Can somebody be punished for not telling their leaders about the sin they have committed, like how Achan was punished for not telling Moses about his sin until God found him out?<\/p>\n\t
“But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel<\/em>” (Joshua 7:1).<\/p>\n
“Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me”<\/em>” (Joshua 7:19).<\/p>\n
“Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity<\/em>” (Joshua 22:20).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Achan’s sin was in taking things from Jericho when God said not to do so. Achan died for that sin. Yes, he attempted to hide the fact that he sinned, but God knew it happened from the moment he did it. Achan had several chances to confess his sin when Israel lost the battle at Ai. He could have spoken up as the lots drawn kept narrowing who was guilty down to him. Yet, Achan waited until the lots pointed him out before he admitted his sin. In other words, perhaps if he voluntarily had admitted he sinned, it might have spared him and his family; instead, he faced the full wrath of God.<\/p>\n
By the way, Moses was no longer alive when Achan sinned.<\/p>\n
There is no requirement in the Bible that a sinner must confess his sins to a particular individual. We are to confess our sins to God. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>” (I John 1:9). God also wants us to talk to someone we trust about our sins. “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much<\/em>” (James 5:16). But nothing says it has to be a leader in the church.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Can somebody be punished for not telling their leaders about the sin they have committed, like how Achan was punished for not telling Moses about his sin until God found him out? Answer: “But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1360,51,564,179],"class_list":["post-49257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-achan","tag-confession","tag-joshua","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37153,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-achans-family-destroyed-along-with-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":49257,"position":0},"title":"Was Achan\u2019s family destroyed along with him?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Achan's family destroyed along with him? I have found through other commentaries, Henry; Clarke; Jamison, Faucett, and Brown, etc. both yes and no answers. I'd like to know before this Sunday morning's Bible class. Thank you in advance. Answer: \"Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16834,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-dont-really-teach-children-about-the-stoning-of-achan-do-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":49257,"position":1},"title":"You don’t really teach children about the stoning of Achan, do you?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I stumbled across your web site and saw\u00a0the drawing of the stoning of Achan. In the upper right, it said something about pictures going with children's Bible stories. You don't really mean to teach children about stoning, do you? Answer: You misunderstood. The pictures are from an old children's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0048-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0048-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0048-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17553,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/achans-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":49257,"position":2},"title":"Achan’s Sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. Fresh on the heels of an astounding victory at Jericho, the young Israelite nation, under Joshua's leadership, focused on the next objective in their campaign to capture Canaan - the land promised by Jehovah. Ai, a small town, was next on the list. Upon their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0048-3-300x269.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35786,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-confession-and-repentance-remove-the-death-penalty-under-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":49257,"position":3},"title":"Would confession and repentance remove the death penalty under the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If you break one of the Ten Commandments, does it mean that you sinned? Of course, the consequence, I believe, is death, correct? However, if you confess what you did and repented, then God forgives you and you don't have to die, correct? Answer: Each of the Ten Commandments\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69367,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-self-incrimination\/","url_meta":{"origin":49257,"position":4},"title":"Notes on Self-Incrimination","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Law required two or more witnesses to a crime. A person admitting to a crime would be insufficient gain a conviction. Deuteronomy 17:6 \"On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63395,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-right-to-privacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":49257,"position":5},"title":"A Right to Privacy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 5:8-17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In our society the concept of a right to privacy has taken on a significant role \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A few years back, two men arrested for committing homosexual acts won their case by arguing that what was done in the privacy of their home\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}