The Rationalization of Disobedience
Learning from Achan’s Grave Error in Joshua 7
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Photo credit: The Heaton File
Israel’s time in the promised land had been going well. In Joshua 3–4, they crossed the Jordan River which God miraculously parted. In Joshua 5, they applied the sign of the covenant, and they kept the Passover. In Joshua 6, the walls of Jericho fell by the hand of God rather than by human strength.
But then Joshua 7 happens. A man named Achan had taken some of the devoted things from the Jericho victory (Josh. 7:1), and this disobedience was poison in the covenant community. When the Israelites went up against Ai (their next town after Jericho), the men of Israel fled before the men of Ai—in defeat (7:2–5).
The Lord told Joshua that a transgression of the covenant had taken place (Josh. 7:11). Regarding Jericho, God had told the people to devote things to destruction, and people were not to take personal advantage of any of the spoil. The destruction would be total. God said, “But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it” (6:18).
Yet Achan took some devoted things (Josh. 7:1). Once the process of elimination revealed that he was the perpetrator (7:14–18), he admitted to what he had done. He said, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath” (7:20–21).
To Achan, these “devoted things” justified his disobedience. The things were some silver, some gold, and a cloak. Achan saw them, evaluated their desirability, coveted them, and took them. Here were the things that seemed more important than obedience.
But that’s the lie right there, isn’t it? The lie is believing that something else is more important than obedience unto the Lord. The lie is believing that rebellion would, somehow, be worth it.
In Mark 8:36, Jesus asked what it would profit a man if he gained the whole world yet lost his soul. The question is about ultimate gain. And the answer, of course, is nothing. It wouldn’t profit a man, no matter what he gained, if he lost his soul.
For Achan, what did rebellion ultimately profit him? Nothing. What did rebellion ultimately cost him? Everything.
Sin is insane. But at some point along the way, rationalizing rebellion made sense to Achan. What a dangerous state of soul! He accepted the irrationality of disobedience against the living and holy God. Maybe he thought, “Other people are probably taking devoted things too.” Or maybe he said to himself, “It’s just a little gold and a little silver and only one cloak.” Or maybe he arrogantly concluded, “God’s prohibition is simply too restrictive.”
Yet seeking to justify disobedience is a losing game. God’s warning had been clear, yet Achan likely told himself the same kinds of things that people tell themselves all the time in the midst of their rebellion. “Everything will be fine.” Or, “It’s not that big of a deal.” Or, “God wasn’t serious in what he said.” Or, “I answer to no one. I decide what’s right and wrong for me.”
By the end of the chapter, Achan is dead (Josh. 7:25–26). And the worldly things he coveted could not deliver him, sustain him, bless him, or comfort him. Achan had, in fact, rejected the one who delivers, sustains, blesses, and comforts.
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