1 Chronicles 2:7
“The son of Carmi was Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the accursed thing.”
Since the opening chapters of 1 Chronicles are designed to give us an accurate genealogical account of Israel, very little commentary is given. When that pattern is broken, our attention should be grabbed. In the case of Achar, we find a brief reference to his story alongside his name. Achar, or Achan, lived during the conquest of Canaan. He was among those men who followed Joshua across the Jordan, into the promised land. His situation gave him opportunity to be heroic, until greed got a hold of him.
Achan’s story is recoded in Joshua 7, and goes something like this. After Israel’s victory over Jericho, Joshua explained that all the spoils of war belonged to the Lord, and forbade the people from taking anything. Achan however, saw a beautiful garment and a handful of precious coins, and ignoring the word of God, he took them to his tent. Because these things were forbidden, he had to hide them from his friends and neighbors. It was not until God shed light on the situation, that anyone knew of Achan’s sin. The story ends with his sin costing him, the nation, and his family dearly.
His story reminds us of several things. First, we must allow the word of God, not our own desires, to determine what is good and bad, or right and wrong. Second, a little personal sin can have a very big impact upon ourself and others. Third, there are no actual secret sins; all things are done openly before the Lord. and if we do not expose them to ourselves and make the appropriate changes, God will reveal them. For the sake of the whole congregation of Israel, God took a strong stance against Achan’s behavior. It is not that He did not love Achan or his family, but that this one man’s action were weakening the entire nation.
There are many things worth being remembered for, but giving into personal lust and negatively impacting your family, friends, and church, are not one of them. If you are struggling with a secret sin, take the time to make it known. You do not have to publish it for all to read. However, the Bible tells us to first confess it to God, then to confess it to a trustworthy fellow Christian, who will pray for you and keep you accountable. Achan could have saved his life, and that of his family, had he only confessed his sin.
Pastor Jim
One of the saddest experiences in life is to see a close friend fall away from the Lord. From the outside, the process often looks the same. A person, who once walked closely with the Lord and was involved in Christian service, begins to drift ever so slightly. First, their conversation changes. Instead of talking about the Lord, sharing from their times of Bible reading or service, they begin to talk only of the waves and the weather. Next, we begin to see them a little less frequently around the church. In some cases, only the responsibility of a service commitment keeps them coming; until finally they step down from their responsibility, and seem to vanish. Sometimes, it will take weeks or even months before we realize what has happened, and by that time, they have cut ties from most of their Christian friends, and are back involved in the things of the world.
The final chapters of 2 Kings tell the story of the death of a nation. After having a glorious beginning, and being miraculously sustained for a thousand years, the nation of Judah is defeated, the Temple destroyed, and the people taken as prisoners of war. These chapters record their collapse from heaven’s perspective. It was not caused by economic failure, a weak foreign policy, or because Babylon was a superior foe. Judah’s demise was simply a consequence of national sin, “…because of the sins of Manasseh…”
Imagine sitting on Mount Scopus, just a little northeast of Jerusalem, as the Babylonian forces surrounded the city. Before long, the walls were penetrated, and the city taken. First the leaders were gathered and executed, then the city was plundered and burned. What had once been a glorious testimony to the goodness of God, now told an entirely different message. All who watched the city fall should have learned the devastating effects of sin. Even after a contingency returned to rebuild the temple, Jerusalem would still bear scars from its fall.
I find it striking that the Psalmist declares that hate is a necessary expression of true love. He explains that part of being in a healthy love relationship with Jesus is having a hatred for evil. Why is it necessary to hate evil? Why should we hate evil? I can think of at least three pretty strong reasons.
Josiah was the youngest king to reign over the nation of Israel. At eight years old, his father died and he ascended the throne. We read very little of the early years of his reign, but at eighteen, he began a campaign to reform the nation, and turn the people back to the Lord. Josiah would go on to become one of the greatest kings in the nation’s long history. His success is summed up in three simple statements: he did what was right, he walked in the ways of the Lord, and he did not allow himself to become sidetracked by other things. As his story unfolds, we see the application of each of these points.
Manasseh, king of Judah, will go down in history as the king who caused the fall of the nation. It was not his foreign policy, his economic plan, or his tax code, that killed the nation. Instead, it was his view of God and his stance regarding sin that would weaken the nation, and lead to its collapse. Later we read,
Imagine what this promise meant for Hezekiah. First, he was ill, so it meant he would be healed. Second, it meant he would have more time. Third, it meant a clock started that night, giving him an expiration date. Fifteen years from this promise, Hezekiah would breath his last. This promise has often made me wonder, “What I would do with fifteen more years?” How would you react, if suddenly you were given an expiration date? Let’s take a look at what Hezekiah did.
Webster’s dictionary defines secret as, “kept from view or hidden.”mIt goes on to speak of something as “being covert or stealth,” implying that great pains are taken to avoid detection.
One of my favorite movie lines of all times is at the end of “The Princess Bride.” As the narrator comments upon the kiss of Wesley and Buttercup, he states, “Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.” That statement, while nothing more than a poetic expression in the film, would certainly be true of the statement the Psalmist makes here.
Jim Gallagher 