Judges 2 – Achan and Jesus
Last week we looked at the summary of the bible from Genesis to the start of Judges, and how through all the different people and different stories, God gives us the same consistent message of our pride, our depravity, our helplessness, and His grace that makes new creation out of us.
Judges is the book depicting the accounts of the Israelites as they advanced through Canaan, fighting against the Canaanites on the way.
Today we’ll look at how that conquest of Canaan began, just before the accounts in the book of Judges…

As you know the conquest of Canaan began with the Jericho walls. How did the Jericho walls fall? Did the Israelites fight the people of Jericho? Did they lift a finger? Israel were able to break down Jericho without even a hammer – how? Because God promised them.
The wars of God are wars of obedience. Even the things that you judge to be impossible through common sense, discarding that judgment of your own and trusting and obeying the words of God  that is the formula and correct state of the people of God, which is why even though you can’t quite understand God’s commands to just merely walk around the huge walls of Jericho, you just do it. Then you win.
So the war that the church (God’s people) fights, is a war against the disobedient “self”, to make it obey. Jericho is only a prop, an instrument as part of that war. 

But the problem happened after Jericho, in the second war. Israelites face a comprehensive defeat at the hands of the men of Ai – which was a much smaller than Jericho with very few people. This is what Joshua does at that time:
<READ Joshua 7:7>
This is the same resentment and complain that the Israelites cried out when they were in front of the Red Sea, being chased by the Egyptian soldiers. Like this, man is absolutely not able to obey God with their own strength.
But why did they lose at Ai?
<READ Joshua 7:1, 11>
The reason why the Israelites lost to Ai was because they disobeyed God. God had given the Israelites instructions to store every spoils of war, everything they’ve taken through war into the treasury of God where it’s to be kept.
Here when it is called the “Devoted Things”, the original word in Hebrew is 헤렘, which is a noun that means “the thing that has been decided to be completely destroyed, the thing that has been decided to be completely devoted, completely raised up”. But a little bit of the things that needed to be completely destroyed or devoted has been left behind, and in the possession of a person called Achan. So Israel had no choice but to be defeated.
But if you look at verse 12 (Chapter 7), you can see that the things that must be devoted to destruction, and the person who devotes those things are treated as the same thing in front of God:
<READ Joshua 7:12>
This means that the things that must be devoted to God are not just our things or our might, but our “Selves”. So obedience before God is an acknowledgment and acceptance that we are beings that can have nothing to say even if we were given up to God and destroyed, and then after that acknowledgement to be then emptied before God and declaring to completely surrender to him. Those who are unable to do that become losers of war in the kingdom of God, that is, to face death. So if there is any bit left in us of trying to claim the value of our existence, or claim glory, then we become like the Israelites in front of Ai.
God commands those disobedient sinners to death by fire.
<READ Joshua 7:15>
In this way Achan faces the destiny of death by fire. When Achan was taking possession of the spoils of war, this was what it looked like
<READ Joshua 7:21>
Here, when he says “When I saw”… the word saw in Hebrew is 라아 which is the same as in Genesis 3 when it says the fruit was “pleasing to the eye”. The event of the fall, the event of the taking of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, is happening again right here in Achan.
In the bible, God frequently refers to Israel’s sins, our sins, as Adam’s sins.
<READ Hosea 6:7>
So who is Achan? Achan is me. Just as Adam deserved to die, the “self” inside of Achan also faced death.
But here, a detailed path to salvation is revealed.
If you look carefully, the bible depicts the way Achan is selected in this way:
<READ 7:16-18>
The one to face death by fire is being selected and of all tribes, he is plucked out of the tribe of Judah. And after he dies at the Valley of Achor, Israel is delivered from death and becomes victorious over Ai.
Do you get a sense of what’s being depicted here?
Let’s Read one more time,
<READ Joshua 7:1>
It was only Achan who committed the sin and yet it says that God’s angry at all of Israel right? Why is that? Because Israel is not a gathering of individuals but it is a collective one group, of God’s people. This is why even if it was just Adam, just Achan who committed the sin, God curses the entire group.
The book of Romans describes that in this way:
<READ Romans 6:19>
Just one person, Achan, sinned. So the whole of Israel becomes convicted. But when that one Achan dies, the whole of Israel is freed from the curse and goes on to victory against Ai.
