Joshua 7:16-26; Hosea 2:15, Petah Tikvah

When you get off the plane at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and head for Jerusalem you go through Petah Tikvah.  Someone told me once it was the “Simi Valley” (i.e. technology center) of Israel.  I don’t know about that but I do know that it has an interesting history.  Petah Tikvah was supposed to be somewhere else.

The Allon Road in Israel is somewhat parallel to Hwy. 60 north of Jerusalem except that the Allon is to the East, beginning in the area of Ma’ale Adummin.  Heading north you come to a little kibbutz called Rimonim (there; I have dropped enough names to make you think I know what I am talking about).  At Rimonim there is a view point that looks towards the Jordan Valley in an area just north of Jericho which is hidden from view.  (The photo on this page is taken at that viewpoint.)

What you are looking at is the Valley of Achor, the place where Joshua dealt with the incident with Achan.  The Israelites, fresh from God’s amazing conquest of Jericho, had been shocked to lost a battle against “little” Ai.  They were grieved, filled with doubt about this taking the land command from God.  What was God?  This is how Joshua himself was praying (Josh. 7:7-9).  But God had told Joshua to quit praying, get up and take care of the situation, which he did. 

Hundreds of years later, at another time when Israel was immersed in sin and God was promising judgment, the prophet Hosea referred to the valley of Achor.  (By the way, the prophet Isaiah also referred to it in Isa. 65:10 in a similar manner as Hosea.)  By the Spirit of the Lord Hosea announced that the Valley of Achor would become as a door of hope.  First, door of hope in Hebrew is, you guessed it, Petah Tikvah.  Second, the Valley of Achor in Joshua’s time was the door of entry for Israel into the land.  They had just crossed the Jordan from the Plains of Moab and their camp was in this area.  But then it became the place of stoning, of execution of a man and his family who had brought shame and tragedy on the nation. 

As for the city of Petah Tikvah, it first was located in this valley back in the 1930’s before Israel became a nation.  But the community was forced to leave and eventually the city in the area around Tel Aviv was established.  Maybe we can say that the true “Petah Tikvah” has not yet been established, that the Valley of Achor has not yet become the “door of hope” that God promised?  Perhaps.

But here is my point today.  Is this not the way our God is?  He loves to take the Valley of Achor (literally, Valley of Trouble) and make it our Door of Hope!  Read this in Rom. 5:1-5 for example where our afflictions so show us the love of God that we grow in hope.  Or in Rom. 8:17 where our afflictions are in no way comparable to the hope we have when we are revealed as the sons of God.  Or 2 Cor. 4:17 where our light and momentary afflictions are working an exceeding, eternal weight of glory.  Or 1 Peter 1:3-9 where our grievous trials are the door to the salvation of our souls, the living hope we have through the resurrection of Christ.

Amen and hallelujah!  Let not your heart be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in Me (Christ! John 14:1).