“Under the Ban”

Joshua 7: 13b: “Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, ‘There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.” Israel has just lost a battle for the first time in forty years; it is the first defeat for this generation of soldiers. Why? For the sake of a hoodie, a little silver, and a little gold (v. 21). But that’s the surface issue, the real problem was that Achan was testing God’s righteous judgment. Pride, greed, and arrogance are still under the ban for His children, and when allowed to fester, they will still make us fall before our enemies. The only remedy is to extinguish them from our lives. (v. 25).