Total Destruction Is The Only Option

“And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.” (Jos 7:24-26 AV)

At first glance, we may feel this is a bit harsh.  Achan and his entire family were stoned to death and all that he had along with his dead family were burned with fire.  A few observations here.  We don’t know how old his children were.  They could have been grown adults.  Second, thirty-six men died in the battle for Ai because of Achan’s sin.  One wonders if the total number of Achan’s household was not the same.  Thirdly, and most importantly, God takes His law very seriously.  There was a time to enjoy the spoils of war and there was a time when the spoils of war were to be destroyed.  One of the agreements God made with Israel was all precious metals were to go for the construction and maintenance of the Tabernacle.  When Achan kept back the gold and silver, he kept back the price of the Tabernacle.  He stole from God.  Note also Achan fought the battle of Jericho from which he stole the accursed thing.  Yet, when it came to Ai, he was absent from the battle.  His lust, and the consequent hiding of his sin, cooled his zeal for the battles of God. 

I have a name for my old nature.  I call him Mr. Hyde.  For those unfamiliar, a classic horror story written in the latter half of the 19^th century was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It was the story of a doctor who devised a formula that turned him into a murderous monster.  When he was Dr. Jekyll, he was a kind and compassionate servant of the masses.  But at night, when he would occasionally turn into Mr. Hyde, he ran amuck and created many victims.  The townspeople struggle to see the connection between the two.  Whatever your view of sanctification is, it cannot be debated that our nature to sin is still part of our nature even though we have the Holy Spirit as our permanent resident and partner in striving after holiness.  There is a battle between the desire to sin and the desire not to.  Paul perfectly describes this in Romans chapter seven.  Mr. Hyde is still there.  He should grow weaker and weaker.  We are crucified with Christ.  Crucifixion is the process of dying.  It is supposed to end in death.  That is the point of being crucified with Christ.  Mr. Hyde needs to die.

Achan and his family cursed the rest of the nation. As long as they held on to their lust, and the fruits gained by it, God refused to bless the nation.  Total destruction was the only answer.  There can be no future to this lust.  That is why the children were also destroyed.  If Achan was the only causality, the children and spouse would have learned to hide their sin better.  The destruction of Achan is a picture of how we should deal with our old sinful nature.  No refuge!  No quarters.  No way for it to rear its ugly head ever again.  Reaping the consequences of sin is not fun.  It doesn’t matter what we have done or failed to do.  The consequences must be harsher than the pleasure we receive from our sin.  That is the only way we will learn.  Achan must die.  He and all of his.  If the children survive, there is an inheritance.  By destroying Achan and all of his, there was no inheritance for them.  There was no place for them.  They were erased from the future plans of the nation.  The same must be true of our nature to sin.  It must find no quarters.  It must not be given sanctuary.  It must be eliminated.  There is to be no compassion, understanding, or place given to it.  No excuses.  No explanation that merits grace.  No soft spot as a victim of Adam’s sin.  No sir!  Achan, Mr. Hyde, or whatever you want to call our nature to sin must be erased from all existence.  He (or she) must go!