The Red Cloud chief., 1913-12-11
INTERNATIONAL,
SUNlGXSQ1OOL
LESSON
Ry e. o. SELLERS. Director Of EveninA
Department, The Moody Bible Institute.
Chicago.)
LESSON FOR DECEMBER Il
THE SIN OF AcHAN.

LESSON TExT-Joshua 7:s-ls. Read
Joshua chapters Til.
J GOLDEN TExT--"Be sure your sin will
Nnd you out."-Num. 32-23.
Before proceeding against Jericho,
God. through his servant Joshua, had
given strict injunctions as regards the
taking Of anything from the city for
self!enrichment. ch. 6:17, 1s. 1t was
necessary at the outset of this cam
paign to safeguard Israel against any
such motives. The fruits of their vic.
tories must In no way seem to be the
rewards Of. nor to be dependent upon,
the efforts Of their own hands. Spir
itual victories are, as we learned last
week, won by means and upon prin.
ciples utterly foolish and inadequate
In the view Of human wisdom. Nor
IL the Christian dependent upon the
principles Of human thrift for his sus
tenance or enrichment. That does not
mean the divorcement Of the Chris.
tian from those principles.
The story Of Achan is an illustra.
tion. While his sin was individualistio
yet It was national in its results ". ~
After the fall Of Jericho. Joshua sent
. detachment Of 1000 or 5000 men to
take possession of the small town OF
Al (literally. "ruins''). The task was
seemingly an unimportant and an easy
one. but the result was that the expe
dition was turned into a miserable
rout wv. 1-6).
Achan's Sins Revealed.
The stages Of the sin Of Achan are
wonderfully revealed in the confession
". 21) which was finally wrung from
II saw >. ! coveted
took they are hid"
!. Joshua's error, w. 60. II waa
right and proper for Joshua to bring
his dificulty to God, but 1t was not
right for him to lay upon him the
blame for his defeat. Moses before
him had made that same mistake (Ex.
6:22, 23), and It would seem that
Joshua should have profited thereby.
In this, however, he Is supremely hu.
man. We Of today with far greater
light are constantly making this same
mistake Of accusing God, instead of
finding out and judging our sin,
There Is, however. an underlying note
Of the master passion Of Joshua'a
heart, that note which had 80 gov,
erned the heart of his predecessor,
Moses. 1t Is expressed in the last note
of his complaint. "What wilt thou do
for thy great name?" v. 8. This com,
plaint and petition sounds very much
like those of the preceding generation
uttered in the wilderness. For US to
wish ourselves to be content to dwell
beyond Jordon," when the testing
times of our Christian life come, when
the calls come for an advance, Is to
doubt his wisdom. No wonder Joshua
was amazed when he saw Israel turn
its back upon its enemies ". 81. We
must beware lest we. too, be dismayed
when we see the church of today give
way before the world and the devil.
u. The cause Of defeat, w. 1912.
Joshua's petition is answered by the
voice Of Jehovah in terms Of rebuke,
strong. yet tender. In verse two we
are told that Joshua sent men to view
Al. Why! Because in the language OF
verse one "the children Of Israel com.
mitted trespass In the accursed
thing" Joshua wanted the people to
know that the sin Of Achan and its
results was the sin Of the whole ma
tion. God brings the essential one.
ness Of the nation before US In verse
eleven: for an illustration, see I. Cor.
6:1.7 and 12:12.14. 16.
Gods Instructions.
sPhA u1etaVnI 40 AA%AAt 14-fR
Il 10 q testimony a. to the spiritual
condition Of this nation that the fraud
was 80 soon located. The early Chris.
tian church had q parallel incident in
the case Of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts
6:1.11. In each case the evil was
quickly judged and reveals the close
ness Of God to his people. In the pro-
cess Of years Israel passed from that
condition; has the church Of today 80
passed? God had given explicit In
structions a. to the spoil (ch. 6:18 R
W.. God commands Joshua not to
cry unto him. but to "sanctify the peo-
ple." The church Of Christ, as we'll
10 the individual, needs to Judge its
sin and to set itself apart unto God.
Il was . stern judgment and the
query arises what sort of bonfire
would the church have today were all
sinfully acquired property to suffer
similar destruction. It is noticeable.
however, that there IL no suggestion
Of any confession on the part of Achan
until the narrowing circle OF Judge
ment had closed upon him. He con.
fessed only when there was no DOS
sible escape. This seems like q stern.
hard process. but yet God was deal
ing In mercy with the whole people.
w. The Golden Text. The words Of
this text were uttered by Moses to the
two and q half tribes who settled on
the east of Jordan, that In case they
refused to come to the help Of their
brethren in the conflict necessary to
the possession Of Canaan. their sin