Joshua 7: "When the People Sin"

Last week, we read about the conquest of Jericho. I tried to raise all sorts of weird, unpleasant questions, because I think the story raises these questions. Why did Yahweh mark off Jericho as dedicated to himself? Why were the Israelites supposed to kherem the city-- devote every single person, and every single thing, to Yahweh for destruction (with just a few exceptions)? I promise I'll try to explain this before this series is done. But I don't want to rabbit trail down this, and lose our sense of the book as a whole. The idea of kherem is going to come up again in Joshua, and I think it'll be easier to explain there. But when I was trying to mess with you, and get you to see how weird the conquest of Jericho is, I actually missed the main point of the story. I was so pleased to have made a decision about kherem, and so happy at messing with you to push you in the same direction (if I'm honest), that I didn't take the last verse seriously--the one where AJ explained what we were supposed to learn from the story. So let's start by rereading the last part of Joshua 6, starting in verse 16: (16) And then at the seventh time, the priests blew on the horns, and Joshua said to the people, "Shout! because Yahweh has given to you the city. (17) And the city will be kherem-- it, and all that is in it-- to Yahweh. Only, Rahab the prostitute will live-- she, and all who are with her in the house-- because she hid the messengers who we sent." (18) while, only, you, keep (yourselves) from the kherem, lest [while?] you are devoting to destruction (khereming), and you are taking from the kherem, and you are making the camp of Israel for a kherem and bring trouble on it, (19) while all the silver and gold, and all the copper/bronze vessels, and iron is holy/dedicated to Yahweh. It is (to) the treasury of Yahweh that it will go. (20) And the people shouted And they blew on the horns. And then, when the people heard the voice/sound of the horn, the people shouted a great shout, And the wall fell under it, And the people went up to the city, each man straight ahead, And they captured the city, (21) And they kheremed all that [was] in the city, both man and woman, both youth and old, both ox and donkey for kherem, (22) while it was to the two men spying/exploring the land that Joshua said, "Go to the house of the woman prostitute and bring her out from there, the woman and all who are with/for her just as you swore to her." (23) And the youths, the ones spying/exploring, went And they brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all who with her, while all of her clan they brought out and set them outside the camp of Israel, (24) while the city they burned with fire, and all that was in it. Only, the silver and the gold and the copper/bronze vessels and the iron they gave (to the) treasury of the house of Yahweh, (25) while Rahab the prostitute and the house of her father and all who were with her Joshua caused to live, and she lived in the midst of Israel up to this day because she hid the messengers that Joshua sent to explore Jericho. (26) And Joshua swore at that time, saying, "Cursed is the man before Yahweh who rises and rebuilds this city of Jericho. It is at the cost of his first born that he shall lay its foundation, and it at the cost of his youngest that he shall set up its gates." (27) And Yahweh was with Joshua, And his fame/news was in all the land. When we focus on verse 27, and let AJ tell us what we should focus on, we are supposed to hear this story as teaching two things: (1) Yahweh was with Joshua. The book of Joshua begins with Yahweh making great promises to Joshua: (1:4) It is from the desert and this Lebanon and up to the great river--the river of Euphrates--, all the land of the Hittites and up to the great sea, the great setting of the sun that will be your territory. No man will stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have lived with Moses, I will be with you. I will not abandon you, and I will not reject you. (6) Be strong and be brave because it is you who will give this people the land that I swore to your fathers to give to them. (7) Only, be strong and be brave exceedingly, to keep to do according to all the instruction that Moses my servant commanded you. (8) This scroll of the instruction must not depart from your mouth, and you must mutter over it day and night. in order that you may keep to do everything written in it because it is then that you will be successful in your roads/ways, and it is then that you will prosper. (9) Did I not command you be strong and be brave? Don't tremble, and don't being terrified, because it is with you that Yahweh your God is, in everywhere that you are walking." The way covenants work, is that both sides have