Joshua 9:15-27. Yesterday we saw the Israelites getting ahead of themselves by making a treaty without talking to God first.\u00a0 The treaty was made according to rules that God had established for cities out side of the promised land.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And the Israelites made the treaty without talking to God about it first.\u00a0 In the book of Numbers God gave instructions to Moses not long before he died. The instructions included putting Joshua in charge.\u00a0 In Numbers 27:20-21 though we learn that Joshua was to consult God before acting (In that case through Eleazar the priest.)<\/p>\n
Even though the treaty was made based on the lies of the Gibeonites the Israelites were still bound by it.\u00a0 Once the people found out that the Gibeonites lived in their own territory they wanted to break the treaty and kill them.\u00a0 Repeatedly we are told that they would not or should not break the treaty because they had \u201csworn by the LORD\u201d.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 God took their oath seriously.<\/p>\n
So Joshua was in a tough spot.\u00a0 He had a solemn treaty with the Giboenites on the one hand and a bunch of hopping mad Israelites on the other.\u00a0 So he did what we all do sometimes, he felt sorry for himself and asked why the Giboenites put him in that position.\u00a0 Remember the Gibeonites had already answered this question, partially at least.\u00a0 When they first approached Joshua and the \u201cmen of Israel\u201d (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.\u00a0 Also remember that this is the same information that caused Rahab to have respect for the Israelites and the LORD Joshua 2:10-11).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 You have to wonder when Joshua asked this question if the Gibeonites thought, \u201cReally!\u00a0 Duh!\u00a0 Do you remember the pile of rubble at Jericho?\u00a0 Have you seen the piles of bodies at Ai?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhy did we trick you into a treaty?\u201d\u00a0 Unlike the six kings mentioned at the beginning of the story these guys had no hope of beating the Israelites in a battle.\u00a0 The Israelites were kick butt take no prisoners invaders.\u00a0 In the words of the main character of one of my favorite movies, \u201cI want to Live Clarence!\u00a0 I want to live!\u201d\u00a0 (George Baily in \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life\u201d).\u00a0 The Gibeonites wanted to live.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t why they thought that the Israelites would make a treaty.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why they thought they would not break a treaty made based on a lie.\u00a0 Maybe they had heard of Rahab.\u00a0 But they tried and it worked.\u00a0 The consequences were kind of harsh though.\u00a0 As part of his last speeches to the Israelites Moses uses language that is similar to the language used by the Giboenites.\u00a0 The Israelites had seen all that God had done for them yet they still did not \u201csee\u201d.\u00a0 So God spoke to them and told them to remember and be faithful.\u00a0 And he spoke to all of them; \u201cchiefs, tribes, elders, officers, men, women, little ones, and aliens among you, the ones who chop wood and draw water\u201d (Deuteronomy 29:1-12).\u00a0 Joshua probably had this in mind when he laid out the terms of the treaty.\u00a0 The Gibeonites had approached Joshua as his \u2018servants\u201d (Joshua 9:8) and servant they would be.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 They would also be protected, as we will see in the next section of the book.\u00a0 It is interesting that 1000 years later when the Israelites come back from captivity in Babylon (Check out \u201cThe Old Testament Connection\u201d<\/a>) that Gibeonites are listed as part of the people who return (Nehemiah 3:7; 7:25).<\/p>\n There is so much in this little part of the story.\u00a0 The importance taht God puts on the things that we say.\u00a0 He wants us to have integrity.\u00a0 The fact that God backs up what we say (remember the famine?).\u00a0 The fact that God\u2019s reputation is wrapped up in our lives.\u00a0 And the fact that we can see so man miracles and not really see (Remember Deuteronomy 29:1-4).\u00a0 The Gibeonites wanted to live.\u00a0 They knew a little about God and saw that He was powerful, very powerful.\u00a0 They came in fear and submitted their descendants to centuries of slavery.\u00a0 But somewhere along the line that little bit of sight grew.\u00a0 1000 years later they were still with the Israelites.\u00a0 Taken captive with them to Babylon.\u00a0 And returned with them from Babylon.\u00a0 They were right there working on the walls of Jerusalem while the political leaders of the region ridiculed them.\u00a0 It seems that they would have had plenty of opportunity to leave if they had wanted to.\u00a0 It also seems that by the time of Nehemiah that they had become a regular part of the Israelite society.\u00a0 Like the case of Rahab it seems that the God they had heard of they now listened to.\u00a0 God had become their God.\u00a0 In the end that was the goal of Israel\u2019s existence, to show God to the world and have the world come to Him.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We need to open our eyes too.\u00a0 We need to listen too.\u00a0 Hopefully our closed minds will not lea to the destruction of others.\u00a0 The blessings and curses which the Israelites remembered in the ceremony at Mount Ebal were part of them being an example to the world, \u201cso all the people of the earth would see\u201d (Deuteronomy 28:10).\u00a0 Lord help me see and remember.\u00a0 Help me show the world around me how great you are.\u00a0 Help me be obedient.\u00a0 I know the world will see one way or the other, but I want to be on the side of blessing.\u00a0 And God thank you for being so patient and giving.\u00a0 I know that most of respond to you in fear.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to be destroyed.\u00a0 But then we feel your love and protection and grow to love you.\u00a0 Help me love you for 1000 years and more.\u00a0 Thank you for letting this alien into your kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joshua 9:15-27. Yesterday we saw the Israelites getting ahead of themselves by making a treaty without talking to God first.\u00a0 The treaty was made according to rules that God had established for cities out side of the promised land.\u00a0 The problem is the people they made the treaty with lived inside the promised land and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":540,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions\/540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}