Lyrics · Joshua
The Hidden Thing (Official)
Joshua 7:1-8:29
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About this song
About this song
This song belongs to the Joshua collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.
- Bible book
- Joshua
- Collection
- Joshua
- Musical styles
- Electronic
Named in this songAiJoshuaAchanBabylon
About the passage
Joshua 7: The hidden goods become a public catastrophe
The reader learns about Achan's theft before Joshua learns why Israel loses at Ai. That gap drives the chapter. A small attacking force is routed, about thirty-six men die, and Israel's own hearts now melt in the language previously used of Jericho. Joshua and the elders mourn before the ark, but his prayer initially treats the crossing into Canaan as the problem. God's answer relocates the crisis inside the camp: Israel has taken, stolen, concealed, and placed banned goods among private possessions. A public process narrows from tribe to family to household to Achan, whose confession traces the movement from seeing to coveting to taking to hiding. The recovered garment, silver, and gold are laid openly before the LORD. Judgment follows in the valley of Achor, where a great heap of stones preserves the memory of trouble. The hidden offence becomes a national catastrophe before it becomes public evidence.
Study Joshua 7 in depthJoshua 8: Ai is taken, then the law is heard
After Achan's judgment, God tells Joshua not to fear and sends Israel back against Ai with new instructions. This time livestock and spoil may be kept, making the contrast with Jericho unmistakable. The battle plan also changes completely. An ambush and feigned retreat use Ai's memory of Israel's earlier defeat against it, drawing the defenders away until smoke from the captured city reveals the trap. The destruction that follows is severe, but the handling of spoil and the removal of the king's body at sunset remain under specific commands. Then the chapter shifts abruptly from battle to covenant ceremony. At Mount Ebal, Joshua builds an altar of unworked stones, writes the law, and reads blessings and curses before the entire assembly. Leaders, women, children, and resident foreigners all stand within its hearing. Ai is taken, but the chapter's final image is not smoke. It is a whole people listening to the law that governs their inheritance.
Study Joshua 8 in depth