obligations. Yahweh promises Joshua: (1) The entire land will be yours; (2) No man will stand against you as long as you live; (3) I will be with you; (4) I will not abandon you; (5) I will not reject you. But in verse 7, Yahweh adds a qualification. "Only, your job, Joshua, is to be brave, and obey my word." It is then that you will prosper. So what we saw in the conquest of Jericho, is what this relationship between Yahweh, Joshua, and Israel is supposed to look like. Yahweh wants to keep his promises. He has a plan for Joshua, and Israel. He wants to bless them. He wants to be with them. Only, they have to obey. So that's the first thing we were supposed to see in the Jericho story. Verse 27 again: "And Yahweh was with Joshua." Verse 27 continues in the second line: "And his fame/news was in all the land." The result of this conquest, was that his fame/news was in all the land. Whose fame? News about who? I think we are supposed to read "his," and say, it's ambiguous. News about Joshua, and news about Yahweh, has spread throughout the entire land. More and more people, are hearing more and more things about Joshua and his God Yahweh. So we were supposed to step back, and the end of chapter 6, and see the story of Jericho as teaching two things. Yahweh is with Joshua; their fame is growing everywhere. And in all of that, Joshua and the Israelites perfectly obey. Joshua 6 is a picture of how the covenant life between Yahweh and Israel is supposed to look. Israel obeys; Yahweh is with Joshua. And when we read Joshua 6, we are supposed to respond by praising our God, who is faithful. When God is with you, fighting for you, that's a very good thing. This brings us to chapter 7, which opens on an ugly note, that flips everything upside down: (1) And the sons of Israel treacherously did treachery concerning the kherem, And Achan the son of Carmi the son of Zavdi the son of Zerakh of the tribe of Judah took from the kherem, And the nose of Yahweh became hot/angry against the sons of Israel, This verse is a terrible shock. Joshua had just warned the people that if they took from the kherem, they would make the camp of Israel into kherem, and bring trouble down on all the people. But AJ gave us the impression, in verse 24 in particular, that Israel faithfully carried out Yahweh's (and Joshua's) commands. So my question is this: why did AJ deliberately wait to tell us about Achan until chapter 7? AJ wanted us to hear Joshua 6 as an example of how the covenant between Yahweh and Israel was supposed to look. It's an example of how Yahweh wants to act for his people--and how he will act for them, when they are faithful. We've gotten so used to seeing how this covenant is supposed to look that we have taken it for granted at this point. Over and over, AJ has emphasized Israel's perfect obedience. And over and over, Yahweh has done wonders for them. But now.... Now what? Chapter 7 is going to be the opposite picture. We read 7:1, and we gasp in horror. What a stupid thing to do. There are three parties listed in verse 1. This is easy to miss, but it's important. This story is about three main parties: the sons of Israel, Achan, and Yahweh. (1) First, AJ tells us that the sons of Israel sinned a sin concerning the kherem. (2) Second, AJ tells us that Achan the son Carmi the son of Zavdi the son of Zerakh of the tribe of Judah sinned. (3) Third, AJ tells us, up front, what Yahweh's reaction to this is. Yahweh is furious. Who is Yahweh angry with? Our natural reaction in reading this is to assume that the problem here is Achan. Achan sinned. But from AJ's perspective--and from Yahweh's-- the bigger issue here is that all of Israel has sinned. Israel has a corporate responsibility to be faithful. The covenant isn't between Yahweh and each individual Israelite. The covenant is with the people as a whole. And the people as a whole have sinned. When we watch TV, or movies, and something bad is about to happen, the lighting tends to get dark. The director may add some freaky music softly in the background, and we find the hairs of our neck rising up. We get edgy, we get ready to jump. And that's just a dumb tv show. Here, in real life, AJ tells us two things together: Israel has sinned--specifically, Achan. And Yahweh is furious with Israel. And we all cringe. What will Yahweh do? We read, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Verse 2: (2) And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which [is] near Beth-Aven from the east of Bethel, And he said to them, saying, "Go up and spy out the land," And the men went up, and they spied out Ai, (3) And they returned to Joshua, and they said to him, "May not all the people go up. It is about two or three thousand men who should go up, and may they strike Ai. May you not make weary there all