Of course, Achan, is dying because of his ownsin. He is the chiefest of sinners of Israel, which is why he was selected and selected out of Israel.
Then why is it that the death of such a sinner has freed Israel? Because Achan is depecting Jesus. Jesus is selected out of Judah, which is selected out of Israel, for us, who are the chiefest of sinners. Then through the method of himself becoming that Achan to die in our place, to save all the other Achans. That is the narrative of the salvation on the cross, which is hidden inside this account of the war at Ai.
<READ Joshua 7:25-26>
The punishment deserved by those who should be surrendered in front of God and devoted to Him,  but rather take the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, living as the main principal of judgment, claiming all value and glory for themselves, is to be stoned and burned like this.
But Jesus Christ who came as a descendent of Judah goes down to that position in my place, in order to free the curse that has been heaped on us.
This is not Pastor Kim’s own theory, he says, and this is the proof.
This is how the bible describes the Valley of Achor, where Achan was stoned to death.
<READ Isaiah 65:10>
<READ Hosea 2:15>
God says that the Valley Of Achor will be the door of hope. How can this valley, where the one who has been selected as the sinner of sinners has died, be the door of hope?  These verses do not make sense if you are unaware of the story of Achan in Joshua and unaware of the cross of Jesus Christ.
God is telling us the true state of sin inside of us, the curse that falls upon us as a result of that sin, and His method of freeing us from that sin, all from within the story of Achan.
Let’s see how that story of Achan finishes.
After Achan dies and the Valley of Achor is raised up, God grants victory to Israel, and that is a complete victory. But He also does not forget to remind us that this victory is His alone.
<READ Joshua 8:18, 24-26>
While Joshua is holding up the javelin and pointing towards Ai, God fights the war. Then He delivers them to victory. But in the midst of that war, pops up a story that we’re familiar with:
<READ Joshua 28:31>
The king of Ai, which symbolises Satan’s kingdom is hung up on the tree. Then at sunset the body is brought down from the tree. Then the dead body is placed shut behind rocks.
This is a very familiar image isn’t it?
Jesus was also hung up on the tree right? Why was that?
<READ Deuteronomy 21:22-23>
Jesus hung up on the tree as the cursed sinner of sinners. But the king of Ai, which symbolises Satan’s kingdom, is also hung up on the tree and placed behind a stone grave. What is this telling us?
This is showing that we were the chiefest of sinners like the king of Satan’s kingdom. But Jesus became the king of Satan’s kingdom in our place to die for us. The story of Achan is being repeated one more time here.
Of course, like Achan, the king of Ai also died of his own sins. Which is why they are still left inside of the stone graves. Whereas, what happened to Jesus’ stone grave? It opened 3 days later, and He is living.
Because of Jesus’ ultimate obedience of death, our disobedience has been covered by grace. So the bible consistently pictures 1) our state and 2) the grace of Jesus Christ that covers our state, in a repeated and gradual way.
The scriptures that best describe this is again
<READ Romans 5:19>
This is the gospel and this is the only thing we need to believe. But those entrenched in Judaism, Legalism or Humanism, cannot accept this grace because of their pride.
This is why we need to desperately realise and learn how in this world of the promised land, we can only be saved through faith. And this is the reason why we see the sins of Achan in ourselves frequently and we also see us acting like the king of Ai.
Through these moments we can experience the gospel of grace as we realise “Even though I deserve to be stoned and hung up on the tree and burnt to death, God has covered me with His grace”. Through that our pride and conceit can be broken up, and that is what the bible calls “self-denial”, and we also call that the “spiritual battle”.
In contrast, today’s passage clearly shows what happens to those who do not believe that gospel of grace and depend on their own efforts and actions:
<READ Judges 1:6-7>
Just as he did to others, Adoni-Bezek, the king of Canaan dies with his thumbs and big toes cut off. Those who know grace can fall flat in front of God, realise their grave sin but rely on God’s grace for salvation, but those like Adoni-Bezek who do not know God’s grace, will just despair saying “I get what I deserve”. This is legalism, humanism and Armanianism.
Revelations records about this in this way:
<READ Revelations 22:12>
This is the end of those who do not know grace. They face death as their deeds deserve.
But what happens to God’s people?
<READ Galatians 3:13-14>