A Weak Confession (Joshua 7.20–21)
And Achan answered Joshua, “It is true; I am the one who sinned against the LORD God of Israel. This is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. They now lie hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Joshua 7.20-21
Background
This passage, like the first one in Joshua, makes us wonder if it is actually a prayer—in this case, a confession. It appears to be so; it begins the phrase “I am the one who sinned…” Yet it lacks much of the language that is usually found in prayers of confession. This is the first confession we have encountered in our study. It is not a good model.
The context of the story is a continuation of the last. After the loss at Ai,1 Joshua offered a prayer of lament. God told him the loss was a result of the misdeeds of his people. Following a night’s sleep, Joshua assembled the tribes of Israel. With care, he works down the hierarchy. He locates the tribe responsible for disobeying God, then the clan, the family, the subfamily, and finally, he comes to a man, Achan. Joshua tells Achan to give the glory to God and to confess. He urges him to be honest and not hide anything. Achan, to his credit, confesses that it was he who kept some spoils of war. He disobeyed the herem order by keeping a beautiful mantle and some silver and gold from Jericho. He knew God had commanded that they be destroyed. He kept them anyway.
Joshua sent men to Achan’s tent to verify his story; they find the treasure just as he said. The treasure is laid before Achan and all the people of Israel. Because of his failure to keep the herem, he has now become the herem—the thing forbidden. His selfish actions have affected the whole community through a loss of a battle and loss of life. He violated the ban; he now becomes the ban. Achan, his wife and children, his tent, his animals, and all their belongings are taken outside the camp. As God ordered, Achan and his family were executed, and all their belongings were burned. The people raise a heap of stones above the destruction.
Again we find a disturbing harshness in God’s judgment. We will leave those questions to other commentators and theologians. When we explore the prayer-confession, we find it lacking in sincerity and depth, like many other prayers (or not-prayers) in Joshua. Joshua orders Achan to “give glory to God” and to “confess.” Nothing in Achan’s response gives glory to God, and his confession is little more than “yes, I did it and here are the details.” The answer appears almost flippant. Is this what the writer intended us to understand? Or is the writer only moving with speed through a troubling story, and we should not read too much into its brevity?
The context and content of Joshua reveal that it is the former. Throughout the book, the writer shows that the leaders and the people became complacent in their relationship with God. They take His presence (and His blessings) for granted. The confession is not much of a confession. For example, compare it with the confession from 1 Samuel:
“Then they cried to the LORD, and said, ‘We have sinned because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served the Baals and the Astartes…’”
1 Samuel 12.10
This is a genuine confession, exemplified by the crying and frank admission of sin. That passage continues with the people asking God to forgive them and rescue them. Achan’s confession contains no “because,” no mention of his forsaking God, and no cry for forgiveness. Achan’s refusal to obey God is a danger for Israel; his attitude about it is another danger.
Meaning
What do we learn from this prayer? First, this prayer, and the surrounding story, emphasized the seriousness of sin. It is not a “mistake.” We are not to be flippant about it and think that “God is in the forgiving business; it is no big deal.” Sin is a “big deal.” Whether our actions result in the death of people or only hurt feelings, if we violate God’s character and commands, it is a serious matter. Like a craftsman who makes a tool to perform a certain function, God has created humans to live and act in certain ways. If we try to use a screwdriver as a hammer, it might work, but we will likely damage the screwdriver and perhaps make a mess of things. It is not its created purpose. If you do it a lot, worse damage can occur. It is likewise with humans. If we live outside our “created purpose,” we may be able to function, but it will not be for the best, and we will cause damage—perhaps little at first, but it will worsen if we continue. All sin is serious because it is a violation and a misuse of our created nature. It is contrary to our purpose in life.
Second, and connected to the first: we ought to make sure our confessions are honest and genuine. A confession should be specific and heartfelt, not merely “yes, I did that, and here’s how.” We should try to realize the depth of pain we cause God, and the damage (or potential damage) we are creating for ourselves and others.
Application
Think about one of your specific sins, whether recent or in the past. Did you confess them (to God and others)? We all tend to be defensive; it is difficult to only confess without offering some justifications. A good practice in confession is to refuse to use words like “but,” “however,” and, one of the worst, “but he/she did it too!”
Try writing a confession using a recent or past sin. Avoid the words mentioned above. Confess, don’t be flippant, and address it with all seriousness. Offer the prayer you have written, out loud. Perhaps you can pray it with someone else. Write down the thoughts you have about confession.
- See the previous chapter. ↩
