Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

May 5th, 2023 His Name Is “Mudd”

Today’s Reading – 1 Chronicles 1 – 2 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers Read – John 1 – 2; Psalms 21 – 25; Proverbs 5)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 18:3 & 46

Read the “0505 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“And the sons of Carmi; Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed.” (1 Chronicles 2:7 )

I must be completely honest with you and state that it was a little challenging finding a thought to write about from today’s Scripture reading. The first few chapters of 1 Chronicles contain some very important and necessary, but also somewhat tedious information regarding the genealogical record of Israel. We really should not skip over passages of Scripture such as these because there is always a great nugget of truth hidden inside somewhere. So hang in there. By the way, eventually 1 Chronicles will become a very exciting book to read.

My thought this morning comes from chapter 2, and verse 7. In the middle of the genealogical record there is a comment made about one of the listed men, Achar. He is called here “the troubler of Israel’s.”8 The story behind this man can be found in Johsua 7. He is called Achan there and we find that he is the man that stole some gold and silver and a “goodly Babylonish garment” from the city of Jericho during Israel’s invasion of that city. The problem was that God told the Israelites that they were not supposed to touch anything in that city, but Achan could not resist. As a result, God’s judgment fell upon the whole nation of Israel and they lost the next military battle with many innocent men being killed in the battle. Later, when Achan’s sin was discovered, he and his family were all put to death. The bottom line to this whole story is that Achan was probably a good man who yielded to a temptation and the result was death and sorrow for a lot of people, and a reputation that will follow him for all eternity. His name will forever be “Mudd”.

I want to challenge all of us to consider for a moment our own reputation, and the affect that our reputation will have on our family members. I understand that none of us is without sin and I am certainly not trying to rub salt on old wounds, but I am trying to get us to carefully consider the affect that some future sin will have on our reputations. When people hear your name in the future what will they say about you? Will they say that you were a moral, honest, hard-working individual? Or, will there be negative thoughts that surround your reputation? By the way, if your reputation is less than perfect today, you still have time to change it.

Interesting side note on the expression “His Name is Mudd.” It seems to have become popular as a result of a doctor named Samuel Mudd (pictured above) who treated and helped John Wilkes Booth after he broke his leg jumping down from the balcony in the Ford’s Theater, after his assassination of President Lincoln. Mudd was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, though he was later paroled by President Andrew Johnson.