the people, because few are they." Let's pause here for a minute. Ai is nothing like Jericho. It's a small settlement. There's hardly anyone there, so there's no point to send everyone. Two or three thousand people is plenty. Some of you are maybe tempted to view the spies' report as an act of arrogance. But let's take this at face value. Joshua sends spies, and he does well to do so. These spies successfully explore the land, and come back, and make their report. What we are supposed to hear, is that Ai is no big deal. This is the focus here. This is where the emphasis in the Hebrew falls. Ai is a town that's easy pickings. The spies aren't wrong. Joshua isn't sinning here. He's doing nothing wrong. Achan is the problem. Israel is the problem. Not Joshua. Verse 4-5: (4) And they went up from the people about three thousand men, and they fled before the men of Ai, (5) And they were struck by the men of Ai about 36 men, and they pursued them up to the gate, up to the Shebarim/rock quarry (?), and they struck them on the slope, and the heart of the people melted, and it was as waters, Joshua responds to the spies' report wisely. The spies said two or three thousand should be enough. So Joshua sends three thousand. But the attack is a total disaster. The Israelites fled from the battle, and they were chased all the way to the Shebarim-- wherever that is. This was a crushing defeat. But even worse than the defeat was what it did to the people. Their hearts melted, and they become like waters. That's not good. That's what was supposed to happen to the people Israel was attacking (2:11; 5:1-2). This brings us to the response of Joshua and the elders in verse 6: (6) And Joshua tore his clothes, and he fell on his face toward the ground before the ark of Yahweh until evening-- he, and the elders of Israel. And they caused to bring up dust on their head, (7) and Joshua said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Why did you bring across, to bring to this people across the Jordan, to give us into the hand of the Amorite to destroy us? And if only we had been content and we had stayed beyond the Jordan. (8) Please, Lord. What can/should I say after Israel turned the neck before his enemies, (9) And the Canaanites and all the dwellers of the land heard, and they will surround/encircle us, and they will cut off our name from the land, and what will you do for your great name?" Why? Why, Lord Yahweh, would you do this to us? Why would you show your mighty power in bringing us across the Jordan, in order to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Why? Joshua says, this whole thing has been a total mistake. It's too late now, but if only we'd been content and stayed beyond the Jordan. We've all had times in life where we've done something, and thought, "If only." We made a terrible decision, and we pay dearly for it. But we've never had anything like this. In verse 8, Joshua doesn't even know what to say. Israel's doomed. Everyone in the land has heard, and what happens next is inevitable. We will be surrounded (just as they'd surrounded Jericho), and our name will be cut off from the land, and... look at how he finishes in verse 9: "And what will you do for your great name?"Israel's name, and Yahweh's great name, are tied together. When Israel's name is wiped out, what will you do next, Yahweh? Start over? The confusing thing, from Joshua's perspective, is that if this is all so obvious to him, why can't Yahweh see what's going to happen? Does Yahweh no longer care about his great name? Does he not want his name to be honored on earth, as it is in heaven? (10) And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Rise! Why are you falling on your face? (11) Israel has sinned, and also they have crossed over my covenant, that I commanded them, and also they took from the kherem, and also they have stolen, and also they have acted deceitfully, and also they have put among their belongings, (12) and (then) the sons of Israel were not able to stand before their enemies. It was the neck that they turned before their enemies because they have become for kherem. I will be with you no more, if you don't destroy the kherem from your midst. (13) Rise! Make the people holy/dedicated, and you shall say, "Make yourselves holy/dedicated for tomorrow, because thus said Yahweh the God of Israel: 'It is kherem that is in your midst, Israel. You shall not stand before your enemies until you remove the kherem from your midst,' (14) And you shall come forward in the morning according to your tribes. And then, it is the tribe that Yahweh selects by lot that shall draw near according to the clan, and it is the clan that Yahweh selects by lot that shall draw near according to the house/family, and it is the house/family that Yahweh