Man By Man

Introduction

Our text this morning is from Joshua the seventh chapter, where in verses 14 through 18, the scripture says, In the morning, therefore, ye shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof. And the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households. And the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man. And it shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath, because he had transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has wrought folly in Israel. So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.

And he brought the family of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarites. And he brought the family of the Zarites man by man, and Zabdai was taken. And he brought his household man by man. And Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdai, the son of Zira of the tribe of Judah, was taken. Perhaps you may recognize this text as at a low point in the history of Israel. As they came into the promised land to conquer it, even according as the Lord had promised. It had not been long since they had just conquered Jericho. Having crossed over the river Jordan and came to this city that was walled.

It wasn’t by their wisdom or some military strategy that allowed them to defeat that great city, but by the grace of God. By their faith and obeying the will of God. They marched around that city one time each day for six days, and then on the seventh day seven times, and as the priests blew the ram’s horns and they shouted, and the walls fell by the will and power of God Almighty. They conquered the city. But it wasn’t long thereafter till they go to the next city, and it’s a much smaller city. In fact, it’s called Ai, and as the reason that the men are not that many at Ai, that they didn’t need to take the whole army or all of Israel up against that city like they had done against Jericho.

1. Sin in the Camp: Achan Taken Man by Man

They’d reasoned that they would take only about three thousand men. But when they went up against Ai, instead of conquering it with the kind of ease that they’d conquered a mightier city like Jericho, instead of defeating Ai, they were defeated. Something like about thirty-six men in fact were slain. And they were chased away, and certainly with great grief and concern, Joshua and his concern to the Lord. Why have you brought us out? We’ve gotten victory over Jericho, you can understand, and now being defeated at a at a at a city that really is not all that large. Why? And the Lord made an explanation. There was sin in the camp. You see, whenever they had gone out or gone to conquer the city of Jericho, God had warned them in Joshua six, verses seventeen through nineteen that all that they would find in that city was consecrated unto God.

The silver and the gold, that only of a city, Rahab, who had who had helped the spies when they’d come to view the land, only Rahab would be spared. But that none of the Israelites were to take any of the of the goodly possessions that they might see in the defeat of Jericho. It was consecrated to God. But story occurs that Achan coveted of that city, silver and gold, and the Babylonian scarlet. And the scripture that we’ve just read, whenever Joshua began to understand what’s happened here and why, God says, You go and will find the one. Bring the tribes before me. Twelve tribes of Israel. And then you bring of the clan or the particular family. Judah was the one selected of the tribe, and then one of his sons, Zarai, Zirah, I believe was his name.

The Zarites were then taken. But then you go through that particular family, down to the household, man by man, stated about three times in the King James Version. And finally they came to Achan. And then Scripture reads in chapter 7 now, continuing really with our text, beginning in verse 15. The scripture says, It shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord. And because he had wrought folly in Israel. So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken, and he brought the family of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarites, and he brought the family of the Zarites, man by man.

Zabdai was taken. And he brought his household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmai, the son of Zabdai, the son of Zedra of the tribe of Judah, was taken. And Joshua said unto Achan, my son, give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him. Tell me now what thou hast done. Hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils of a goodly Babylonious garment, and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight. Then I coveted them and took them. And behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it.

So Joshua sent messengers. And they ran unto the tent, and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them unto Joshua and unto the child all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. 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 into 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, the valley of trouble. We might look at that story and we think, boy, that was that was pretty harsh, wasn’t it? That Achan and all that he had, just simply because he took, you might say, comparatively speaking, just a little bit from Jericho. He didn’t take it all. And in fact, why so much trouble to Israel? That even the whole camp of Israel would be defeated when they go against Ai just because of this one man. Why were there 36 who died in that battle? Because this one man.

2. God Does Judge Us Man by Man

But there are other stories in the Bible when we begin to read through the history of God’s people. And that God indeed does judge us man by man, individually. Sometimes we might think that, you know, well, judgment’s going to be in bunches or churches. Because I’m a member of a good church, maybe, you know, I’m going to be saved. Or because my parents were faithful Christians or my family, surely somehow I’ll be saved. But what we read through the scripture is that really God’s wrath is stirred up against individuals who sin. And his blessings are promised upon those individuals who are righteous and who obey the Lord to the best of their ability. Man by man shall be God’s judgment. Not only is the story of Achan illustrate that, but later there’s a story about us.

3. Uzzah Put His Hand to the Ark

You may remember later in Israel’s history when whenever at the time of Eli, the last of the judges, and his sons took the Ark of the Covenant out in battle against the Philistines. And not only were they defeated, but the Ark was taken captive. And it was never really brought back, even or brought to the city of David until many, many years later. But in 1 Chronicles chapter 13, the story is told how that under David’s leadership as king, they built a new cart to put the ark on. And they began to take it back up from the threshing floor of Benad. The scripture says in 1 Chronicles 13 and beginning in verse 3, let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul.

And all the congregation said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the sight in the eyes of all the people. So David gathered all Israel together from Shahor of Egypt, even unto the entering of Hema, to bring the ark of God from Kerjath Jaram. And David went up in all Israel to Balah, that is to Kurdjath Jerem, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the Lord that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it. And they carried the ark of God and a new cart out of the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Aho drove the cart. And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, with singing with harps, with psalteries, with trembles, with cymbals, with trumpets.

And when they came into the threshing floor of Khidan, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark. For the oxen stumbled.

