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Get Off The Ladder - The Withholding

  • Writer: Paul Downie
    Paul Downie
  • Jan 14
  • 16 min read

Joshua 7:21 NIV 

[21] When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jos.7.21.NIV)


Acts 5:1-2 NIV 

[1] Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. [2] With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.5.1-2.NIV)


Images matter. 


When public health bodies were fighting the spectacularly rich, but spectacularly immoral, tobacco lobby to reduce the temptation to use their product, they put warnings on the cartons. They worked, to an extent. But then they decided to strengthen the warnings that these products kill. So the got the companies to add pictures to their cartons that show precisely what these products do to the human body. They showed diseased lungs, people in hospital dying and the like. They were graphic. They were dramatic. And that had an impact. While there are those who are too addicted to care about their own health, research has shown that these images are much more successful in putting people off smoking than just text alone. 


I look forward to the day when similar warnings are attached to vape containers. After all, they are highly addictive, and reports are already coming in by the plenty of the harm these devices do to their users. 


Graphic images make a difference. 


What we will see it this study are two of the most graphic, and almost instant, punishments for sin. In both cases, the sin was crossing the love line and replacing God as the Lord of their hearts and their affections. 


In both cases, the trigger for this temptation was covetousness. 


These passages, perhaps more than any others, form a graphic health warning on the deadly dangers of covetousness. 


This time, we really need to listen. 


But before we get into these parallel passages, where a similar type of sin took place, we must understand their context. 


Firstly, the verses from Joshua. They follow the fall of Jericho, where the people of God were given this very clear command by Joshua: 


Joshua 6:17-19 NIV 

[17] The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. [18] But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. [19] All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.” 

They were not to take any of the treasures of the city for themselves. These were to be given to God because He was going to give them the victory – which He did. 


Now, Jericho was a major city in the area at the time, and was renowned for its strong defensive walls. Taking that city was a statement victory. 


But what followed was a quite humiliating defeat at the hands of the much smaller, much more vulnerable city of Ai (Joshua 7:1-5). 


And what was the reason behind this quite demoralising military defeat? Someone in their camp had in their possession things that had been devoted to God (Joshua 7:6-12). They sought the Lord and identified the culprit as Achan, son of Zimri (Joshua 7:16-18). 


In Acts, something different had taken place. 


In an act of impressive generosity, Barnabas had sold a field and donated the profits to the church to be distributed among the needy (Acts 4:36-37). We can tell from his name change (he was originally called Joseph, but the apostles called him Barnabas, which means ‘Son of Encouragement’) that this man had gained considerable standing in the church. He was highly influential: it was him who brought Paul into the fold (Acts 9:26-27). For a while he was even Paul’s mission partner (Acts 13:1-3). 


And then there’s Ananias and Sapphira. Luke’s placing of their tale so close to Barnabas' act of generosity tells me that he did so to emphasise how one potentially triggered the other, and how sharply they contrasted. 


While Barnabas was known for his encouragement and generosity, Ananias and Sapphira are known for something quite different: attempting to defraud the apostles, the church and God. They too, like Barnabas, sold a property. They too, like Barnabas, brought money from the sale to the church. 


But unlike Barnabas, they held some of it back for themselves.  


And that’s where things began to get a bit messy. 


There are three stages to both of these incidents that help us to understand how coveting works. Let’s start with the first one: They Saw. 

 

They Saw 

Joshua 7:20-21 NIV 

[20] Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: [21] When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” 

My wife helped set up the accounts for a small business (at the time). What they did was get fitness related clothes made and shipped from China, with their label on them, and then sell them to consumers was in the UK. My wife was a bit taken aback by their pricing strategy. They seemed to be overcharging at the time. The business owner had a history of failure. She was a bit concerned that this one would fail again. 


But then their advertising strategy kicked in. They paid social media influencers a lot of money to use and advertise their clothing. Suddenly their sales spiked. They have continued growing. Their business is now worth millions. 


Advertisers know that visuals matter. They really do. That is why we often see pictures online or elsewhere that don’t always match the experience we receive. They present things as polished and professional and perfect to induce us to part with our money. 


And sometimes, if we’re honest, it works. 


It even works the same in dating and romance. There is a reason why people spent silly amounts of money on clothing and make-up and clothes and shoes and cosmetic surgery. It’s all marketing. They are marketing themselves. But they are too insecure to present themselves as they are, so they become something they are not, sometimes using filters or AI, to win your acceptance and approval. 


Visuals really matter. 


Look at what Eve thought about the forbidden fruit: 


Genesis 3:6 NIV 

[6] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.3.6.NIV)


Things that are pleasing to our eyes are often sources of covetousness. 


Take what happened with Achan. He knew about what Joshua had said. That’s why he knew right away that he had sinned. But the temptation to take the contraband goods for himself began when he saw them and set his eyes upon them. 