selects by lot that shall draw near according to each man, (15) and then, it is the one who is caught with the kherem that shall be burned with fire--he, and all that is his-- because he has crossed over the covenant of Yahweh, and because he did a disgraceful thing in Israel." Yahweh lets Joshua finish praying, and then he unloads on him. This doesn't mean Joshua prayed wrongly, or did anything wrong. Joshua prayed exactly how he should've prayed, based on what he knew. You can pray almost anything to God, as long as it's TO GOD, and he is fine with it (just don't curse him). He can handle you. He will hear you out. And if your prayer request is something that looks like it bring honor to God's name, make sure to tell him that as well. God cares about his reputation. Joshua did everything right. But what Joshua doesn't know is that someone took from the kherem. And that kherem is now in the midst of Israel. And first Joshua, and now Yahweh, have said that taking from the kherem will make the camp itself a kherem. Whatever was wrong with Jericho--whatever is so serious-- can't be allowed to remain in the camp. Because until it's wiped out, that's all that Yahweh can see. I want to focus on verse 12, where Yahweh says this: "I will be with you no more, if you don't destroy the kherem from your midst." This is how covenants with Yahweh work. Do you want Yahweh in your midst? Do you want his help, his protection, and his blessings? Or do you want the kherem?--the silver, the gold, the fancy clothing? There are no scarier words in the entire Bible than this: "I will be with you no more." I would do anything, to avoid hearing those words. What will Joshua do? Verse 16ff: (16) And Joshua rose early in the morning, and he drew near Israel according to its tribes, and the tribe of Judah was selected by lot, (17) and he drew near the clans of Judah, and he selected by lot the clan of Zerahites, and he drew near the family of the Zerahites according to each man, and Zabdi was taken by lot, (18) and he drew near his house/family according to each man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, was selected by lot. (19) And Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory, please, to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and give to him thanksgiving, and tell me, please, what you have done. You must not hide from me." Let's pause here. I'm not sure how exactly the lots work. But I imagine it's something like dice, that Yahweh makes sure flips to the correct side. So Yahweh relentlessly gets closer and closer to Achan, until the moment it's just him left. You can't hide your sins from God. He knows exactly which of you have secret sins. He knows what you've done. You can fool everyone--but not God. Joshua then asks Achan, as kindly as he possibly can, to admit to what he's done. If Achan tells the truth, he will give glory to Yahweh (see John 9:24) and thanksgiving. But there is no real choice here for any of them. They need Yahweh to be with them. Please, Achan, give Yahweh glory, and give him thanksgiving, and please, tell the truth. (20) And Achan answered Joshua, and he said, "It is true. It is I who have sinned against Yahweh, the God of Israel, and it is this that I did. And I saw among the spoil a robe of Shinar--one of beauty-- and two hundred shekels of silver, and one bar of gold--50 shekels its weight-- and I coveted them, and I took them. And Look! Hidden in the ground in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it." (22) And Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and look! Hidden in his tent, and the silver under it. (23) And they took them from the midst of the tent, and they brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they spread them out before Yahweh. (24) And Joshua took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the robe, and the bar of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his ox, and his donkeys, and his flock, and his tent, and all that was for him--and all Israel with him-- And they brought them up to the valley of Trouble (Achor), (25) And Joshua said, "Why have you brought trouble on us? Yahweh shall bring trouble on you this day." And all of Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire, and they stoned them with stones, (26) and they raised over him great/large pile of stones until this day, And Yahweh turned from the burning of his anger/nose. Thus the name of that place is called the Valley of Trouble until this day. AJ began chapter 7 by telling us three things: Israel sinned, Achan sinned, and Yahweh was angry. AJ concludes this story by saying Achan admitted to his sin, the Israelites responded by stoning him and his family, burning him and his family, and then stoning them a second time, making a huge pile of