Two Men of Judah

This powerful exploration of Joshua chapters 7 and 8 confronts us with a sobering truth: our sin never affects only ourselves. Through the story of Achan's disobedience—taking devoted items from Jericho when God commanded total separation—we witness how one man's hidden sin brought defeat upon an entire nation. The pattern is hauntingly familiar: we see something desirable, we covet it, we take it, and then we hide it. This mirrors the Genesis 3 account of humanity's fall, reminding us that sin follows a predictable progression from desire to concealment. But here's the devastating reality revealed in this passage: the greatest loss wasn't the 36 Israelites who died in battle or even Achan's judgment—it was God's presence withdrawing from His people. When God said 'I will no longer be with you unless you remove what is set apart,' we understand that lostness, separation from God's presence, remains humanity's greatest problem. Yet this dark chapter points us toward hope. Achan was a man from the tribe of Judah whose sin brought judgment, but another man from Judah—Jesus Christ—brought redemption. Where Achan's judgment occurred in a valley, our redemption happened on the hill of Calvary. The call for us today is to foster transparency and honesty in our communities, to actively pursue holiness not because we can earn salvation, but because God loved us first and calls us to be set apart, reflecting His presence to a watching world.