Blame Distributed
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. Joshua 7:6 NIV
Tore/ fell/ sprinkled – These three actions indicate the gravity of the situation. Joshua never expected to have any losses at all in the conquest of the Land. Not a single one. Now, when he learns that thirty-six men have been killed in a rout, it isn’t the military loss that causes him to tear his clothes, fall on his face before the ark, and witness the elders pouring ashes on their heads. It is the unquestionable breach in the promise of God’s protection—a breach that can only mean Israel has done something to offend the Lord. But what?
We know the story. Achan has taken prohibited items from Jericho. Eventually he is caught and punished along with his family. Cased closed. Well, not exactly. There is a powerful implication in this story that directly applies to every society. It is the fact that we are all accountable for the actions of any individual in our community. The rout of the soldiers was not due to their lack of military prowess or to a bad strategy. The rout was due to a violation of a much more important requirement, that is, loving your neighbor as yourself. How so? We know the commandment of Leviticus 19:18: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord,” but we might have forgotten the prior condition of this commandment, namely, “Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.” If I know my neighbor’s proclivity toward some sinful act, and I do nothing to rebuke him or to prevent him from committing that act, then I share his guilt. The Talmud says that if I were able to stop someone from sinning and didn’t, then it is as if I did the sin myself. The reason Israel as a nation fails is because the people should have known what Achan was capable of doing and they should have prevented it. Blame is distributed when I do not love my neighbor enough to stop him from evil.
Today, in a world where individual rights have trumped all sense of communal responsibility, our lack of legitimate intervention on behalf of the neighbor will be the destruction of the society. We are all accountable for each other. Perhaps the ultimate accountability falls on the leadership that fails to demand and endorse collective responsibility, but every person is in some way accountable to and for the collective. Allowing evil is evil. There are no “innocent” victims in a world that condones lawlessness, in a world that does not uphold Torah principles.
This is a very hard pill to swallow. We are so beguiled by the proclamation of the primacy of the individual that we actually have come to believe we are not responsible for the sins of our neighbors. That’s their problem. I live a pure life. I am Torah-observant. I am a good person. How can I do anything about the moral decay of my nation, or of the world? Hamas is far from my door. . . But it isn’t! Every act of opposition to God’s instruction provides an opportunity to love my neighbor severely. Every time I defer from confrontation, loving confrontation, I share the guilt. As long as I pretend that I am insulated from the outside world because I uphold His commandments, I insult my God. In fact, I am a religiously sanctified coward.
Topical Index: social responsibility, accountability, guilt, blame, innocent, individual, Joshua 7:6
First and foremost thank you for your vulnerability and sharing your journey.
There are times when all of our journeys touch and I hope my insights will bless you.
For some time I’ve experienced troubling dreams in which I’ve been brought back to aspects in my adult children’s lives from their childhood. Aspects of missed potential & developmental delays pertaining to our family journey and my past inabilities.
On one night I heard “Stephen is afraid”
What followed were dreams in which I was shown how I’ve served a religious form of holiness rooted in the fear of loss and a contrasting holiness rooted in relational potential.
It’s been comforting to come here and gain hope and vision from your perspectives and experience.
Thank you.
Thanks for this How much we are all the same under the skin
Ouch. Counter-cultural, but true. The scriptures clearly teach this, but who wants to say it? First, we all struggle with our own/known sin, and who’s brave enough to remove the mote from their own eye before helping another? If that’s not enough, we are scared to death of forming the “religion police” running around like the Pharisee caricature. Then, as a community, we are more likely to confuse tradition with actual sin and miss the mark there.
Brings 1 Corinthians 6:5 to mind.
Skip,
I suppose, for some reason, that you have struck a chord with me this week….
I am compelled by this yet I have a question and it falls into the context of the “whom”….
In this story, these people that are affected by those that chose the Covenant, the neighbors are those along with you…. I am for the accountability of the “community” you are in, to see a brother/neighbor and notice a “sin” (loaded word for sure) I’ll bite on our accountability to the group….
Yet we, as a greater whole, do not live in a “believing” community (Torah or traditional Christian), much less have relationships for loving confrontational discussion about any perceived “sin” that is in my understanding but not theirs, church goer or not… I might choose to live as an example of honoring God with His ways (Torah), yet I am not in “battle” with/alongside my neighbor, so how is that being a religiously sanctified coward?
Bob
The singular effective way to take “rule over” sin, whether that be our own sin or another’s trespass, is to “pay heed” to the One whose authority is actual and true… that is, to pay heed to the Word of God, whose Word is the True and Supreme authority. That is the only effective means whereby desire (“lust”) of the flesh may be brought under the “rule” of God’s absolute and Sovereign authority. Otherwise, it is just as the first woman, Eve, “payed heed” to the insubordinate “rule” of the Serpent’s assumed word of “authority,” or even as Adam “payed heed” to his wife’s “authoritative voice.”
There is but One authoritative Word— the Word of God— that Word “made flesh” and which “dwelt among us;” and He alone is the is the True and proper authoritative “rule” of life to whom we legitimately may and must “pay heed.” Otherwise, it is even as Eve’s desire for intimacy was toward/for her husband, yet she “payed heed” to the Serpent’s voice; each person’s desire for intimacy is legitimately toward/for his/her Creator, yet such desire is sublimated toward/for “another voice” to which we “pay heed”… and that can only place us under the rule of sin and death.
What, then, is the proper rebuke of trespass and sin? Pay heed to the voice of the One Who is the Word and voice of God!
“In all the world their line (of measure) goes out, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has pitched a tent for the sun, and it is like a bridegroom who comes out of his bridal chamber. It is glad like a strong man to run its course.” (Cf. Psalm 19:4-5)