rocks over them. It was then, that Yahweh turned from the burning of his anger. (Application #1: God can be angry with you.) My fear is that many of you don't think God could ever be angry with you. You think God has "plans for you, to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future" (Jer. 29:11). You claim verses like Jer. 29:11 as an unconditional promise, in ways God never intended. You claim the promise Yahweh made to Joshua (ch. 1) to always be with him and bless him, without hearing the "only" afterward. "Only," be careful to keep the covenant. You read Jericho, and you praise God, who is with his people. Then you read about Achan, and it does nothing to you. Because you think, God could never be angry with you. God loves you unconditionally. God chases you relentlessly, recklessly, with his love. But when you entered into the new covenant with God--the one that comes through Jesus' blood (Luke 24:17)-- the covenant works the same way. It just has a different basis (Jesus' blood), and different blessings (the Holy Spirit, for one). God still expects allegiance. He expects you to be friends with him, and not with the world. But how can I convince you of that? Some of you are going to be stubborn on this. You will find a way out. In James 4:4, James warns Christians that if they are friends with the world, they will make themselves God's enemies. In 4:6, we read that God opposes the proud. Does that do anything to you, or not? In Acts 5, God strikes down Ananias and Saphira at Peter's word, because they lied to the Holy Spirit and stole from God. The church, when they heard, were filled with fear. But I think some of you will say to yourselves, "They were never Christians. The church feared for no reason." I think my best shot at this is going to be through reading 1 Cor. 10:1-22. Many of you know 10:13, but I'm guessing almost none of you have actually read this as a whole: 10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,[a] that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown[b] in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play."8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ[c] to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel:[d] are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Paul says, the Israelites were just like us. They had the same baptism. They ate the same spiritual food and drink. To look at the Israelites, is to see ourselves. And God was angry with them. He killed thousands of them, because they provoked him to jealousy. He will not tolerate idolatry. He will not tolerate partnering with demons. So if you think you are standing firm in your sin, if you think you won't fall when God comes for you, you need to consider Israel's history. God is stronger than you. God isn't going to put up with your sin forever. God can be angry with you. If you are living in unrepentant sin, if you are living as friends with the world, you should not assume that God is with you and that God is pleased with you. You are making yourself his enemy. And the fact that you are still standing here today, and not under a pile of rocks, burned to death, is not a sign that God doesn't care about your wickedness. It's a sign that God is slow to anger, that he is patient, and that he's given you time to repent (Jonah 4:1-3). Today is the day to do so. Today, if you hear his voice, renew your covenant commitment to him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Application #2: God's promises that he will be with us are conditional. At church this past week, we sang a new song, that talked about how God is always with us, and always fights for us. The timing... was amazing. This song would be great if it was true. But is it biblical? We can compare Joshua 1, with Joshua 7, and say it certainly isn't true for Joshua and Israel. It wasn't true for Achan. Joshua 1 specifically makes these promises conditional (this is what the "only" statement does; I think it's its discourse function here.). 1:7: "Only, be strong and exceedingly brave to keep to do according to all the Torah that Moses my servant commanded you. You shall not turn aside from it right or left, so that you may achieve success in everywhere you go. And the battle for Ai is proof that God was serious about this, and that the promise is conditional. And when God's glory eventually leaves the temple in Ezekiel 10... we have final proof of this. God will not live among a people that isn't holy/dedicated to him. The question is, are we supposed to look at this, and assume that things for us, in our covenant with God, work the same way? Will God abandon/leave us if we are unfaithful? Will God fail to give us victory if we are disobedient? I don't think I should have to point to the NT to convince you of this. The