O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
Joshua lay prostrate before the ark in grief and humiliation crying out what could be said when Israel fled in confusion before Ai with thirty-six slain after the victory at Jericho. His anguish was for the dishonor to God's great name lest the Canaanites hear of the defeat and cut off Israel from the earth. The reverse came because one man coveted and hid the forbidden spoil, and for that hidden sin God's presence and the armies of heaven withdrew so Israel could not stand before its enemies. God answered the cry with rebuke to rise and sanctify the people and hunt out and destroy the accursed thing from among them or He would be with them no more. So hidden or tolerated sin still brings defeat, weakness and loss of blessing upon the whole church until it is searched out, put away and cleansed, for prayer alone is not enough.
Defeat at Ai Setting
The cry belongs to Israel's reverse at Ai after the victory at Jericho, in Israel's first meeting with the Canaanites in actual battle. About three thousand men went up and fled in confusion down the steep descent before determined resistance. Thirty-six were slain, and the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
Israel had gone against Ai in full confidence in its own power. Joshua looked upon the ill success as an expression of God's displeasure. Though he did not know of Achan's sin, he knew God's unseen armies that were Israel's strength had withdrawn their interposition, so that defeat, repulse and death came in place of success.
In astonishment, grief, humiliation, alarm and wounded, tortured spirit, Joshua rent his clothes and fell on his face to the earth before the ark until eventide. The elders of Israel were with him with dust on their heads, lying prostrate in humility. He lay there in deep distress and apprehension, in abject humiliation before the Lord.
The wider setting is Israel's first encampment at Gilgal in the promised land, from which Israel marched to the overthrow of Jericho and the conquest of Ai and where Achan met penalty. Jericho itself, the first step in the conquest, was undertaken only after withdrawal to meditate and pray for assurance of divine guidance that God would go before Israel. In answer he was met by Christ as Captain of the host, who revealed divine authority, promised the city with its king and mighty men of valor into his hand, and gave instruction for its capture.
Joshua's Anguished Plea
The cry is anguished and distressed, asking what can be said now that Israel has turned its back and fled before enemies, full of anguish and alarm and shame and helplessness and surprise that victory was not given as before. It is the pleading of a leader driven back when he expected triumph, grieving over humiliation and retreat after defeat. The perplexity of the setback is laid openly before God.
Lying prostrate in humility with face to the ground, he lays the case open with great sorrow. He asks why Israel was brought over Jordan only to be delivered to the Amorites and overcome. All Israel was humiliated in being overcome, with thirty-six men slain. The defeat left the responsible burdened with anguish while the guilty felt no burden.
He fears the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of the defeat. They will surround Israel and cut off its name from the earth and destroy it. The retreat invites encirclement and extinction of the name.
His chief concern is what will be done unto the great name of God. He sorrows lest that name be dishonored and not magnified before the people. A defeat like this can bring no glory to God.
Achan's Hidden Sin
The turning back before enemies at Ai came because one man of Judah sinned, and his sin was charged upon the whole congregation. Hidden sin in the camp brought disaster, trouble, suffering and loss of life on all Israel, so that the whole people bore the consequences of what one had taken and concealed of what God had forbidden. The sin kept God from giving success in battle, and blessing and victory were hindered until the wrongdoing left unremoved and uncorrected was found and taken away. When the church is in difficulty or spiritual decline the same account teaches searching of heart and putting away of hidden transgression, lest blessing be withheld and weakness come among its members.
What he took was forbidden and appointed to destruction or for God's treasury, a goodly Babylonish garment with two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold. He coveted and stole and dissembled and hid them in his tent, putting the accursed thing among his own stuff and transgressing God's covenant and express command. What was devoted to God he secretly kept for himself, and what he counted a little matter was in God's eyes a very serious disregard of His words. His theft and misuse of what belonged to God caused the loss of thirty-six lives and left Israel unable to stand before enemies until the sin was removed, bringing destruction on him and his household and showing that secretly taking what belongs to God brings judgment and accountability. The same robbery and dissembling practiced in the present work brings the same loss of God's help and blessing until cleansed.
