Joshua Session 5 - A Comprehensive Commentary by Ron Matsen

[Music] do well we're going to study uh the book of joshua we're in our fifth session we're going to go through chapter nine tonight so turn to the book of joshua chapter 9. in chapter 7 and 8 we saw what happened with israel as they tried to go out in the power of their own flesh and attempted to conquer ai when there was sin in their camp and as a result of it god allowed them to flee before their enemy and they experienced their first defeat subsequent to that after the sin is discovered and it is publicly dealt with then god allows them to not only go up and defeat the people of ai but to create another memorial along the way we've talked about the fact that as we go through this study in the book of joshua we're going to emphasize the fact that this is a very good parallel of what it is in our christian walk to be led by jesus christ into the fullness of the spiritual life entering the promised land is not a model of going into heaven there won't be enemies in heaven it's a model of the individual who now is now in christ being led by christ and you'll face the obstacles and opposition as a result of your new life in christ and so in chapter 9 we begin and it came to pass when all the kings were on this side of the jordan in the hills and in the low lands and in all the coasts of the great sea toward lebanon the hittite the amorite the canaanite the perizzite the hivite and the jebusite heard about it that they gathered together to fight with joshua and israel with one accord now as we pointed out in our last study the nation of israel have have chosen a route into the promised land which takes them right to the heart of the land by defeating jericho and then going up to ai they were in the middle of the promised land they traveled from a.i north to shechem and as we pointed out in our last study shechem is a is a strategic place there in the middle of israel today um it is um surrounded on either side by both mount ebal and mount gerizam and joshua builds an altar on mount ebal the mount of curse interestingly enough um and and what he is doing there is he is really planting the word of god in the heart of the land the first thing they're going to do after they've conquered a few of their enemies is he's going to create a memorial not only to their success but he puts this altar up over which uh and around which he covers the stones um with whitewash and writes the entire word of god on the mountain so really biblical graffiti in that sense and so he writes the law on mount ebal and israel at this point of course is it's a real high point in their early history they're enjoying the victories after their one sad setback and so if you look at that today you'll see that at the top of mount ebell there is a structure that is there even today that most equate to this altar built by joshua and here's an artist's representation of that altar and how it would have been used now as they are encamped here they're encamped at a place called gilgal now don't be confused because there are four cities or four areas called gilgal uh and will be referenced uh throughout scripture uh it simply means a place where there is a rolling away it's a place where god is um doing something that is part and parcel of them cutting away their flesh the first gilgal of course was by the jordan it's where their first campsite was and it's where they rededicated the men of war rededicated themselves to god by performing circumcision they had not circumcised the children who were born in the wilderness were not told why but they didn't and so as they came into the promised land before they go up to jericho they carry out the right of circumcision there's another gilgal near bethel one in the plain of sharon and this is the gilgal that is near shechem and so this is where they are now now what we see from this opening a few verses in chapter nine is the enemies of israel are starting to unite against them they can see that this is a significant threat you know regardless of what you do in your life as soon as you start to be effective for jesus watch out the enemies of god will be against you and the enemies of god don't like it when we put god's word and his work in the middle of their territory and that's really what they've done they've divided the promised land in half and they've gone to the high places there in shechem and uh they've established a memorial to the word of god in the middle of it and that'll become very important uh uh in in future sessions these six kings join forces to attack israel they're like the world today they may not agree with each other about lots of things but one thing they can agree about and that is they don't like christians and their dislike of christianity is only because we teach a narrow way you see as soon as the church compromises and begins to want to have a sense of acceptability within within um the world the world will accept them so long as they don't preach the cross and christ crucified and that jesus christ is the only way truth and life sadly there are many who would take up the name of jesus in the name of jesus and they are compromising in the world today they're allowing themselves to believe that there is power and popularity no there's power and purity and we'll see that uh not only in this uh uh study of joshua but uh we'll see that elsewhere in scripture we saw that in the study the book of acts you have the church as it is congregating together and beginning to share one with another that this couple ananias is a fire sell a piece of property on the isle of cyprus and they bring part of the money but claim that they are offering all of the purchase price of the land they could have easily kept back whatever portion they felt but in their hypocrisy they offered something in a way that was supposed to make them look big perhaps and as a result of it of course you're familiar with the story ananiasis of fire both die in a in a very instant way why because as god is establishing things we've seen the same thing happen with acor in chapter 7 and 8. we saw that that god really wants the nation of israel to see the importance of purity of devotion to god and god alone not trying to figure out how can we accomplish the will of god in our life through our own efforts and so we're going to see what happens as a result of the nation when they decide they're going to take their own dealings in their own hands and so the world will join against you uh you will never win a prop popularity contest in the eyes of the world they'll always find a reason to oppose you because after every great victory there's always great opposition and it's it's almost a surety as soon as something that the lord is doing expect something to come and attempt to counter it almost immediately you can just bet on it as the lord begins