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Josué 7

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1 Pero los hijos de Israel cometieron prevaricación en el anatema; porque Acán, hijo de Carmi, hijo de Zabdi, hijo de Zera, de la tribu de Judá, tomó del anatema; y la ira del SEÑOR se encendió contra los hijos de Israel.

2 Y Josué envió hombres desde Jericó a Hai, que estaba junto a Bet-avén hacia el oriente de Bet-el; y les habló diciendo: Subid, y reconoced la tierra. Y ellos subieron, y reconocieron a Hai.

3 Y volviendo a Josué, le dijeron: No suba todo el pueblo, mas suban como dos mil o como tres mil hombres, y tomarán a Hai; no fatigues a todo el pueblo yendo allí, porque son pocos.

4 Y subieron allá del pueblo como tres mil hombres, los cuales huyeron delante de los de Hai.

5 Y los de Hai hirieron de ellos como treinta y seis hombres, y los siguieron desde la puerta hasta Sebarim, y los mataron en una bajada; por lo que se disolvió el corazón del pueblo, y vino a ser como agua.

6 Entonces Josué rompió sus vestidos, y se postró en tierra sobre su rostro delante del arca del SEÑOR hasta la tarde, él y los ancianos de Israel; echando polvo sobre sus cabezas.

7 Y Josué dijo: ¡Ah, Señor DIOS! ¿Por qué hiciste pasar a este pueblo el Jordán, para entregarnos en las manos de los amorreos, que nos destruyan? ¡Mejor nos hubiéramos quedado al otro lado del Jordán!

8 ¡Ay Señor! ¿qué diré, ya que Israel ha vuelto las espaldas delante de sus enemigos?

9 Porque los cananeos y todos los moradores de la tierra oirán, y nos cercarán, y raerán nuestro nombre de sobre la tierra; entonces ¿qué harás a tu grande nombre?

10 Y el SEÑOR dijo a Josué: Levántate; ¿por qué te postras así sobre tu rostro?

11 Israel ha pecado, y aun han quebrantado mi pacto que yo les había mandado; pues aun han tomado del anatema, y hasta han hurtado, y también han mentido, y aun lo han guardado en sus vasos.

12 Por esto los hijos de Israel no podrán estar delante de sus enemigos, sino que delante de sus enemigos volverán las espaldas; por cuanto han estado en el anatema; ni estaré más con vosotros, si no destruyereis el anatema de en medio de vosotros.

13 Levántate, santifica al pueblo, y di: Santificaos para mañana, porque el SEÑOR el Dios de Israel dice así: Anatema hay en medio de ti, Israel; no podrás estar delante de tus enemigos, hasta tanto que hayáis quitado el anatema de en medio de vosotros.

14 Os acercaréis, pues, mañana por vuestras tribus; y la tribu que el SEÑOR tomare, se acercará por sus familias; y la familia que el SEÑOR tomare, se acercará por sus casas; y la casa que el SEÑOR tomare, se acercará por los varones;

15 y el que fuere cogido en el anatema, será quemado a fuego, él y todo lo que tiene, por cuanto ha quebrantado el pacto del SEÑOR, y ha cometido maldad en Israel.

16 Josué, pues, levantándose de mañana, hizo acercar a Israel por sus tribus; y fue tomada la tribu de Judá;

17 y haciendo acercar la tribu de Judá, fue tomada la familia de los de Zera; haciendo luego acercar la familia de los de Zera por los varones, fue tomado Zabdi;

18 e hizo acercar su casa por los varones, y fue tomado Acán, hijo de Carmi, hijo de Zabdi, hijo de Zera, de la tribu de Judá.

19 Entonces Josué dijo a Acán: Hijo mío, da ahora gloria al SEÑOR el Dios de Israel, y dale alabanza, y declárame ahora lo que has hecho; no me lo encubras.

20 Y Acán respondió a Josué, diciendo: Verdaderamente yo he pecado contra el SEÑOR el Dios de Israel, y he hecho así y así.

21 Que vi entre los despojos un manto babilónico muy bueno, y doscientos siclos de plata, y un lingote de oro de peso de cincuenta siclos; lo cual codicié, y tomé; y he aquí que está escondido debajo de tierra en el medio de mi tienda, y el dinero debajo de ello.

22 Josué entonces envió mensajeros, los cuales fueron corriendo a la tienda; y he aquí que todo estaba escondido en su tienda, y el dinero debajo de ello.

23 Y tomándolo de en medio de la tienda, lo trajeron a Josué y a todos los hijos de Israel, y lo pusieron delante del SEÑOR.

24 Entonces Josué, y todo Israel con él, tomó a Acán hijo de Zera, y el dinero, y el manto, y el lingote de oro, y sus hijos, y sus hijas, y sus bueyes y sus asnos, y sus ovejas, y su tienda, y todo cuanto tenía, y lo llevaron todo al valle de Acor;

25 y dijo Josué: ¿Por qué nos has turbado? Túrbete el SEÑOR en este día. Y todos los israelitas los apedrearon, y los quemaron a fuego, después de apedrearlos con piedras;

26 y levantaron sobre ellos un gran montón de piedras, hasta hoy. Y el SEÑOR se tornó de la ira de su furor. Y por esto fue llamado aquel lugar el Valle de Acor, hasta hoy.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Joshua 7

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Joshua 7: The defeat at Ai, and the sin of Achan.