His ruin began in covetousness that grew gradually into a habit and dulled his moral sense and sense of right, making temptation easier to yield to. Though he would have been horrified to think he could bring trouble on Israel, his history shows the terrible consequences of coveting. What he counted a little or trifling matter was in God's eyes a very serious disregard of His words.
He acted a lie and refused to confess even while watching Joshua's distress in astonishment and grief with rent clothes and fallen face before the ark. He felt no burden, no distress and no remorse, while the responsible men felt the weight with agony of soul over the rebuke and the withdrawal of God's presence. He had to make open confession of his guilt before punishment, lest the people charge God with being unmerciful and severe and reproach Joshua with harshness.
God answered the cry by enlightening His servant that Israel had sinned and transgressed His covenant by taking, stealing and dissembling and putting the accursed thing among their own stuff, which the Lord of heaven marks. The defeat is tied to hidden sin in the camp breaking His covenant, which must be found and removed before God will remain with the people.
God Withdrawn From Israel
Because of the accursed thing in the camp, God's presence was withdrawn from Israel's army and His Spirit was withdrawn from the whole, so that Israel could not stand before its enemies. The General of the armies and the armies of heaven left Israel to plan and fight in human wisdom, for God's unseen armies that were Israel's strength had withdrawn their interposition. Defeat, repulse and death therefore came in place of success, with flight before determined resistance and the whole bearing God's rebuke for a sin most did not know. What the transgressor counted a little matter was in God's eyes a very serious disregard of His words, taking, stealing, dissembling and hiding what was forbidden and appointed to destruction.
God would not remain with them, go with them to battle, bless them or give them success while the wrongdoing remained. The hidden sin was charged upon the whole congregation and kept Him from giving the people victory, so guilt and loss of blessing rested on the entire community until the evil was dealt with. The accursed thing had to be found, hunted out and taken away, and Israel had to be cleansed from it before He would remain with the people and go with them again. Tolerated talebearing, meddling, criticism and faultfinding weaken and demoralize in the same way and must be removed rather than treated as slight, with unity and a high standard preserved.
This is the Lord's unchanging dealing in every similar case, the same in gospel times as in ancient Israel. When any sinful action occurs among those of His church, blessing cannot rest upon the people until those things are cleansed from them. The Spirit is withdrawn from the whole until that sin is hunted out and dealt with according to its grievous character, and prayer alone is not enough while the camp remains uncleansed. Those who know the truth and hear His word daily become equally responsible with open transgressors if they grow careless, hold their peace and let sin drift.
The Lord desired to use the defeat to give Israel a lesson they should never forget, leading to the discovery and punishment of the sin. The transgressor had to make open confession of guilt before punishment, lest the people charge God with being unmerciful and severe. After sentence was executed God's anger was turned away, and Israel could advance again with Heaven fighting for them and their enemies fleeing.
God's Answer and Cleansing
When Joshua lay fallen on his face asking what could be said now that Israel turned back before enemies, after going against Ai in full confidence in their own power and fleeing until the hearts of the people melted and became as water, fearing the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land would hear, surround Israel, cut off their name from the earth and dishonor God's great name, God answered not with comfort but with rebuke to get up from lying on the face. The reason was that Israel had sinned and transgressed His covenant by taking the accursed thing, stealing and dissembling and putting it among their own stuff, which the Lord of heaven marks. Israel could not stand before enemies until the accursed thing was taken away, and the people must sanctify themselves and cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and destroy the accursed from among them, or God would be with them no more.
His turning in defeat to seek God's help shows that hidden sin among the people had brought divine displeasure and weakened Israel before its enemies. Those responsible must therefore search out prevailing sin and promptly reprove and correct it, so that God's frown may be turned away. Others must not obstruct them in that work.
The defeat followed Achan's covetousness, theft of what was dedicated to God, and concealment of his sin, which caused the loss of thirty-six lives and left Israel unable to stand before its enemies until the sin was removed. His covetousness brought destruction on him and his household, showing that hidden covetousness brings sure destruction and that the people's broken covenant was tied to the defeat. Secretly taking what belongs to God brings judgment, for God holds people accountable for misusing what is His, and Achan was punished for his sin.