And he smote him. Because he put his hand to the ark. And there he died before the Lord. Again, we read that, and we may think, Paul Eza was trying to do was to keep the Ark of the Covenant from falling off the cart. As the oxen stumbled, they came to this evidently rough place. That’s pretty severe, isn’t it? We certainly, in our day of preaching tolerance, so many people have an idea that it really doesn’t matter that much what we do because God loves us and somehow he’s going to overlook. And Uzzah touched the ark of the covenant and God struck him dead. That certainly doesn’t fit with modern philosophy, does it? But we understand really when we read back in the law how that as God gave the covenant through Moses to the people of Israel, not only had he taught them how to build the ark of the covenant, he’d also designated that there would be rings at the four corners, and staves would be put through those rings so that only the family of Kohat would bear the ark, and they would never touch it.

4. Nadab and Abihu Took Fire Unauthorized

It was such an holy thing before God. The mercious seat on top, the cherubim’s wings overshadowing was a place where God said, I’ll meet you there. I’ll commune with you there. And no man should touch it. And only of the tribe of Kohat of his lineage should they even take it. And even though it may seem in our eyes a small thing, in fact, a good thing that he would keep the ark from falling over, first of all, they were carrying it the wrong way. And secondly, here is a man who touched the ark that God had said, Do not. God struck him dead. Pretty severe, it sounds. But there are other stories. In Leviticus chapter 10, the sons of the high priest Aaron. Now, Aaron was the brother of Moses, and surely a righteous man and a good man.

But his sons, the scripture says, Nadab and Abahu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censor and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them. And they died before the Lord. Again, briefly stated. But we understand that here were the sons of this priest, high priest, and their daily duty, both morning and evening, they were to light the fire in the holy place, burn the incense before the Lord. But as the NLB states it, they took fire unauthorized. Strange fire, the King James Version reads. They were to take fire from the burnt offering. That was the place. Evidently from some other source.

What difference does that make? People would ask. It’s fire, it’s fire, isn’t it? But they took fire unauthorized. And it wasn’t that God had said, Thou shalt not take fire from a different place. He just simply said, Here is where to get it. Sometimes people want to reason, well, if God doesn’t say, Thou shalt not, it’ll be alright what we do, won’t it? You know, we have choice, don’t we? But it teaches us a lesson that really, if God said what to do, we have no right to change that. But rather do what he did, what he said do in the way he said do it. These men were struck dead. Sons of a high priest, brother of Aaron. These sons were nephews. A brother of Moses.

5. Ananias and Sapphira: Hypocrites Struck Dead

These sons were nephews of Moses. We’re going to talk about it lineage. If that’s enough to sort of spare you, they would have a right claim, good claim to it, wouldn’t it? But God teaches us a lesson as well as them. Fact is, even when you come to the New Testament, you find the story about the first hypocrites in the church, you might say. In Acts chapter 5, at a time when there were needy saints and brethren were selling their possessions. In fact, the last few verses of chapter 4, Barnabas, a good man, sold his land and brought money and laid at the apostles’ feet. And we later read about Barnabas, what a great many Ananias and Sapphire sold their possessions. And they brought money and laid at the apostles’ feet.

But they were struck dead. What’s the difference? Because when you read Acts chapter 5, they lied about what they were bringing. Now they had the right. They had the right to keep back part of it if they wanted to. But they pretended as though they were giving the full price. You know, sometimes people want to get praise of others, and they pretend they’re doing more than they really are. And that’s really what Ananias and Sapphira did. They pretended to be doing much more than they did. And because, as Peter said, you’ve lied not to men, but to God. They were both struck dead. Hypocrites. Now you’d say on one hand, they did pretty good. They sold house, they sold possession and brought money. That part was good.

I hope all of you this morning. Even as we gave back to the Lord a part of what he’s given us, we’ve done good. Have we pretended to give more than we really did? Have we really sacrificed? Have we maybe spent more on ourselves? But acted as though, well, Lord, we really love you. And giving him just a little part of what he’s given us. Well, they were hypocrites, and some, no doubt, there might be some in our own generation of time. The Lord knows them. In this case, he struck them dead. He won’t strike you and me dead now, but the lesson, there come time of judgment, and we’ll answer for whether or not we’re sincerely serving God, honestly serving God. Man by man is judgment day.

6. Not in Bunches, Not by Congregations

Not in bunches, not by congregations. In fact, I hope you begin to see the point that I’m driving at this morning, even with these few examples and others could be given. And that is that others about me may be doing right or wrong for that matter. But God will judge what I am doing. And punishment or blessing will be man by man, regardless of what others are doing. Don’t look around to your wife or your husband or your children or your parents or your brethren, or think about what is God going to say about you. That’s where judgment is. Individually, one by one. In fact, there’s a great passage in Ezekiel chapter 14, I want you to read with me. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, the prophet said, Son of man, if a country sins against me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out my hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and cut off from it both man and beast.

Even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in its midst by their own righteousness, they could only deliver themselves, declares the Lord God. Now you think about the history in the Bible. Here’s Noah saved during the flood. Here is Daniel, the great prophet of God, taken in captivity, served even in the Babylonian captivity under Nebuchadnezzar. And here was Job, the great man. If these three were there, they couldn’t save the rest of the land. They could only save themselves, man by man. In fact, he said, if I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate, so that no one would pass through it because of the beast. Though these three men were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord God, they could not deliver.

Either their sons or their daughters, they alone would be delivered. But the country would be desolate. Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it, even though these three men were in