One Year Bible Readings and Commentary for Wednesday, April 13th "Israelites Defeat Ai" ""Jesus Teaches on Being a Shrewd Business Manager!"
Click Here to Listen to the Readings
Click Here to Read Joshua 7:16-9:2
Achan’s Sin
Through a process of elimination Achan is brought forward as the one who took gold, silver and a ornate robe from the plunder in Jericho. When Joshua brings him before the community, Achan makes his confession and says, "I wanted them so much that I took them." Clearly his greed was his undoing. Though Achan confessed his sin, he still faced the consequences, as he and his family were stoned and burned. All of his possession were also piled into a heap and destroyed.
You might ask if he confessed his sin, why did he receive such a severe penalty? Here is a possible explanation, though I don't think any explanation will fully explain why this happened. It is one of those challenging bible stories we wrestle with.
But why, we might ask, did God destroy Achan’s family as well? The Bible doesn’t give us God’s exact reasons for destroying Achan’s family, although Proverbs 15:27 does say that “a greedy man brings trouble to his family.” In the case of Achan, all we can do is speculate. Perhaps it was an object lesson to the rest of the nation, a lesson they learned after Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16) but which needed to be reinforced. Perhaps Achan’s children had already begun to exhibit their father’s traits of covetousness, disobedience, and disrespect for God’s commands. Most likely, they had actually helped Achan hide the stuff and were, in fact, accomplices to the crime.
There is no way to know all of God’s reasons for what seems to us His harsh punishment of Achan and his family. He doesn’t always explain His reasoning to us, nor does He have to. The story of Achan and many other biblical narratives give us sufficient information to understand that God is holy and that He is not to be disobeyed without risking dire consequences. - GotQuestions.org
The Israelites Defeat Ai
God tells Joshua that He has given the King of Ai and his people into their hands. This time after they destroy all the people of Ai, they would be allowed to keep the plunder for themselves. God even gave them a strategy for tricking the King and his people by setting up an ambush. Joshua and some men would approach the city head one and this would lure all the fighting men to come out after the Israelites thinking they could destroy him. Thus the town would be left wide open, and the men from the rear would come out and burn the town and destroy all the inhabitants, while the men were gone.
Meanwhile, the fighting men would see the smoke from the town turn back and be ambushed by Israelites behind them, as well as those who were in front of them. As instructed after the city was burned, the plunder was taken. In both this victory and the victory over Jericho, the town was reduced to rubble and the author says it lay desolate to this day.
"Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed." This was the first key to regaining victory. They had to receive encouragement from God. Though Israel stumbled through Achan’s sin as shown in Joshua 7, they dealt with the failure and now had to move on. It is often the most difficult to regain lost ground such as Ai. When we have failed at some point in our Christian lives, we need to know how to get back on track. What is past is past. We must deal with it before God in repentance and dying to self, and then look forward to what He has for us right now. God wants us to use our failures in a good way, to use them as a foundation for great victory in the LORD. - Guzik
Click Here to Read Luke 16:1-18
Parable of the Shrewd Manager
Oftentimes in the church we might be tempted to stereotype rich people as greedy, ruthless and maybe even dishonest. But nowhere in the bible does it say anything about money and/or riches being inheritently evil. Many of the blessings that flowed to people in the Old Testament involved material blessings and we know rich men like Joseph of Arimathea who used his wealth to buy an proper tomb for Jesus' burial.
Sometimes in the church we worry about becoming "too much like a business". But let me ask you a question? If running the church like a profitable business (efficiently, economically and effectively) meant generating more resources to grow and reach more people for Christ is that good or bad?
In today's parable Jesus says, "If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?" Luke 16:10-11
What is he saying? I think he is saying that if you are blessed with material wealth, you have a greater responsibility to use if to God's glory. How do you think most of the churches or educational institutions were built? Often by the charitable giving of those whom God blessed abundantly.
Jesus also said, "And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light." Luke 16:8
I love what David Guzik says about this,
"Jesus’ assessment is still true: the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. If we pursued the Kingdom of God with the same vigor and zeal that the children of this world pursue profits and pleasure, we would live in an entirely different world. It could be said that it is to the shame of the Church that Coca-Cola is more widely distributed than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Simply, it is because the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light."
How do you use the material blessings that God has given you? Are you a shrewd investor in God's kingdom, so it will come here on earth as it is in heaven?
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