Israelites were us. They are our example. God hasn't changed. We haven't changed. How covenants work hasn't changed. But if this isn't enough, still, the clearest example I know of in the NT--and there may be some that are better, I just can't think of them-- is in Galatians 5:1-5. In the Galatian church, a number of Gentile Christians have been convinced that they have to Judaize--put themselves under the Mosaic covenant-- in order to be rightly related to God and enjoy all his blessings. In verse 4, Paul tells them that have been (past tense) "released" (for the same word, see Romans 7:2, talking about spouses being "released" when their other half dies) from Christ because they are trying to be made right through the law. They no longer have a connection to Jesus. Jesus no longer has a connection to them. They've been released. I would think if I become an idolater, I would be released from Christ. If I am sexually immoral, I would be released from Christ-- can Christ be joined to a prostitute (1 Cor. 6)? I don't know exactly what being "released" means here-- it looks like something in Galatians 5 that can be fixed. They can repent. But they have certainly lost their connection to Jesus. They are no longer abiding (John 15). Only people who are led by the Spirit are God's children (Rom. 8:12-14). And if/when this doesn't describe us, we need to repent. --------------------------------------------- This is what Alexander Maclaren wrote about this: (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/maclaren/deut.pdf ) First, God's soldiers must be pure. The conditions of God's help are the same to-day as when that panic-stricken crowd ignominiously fled down the rocky pass, foiled before an Achan's Sin, Israel's Defeat insignificant fortress, because sin clave to them, and God was gone from them. The age of miracles may have ceased, but the law of the divine intervention which governed the miracles has not ceased. It is true to-day, and will always be true, that the victories of the Church are won by its holiness far more than by any gifts or powers of mind, culture, wealth, eloquence, or the like. Its conquests are the conquests of an indwelling God, and He cannot share His temples with idols. When God is with us, Jericho is not too strong to be captured; when He is driven from us by our own sin, Ai is not too weak to defeat us. A shattered wall keeps us out, if we fight in our own strength. Fortifications that reach to heaven fall flat before us when God is at our side. If Christian effort seems ever fruitless, the first thing to do is to look for the 'Babylonish garment' and the glittering shekels hidden in our tents. Nine times out of ten we shall find the cause in our own spiritual deficiencies. Our success depends on God's presence, and God's presence depends on our keeping His dwelling-place holy. When the Church is 'fair as the moon,' reflecting in silvery whiteness the ardours of the sun which gives her all her light, and without such spots as dim the moon's brightness, she will be 'terrible as an army with banners.' This page of Old Testament history has a living application to the many efforts and few victories of the churches of to-day, which seem scarce able to hold their own amid the natural increase of population in so-called Christian lands, and are so often apparently repulsed when they go up to attack the outlying heathenism. 'His strength was as the strength of ten, Because his heart was pure,' is true of the Christian soldier. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Application #3: Even in his anger, God is almost always patient (Jonah 4:3). Yahweh is angry with Israel, right? And we read chapter 7 with this sinking feeling in our stomach. We read this, terrified about what Yahweh will do. It wasn't until I got to right here in the sermon, thinking about Yahweh's anger, and what he did, that I realized: What does Yahweh actually do to Israel in this chapter? The answer is, he does nothing. Israel goes out to battle, and Yahweh stays home. He doesn't go with them. He doesn't fight for them. God is giving them what they need to repent-- time, and knowledge. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Application #4 It's better for us if we judge ourselves, than if it's left to Yahweh. (1) This is our job. (2) It's better to judge ourselves, than be judged by God. (3) We have a corporate responsibility (I guess this would be #5). Yahweh gave Israel the opportunity to deal with this themselves. He gave them time to repent, and the information they needed to repent. But he left it to them. We tend to think each of us stands, or falls, as individuals before Christ. We struggle to understand how our responsibility as a body works. if we have been made aware of unrepentant sin on the part of one of us, we have an obligation to address it (1 Cor 5). We do this humbly, gently, knowing that all of us are vulnerable to sin. But when God relates to us, he doesn't relate to us only as individuals. He relates to us as a whole. 