The setting also shows concealed selfishness and disobedience bringing God's displeasure and consequences on the whole community, and that God searches out such sin. God rebuked Israel for failing to discover it. Remembering this later led the Israelites to act promptly against what they suspected was wrongdoing, but they then went too far by judging their brethren without first learning the facts.
Warning to Church Today
Joshua's cry when Israel turned back before enemies stands as warning that hidden or tolerated sin, dishonesty and uncorrected wrongdoing bring defeat, dishonor, weakness, demoralization and loss of divine favor and blessing upon the whole community, so the camp must be cleansed, unity and a high standard preserved, and such evils never treated as slight matters. One man's concealed transgression brought disaster on the entire nation, barring God's way so He could not do what He would for them, and while iniquity remains He is offended and cannot bless. When the church is in difficulty or spiritual decline its members should therefore search their hearts and seek out and put away hidden sin. Success depends on each person building right character, accepting discipline, hating sin while loving the sinner, calling sin by its right name, putting it away, cleansing from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and clearing the way so God and heavenly intelligences can work through surrendered agents.
Covetousness, selfishness, love of money and love of the world spread through the ranks of Sabbath-keepers and dry up sacrifice, gaining upon the heart imperceptibly so possessors are unaware of it. Pride separates God from His people and shuts the Ark away from them. Unless this evil is rooted out by arising to renew strength in God through renewing and keeping covenant with Him, with sacrificing for God and denying self for truth's sake, destruction is as sure as Achan's was. Many take the sacrifice from God's altar, treat means only lent to them as stewards as their own to hoard, and love the world and its gain and increase, and when God's prospering hand is removed it is all snatched away in a moment. Unless entirely changed they will perish with the world, for the loftiness of man is soon to be brought down and the pride of man humbled, and kings and nobles, rich and poor alike shall bow under God's withering plagues.
Talebearing, meddling, criticism and faultfinding are likewise sins that weaken and demoralize the community. Backbiting through envy and hatred, accusing and condemning, blackening character, carrying false reports and inspiring maliciousness drives the Spirit of God even from hearers, and God cannot bless until it is purged. Such backbiting is worse than Achan's sin because its influence is not confined to the one who cherishes it, but spreads and defiles many as a root of bitterness, corrupting minds and spirits and souls of those who do not repent and change their course. The same robbery and dissembling practiced in the present work brings the same loss of God's help and blessing until cleansed, for spoil taken with robbery and dissembling kept blessing from resting on the people. Taking means from the Southern field and driving men in hard places is robbery in every sense of the word, a most sinful neglect through selfishness at every point, with lack of principle and perverted ideas that abuse the Spirit, which God hates. Appropriating for personal use what belongs to God and His treasury offends God even when concealed, blinds spiritual discernment until there is no real sense of justice and mercy and equity and truth, imperils souls, unfits the worker to give the right mold to the work or supply the necessities of laborers in hard fields, surrounds the soul with an atmosphere of unbelief, and requires disconnection without delay even of editors or managers.
Full repentance and genuine change from sin to righteousness with full restitution of both principal and interest are required, and excuses and half-hearted unwilling works will not meet it. Achans in the camp with corrupt hearts, marked by selfishness and exaltation and wanting to be foremost when not placed there, weigh the people down as clogs, so the work progresses but little, servants are discouraged, truth takes no more effect, and few are added. Those who will not heed opportunity to reform and be enlightened as to love of self and other sins are given up by God to their own ways to be filled with their own doings, and in mercy God rids the church of them, for which His people should praise Him for relief while bearing patiently lying tongues and misrepresentations, and every honest one enlightened as to the true state will remain. Those who do wickedly and refuse to repent after being visited and labored with are as Achan in the camp, deceived and deceiving, and must not be retained on church books or in fellowship but must be disfellowshipped and separated, for to retain them holds the saints accountable for evil deeds and insults the God of heaven. The church likewise bears responsibility and comes under rebuke when it knowingly tolerates a member's or minister's defects, making those defects its own, and the same law holds when one pursues a wrong course toward his brother, turning light away until the wrong is searched out and the cause of the oppressed vindicated.
