Praize Blogs

Numbers
15:35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all
the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.

God is
the one who decided that capital punishment was what was to be used in many
cases of sin.

Romans
6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All
sin, if left unrepented of, will cause death. This is the present state of a
human being until he turns from his sins and repents to God. We were born, by
Adam’s transgression, into sin and have inherited our sin nature from our
ancestors.

Romans
3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Therefore
we are all in need of a savour and salvation to get back into a right
relationship with God. It is His desire for everyone to be right with Him.

 2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

His
decision to use capital punishment was born of this love of man and His desire
to stop any influence that would be an example of sin, disobedience and unlawfulness.
It was not for vengeance that He authorized the death penalty but His desire is
to take that wicked example away from the people He loves so they will not look
and think they want to do the same.

God
loves mercy and will give any soul a way to repent but He does have a line
that, when a wicked soul crosses it, they will die.

2Chronicles
30:9 For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall
find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come
again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful,
and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

 Joshua 7:1 But the children of Israel
committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the
son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed
thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

There
was a man named Achan who had sinned at Jericho and taken some fine clothes,
some a silver coins and a bar of gold.

Let’s
think about that for a minute; where could he wear fine clothes and why. In the
camp the other people would know he had gotten them from Jericho until they had
captured other towns and God had commanded them to take nothing from Jericho.
They were to destroy it all.

The
silver and gold was so he could be wealthy and have prominence among his
people. He had no need of it because God supplied all their needs and they were
shepherds and herdsmen; farmers not wealthy rulers.

He hid
it from everyone else even when 36 good men died and he had to listen to their
widows and fatherless children weeping and crying. He could have shown he was
sorry and repented here but he kept silent, still hoping to get away with it.

   Joshua
7:11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I
commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also
stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own
stuff.

Joshua
prayed all that day and that night God told him there was sin in the camp.
Achan’s sin was affecting the whole camp of over half a million people. Not
only did Achan try to keep it hidden from God and the elders but anyone who
might have seen him do it was not telling about it; even his wife and children.

Joshua
7:13 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.

Joshua
7:14 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.

The
next morning, they gathered the camp together and started the process to find
the sin. This is about 24 hours after the 36 men died at Ai; plenty of time for
Achan to feel sorry and confess, but he did not. Even now he was still hoping
to fool God and God’s people and get away with his disobedience.

Joshua
7:18 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.

The
process took some time and at any time Achan could have confessed and asked for
forgiveness but he didn’t until he was found out and had to be asked.

Joshua
7:19 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.

Joshua
7:20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD
God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:

Joshua
7:21 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.

Even
then, Joshua proved the case against Acahn, just to make sure.

 Joshua 7:22 So Joshua sent messengers, and
they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the
silver under it.

Joshua
7:23 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.

Only
then did Joshua pass the sentence the Lord had ordered him to give and all the
people were a part of carrying it out.

Joshua
7:24 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.

Joshua
7:25 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.

Achan’s
sin affected everything he had. His possessions, his family and his wealth all
were burnt. Also, all the Hebrew people saw what sin did to these people and
learned by this example.

God
loves His people so much that He will take away all things that will hurt them
and those things will not make it into His kingdom. That includes you, if you
do not obey Him and stop hurting God’s precious little children.

God has
authorized capital punishment to keep sin away from His loved ones but the
process has to be followed and He has to do the judging.