to move in and through your life as you begin to draw closer to the lord expect some discouragement some challenge some opposition uh to come against you but when the inhabitants of gibeon heard that joshua when the inhabitants of gibeon heard what joshua had done to jericho and ai they worked craftily and went and pretended to be ambassadors and they took old sacks on their donkeys old wineskins torn and mended old and patched sandals on their feet old garments on themselves and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldly and so we now get a getting some insight into uh these characters the gibeonites uh they are crafty in fact it's interesting the gibeonites uh are called hivites remember there were six nations that were coming against the the children of israel and the gibeonites are of the hivites the word hivite literally means serpent and they were known as crafty people and so they were clever they were going to try to figure out a way to survive uh the coming judgment that was coming upon them you know the scripture tells us that we need to understand that our adversary is is full of deception and that's why in ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 we're told to put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil we need to appreciate the fact that that we are not dealing with a person that is not without experience at deceiving man after all he deceived eve who had far more insight into the person of god than anyone in this room i dare say having walked and talked with god on a daily basis and yet she was even led astray by the craftiness of this shining one and so we need to understand our adversary uses deception that's the primary means of drawing people into the the net or the snare as it were is by deception verse 6 and 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 then the men of israel said to the hivites perhaps you dwell among us so how can we make a covenant with you now you can see the initial reaction of the leadership of israel they understand the commandment of moses before his death as is recorded in chapter 7 of deuteronomy god warned the nation of israel moses writes when the lord your god brings you into the land which you go to possess and has cast out many nations before you the hittites the gergescites and the amorites and the canaanites the perizzites and the hivites and the jebusites seven nations greater and mightier than you and when the lord your god delivers them over to you you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them you shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them nor shall you make marriages with them you shall not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughter for your son for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods so the anger of the lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly but thus you shall deal with them you shall destroy their altars and break down their sacred pillars and cut down their wooden images and burn their carved images with fire god makes it very clear for the nation of israel these are the people that are going to oppose you and you are not to make treaties with them because in doing so you're going to weaken your own capacity to serve god you won't influence them they'll influence you there'll be that erosion that takes place to the foundations of our relationship with a god who wants to keep israel separate and unto himself and so they're warned don't do it galatians chapter 4 or chapter 5 verses 24 and 25 tells us what we need to do with our fleshly appetites in verse 24 we read in chapter 5 and those who are christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit how important it is for us to recognize that the um work of sanctification in the life of a born-again believer is something that starts at the point when we are born again and we have a responsibility to respond appropriately to the guidance of the holy spirit so that processionally we will confront the appetites and attitudes in our life that are displeasing to god oh i wish it was true that that when we're in christ as the bible tells us all things become new not are instantly new they become new we're new in christ in terms of our relationship the spirit that's born within us is a work of god that is not a work of our righteousness it's a gift of the heavenly father procreating in us an everlasting relationship with him but it doesn't stop there that's like standing on the other side of the jordan river you've been rescued from the bondage of egypt you're now placed outside of the promised land now follow jesus into the promised land and to do so notice what god tells the nation of israel he says i will go before you and defeat the nations the work of defeating the aspects of your life that are displeasing to god are first and foremost the responsibility of god but he who began a good work in you he will complete it but we have to be compliant with that work we have to be as it were good clay on the potter's wheel willing to be shaped and remolded into something that is a vessel of honor and so the nation of israel finds itself being uh really deceived another type of warfare see with jericho the warfare was obvious it was a wall in front of them which god defeated with ai the enemy before them was that of their own over uh sense of being overconfident and again under the the direction of god god overcomes that and they were victorious now they're going to be faced with another type of challenge that of direct deception ephesians chapter 4 beginning in verse 17 this i say therefore and testify in the lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the gentiles walk and the futility of their mind having their understanding darkened being alienated from the life of god because of the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all in cleanness with greediness but you have not so learned christ if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him and as the truth is in jesus that you put off concerning your 40 former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you may put on the new man which was created according to god in true righteousness and holiness as we begin our study in the book of joshua we pointed to the fact that there were two books in the new testament that have very interesting parallels one is the book of revelation of course it's difficult to not see the parallels of jesus in his second coming coming and clearing the land out for that which will be set up in the millennial kingdom but in terms of application to us the book of ephesians is a great parallel book to read as you are going through the study of joshua and there you'll see that that there are so many teachings and warnings from the apostle paul to the ephesian church about the fact that they need to enter in and be successful in the