Gilgal was the place of circumcision. The epistle to the Colossians teaches us that circumcision is "the putting off the body of the flesh." The Christian, as regards his standing, is not in the flesh. He is in Christ, and as in Christ, he is circumcised ; " in whom ye also are circumcised." We have not to put off the old man; that has been done; nor have we to put the flesh to death, for it has been crucified with Christ ; but we have to " mortify our members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness," etc., and we have to reckon ourselves " to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Now, circumcision was one act; it was the putting off the flesh. The circumcised man typified the Christian as regards his standing before God, up to the point of the flesh having been put off. The flesh, or the first Adam nature, has been condemned in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is gone from the believer, for God and for faith-not yet actually.

But Gilgal was not only the place of circumcision, it was also the place where the camp was habitually; the place where Israel was to be found, where the Angel of the Lord was, so to speak, until he came up, after failure was established, from Gilgal to Bochim. The camp being there, shows that Israel was never to forget its lesson, that the flesh profits nothing. This is the teaching of the camp being there:"always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus."

The true circumcision are those who worship God in the Spirit, and boast in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. This is not standing, but practical.

Now, historically, Israel did not keep the sense of the worthlessness of the flesh. They went from Gilgal to Jericho in the sense that they were nothing and Jehovah everything, and conquered by faith. The effect on the flesh, not reckoned dead, was to elate it, and in the sense of their own strength, they went from Jericho to Ai, to find out their own weakness.

This they might have learnt at Gilgal.

Why was the flesh put off if it had wisdom enough to judge and strength to accomplish ? They had forgotten this, and forgotten that they needed God.

There are two things at Ai:first, collective failure, high thoughts of themselves ; and, second, positive defilement, an accursed thing in their midst.

This latter brought a curse upon them all. So now, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Jehovah takes up the open act of sin, and not their condition, and declares that He will be with them no more, except they put away the accursed thing from among them.

This is true to His blessed character, who will not always chide, but who cannot be committed to fellowship with sin. True also to the word of the Man with the drawn sword, who, when asked, "Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries ? " replied, " Nay, but as Captain of Jehovah's host am I now come; " that is, I am not for a party, but for a people having a certain moral character. Israel, stealing and dissembling, had lost the character of Jehovah's host, and lost the Lord as Captain, too.
Then comes the remedy. It is found in the Valley of Achor. There the accursed thing was put away, put out from among them.

The nature of their action in this was not penal; that is, not punishment inflicted on an offender as a judge punishes a criminal. Their act had the character of self-judgment. It was a company that had sin put to their account, and they must get rid of it. It was not to punish Achan that they acted, but to clear themselves ; although surely it did trouble him.

It is the same principle in assembly discipline now. The object of putting out a wicked person is not to inflict a punishment upon him, though it does this too. The figure Scripture uses is leaven. The lump has to be kept new, suited to Christ, who was sacrificed for us; and with this object the leaven is purged out. It is a corporate action to maintain a pure corporate condition; not to punish an offender, as a magistrate would do.

So, to spare the sin with a false thought of grace is to spare one's own sin; it is to keep the lump leavened, and so, practically, to keep the Lord out. It would have been so with Israel, had they kept Achan in.

In assembly discipline there is also care for the salvation of the spirit in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Now for Israel Jehovah was everything, and therefore the sin was judged. And it is to be observed that their bad corporate condition was no hindrance to their judging positive open sin.

The same thing is seen at Corinth. The assembly there was in so bad a condition that the apostle, to spare them, would not go there, although fully owning it to be the table of the Lord. They were schismatic, and puffed up, although the grossest immorality was there. Yet they are called, not to general humiliation but, to the judgment of the wicked person.

Now this is not Gilgal, nor Bochim; it is the Valley of Achor.

Gilgal is the judgment of the nature, so that the fruit does not appear. There, there is perfect communion with God ; for He condemned sin in the flesh when He sent His own Son for sin. And we at Gilgal recognize the justice of His judgment as against ourselves. But when that has been missed, and the fruit has appeared, we have not in the first place to deal with the nature-sin, but the fruit- sins, by confession, and clearing ourselves.

This is true, both individually and corporately. It is not communion with God, but it is the way back to God when communion has been lost. And it is always the way back; so we find the Valley of Achor, not only in Joshua, but also in Hosea, when, in the latter day, Israel will find it a door of hope (Hos. 2:15).

