Joshua 9:15-27. Yesterday we saw the Israelites getting ahead of themselves by making a treaty without talking to God first.  The treaty was made according to rules that God had established for cities out side of the promised land.  The problem is the people they made the treaty with lived inside the promised land and had tricked the Israelites into believing that they were from far away.  And the Israelites made the treaty without talking to God about it first.  In the book of Numbers God gave instructions to Moses not long before he died. The instructions included putting Joshua in charge.  In Numbers 27:20-21 though we learn that Joshua was to consult God before acting (In that case through Eleazar the priest.)

Even though the treaty was made based on the lies of the Gibeonites the Israelites were still bound by it.  Once the people found out that the Gibeonites lived in their own territory they wanted to break the treaty and kill them.  Repeatedly we are told that they would not or should not break the treaty because they had “sworn by the LORD”.  In 2 Samuel 21:1 there was a famine for three years because the first king of Israel broke this treaty and tried to kill the Giboenites (and that was 400 years in the future).  God took their oath seriously.

So Joshua was in a tough spot.  He had a solemn treaty with the Giboenites on the one hand and a bunch of hopping mad Israelites on the other.  So he did what we all do sometimes, he felt sorry for himself and asked why the Giboenites put him in that position.  Remember the Gibeonites had already answered this question, partially at least.  When they first approached Joshua and the “men of Israel” (A reference at least to the armed men) they said that they wanted to make a treaty because they had heard what had happened across the Jordan River (where they were pretending to be from) when the Israelites had defeated two kings, Sihon and Og (See Numbers 21:21-35 for part of this story.  Also remember that this is the same information that caused Rahab to have respect for the Israelites and the LORD Joshua 2:10-11).  Of course at the beginning of this story we were told that it was also because they had seen what had happened at Jericho and Ai.  You have to wonder when Joshua asked this question if the Gibeonites thought, “Really!  Duh!  Do you remember the pile of rubble at Jericho?  Have you seen the piles of bodies at Ai?”  “Why did we trick you into a treaty?”  Unlike the six kings mentioned at the beginning of the story these guys had no hope of beating the Israelites in a battle.  The Israelites were kick butt take no prisoners invaders.  In the words of the main character of one of my favorite movies, “I want to Live Clarence!  I want to live!”  (George Baily in “It’s a Wonderful Life”).  The Gibeonites wanted to live.

I don’t why they thought that the Israelites would make a treaty.  I don’t know why they thought they would not break a treaty made based on a lie.  Maybe they had heard of Rahab.  But they tried and it worked.  The consequences were kind of harsh though.  As part of his last speeches to the Israelites Moses uses language that is similar to the language used by the Giboenites.  The Israelites had seen all that God had done for them yet they still did not “see”.  So God spoke to them and told them to remember and be faithful.  And he spoke to all of them; “chiefs, tribes, elders, officers, men, women, little ones, and aliens among you, the ones who chop wood and draw water” (Deuteronomy 29:1-12).  Joshua probably had this in mind when he laid out the terms of the treaty.  The Gibeonites had approached Joshua as his ‘servants” (Joshua 9:8) and servant they would be.  In fact they would be wood choppers and water carriers for the whole nation and for the priests and Levites forever in Israel, wherever they were told to go, but at least they would live.  They would also be protected, as we will see in the next section of the book.  It is interesting that 1000 years later when the Israelites come back from captivity in Babylon (Check out “The Old Testament Connection”) that Gibeonites are listed as part of the people who return (Nehemiah 3:7; 7:25).

There is so much in this little part of the story.  The importance taht God puts on the things that we say.  He wants us to have integrity.  The fact that God backs up what we say (remember the famine?).  The fact that God’s reputation is wrapped up in our lives.  And the fact that we can see so man miracles and not really see (Remember Deuteronomy 29:1-4).  The Gibeonites wanted to live.  They knew a little about God and saw that He was powerful, very powerful.  They came in fear and submitted their descendants to centuries of slavery.  But somewhere along the line that little bit of sight grew.  1000 years later they were still with the Israelites.  Taken captive with them to Babylon.  And returned with them from Babylon.  They were right there working on the walls of Jerusalem while the political leaders of the region ridiculed them.  It seems that they would have had plenty of opportunity to leave if they had wanted to.  It also seems that by the time of Nehemiah that they had become a regular part of the Israelite society.  Like the case of Rahab it seems that the God they had heard of they now listened to.  God had become their God.  In the end that was the goal of Israel’s existence, to show God to the world and have the world come to Him.  All of the killing was just to keep the influence of the world out of the lives of the Israelites because seeing they did not see and hearing they did not hear.  We need to open our eyes too.  We need to listen too.  Hopefully our closed minds will not lea to the destruction of others.  The blessings and curses which the Israelites remembered in the ceremony at Mount Ebal were part of them being an example to the world, “so all the people of the earth would see” (Deuteronomy 28:10).  Lord help me see and remember.  Help me show the world around me how great you are.  Help me be obedient.  I know the world will see one way or the other, but I want to be on the side of blessing.  And God thank you for being so patient and giving.  I know that most of respond to you in fear.  We don’t want to be destroyed.  But then we feel your love and protection and grow to love you.  Help me love you for 1000 years and more.  Thank you for letting this alien into your kingdom.