Day 77

"But the Lord said to Joshua, 'Get up! Why are you lying on your face like this? Israel has sinned and broken my covenant. They have stolen some of the things I commanded must be set apart for me. And they have not only stolen them but they have lied about it and hidden the things among their own belongings. That is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat. For now Israel has been set apart for destruction.'” Joshua 7:10-12

I don’t find the eighth commandment, Thou Shalt Not Steal, all that compelling – until I read scripture. I just want to say unequivocally that stealing from God is not a good idea. Frankly I am disturbed by what I read on the subject in scripture. God does find this commandment compelling. He’s quite serious about it, especially when we are stealing from Him.

Stealing, it appears, was the first commandment broken upon entering the Promised Land. It happened during the battle of Jericho. It was done by a man named Achan who pillaged some of the good stuff while conquering the land. It may seem trivial, but it was not. God had told the Israelites not to do that, but to collect all of the silver, gold, bronze and iron and put it in the Lord’s treasury.

God insists we comply with a few expectations. These are usually laid down by Him, without our approval, as His conditions for being our God. Don’t eat the fruit of that tree. Don’t touch the Ark of the Covenant. Don’t steal the goods from Jericho that are mine. Breaking these, it seems, brings death.

In conquering Jericho, the people were to take nothing except the land, NOTHING for their own personal gain. We are compelled to ask WHY?

I am sure Bible scholars could run circles around me on this one. This whole event of entering the Promised Land is disturbing. I know people who cite it as a reason they cannot believe in the “angry” God of the Bible. The short story is that God instructs the Israelites to kill every living thing as they take in Jericho, including men, women, children and animals. Then they are told not to pillage but to set aside all of the valuables for God’s treasury. After someone steals treasures in Jericho, God insists that the thief and his whole family be put to death, or all of the Israelites will suffer destruction instead of “promised land” living. Achan and his family, in fact, are stoned to death. God seems cruel and self serving. Is He? We have to reconcile this God with the merciful, loving God.

So, this is what I think: Entering the Promised Land was a do-over. It is the third time God planted people in an uncorrupted environment. Re-wind to the Garden of Eden, which was the first and totally uncorrupted environment, except for a certain fallen angel. Next we witnessed the flood when God spares only eight people from destruction in hopes of pushing back man’s corrupted nature, which by Noah’s time had run rampant. That didn’t work because now instead of a fallen angel lurking about we are starting over with fallen man. The Promised Land is a much smaller cleansing on earth. God wants to destroy or set aside all corruption in this one small area on earth. For the first time He actively includes mankind in the cleansing process, but even during the first battle corruption sets in with Achan stealing that which belongs to God. Is it because God needed all that silver, gold, bronze and iron? No. It is because he wanted an uncorrupted people in this new land of promise SO THAT THEY WOULD BE A LIGHT IN A DARK WORLD. It was God’s third attempt at this with us. It didn’t work. There is only one time on earth that man was not seduced by this world and He is calling us to follow Him with His Spirit’s help.

Stealing is the explicit evidence that we are grafted to the things of this world and not to the things of God. Coveting is a lesser degree of the same problem. If the followers of Christ cannot let go of the things of this world, let God provide for them only what they need, what hope is there for the rest of the world?

Let’s put aside stealing in all forms and let God decide what we need, when we need it and how we will get it. Then we will be of great use to this kingdom of Christ on earth. In Christ we are in the Promise Land, there is lots of good stuff all around us, what will we do with the valuables we find here?

Pray: Father: Stealing corrupts us. Grabbing for things in unbelief that you will provide what we need grieves your heart. Even those of us that do not steal and have little desire to grasp for things cannot really depend on you for our provision. We are self-sufficient, which is an offense to you, for all things belong to you. Wipe our eyes clean that we might have a greater vision of our life on this earth. Call us again and again to something greater than the treasures and the mundane life of this world. No, help us to stand in the Promise Land with Jesus putting all earthly treasures in your treasury. Amen.