The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 192

its ,leslruct.ion-threw the walls down fiat. , The capture, God's work; the spoil ,ms, in a special sense, God's spoil. The fil:st-fruits of their booty; He required the <:>n(ir<:> consecration of all the gold and silver to His service. In all their subsequeut opern(ions of war the spoil they take will be their own. In this God claims all. ln such a prescription !.here was nothiug that was uureasonable, but much that was diYinely wise. Israel as a whole Qbeyed the Divine collll1iand, doubtless helped (.hereto by the solemnity which the presence and miracles of God imparted to their trrsk. The desliruction-righteously ordained-was carried out as God ordered. The whole of the wealth that was indestructible was reserved for God. But Achan is tempted. He suddenly lights on one hundred ounces of silver and twenty-five onnces of golcl-a large sum in those days-probably moro in purchasing power than a thousand pounds to-day. To see is to covet intensely, and to find a score of reasons rising within him for disobedience. "To take it hurts no one." . "Nobody need know anything about it.'' "The sanctnary is qnite rich enongh." "There will be plenty left untouched by his more scrupulous neighbours." "It will stock a farm and build a house." So the vivid imagmation of greed discovers a multitude of reasons for taking the spoil. And, somehow, the suddenness of the oppo1·tunity and the impulse stuns all his better nature and makes it speechless. There is no Yo ice to remind him that he will despise himself, or that he imperils his nation. It is nothing to him that within an hour, and just at hand, God's omnipotence had been working a miracle. Under the very shadow of the Almighty he dares to sin. And every thought but that of his material advantage banished from his mind, he takes the forbidden treasure, and, concealing it in his clothes, hurries with it to his tent, and, with or mthout the connivance of his family-more probably the former- buries it in the earth. It is these sudden temptations that test a man. A good habit is the only protection from a bail impulse. Had he been habitually honom·- able. he would not so have sinned. But he was one of those who like to be deemed smart and clever, and who often imagine that self-preservation is "the fulfilling of all law." Did he enjoy his loot that night? Probably with some faintest mis- ginng he enjoyed it greatly, and his wife and family and himself made out a most plausible case of self-justification, and built pleasant castles in the air out of their treasw·es. But- II. Mark how AcHAN's SIN FINDS HIM OUT. No sin is ever entirely concealed. Every Yirtue puts its seal upon the brow, and every fault its mark. When conceal- ment is perfect, the man is still embarrassed-pre-occupied. His taste, and with his taste bis look, degenerates. Something of restlessness makes at least his spirit a "fug-i,fre and a vagabond in the earth." His eye is on fence, and he alternates between a glance whicb, in its curiosity to know whether you suspect him, glares on you, and the a"l'erted look which shuns your eye altogether. So every fault, how• enr secret, gives some tokens of something being wrong-so much so, that the special form of v.Tong can often be detected in the mere look. And in addition, how strikingly is it the case that often just one precaution has been left untaken that l,rings tbe truth to light. God is light, and is always illuminating by His 1n·o,idence our hidden deeds of darkness ; sometimes by methods more, and some- times by methods less miraculous, God does this. In this instance how swift, terrible, and certain is the discovery I The unexpected, needless failure of the attack on Ai, where success was easy, suggests something wrong. In answer to ;foshua·s prayer, God's oracle reveals it. The culprit is not named, but, using the • lot probably, the tribe to which he belongs, then his division of the tribe, then his family, tl.ten bimself, are successively indicated; and he who but a day or two before felt so secure in the absolute secrecy of his crime, stands revealed to all the people in all the meanness of his greed I Your sin and my sin will find us out. It is better for us to find it out, to own and end it. Plume not yourself on craft ,,r suUlety. For God's light will disclose whatever God's eye discerns. If you do not wish a wrong thing to be known, keep it undone. All sin finds out the doer ~~ . III. Mark THE DESULTS oF HIS WRONG. How different from what they dreamed! There was no comfort ; no farm, no ca.stle ever came of it-only ehame, disappoint• err. VJ!. 16-26.J THE BOOK OF JOSHUA: 131