November 2

Joshua vii.—10. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up: wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?

13. Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow; for thus saith the Lord God of Israel: There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel! thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

14. In the morning, therefore, ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households, and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man.

15. And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath; because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

16. So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:

17. And he brought the family of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarbites; and he brought the family of the Zarbites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:

18. And he brought his household man by man; and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

19. And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and

make confession unto him: and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.

20. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done.

21. 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, and the silver under it.

22. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.

23. And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.

24. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.

25. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

26. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger: wherefore the name of that place was called The valley of Achor, unto this day.

The miraculous passage of the Jordan was followed by the capture of Jericho without striking a blow; the walls of the city falling as the priests blow their trumpets, and the pame-stricken inhabitants becoming an easy prey. From Jericho, Joshua marched in a north-westerly direction, up a comparatively broad and accessible wady, to Ai,—the very spot from which Abraham and Lot had looked over upon the Plain of Jordan before they parted. Here the Israelites met with a severe cheek, which so oppressed Joshua that he fell upon his face before the ark, crying, "O Lord! what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?" The cause of the disaster was a form of insubordination and immorality, which, if suf-

fered to spread, would have demoralized the whole camp. The extermination of the Canaanites was an act of divine retribution for the most monstrous sins. Had the Israelites turned this judicial mission into a war of conquest and plunder, they would have become corrupted in turn: hence all captured treasure was held to be sacred, and no private looting was allowed. In stealing and secreting plunder, Achan had violated an express prohibition, and endangered a necessary policy. The exigencies of military discipline, and the sanctity and authority of the religious leadership of the people, required his exemplary though terrible punishment. Alas! in what calamities may one involve a family, a community, a nation, by his sins! and how sure it is that our sins will find us out!

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 91, 95, 97.

Almighty God, we render thee our humble praises for thy preservation of us from the beginning of our lives to this day, and especially for having delivered us from the dangers of the past night. We thank thee that we have been kept from the alarm of sickness, of fire, of robbers, of sudden death, and have awaked in peace to behold the day. O Lord! lift upon us the light of thy countenance, that we may begin the day in the consciousness of thy love, and may spend it joyfully in doing thy will.

Keep us from malice and anger, from envy and pride, from covetousness, worldliness, and all sin. May we be useful in the world and in the Church of Christ! May our kindred and friends be prospered in their lawful undertakings and desires, and all be partakers of thy grace! Mercifully forgive our sins, lead us safely through the perils of this life unto the heavenly rest, and save us with an everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.