ing life and property is furnished in the re corded case of Achan, in the seventh chapter of the Book of Joshua. The circumstances of the case are as follows : After the City of Jericho had fallen, the entire city with all its inhabitants, and with all the property contained in it was ordered to be destroyed. It was " Cherem," that is, devoted to God. The idea underlying the word Cherem, was not so much that the ob jects were devoted to God, as that they were not devoted to man; in other words, that man had no right to use or enjoy them. It is recorded (Joshua vii. 21), that the Hebrews "utterly destroyed (devoted) all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword." It seems, however, that one Achan had secretly appropriated some of the spoils of the devoted city. As a result, Jeho vah is said to have been angry with the people, and to have withdrawn his favor and assistance from them, so that they could not maintain themselves against the foe. Joshua, having been informed of this fact, determined to ferret out the offender and punish him, and thus regain divine favor. T}ie problem presented no difficulties to him. He did not depend upon human testimony for the purpose of discovering the criminal, and he therefore notified the people, " Sanc tify yourselves for the morrow, for thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel. There is Cherem in thy midst, oh Israel; thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the Cherem from your midst. In the morning therefore, ye shall be brought according to your tribes and it shall be that the tribe which Jehovah shall seize shall come according to its families; and the family which Jehovah shall seize, shall come by households; and the household which Jehovah shall seize, shall come man by man; and it shall be that he that is seized with the Cherem shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath, because he has transgressed the covenant of Jehovah, and because he has wrought folly in Israel."

Jehovah himself was going to discover the offender by a means which is not fully ex pressed in the Biblical record, but which appears clearly enough. At the central sanctuary of the camp, the priests were to cast lots for the various tribes of Israel, and the tribe which was " seized," that is to say, which was marked by the fatal lot, was to be balloted for according to its families and the family according to its houses; and the house according to its mem bers, one by one; and thus the lot would ultimately fall upon one man who would thereby become known as the offender. Skeptical critics see in this method of discovering the offender, merely a piece of chicanery on the part of the priests, who are presumed to have discovered the real of fender by more natural means, and to have resorted to this remarkable method of dis covering him merely for the purpose of over awing the people and strengthening their own power over them. This, however, is a very crude criticism. It is more likely that the determination of the offender by lot was really resorted to so as to obtain a confession from the guilty person through fear. How ever it may be, this procedure was followed, and the lot eventually fell on Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah. Had this method of fixing the guilt on the real offender been believed to be unfailing, Achan would immediately have been put to death. The record, however, shows that Joshua was by no means convinced that Achan was the real offender, and he said to him, " My son, give, I pray thee, honor to Jehovah, the God of Israel and make confes sion unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done. Do not hide it from me." Joshua, from his general experience in warfare probably knew that it was no uncom mon thing for soldiers to appropriate some of the spoils of war, and that, in all probabil ity, many of his soldiers had offended in this manner at the fall of Jericho. To make an