua was down on the ground praying? God said, “Stand up!” He then told Joshua someone had sinned by stealing in Jericho. God had told the Israelites not to take anything out of Jericho, but someone did. God led Joshua to Achan.
Because of Achan’s hidden sin, thirty-six people died. Hidden sin hurts those around us. If Achan had turned his behavior around and admitted—or confessed—his sin, he would have been forgiven. God always forgives those who confess their sins. However, Achan hid his sin instead. It wasn’t until Joshua caught Achan and confronted him with his sin that Achan admitted he had stolen. That’s not confessing your sin; that’s just being caught.
Where did Achan put the stuff he stole? He put it in the dark; he hid it under his tent. What he didn’t realize is God can see in the dark! God is light, and he saw that sin as if it was sitting on the dining room table.
Because of his sin, Achan died the same day Joshua caught him. The Bible says, “You may be sure that your sin will find you out . . . the wages of sin is death” (Num. 32:23; Rom. 6:23). Achan tried to hide his sin, and he died for it. If we believe in Jesus and confess our sins to him, he will wash them away. He can do that because he already died for our sin in our place. Only we cannot try to hide it. We must admit [confess] our sin to him. The rest of Romans 6:23 says, “the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Achan tried to take care of his sin by hiding it. That never works. It only hurts others and us. God says to take care of our sin by admitting it! Give it to Jesus, and his light will wash it away.
Joshua and his army went back to Ai. This time they won the war! The first time they had been outnumbered by the sin of one bad guy. He wasn’t bad because he sinned [we’ve all done that]; he was bad because he covered it rather than admitting it.
Remember: You’ve Got His Word on It
Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Acts 16:31
God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Ephesians 2:8–9
He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5
Scripture Passage: Joshua 20–21
So What? Jesus is our refuge!
For Parents: [Anything in brackets]
In the Bible there are places called “cities of refuge.” Do you know what the word refuge means? [It means “a place of safety.”] Knowing that, what do you think the cities of refuge were?
The cities of refuge were places of safety. After the Israelites entered the Promised Land with Joshua, they needed to get things organized. They needed a fire department, doctors, hospitals, police officers, and jails. This was a lot to do, and Joshua didn’t have much time to do it.
So, instead of having a police department and jails, God had Joshua set up cities of refuge.
What do you think would happen in our town if all the police left? What might happen if all the jails closed down and the prisoners escaped?
The Bible says we are all sinners. That means all of us have disobeyed God. Sometimes when people sin, when they disobey God, they are disobeying the government as well. That makes them criminals. Our governments punish criminals in order for the rest of us to be safe. Our city wouldn’t be safe if there were no police department. The police help keep us safe by catching people who are doing evil things to others. With the criminals in jail, the rest of us are safe.
Who would keep us safe if there were no police? We would have to keep each other safe. That’s how they did things in Joshua’s time. If someone snuck into your house and stole all your favorite toys, you would have to find the criminal. You would get your friends together, catch the person, and take him
