Joshua Bible Study Lesson Snippet
Ai: Beware these two foes straight after victory!
Joshua 7:1-3 But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel. (2) Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, "Go up and spy out the region." So the men went up and spied out Ai. (3) When they returned to Joshua, they said, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there."
Jericho was a massive victory for the nation. They are on a great high. And in verse 2 Joshua sends men from Jericho to Ai. Now where was their base camp supposed to be? Gilgal. And when we looked at what Gilgal stood for we saw it was a picture of self judgement. It was in that place that they circumcised themselves and it was there that they took stock of what they were. It was in that place that they looked at the monuments that they had come through in the Jordan... monuments of death and resurrection. It was in that place that they received new instruction and the good food of the land. Gilgal was supposed to be their base camp. When you carry on through this book you will see they go out from Gilgal to their battles. So the picture that you have got here is that they go from this battle at Jericho into the one at Ai but instead of coming back to Gilgal, where there would have been self judgement, they just go straight up. In some ways, after a great victory can be our weakest most vulnerable point. When God has actually done something for you or you have been victorious in some aspect or manner, going straight into the next battle can be a real tipping point. One man I thought of was Elijah. Elijah obtained a tremendous victory over 450 false prophets and then the Spirit comes upon him and he outruns a horse and chariot back to the city, yet at the threat of one woman - Jezebel, he falls horrendously. How can you go from victory to victory and then all of a sudden there is a great failing?
So what comes out of it is that when you are really victorious in some aspect, pride comes in, self confidence comes in, and this is what is happening with the nation of Israel. They say in verse 3: 'Look all the people don't need to go. There are only a few people there.' In other words 'this battle is easy-peasy compared to what we have just faced. Jericho was momentous but this is just a small one.' So you have this whole picture here that they have just come from a massive victory and they are self confident. They don't need all the people; this is going to be easy for us to do.
Beware of the two foes - fear and self-confidence
Self-confidence is a real aspect of the flesh that we need to be careful about. You have these two aspects, first you fear which governs them through the wilderness. What fear does is make situations, problems and enemies bigger than what they actually are. It builds the situation up to be bigger than what it actually is. But self-confidence does the opposite. It makes the situation seem smaller or more insignificant than what it really is and this is the picture you have here with the nation of Israel. 'We don't need all the people to go and fight this battle. We have just defeated Jericho and the people of Ai are only a few, so only a few of us need to go.' In God's economy, He actually chooses the weak and those that aren't full of themselves, who don't think that they have got what it takes. It is very different to the way the world's system works.
The second thing is that there doesn't seem to be any prayer from Joshua through this passage. When he met the man with the sword in his hand, he received instruction about what to do. But here there is no account of him asking God what do. He just goes straight into it. He sends out the men, they come back and say 'look, we don't need to take everyone' so there is no record of Joshua asking God 'how do we fight this next battle.' He just did what was natural to him. He just sent out the spies and he had no idea what God had seen - that there was actually sin in the camp. So we need to be careful of prayerlessness because the victory that we get today is actually not enough for tomorrow. We always think that if we are on the heights that will be enough to carry us on to the next battle but it is actually not. Just like the manna in the wilderness, they were given enough for that day. Every day they had to receive it anew. It is exactly the same for us. It is a walk of faith where our dependence upon God does not carry on just because you depended on Him one day. It is a day by day walk of faith where we look to God to meet the obstacle... whether it is a big one that we are facing in our lives, or whether it is only a little one, that dependence needs to be there. So we need to be careful of self confidence and we need to be careful of thinking we have got what it takes. It is a little bit like the whale that said to the baby whale 'when you get to the top and you start to blow be careful because that is when you get harpooned.' It is exactly the same for us, when you get to the top be careful of self confidence and self pride. When you think you have got what it takes, look out. It can be a small little thing like Ai that will defeat you.
From: Joshua Chapter 7 Bible Study: Ai and the sin of Achan