Look at what happened with Ananias and Sapphira. The way they went about things with their land seems to indicate that they saw the status that generosity could bring within the church. They did precisely what Barnabas did, but not completely, and not honestly.

 

We have to understand that visual temptation is one of the primary ways in which covetousness can come. Hence these verses: 


Psalms 101:2-4 NIV 

[2] I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart. [3] I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it. [4] The perverse of heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with what is evil. 

Matthew 5:27-30 NIV 

[27]  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ [28] But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. [29] If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. [30] And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. 

Matthew 6:22-23 NIV 

[22]  “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. [23] But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 

We have to accept that the world and the devil will use visual media to tempt us to sin, particularly to covet. We must beware of this and turn away from things that tempt us.

 

The old children’s song that tells us to ‘Be careful, little eyes, what you see’ is absolutely correct. 


Sometimes the things that cause us to covet are absolutely morally wrong. There are whole illicit industries based around this very concept. They try to tempt us with depraved  fantasies that steal our innocence and destroy our joy, all for financial gain. They dehumanise and objectify, caring little about our welfare or the welfare of those offering their services. 


We have to be alert to this and not go anywhere near it. 


But we also have to be aware that there are things we can covet which are not morally wrong at all. The command not to covet includes many of these things. In such cases, the problem is not the object of our covetousness, it’s our fault. The only way we can deal with the covetousness is not to avoid the object but to change our attitude: to cross back over the love line and to take delight on our neighbour's success. 


In both of these cases, the object of their covetousness was not morally wrong. They were just objects. Nothing more.  


What caused both Achan and Ananias and Sapphira to go wrong was inside them: it was their greed, their selfishness and their covetousness. The existence of the objects was not the problem – they were. 


So having seen the first stage of covetousness, that they saw the objects, and that how they saw them mattered, we see the next stage: They Took. 

 

They Took 

Joshua 7:20-21 NIV 

[20] Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: [21] When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” 

When I was a boy, I wasn’t much of a footballer. I was in a team, but my position was left back – left back among the substitutes. I rarely, if ever, got on the pitch. I started only one game. Even then, I was taken off by half time. 


During one game, I was standing on the touchline in my tracksuit and boots, knowing I was likely to not play. Our opponents were attacking down the side of the pitch where I was standing. They were very close to the touchline. I was a bit frustrated at not getting on – again. The ball came very close to me. So I gave into temptation: I stuck out my boot and swiftly moved the ball across the touchline and out of play. 


My manager was furious. The referee was furious. They moved me back away from the touchline and restarted the match with our opponents in possession.  


There was no way I would be playing that game. 


I had crossed the line. In more ways that one. 


Here we see two classic examples of why covetousness is a gateway sin that leads to others. In both cases, violation of the tenth commandment led to different violations of the eighth commandment. 


Achan quickly recognised his sin. The treasures of Jericho belonged to God; he had taken a few things for his own. That was wrong. 


He at least confessed it. 


Ananias and Sapphira, however, were both beyond foolish. They first acted as if they were more spiritual than they were, and then they lied about it before the apostles. This was breathtakingly stupid because of course God would know about it. God knows all things! 


How could they every have expected to get away with it? 


Here we see two different types of covetousness, both driven by visual stimulation: one which takes that which belongs to God, and one which seeks what has been rightfully earned by others; one which sought to profit from God, another that sought to profit from man. 


Both were completely and utterly wrong. 


And always will be wrong. 


It is always wrong to covet and take that which does not belong to you. 


However, it is crucial to note that the sin did not begin when the action was carried out. No, the sin happened when the object of their covetousness was coveted. It happened first in their eyes, when they looked for too long on the object, then in their heart when they coveted it, and lastly in the hands when they took it. 


If we wait to strike against covetousness until we are about to act on it, we are waiting too long and playing a very dangerous game. We must first act when the covetous thought comes into our head and allow it no resting place. 


So we have seen, then that all of these people were captivated by something they saw, which became something they took. Lastly, and most strikingly, we see that They Lost. 

 

They Lost 

Joshua 7:22-26 NIV 

[22] So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. [23] They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord. [24] Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. [25] Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.” Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. [26] Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since. 

 

Acts 5:3-11 NIV 

[3] Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? [4] Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” [5] When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. [6] Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. [7] About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. [8] Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” [9] Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” [10] At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. [11] Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.5.3-11.NIV)


Every member of our family enjoys a cruise. However, we are fully aware of people who take it too far. We were on one cruise where someone got so drunk that they swung a punch at a fellow passenger. They were promptly offboarded at the next port. 


Before our last cruise, we heard the tragic story of a passenger who threw himself overboard. Investigations of why this happened uncovered that he had ran up huge debts in the casino which he could not afford to repay. 


Now, there are enormous ethical concerns about how any respectable gambling establishment (if there is such a thing) could allow this to happen, if they care about their patrons at all. But the lure of gambling is similar to the lure of alcohol, tobacco, vaping, nicotine or narcotics. It’s that lure of something glamorous, the call of a potential gain, that reels us in with false promise and then leaves us broken and impoverished. 


