March 30, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Deuteronomy 22:1-24:5; Luke 2:1-20

Weekly Memory Verse: Joshua 1:8

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

Joshua 9 (NASB95)
¹ Now it came about when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland and on all the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, heard of it, ² that they gathered themselves together with one accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel. ³ When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, ⁴ they also acted craftily and set out as envoys, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins worn-out and torn and mended, ⁵ and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled. ⁶ They went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.” ⁷ The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you are living within our land; how then shall we make a covenant with you?” ⁸ But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Then Joshua said to them, “Who are you and where do you come from?” ⁹ They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the fame of the Lord your God; for we have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt, ¹⁰ and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth. ¹¹ “So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants; now then, make a covenant with us.” ’ ¹² “This our bread was warm when we took it for our provisions out of our houses on the day that we left to come to you; but now behold, it is dry and has become crumbled. ¹³ “These wineskins which we filled were new, and behold, they are torn; and these our clothes and our sandals are worn out because of the very long journey.” ¹⁴ So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord. ¹⁵ Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them. ¹⁶ It came about at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were neighbors and that they were living within their land. ¹⁷ Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim. ¹⁸ The sons of Israel did not strike them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. ¹⁹ But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. ²⁰ “This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be upon us for the oath which we swore to them.” ²¹ The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken to them. ²² Then Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you are living within our land? ²³ “Now therefore, you are cursed, and you shall never cease being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.” ²⁴ So they answered Joshua and said, “Because it was certainly told your servants that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; therefore we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. ²⁵ “Now behold, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.” ²⁶ Thus he did to them, and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them. ²⁷ But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, in the place which He would choose.^[1]

There are two different methods of handling the Jews discussed here, in verse 1 several kings made an alliance to join together in fighting against Israel.  The Gibeonites were wiser, and figured out a more deceptive way. Their first obstacle was to look like travelers, with this accomplished, they approached Israel.

Moses had instructed the people to make covenants with people who did not inhabit the land, but with others they were to ruthlessly wipe them out.  The Gibeonites may have understood this because they claimed to have come from a "far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us."  This demonstrated an understanding of the instructions of Moses.  On the other hand, this could have also been a test by God to see if they would honor Him in continuing to follow His instructions and to seek His face before making decisions. 

You may ask why God did not punish them for their deception.  I really believe that God has a great sense of humor.  He saw what they had done, understood their motivations, and also saw that according to verse 14, Israel did not even seek His face on the matter.  We see another reference to the three days.  The people of Gibeon were as good as dead with Israel moving in their direction.  The three days journey brought them life through the mercy that they had experienced because of the agreement made with Joshua. 

The people may have grumbled against the leadership because it was clear that they had violated the clear instructions of the Lord to wipe out the inhabitants of the land.  It also opened the door to idol worship, and pagan worship that was associated with the enemies of God.  Joshua failed in his job by accepting things at face value, and yet if the people were in his shoes, they would have probably made the same decision.

This also tells us something about agreements, the agreement between Israel and Gibeon was hugely skewed by incorrect and mis-information.  But regardless of the origin of the information, the truth of the matter was that Israel acted of their own accord and made an agreement based on their own thinking.  They were held responsible for their decision even though Gibeon was deceptive in their method of delivery.  God holds His people to a higher standard,

Note also that Gibeon did not get away scott free.  They became slaves of Israel and were designated cutters of wood and drawers of water.  In other words they surrendered completely and without a fight, willingly placing themselves under the authority of Israel.  Their reasoning, life was better than death, even life in slavery. 

Just for kicks consider this as a picture of the Gentile church coming under the authority of Israel.  We have surrendered our lives to the Jewish God, Jesus, and have been indentured as His servants forever.  Our job is the cutting of wood, laboring to build the Kingdom of God, and the carriers of water, working to carry the water of the Word to the world.  Interesting parallel, as Gentiles we really don't deserve to be a part of the Jewish blessing, God has shown exceptional grace to us in allowing us to be forgiven and to follow Him.  Returning to the study, check out what Moses was informed regarding this:

Deuteronomy 20:10-11 (NASB95)
¹⁰ “When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. ¹¹ “If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18 (NASB95)
¹⁶ “Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. ¹⁷ “But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you, ¹⁸ so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the Lord your God.

^[2]

These people were not only slick, they were able to take advantage of God's commands for their own self preservation.  By their deception, they entered into the prestigious service of the Lord by supplying necessary ingredients for the Temple sacrifice.  Consider how difficult it would have been for sacrifices to be made without water and wood. 

If you look forward to Joshua 10, God used the fact that the Gibeonites surrendered to draw in the surrounding five kings for battle.  They joined against Gibeon, and were defeated all at once as a work of God, and circumstantially as a result of the goof-up with Gibeon.

Continuing the parallel of the Gentile Christians and the Gibeonites, we were not deceptive in assuming the role of priests and workers of God's kingdom, we did ride on the coat-tails of Israel's rejection of their Messiah.  Jesus told a similar parable to this story:

Matthew 22:1-14 (NASB95)
¹ Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, ² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. ³ “And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ “Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.” ’ ⁵ “But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, ⁶ and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ “But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ “Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ ‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ ¹⁰ “Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. ¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, ¹² and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. ¹³ “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”^[3]

Also consider that we are considered to be slaves of God, bondslaves to Jesus Christ, here are a few references on that:

Acts 2:18 (NASB95)
¹⁸ Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy.

Romans 6:15-23 (NASB95)
¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! ¹⁶ Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. ²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. ²² But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 7:21-23 (NASB95)
²¹ Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. ²² For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. ²³ You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

1 Corinthians 9:19 (NASB95)
¹⁹ For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. ^[4]

Draw a parallel between Pauls instructions in Romans 6 and the story in Joshua.  I found this train of thought interesting because when you think about it, Israel was God's chosen people.  They came to Him as friends, sanctified by the blood, and the temple sacrifices were offered to make that relationship possible.  We as Gentiles are grateful to be considered as slaves for God.  Paul encouraged all believers to assume this attitude because God seeks worship.  In short, even though the Gibeonites were sneaky in their method, they gave us a great picture and a clear understanding of what it means to surrender our lives to Christ Jesus.  Life is much better than spiritual death and eternal damnation.  God made life available through Christ Jesus, our price for that freedom is a life of slavery in service to Christ Jesus.  When I read Romans 6:15-23 it was almost like reading a direct summary of the way that the Gibeonites benefited from the deception of Israel. 

Our choice is simple, all of us are slaves of something, why not make it righteousness?  If we follow the world, we will end up being slaves of the devil and go to hell as a result.  If we follow the Jewish God, Jesus Christ, we will have life and we will have eternal life.  We should thank Gibeon for the clear picture of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Father, as we consider Your word today, convict each of us as to our attitude toward You.  Give us the wisdom to surrender our lives to Your service, and to always be Your servants.

In Him,

Joe Turner.