Teaching resource for Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson for July 5

Ideas and questions to help group members and leaders to study Joshua 7 (select verses).

First, ask the group to get in pairs.

Second, use the following icebreaker: Reference is made today about how a class in school is often punished just when one child misbehaves. Can you recall such an incidence when you were in school? If not, what was the name of your first-grade teacher?

Joshua 7:10–15

1. Why did the Lord ask Joshua to stand up? It was time for a serious conversation. 
2. Why did the Lord say that Israel had sinned when it was just Achan who had taken the things set apart to the Lord? Do you remember times in school when one class member misbehaved and the whole class was punished? Perhaps that is a crude description of what happened here.
3. Can one person’s sin affect others? In most all cases it does.
4. What specifically did the Lord say they had done? They had violated his covenant, they had taken some of what was set apart, stolen, and deceived.  
5. Does one sin often lead to others? Yes. It certainly did in this case. One lie leads to other lies.
6. What was one of the consequences of their sin? They were defeated at Ai where 36 were killed.
7. In 7:12, what was the reason they were set apart from destruction? According to the previous chapter, it was because they did not utterly destroy what was set apart to the Lord, i.e. what Achan had taken. See Joshua 6:15.
8. Do we see the principle of leaven at work here? Yes. Paul said in I Corinthians 5:6 that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Just as yeast permeates flour, unchecked sin spreads and impacts an entire community.
9. What two things did the Lord tell Joshua in 7:12b–13? Remove what had been set apart and consecrate the people.
10. In what way were the people to present themselves before the Lord? Tribe by tribe, clan by clan, and family by family.
11. What image does this scene bring to your mind? Final judgment of all peoples perhaps will be done like this. Just a speculation.
12. To the Western mind, does the punishment for the guilty person and his family seem harsh. They would be stoned and then burned. We must lay aside the Western mindset in interpreting the Bible. See question #8 about the principle of leaven. They were under the law, but now we are under grace.
13. What does the New Testament say about dealing with sin in the church? From Got Questions.org: The NT outlines a progressive process for handling unrepentant sin in the church, moving from private confrontation to public discipline. The primary goals are always to protect the church’s holiness, warn others, and bring the sinner to repentance and restoration.

 Joshua 7:16–19

1. Which tribe was selected? Judah
2. What do you remember about the tribe of Judah? The tribe originated from the fourth son of Jacob and provided the genealogical line from which the Messiah was born. David and Solomon were from that tribe.
3. Which clan was selected? Zerahite. See Genesis 38:30 and Matthew 1:3 for details about this clan.
4. Of that clan, which family head was selected? Zabdi.
5. In this plan of selecting people to come forward, was the possibility of hiding out eliminated? Pretty much.
6. Could Achan have gone to Joshua and confessed without going through all the others? We can only speculate. Discuss.
7. Was there any place Achan could hide? No
8. Why did Joshua say to Achan to give glory to God? He is calling him to honor God’s omniscience and justice by telling the truth and not hiding anything. 
9. Was the confession to be made to Joshua or God? God
10. What insight does Proverbs 28:13 give us about hiding our sin vs. confessing it? He who conceals his sin will not prosper, but those who confesses and turns from them will find compassion.
11. Which is always the better option? Confessing and forsaking.

Joshua 7:20–23

1. Which of the ten commandments did Achan confess to have broken? Do not covet.
2. What was the process of his temptation that led to sin? He saw, he coveted, and he took the forbidden things.
3. What did he do with the things he had stolen? He concealed them in the ground in his tent.
4. Why do we attempt to “conceal” our sins? It’s the natural thing to do. 
5. How much energy does concealing our sin take? It takes a lot as we worry about one little slip up or always nervous about being found out.