Covetousness never has a reward, only ever a loss. 


And the losses are severe. 


Now, before we go any further, we have to understand that both of these punishments were meted out at important points in Judeo-Christian history: Achan's as the people of God were beginning to take the Promised Land; Ananias and Sapphira's as the church was forming and growing rapidly. Through these punishments, a marker was being laid down that demonstrated just how utterly unacceptable covetousness really was. 


Nonetheless, we have to be aware that covetousness leads to destruction and death. 


As James explained: 


James 1:13-17 NIV 

[13] When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; [14] but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. [15] Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. [16] Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. [17] Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  

That is precisely what we see here. 


Achan was stoned to death for his sin, despite confessing it. 


Ananias and Sapphira both dropped dead for their sin, and they did not confess it.

 

This sin paid its wage. And its wage was severe. 


Now, we might be tempted to argue that this doesn’t happen nowadays. To a degree, yes, that is true. But lives are ruined and livelihoods threatened all across the globe by people who covet a lifestyle beyond their means, who ‘fake it till they make it’, whose sticky fingers grab money that is not theirs to pretend to be someone they are not. 


For example, in 2023, the law firm Axiom Ince ceased trading because individuals within it has misappropriated £66 million of client fees.  


Some things do die. Some things should die. 


But in the end, what caused the issue at the heart of it all was not the embezzlement or theft or misappropriation. The sin that caused the avalanche of illegality was not greed or avarice.


At the heart of all such collapse is the sin of covetousness. 


And this should shock us to the core. Because although we don’t have the opportunity or the means to commit such vast crimes, we can all covet that which is not ours. We must see that the consequences of this crime are dreadful. 


We must pull away from it before it is too late. 

 

Conclusion 

Joshua 7:20-21 NIV 

[20] Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: [21] When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” 

In 2023, one man almost brought an English county council to its knees. Services for the most needy had to be ceased. Thurrock County Council invested £655 million into a solar farm business ran by Liam Kavanagh, who had clear intentions from the very beginning to buy luxury goods and make his family wealthy using local taxpayers' money. His solar business was wound up. His solar farms in the end were valued at far less than he had claimed. The council lost £200 million of badly needed cash. 


All because of one man’s desire for wealth, driven by covetousness. 


We cannot for one second at all doubt that covetousness is a deadly sin. It is categorically not a victimless crime. Letting it into our lives is like opening the door of our house to a burglar and letting take whatever he wants of our belongings. It is very, very silly. 


So we must – we absolutely must – pay attention to how it works.  


We see in both these crimes – and Achan is very nice to highlight this for us – how it works: we see, we take and then we pay, and we pay dearly. 


There are some things we can avoid seeing. And we should. 


There are others we cannot. 


These are areas in our life where there can be no excuses or hiding place. We simply have to renew our minds (Romans 12:1-3). We need fo be changed. Our desire should be not to put ourselves in the place of temptation, but if we cannot avoid it, to seek to turn away from coveting and switch off the desire to have something that is not ours. 


The shocking reality of covetousness is that we can spent all our lives deeply desiring something to the point of sheer obsession, and either never get it, or get it and find that it was just not worth it at all. How many times has that happened? How many times has the thing we longed for proved to be just not worth the time and energy we spent longing for it? 


I heard about one woman who so desired to keep up with the unreal and unrealistic beauty standards on social media that she applied all the filters and bought all the beauty products. She then decided to get surgery to remove a double-chin. 


The irony was that she didn’t have a double-chin! 


The unscrupulous surgeon took her money, even though all her friends and family told her that she didn’t need it, and gave her the operation.  


Insanity! Having surgery that you don’t need just to feel better! 


She eventually grew out of it. But that’s how covetousness works. It makes us buy and do things that are of no value to achieve purposes that are in vain and only to our ruin and the ruin of those around us. 


We have to learn from times like these. 


For these unfortunate failings and falling to temptation, as with all falling into temptation, we should ask ourselves ‘What caused them to cross the love line? What triggered them to stop loving God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength and their neighbour as themselves?’  


The answer here is simple: they could not resist something they saw, whether it was a desirable object or a desirable position on life. 


The events were so shocking, but the gateway temptation so simple to the point of even banal. 


And that is what makes it just so very dangerous. 


Prayer 

Lord Jesus, the events I’ve read and studied are shocking and frightening. Thank You for making sure they are recorded in Your Word. Help me to learn from them. If I am tempted by visual stimuli that lead me astray, show me, I pray, so that I can repent and put it right. Amen. 


Questions 

  • What was similar about these two events? What was different? 

  • What was the core temptation behind both? What medium was used to tempt those involved? 

  • Have you given in to this temptation before? How can you avoid it happening in the future? 

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