This chapter opens with the statement that Israel had sinned at Jericho, because an Israelite named Achan had kept something for himself, against the Lord's commandment. (But Joshua doesn't know this yet.)

The great victory at Jericho was quickly followed by an embarrassing defeat at Ai. The Israelites hadn't expected much difficulty in taking Ai, and sent just a few thousand men to attack it. They were routed.

Spiritually, we might say that pride goes before a fall, but more specifically, in the work of our regeneration we are never to rest on our laurels, but to always stay alert to each situation and how we are internally handling it. (Apocalypse Revealed 158)

Understandably, Joshua pours out his heart to the Lord, wondering why they have even crossed over the Jordan to simply be destroyed. The Lord tells him that their defeat at Ai was because Israel sinned by taking some of the forbidden things of Jericho. The Lord explains how to put this right, by identifying the wrongdoer and destroying him and his family.

Note the weakness of Joshua (as earlier also with Moses at times) when things go wrong and he feels confused, full of doubt, hurt and afraid. When things go well, we go well; when things go badly, we tend to go to pieces. And we ask, “Why? Why this, why me, why now?”

The Lord’s answer is a command, “Get up! Why are you lying on your face?” This is a pretty plain meaning: The Lord wants us to use such setbacks to be able to go forward, seeing the problem as a challenge and an opportunity and learning point.

Joshua is told to find the source of the wrong and the defeat. From all the tribes, one tribe will be selected by the Lord. From all its families, one family will be chosen. From all its households, one household will be chosen, and from that household, one man will be chosen. And Achan was the man and he is brought out. (Arcana Caelestia 5135)

This drawing-by-lot is a remarkable picture of our spiritual self-examination. We’re told that to make our general confession of ‘having done what we should not have done’ is almost worthless because we are likely to just carry on the same afterwards. (Arcana Caelestia 8390) Our personal inventory must be specific. What kind of thoughts have I been allowing myself recently? What did that make me feel in my heart? Did I welcome it or want nothing to do with it? It’s a kind of pinpointing, and it leads us to Achan, whose name in Hebrew means ‘trouble’ and ‘troubler’. (The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 164)

Achan, discovered, doesn't hide or deny his wrongdoing but openly admits that he has sinned against the Lord. He'd seen a beautiful garment, much silver, and a chunk of gold, and took them, and hid them in the earth in the middle of his tent. He confesses and indeed, his confession is transparent. So must our confession be when we see things in ourselves that go against the Lord’s truths and ways. They bring forth his stolen goods from his tent.

Then, in a comprehensive way, Joshua took everything Achan owned in its entirety, including the stolen goods, to the Valley of Achor (a name again meaning ‘trouble’) and stoned him and all his family and burned them with fire and raised a heap of stones over it all. This, to us, might well sound like a brutal and an unwarranted punishment.

Spiritually, the Lord does not punish us, ever. Rather, he commands that we turn from our evils, and suffer the consequences if we don't. The Lord does this to help and encourage us to stop following our own way and to commit ourselves to following and living His way. We can only conquer Canaan, representing heaven, when we do this. (Arcana Caelestia 8622)

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Arcana Coelestia # 8622

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8622. 'That I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven' means that that falsity is to be completely removed, so that it may no longer engage in conflict. This is clear from the meaning of 'blotting out the memory' as removing, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Amalek' as those who are steeped in falsity arising from interior evil, dealt with in 8593.

[2] The reason why 'blotting out the memory of Amalek' means removing the falsity that arises from interior evil is that it can be removed, but cannot be blotted out, since it is the falsity residing with hellish genii who live forever, 8593. These genii are however removed by the Lord so that they do not flow into those who belong to the spiritual Church, the reason for this being that they do not flow, as hellish spirits do, into thoughts belonging to the understanding, nor thus into ideas belonging to faith, but into affections belonging to the will, consequently into feelings belonging to charity. And they do this so secretively that not a trace of what comes from them is ever apparent. If therefore they were to flow into a member of the spiritual Church he could not possibly be saved, because they would pervert and utterly warp his affections for what is true and good. This is why those hellish genii are removed so that they do not have any contact with those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom.

[3] Furthermore it should be recognized that a member of the spiritual Church has a new will implanted in the understanding part of his mind, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113. This will would be completely destroyed by those genii if they were allowed to flow in. They would also enter into and open up again the hereditary evils of the old will, even though they have been closed off. Regarding the closing off of them, see 986, 1667, 2308. Those hellish genii are removed in this way to prevent them from flowing in. Their falsity, which is falsity arising from interior evil, is evil - evil whose nature is such that it cannot flow into the understanding part of the mind, only into the will part. This being so, and because the new will of a member of the spiritual Church has been planted in the understanding part, as stated above, they have consequently been removed from flowing into it. To this end the Lord also controls things in such a way that the entire power of understanding in these genii is laid waste.

[4] After death people become genii like these if they have had doing harm to their neighbour constantly in mind, allowing such ideas to delight their thinking, and have also inflicted harm, but secretively and through others, taking the utmost care to prevent anyone from knowing that they had initiated it. In other respects they were to outward appearances unassuming, polite, and seemingly friendly; they were also seemingly Christian in speech, and in life too. They were however hypocrites, and inwardly were treacherous tigers.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.