Triumph comes only when God's people are tender in feeling, enlarged in heart, broad and deep in sympathy, with nobility of soul and disinterested benevolence, while selfishness that dries up kindly sympathy and tender thoughtful love for brethren corrodes every virtue. Isaiah's fast must be studied with close self-examination to find whether the principles required to receive the rich blessings promised are present. Temptation must not be underestimated, for a person may be in greatest danger of stumbling when feeling secure, and cannot resist in own strength. The sin of concealment with dissembling is judged even greater when influence affects others, as in the case of the three women whose influence affected husbands and the wider work, while Achan's secret theft brought God's curse and displeasure upon the whole community. The same spirit that took possession of Achan working as living, unrepented wrongdoing without purging or restoration in men in important positions brings defeat before enemies with no hope for institutions unless leading men let the Word into the mind, pray with humble broken hearts to be saved from perishing, humble themselves and fall on the Rock and be broken. Without this, deceptions enveloped in mist and fog blacker than velvet will come and they will stumble without knowing why, and God will surely humble them Himself, in mercy bringing them over the same ground and placing them where they put others.
God has not changed and is the same in gospel times as in ancient Israel, and He will not tolerate sin. Hidden sins cause loss of His favor, and those who know truth and hear His Word daily become equally responsible with open transgressors if they grow careless, hold peace and let sin drift. Those entrusted with responsibility and those who stand in high positions of trust and on whom the burden rests must guard against offenses to God rather than overlook them, closely guard righteousness and judgment, give youth a right impression of sin's offensiveness and uncleanness, work diligently to separate the Achans, and not leave the impression that sin is not exceedingly offensive. When they do duty God by His Holy Spirit points out wrongdoers, while the burdened feel the weight and agony of soul when displeasure is shown and anger kindled, whereas the guilty feel no burden, no distress and no remorse.
Joshua lay prostrate before the ark in grief and humiliation crying out what could be said when Israel fled in confusion before Ai with thirty-six slain after the victory at Jericho. His anguish was for the dishonor to God's great name lest the Canaanites hear of the defeat and cut off Israel from the earth. The reverse came because one man coveted and hid the forbidden spoil, and for that hidden sin God's presence and the armies of heaven withdrew so Israel could not stand before its enemies. God answered the cry with rebuke to rise and sanctify the people and hunt out and destroy the accursed thing from among them or He would be with them no more. So hidden or tolerated sin still brings defeat, weakness and loss of blessing upon the whole church until it is searched out, put away and cleansed, for prayer alone is not enough.
Defeat at Ai Setting
The cry belongs to Israel's reverse at Ai after the victory at Jericho, in Israel's first meeting with the Canaanites in actual battle. About three thousand men went up and fled in confusion down the steep descent before determined resistance. Thirty-six were slain, and the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
Israel had gone against Ai in full confidence in its own power. Joshua looked upon the ill success as an expression of God's displeasure. Though he did not know of Achan's sin, he knew God's unseen armies that were Israel's strength had withdrawn their interposition, so that defeat, repulse and death came in place of success.
In astonishment, grief, humiliation, alarm and wounded, tortured spirit, Joshua rent his clothes and fell on his face to the earth before the ark until eventide. The elders of Israel were with him with dust on their heads, lying prostrate in humility. He lay there in deep distress and apprehension, in abject humiliation before the Lord.
The wider setting is Israel's first encampment at Gilgal in the promised land, from which Israel marched to the overthrow of Jericho and the conquest of Ai and where Achan met penalty. Jericho itself, the first step in the conquest, was undertaken only after withdrawal to meditate and pray for assurance of divine guidance that God would go before Israel. In answer he was met by Christ as Captain of the host, who revealed divine authority, promised the city with its king and mighty men of valor into his hand, and gave instruction for its capture.