Bochim is another thing from either Gilgal or the Valley of Achor.

The Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. There He recounted His faithful ways with Israel, and His commands to them, which He charged them with disobeying, and stated the then irremediable consequences of their sin. The enemies, who might have been bread to them had they been faithful, were now to be thorns in their sides, and their gods a snare to them. They were confronted with this solemn fact, that they had brought themselves into a condition of trouble, danger and shame, in which they must abide, because the Lord would not deliver them from it. The Angel of the Lord did not call them to put away evil now. Their opportunity for obedience and victory was past, and lost ; they had now to suffer, and there was no remedy. A new phase of the nation's history was entered on. Gilgal was left and Bochim was reached.

While the Angel was at Gilgal, the people were on probation. If they had been faithful, they would have been universally victorious. Now, the sowing time was past. It had been to the flesh, and the inevitable reaping-time had come. It was not that grace could not display itself in those circumstances, as we see in chapter 3. For if on the one hand the enemies were still there, because of the people's failure, God had left the nations "that the generations of Israel might know to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof."

And beyond this, grace could finally bring in the Messiah, and put all enemies under His feet.

But at Bochim it was the bitter sense of hopeless failure and chastisement; and, through grace, they bow to it and weep. They do not attempt to remedy it, as once before in a similar case they did at Kadesh. There, there was bitterness, but no brokenness. "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." This is what is found here. Hence, although the punishment is not remitted, communion is restored, and they sacrifice to Jehovah there.

"Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be regretted." Bitterness, without broken-ness, is the sorrow of the world that works death.

It is a most serious fact that there are sins committed by believers which have permanent results. Grace restores the soul, as beautifully seen in David's case, but the mark of the sin remains to the end. See also Samson.

The difference between Bochim and the Valley of Achor is that at Bochim there is no positive sin present to be judged. They had disobeyed in the past, and were charged with it now, but they were not then in actual sin, as at Ai. Now they must accept the consequences.

It is the same thing later on under the kings. When failure had come in, and was irretrievable, the word was, "Serve the king of Babylon, and live."

At Bochim the people must judge their sins and accept the punishment. At the Valley of Achor they must judge their sin, and cease from it. At Gilgal they must judge their nature, so that they may not sin. When the angel had gone to Bochim, there is no hope of restitution until the Messiah comes. The same is true in the Church.

For us to-day there is no hope of general recovery. The ruin is established. The house of God has become like a great house. Bochim is our place, speaking generally; and looking for the return of our Lord, which alone can restore us. But this is not all. There is the positive duty of the individual to purge himself from the vessels of dishonor. He cannot leave the house; otherwise, he need not take up its shame as his own. Joshua never separates himself from the nation, though personally innocent. He goes round the wilderness from Kadesh with them.

So we cannot separate from the general profession and start a new Christianity, and on the other hand, we must not go on in fellowship with evil. The first word to us now is, ' 'Depart from iniquity; " the second, "Follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

Obedience to these brings us to the Lord's table.

We may ask ourselves whether failure has not again characterized us, as those gathered there. Does not worldliness assert itself among us, and refuse to be put down, as the Canaanite in the Lord's land? How can it be met ?

Individuals may, by grace, keep their garments, but weeping would, I believe, be the suited place for all.

Then suppose, as often, alas, happens, a positive sin appears; are we then to be weeping or judging the sin ? Is it to be Bochim, or the Valley of Achor ? To be at Bochim at such a time would be to have fellowship with evil, and to make our general bad condition an excuse for leaving sin un-judged. That is not really Bochim at all. It is saying, practically, "We are delivered to do all these abominations."

It may be observed that, when the saints have to clear themselves from evil, the action is corporate, not individual. They act as one body, in mutual fellowship. The judgment about the evil, and the suitable course to take, may be individual; and this judgment may be pressed upon the saints by the individual. "I have judged already," says the apostle, "concerning him that hath so done this deed;" do you put him away from among yourselves. The power of binding and loosing belongs to the two or three gathered unto the Lord's name, not now to any individuals. Even an apostle did not act independently; and although not resident at Corinth, he does not on that account forbear to exercise their consciences. " Being absent in body . . . I have judged."

On the other hand, should a time come for separation from iniquity, corporate action is of course impossible, and fellowship is not the thought. The action is emphatically individual. " If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor."