Miraculous Fall of Jericho
303
to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide,
he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.”
“Alas, O Lord God,” he cried, “wherefore hast Thou at all brought
this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites,
to destroy us? ... O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their
backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants
of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our
[351]
name from the earth: and what wilt Thou do unto Thy great name?”
The answer was, “Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy
face? Israel hath ... transgressed My covenant which I commanded
them.” It was a time for prompt and decided action, not for despair and
lamentation. There was secret sin in the camp, and it must be searched
out and put away. “Neither will I be with you any more, except ye
destroy the accursed from among you.”
One Family’s Sin Brings Defeat to All Israel
God’s command had been disregarded by one of those appointed
to execute His judgments. And the nation was held accountable for
the guilt of the transgressor: “They have even taken of the accursed
thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also.” The lot was to be
employed for the detection of the guilty, the matter being left in doubt
for a time that the people might feel their responsibility and thus be
led to searching of heart and humiliation before God.
Early in the morning, Joshua gathered the people together, and the
solemn and impressive ceremony began. Step by step the investigation
went on. Closer and closer came the fearful test. First the tribe, then
the family, then the household, then the man was taken, and Achan the
son of Carmi, of the tribe of Judah, was pointed out by the finger of
God as the troubler of Israel.
Joshua solemnly adjured Achan to acknowledge the truth. The
wretched man made full confession of his crime: “Indeed I have sinned
against the Lord God of Israel... . When I saw among the spoils a
goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a
wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took
them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent.”
Messengers removed the earth at the place specified, and “it was hid in
his tent, and the silver under it. And they ... brought them unto Joshua,
[352]