Joshua's Anguished Plea
The cry is anguished and distressed, asking what can be said now that Israel has turned its back and fled before enemies, full of anguish and alarm and shame and helplessness and surprise that victory was not given as before. It is the pleading of a leader driven back when he expected triumph, grieving over humiliation and retreat after defeat. The perplexity of the setback is laid openly before God.
Lying prostrate in humility with face to the ground, he lays the case open with great sorrow. He asks why Israel was brought over Jordan only to be delivered to the Amorites and overcome. All Israel was humiliated in being overcome, with thirty-six men slain. The defeat left the responsible burdened with anguish while the guilty felt no burden.
He fears the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of the defeat. They will surround Israel and cut off its name from the earth and destroy it. The retreat invites encirclement and extinction of the name.
His chief concern is what will be done unto the great name of God. He sorrows lest that name be dishonored and not magnified before the people. A defeat like this can bring no glory to God.
Achan's Hidden Sin
The turning back before enemies at Ai came because one man of Judah sinned, and his sin was charged upon the whole congregation. Hidden sin in the camp brought disaster, trouble, suffering and loss of life on all Israel, so that the whole people bore the consequences of what one had taken and concealed of what God had forbidden. The sin kept God from giving success in battle, and blessing and victory were hindered until the wrongdoing left unremoved and uncorrected was found and taken away. When the church is in difficulty or spiritual decline the same account teaches searching of heart and putting away of hidden transgression, lest blessing be withheld and weakness come among its members.
What he took was forbidden and appointed to destruction or for God's treasury, a goodly Babylonish garment with two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold. He coveted and stole and dissembled and hid them in his tent, putting the accursed thing among his own stuff and transgressing God's covenant and express command. What was devoted to God he secretly kept for himself, and what he counted a little matter was in God's eyes a very serious disregard of His words. His theft and misuse of what belonged to God caused the loss of thirty-six lives and left Israel unable to stand before enemies until the sin was removed, bringing destruction on him and his household and showing that secretly taking what belongs to God brings judgment and accountability. The same robbery and dissembling practiced in the present work brings the same loss of God's help and blessing until cleansed.
His ruin began in covetousness that grew gradually into a habit and dulled his moral sense and sense of right, making temptation easier to yield to. Though he would have been horrified to think he could bring trouble on Israel, his history shows the terrible consequences of coveting. What he counted a little or trifling matter was in God's eyes a very serious disregard of His words.
He acted a lie and refused to confess even while watching Joshua's distress in astonishment and grief with rent clothes and fallen face before the ark. He felt no burden, no distress and no remorse, while the responsible men felt the weight with agony of soul over the rebuke and the withdrawal of God's presence. He had to make open confession of his guilt before punishment, lest the people charge God with being unmerciful and severe and reproach Joshua with harshness.
God answered the cry by enlightening His servant that Israel had sinned and transgressed His covenant by taking, stealing and dissembling and putting the accursed thing among their own stuff, which the Lord of heaven marks. The defeat is tied to hidden sin in the camp breaking His covenant, which must be found and removed before God will remain with the people.
God Withdrawn From Israel
Because of the accursed thing in the camp, God's presence was withdrawn from Israel's army and His Spirit was withdrawn from the whole, so that Israel could not stand before its enemies. The General of the armies and the armies of heaven left Israel to plan and fight in human wisdom, for God's unseen armies that were Israel's strength had withdrawn their interposition. Defeat, repulse and death therefore came in place of success, with flight before determined resistance and the whole bearing God's rebuke for a sin most did not know. What the transgressor counted a little matter was in God's eyes a very serious disregard of His words, taking, stealing, dissembling and hiding what was forbidden and appointed to destruction.
God would not remain with them, go with them to battle, bless them or give them success while the wrongdoing remained. The hidden sin was charged upon the whole congregation and kept Him from giving the people victory, so guilt and loss of blessing rested on the entire community until the evil was dealt with. The accursed thing had to be found, hunted out and taken away, and Israel had to be cleansed from it before He would remain with the people and go with them again. Tolerated talebearing, meddling, criticism and faultfinding weaken and demoralize in the same way and must be removed rather than treated as slight, with unity and a high standard preserved.