1 Cor. 11:30-32. If there is sin among us, it's better if we deal with it. Than waiting for God's possible judgment on us as a whole. Maclaren again (96-97): Again, we learn the power of one man to infect a whole community and to inflict disaster on it. One sick sheep taints a flock. The effects of the individual's sin are not confined to the doer. We have got a fine new modern word to express this solemn law, and we talk now of 'solidarity,' which sounds very learned and 'advanced.' But it means just what we see in this story; Achan was the sinner, all Israel suffered. We are knit together by a mystical but real bond, so that 'no man,' be he good or bad, 'liveth to himself,' and no man's sin terminates in himself. We see the working of that unity in families, communities, churches, nations. Men are not merely aggregated together like a pile of cannon balls, but are knit together like the myriad lives in a coral rock. Put a drop of poison anywhere, and it runs by a thousand branching veins through the mass, and tints and taints it all. No man can tell how far the blight of his secret sins may reach, nor how wide the blessing of his modest goodness may extend. We should seek to cultivate the sense of being members of a great whole, and to ponder our individual responsibility for the moral and religious health of the church, the city, the nation. We are not without danger from an exaggerated individualism, and we need Achan's Sin, Israel's Defeat to realise more constantly and strongly that we are but threads in a great network, endowed with mysterious vitality and power of transmitting electric impulses, both of good and evil. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Application #5 (God sees our hidden sins). MacLaren: Again, we have one more illustration in this story of the well-worn lesson,-never too threadbare to be repeated, until it is habitually realised,-that God's eye sees the hidden sins. Nobody saw Achan carry the spoil to his tent, or dig the hole to hide it. His friends walked across the floor without suspicion of what was beneath. No doubt, he held his place in his tribe as an honourable man, and his conscience traced no connection between that recently disturbed patch on the floor and the helter-skelter flight from Ai; but when the lot began to be cast, he would have his own thought, and when the tribe of Judah was taken, some creeping fear would begin to coil round his heart, which tightened its folds, and hissed more loudly, as each step in the lot brought discovery nearer home; and when, at last, his own name fell from the vase, how terribly the thought would glare in on him,-'And God knew it all the while, and I fancied I had covered it all up so safely.' It is an awful thing to hear the bloodhounds following up the scent which leads them straight to our lurking-place. God's judgments may be long in being put on our tracks, but, once loose, they are sure of scent, and cannot be baffled. It is an old, old thought, 'Thou God seest me'; but kept well in mind, it would save from many a sin, and make sunshine in many a shady place. Again, we have in Achan a lesson which the professing Christians of great commercial nations, like England, sorely need. I have already pointed out the singular parallel between him and Ananias and Sapphira. Covetousness was the sin of all three. It is the sin of the Church to-day. The whole atmosphere in which some of us live is charged with the subtle poison of it. Men are estimated by their wealth. The great aim of life is to get money, or to keep it, or to gain influence and notoriety by spending it. Did anybody ever hear of church discipline being exercised on men who committed Achan's sin? He was stoned to death, but we set our Achans in high places in the Church. Perhaps if we went and fell on our faces before the ark when we are beaten, we should be directed to some tent where a very 'influential member' of Israel lived, and should find that to put an end to his ecclesiastical life had a wonderful effect in bringing back courage to the army, and leading to more unmingled dependence on God. Covetousness was stoned to death in Israel, and struck with sudden destruction in the Apostolic Church. It has been reserved for the modern Church to tolerate and almost to canonise it; and yet we wonder how it comes that we are so often foiled before some little Ai, and so seldom see any walls falling by our assault. Let us listen to that stern sentence, 'I will not be with you any more, except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you.' 18