“But I didn’t do it,” Alice told Grandpa, when she had to help pay for the broken rocker.

“Maybe we aren’t always fair,” Grandpa agreed, “but God is. Did you ever hear of what happened to the Israelites after they won the battle of Jericho?” The children gathered around to listen.

The Judgment After Jericho

(Reference: Joshua 7.)

It had been a marvelous thing to watch the walls of Jericho tumble down. The women and children had watched excitedly as the city went up in flames that night. Aksah was full of questions when her father, Caleb, came home to camp. “Did you save anything when you burned the city?” she asked.

“Joshua said everything must be destroyed except for a few things for the Lord’s treasury,” he said. “This is a great day for Israel; surely the Lord will help us subdue the rest of this land.” Her father had waited forty years in the wilderness for this day, Aksah knew. He was ready to conquer.

But soon sorrow hung over the camp. A small city called Ai had been their next target, but when soldiers were sent out to take it, they had been shamefully defeated. Thirty-six men had been killed and now the whole camp was frightened. “What went wrong?” Aksah wondered. “Why didn’t God help us?” Father looked pale and distressed as he hurried away to join Joshua before the ark of the Lord.

“We must all gather in the morning,” he said when he returned late. “Something was taken from Jericho, and the Lord has said we can’t stand before our enemies unless the curse is removed.”

Aksah was quiet as she stood with her family in the tribe of Judah, waiting for the lots to be cast. A tingle ran down her spine when her tribe was taken. Who could it be? She looked around at the faces of her relatives and sighed in relief when the Zarhites were picked. She stepped closer to her father, who stood to one side with a sad, but determined look. They watched the heads of the families walk before Joshua, then man by man. A man named Achan was chosen.

“My son, tell the truth before God,” Joshua said in the hush of that moment.

Achan dropped his head. “Indeed I have sinned before the Lord,” he said. “When I saw in Jericho a fine garment and silver and a wedge of gold, I took them. They are hidden in my tent.” Messengers were sent and they soon came back with the things Achan had taken. Now he and all he had must be stoned and burnt with fire because he had sinned and caused so much trouble.

It was a solemn crowd that followed Joshua down to the nearby valley. Aksah didn’t want to watch as the men picked up stones to throw at the wicked man and his family, but she knew God was fair. As the flames leapt up into the air, she gave a long sigh. How serious a thing it was to disobey God! Even though Achan had tried to hide it, the Lord knew all along.

Alice looked quite solemn after Grandpa had finished the story. “But why did they have to stone them?” she asked. “That was terrible!”

“But they had been really bad and disobeyed God,” Sammy said.

“Yes,” agreed Grandpa. “The Lord gave some hard judgments on the people that sinned against His commands, but that was because their hearts were hard.”

“Why?” asked Edward.

“Because they couldn’t have their hearts changed back then. Now we can, because Jesus came as an offering to die instead of us and so that God would accept us again.”

“You mean, we would have to be killed for our sins, except that Jesus died instead?” said Alice. “I didn’t realize that before.”

“That is why Jesus came—to bring peace on earth, as the angels told the shepherds,” said Grandpa with a smile. “You see, God is both fair and loved us so much that He sent His only Son… why?”

“ ‘That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life,’* (John 3:16) ” quoted Alice.