This is the Lord's unchanging dealing in every similar case, the same in gospel times as in ancient Israel. When any sinful action occurs among those of His church, blessing cannot rest upon the people until those things are cleansed from them. The Spirit is withdrawn from the whole until that sin is hunted out and dealt with according to its grievous character, and prayer alone is not enough while the camp remains uncleansed. Those who know the truth and hear His word daily become equally responsible with open transgressors if they grow careless, hold their peace and let sin drift.
The Lord desired to use the defeat to give Israel a lesson they should never forget, leading to the discovery and punishment of the sin. The transgressor had to make open confession of guilt before punishment, lest the people charge God with being unmerciful and severe. After sentence was executed God's anger was turned away, and Israel could advance again with Heaven fighting for them and their enemies fleeing.
God's Answer and Cleansing
When Joshua lay fallen on his face asking what could be said now that Israel turned back before enemies, after going against Ai in full confidence in their own power and fleeing until the hearts of the people melted and became as water, fearing the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land would hear, surround Israel, cut off their name from the earth and dishonor God's great name, God answered not with comfort but with rebuke to get up from lying on the face. The reason was that Israel had sinned and transgressed His covenant by taking the accursed thing, stealing and dissembling and putting it among their own stuff, which the Lord of heaven marks. Israel could not stand before enemies until the accursed thing was taken away, and the people must sanctify themselves and cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and destroy the accursed from among them, or God would be with them no more.
His turning in defeat to seek God's help shows that hidden sin among the people had brought divine displeasure and weakened Israel before its enemies. Those responsible must therefore search out prevailing sin and promptly reprove and correct it, so that God's frown may be turned away. Others must not obstruct them in that work.
The defeat followed Achan's covetousness, theft of what was dedicated to God, and concealment of his sin, which caused the loss of thirty-six lives and left Israel unable to stand before its enemies until the sin was removed. His covetousness brought destruction on him and his household, showing that hidden covetousness brings sure destruction and that the people's broken covenant was tied to the defeat. Secretly taking what belongs to God brings judgment, for God holds people accountable for misusing what is His, and Achan was punished for his sin.
The setting also shows concealed selfishness and disobedience bringing God's displeasure and consequences on the whole community, and that God searches out such sin. God rebuked Israel for failing to discover it. Remembering this later led the Israelites to act promptly against what they suspected was wrongdoing, but they then went too far by judging their brethren without first learning the facts.
Warning to Church Today
Joshua's cry when Israel turned back before enemies stands as warning that hidden or tolerated sin, dishonesty and uncorrected wrongdoing bring defeat, dishonor, weakness, demoralization and loss of divine favor and blessing upon the whole community, so the camp must be cleansed, unity and a high standard preserved, and such evils never treated as slight matters. One man's concealed transgression brought disaster on the entire nation, barring God's way so He could not do what He would for them, and while iniquity remains He is offended and cannot bless. When the church is in difficulty or spiritual decline its members should therefore search their hearts and seek out and put away hidden sin. Success depends on each person building right character, accepting discipline, hating sin while loving the sinner, calling sin by its right name, putting it away, cleansing from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and clearing the way so God and heavenly intelligences can work through surrendered agents.
Covetousness, selfishness, love of money and love of the world spread through the ranks of Sabbath-keepers and dry up sacrifice, gaining upon the heart imperceptibly so possessors are unaware of it. Pride separates God from His people and shuts the Ark away from them. Unless this evil is rooted out by arising to renew strength in God through renewing and keeping covenant with Him, with sacrificing for God and denying self for truth's sake, destruction is as sure as Achan's was. Many take the sacrifice from God's altar, treat means only lent to them as stewards as their own to hoard, and love the world and its gain and increase, and when God's prospering hand is removed it is all snatched away in a moment. Unless entirely changed they will perish with the world, for the loftiness of man is soon to be brought down and the pride of man humbled, and kings and nobles, rich and poor alike shall bow under God's withering plagues.
Talebearing, meddling, criticism and faultfinding are likewise sins that weaken and demoralize the community. Backbiting through envy and hatred, accusing and condemning, blackening character, carrying false reports and inspiring maliciousness drives the Spirit of God even from hearers, and God cannot bless until it is purged. Such backbiting is worse than Achan's sin because its influence is not confined to the one who cherishes it, but spreads and defiles many as a root of bitterness, corrupting minds and spirits and souls of those who do not repent and change their course. The same robbery and dissembling practiced in the present work brings the same loss of God's help and blessing until cleansed, for spoil taken with robbery and dissembling kept blessing from resting on the people. Taking means from the Southern field and driving men in hard places is robbery in every sense of the word, a most sinful neglect through selfishness at every point, with lack of principle and perverted ideas that abuse the Spirit, which God hates. Appropriating for personal use what belongs to God and His treasury offends God even when concealed, blinds spiritual discernment until there is no real sense of justice and mercy and equity and truth, imperils souls, unfits the worker to give the right mold to the work or supply the necessities of laborers in hard fields, surrounds the soul with an atmosphere of unbelief, and requires disconnection without delay even of editors or managers.
Full repentance and genuine change from sin to righteousness with full restitution of both principal and interest are required, and excuses and half-hearted unwilling works will not meet it. Achans in the camp with corrupt hearts, marked by selfishness and exaltation and wanting to be foremost when not placed there, weigh the people down as clogs, so the work progresses but little, servants are discouraged, truth takes no more effect, and few are added. Those who will not heed opportunity to reform and be enlightened as to love of self and other sins are given up by God to their own ways to be filled with their own doings, and in mercy God rids the church of them, for which His people should praise Him for relief while bearing patiently lying tongues and misrepresentations, and every honest one enlightened as to the true state will remain. Those who do wickedly and refuse to repent after being visited and labored with are as Achan in the camp, deceived and deceiving, and must not be retained on church books or in fellowship but must be disfellowshipped and separated, for to retain them holds the saints accountable for evil deeds and insults the God of heaven. The church likewise bears responsibility and comes under rebuke when it knowingly tolerates a member's or minister's defects, making those defects its own, and the same law holds when one pursues a wrong course toward his brother, turning light away until the wrong is searched out and the cause of the oppressed vindicated.
Triumph comes only when God's people are tender in feeling, enlarged in heart, broad and deep in sympathy, with nobility of soul and disinterested benevolence, while selfishness that dries up kindly sympathy and tender thoughtful love for brethren corrodes every virtue. Isaiah's fast must be studied with close self-examination to find whether the principles required to receive the rich blessings promised are present. Temptation must not be underestimated, for a person may be in greatest danger of stumbling when feeling secure, and cannot resist in own strength. The sin of concealment with dissembling is judged even greater when influence affects others, as in the case of the three women whose influence affected husbands and the wider work, while Achan's secret theft brought God's curse and displeasure upon the whole community. The same spirit that took possession of Achan working as living, unrepented wrongdoing without purging or restoration in men in important positions brings defeat before enemies with no hope for institutions unless leading men let the Word into the mind, pray with humble broken hearts to be saved from perishing, humble themselves and fall on the Rock and be broken. Without this, deceptions enveloped in mist and fog blacker than velvet will come and they will stumble without knowing why, and God will surely humble them Himself, in mercy bringing them over the same ground and placing them where they put others.
God has not changed and is the same in gospel times as in ancient Israel, and He will not tolerate sin. Hidden sins cause loss of His favor, and those who know truth and hear His Word daily become equally responsible with open transgressors if they grow careless, hold peace and let sin drift. Those entrusted with responsibility and those who stand in high positions of trust and on whom the burden rests must guard against offenses to God rather than overlook them, closely guard righteousness and judgment, give youth a right impression of sin's offensiveness and uncleanness, work diligently to separate the Achans, and not leave the impression that sin is not exceedingly offensive. When they do duty God by His Holy Spirit points out wrongdoers, while the burdened feel the weight and agony of soul when displeasure is shown and anger kindled, whereas the guilty feel no burden, no distress and no remorse.