spiritual warfare that's before them recognizing that the work is complete in christ but they just need to be compliant with that work so that fruit can come as a result of it and so god clearly tells them you shouldn't do this they shouldn't even be entering into this conversation in fact it's interesting the writer is even at this point calling him the hivites um because obviously he's writing this as a postscript to the real events but there there there's a sense there of of uh willful ignorance on the part of the leadership of israel at this point but they said to joshua we are your servants and joshua said to them who are you and where do you come from now joshua does as the leader of israel he does give some test but it seems rather naive to me as you look at it you think surely you could have done more than that it seems naive did he really expect them to reveal themselves well actually we're some people that just live a few kilometers down the road and and we're here to deceive you no the very sense of what they did they left with the intention of deception do you think they're now going to all of a sudden turn just because he says who are you those of you that have raised children one of the most difficult things with young children is to is to bring them to an awareness that you already know they're lying you know you you you see the cookie crumbs all over their mouth all down their shirt or whatever they're and and you say have you been in the kitchen and have you been through the cookie jar no no mom honest i haven't well don't you have something you want to tell me no there's nothing i want to tell you you know and and and uh uh as a as a sort of a a poor parallel we probably have experienced that if you have small children or have had small children you've no doubt experienced that sort of a thing and and it seems comical in one sense but sad in another and we do the same thing with god we we you know we expect everything to just be very clear and straightforward when the scriptures clearly say they're there to deceive us evil is not always obvious in fact paul tells the corinthians 2 corinthians chapter 11 for such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of christ and no wonder for satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transformed ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to their works throughout the pauline epistle peter also in many of his epistles is to both his epistles speaks of the fact that they're we're living in an age of deception and so as we look as uh as it were at this historical event we know the end result all you gotta do is read ahead and you'll see what happens as a result of this but we don't have in one sense the ability to have foresight to know are we being deceived now therefore we have to rest on the clarity of our hindsight the more we understand history the less likely we are to repeat it the more we understand that's why it's important for us to understand the wiles of the devil his devices we should not be ignorant of them we should be aware of the fact that that is his modus operandi he transforms himself into an angel of light therefore his false apostles transformed themselves as ministers of light so they said to him from a very far country your servants have come because of the name of the lord your god for we have heard of his fame and all that he did in egypt and all that he did to the two kings of the amorites who were beyond the jordan to sion the king of heshbon and og the king of basham who was at asteroth now they reveal something here i think that's fascinating because these are people who we will find out in a few verses they're in the promised land they have knowledge they have knowledge of what took place in egypt they have knowledge of what's taken place in the wilderness they've had 40 years to prepare for the nation of israel coming in and they know that they're occupying the land promised to the offspring of abraham isaac and jacob they know it strangely enough they even know his name in our english translation that capital l-o-r-d is the is the four hebrew consonants which refer to the proper name of god of abraham isaac and jacob and so they're referring to a god they know of and so often times when people say you know how can a god of love give such a horrible commandment as go into the land and wipe all these people out it's quite simple to understand this is their judgment day this is their judgment day and so we see them um trying to deceive the leadership of um of israel and joshua in particular and often we find that deception is clothed in complement you'll see this throughout the proverbs be careful of the one who gives you a a uh an undeserved compliment uh they're they're setting you up for something you can actually study and and see throughout scripture the holy spirit revealing through the text uh the the manner and methodology of satan and one of the things that he does is he he appeals to our pride in romans chapter 16 verse 17 and 18 it says now i urge you brethren note those who cause division and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them for those who are such do not serve our lord jesus christ but their own belly and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple so you just read that backwards and realize if you are simple read that you don't understand the word of god you don't understand what god has already revealed to us historically then you're in the camp of the simple your heart is going to be more prone to deception because you have no method of testing what's coming at you you have no comparison it's all new and how do they do it by smooth words and flattering speech that's how they get you one of the ways they open people up i can tell that you're really spiritually discerning and that and there's very few people on the planet that could probably understand what i'm about to tell you but i can tell that you're going to be able to understand this and then they begin to to lead you down some some pathway to eventually what will be a snare and so be careful when people come to you with flattering words um especially if you sense in any way shape or form that they're not bringing forth something that's really truthful where to test all things hold fast to that which is true there should always be that that filter that it stands at a guard to our heart that's there that that that that pauses to to analyze that which is coming toward us and so verse 11 therefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us saying take provisions with you for the journey and go to meet them and say to them we are your servants now therefore make a covenant with us this bread of ours we took hot from our provisions from our house on the day we departed to come to you but now look it's dry and moldy and these wine skins which are filled were new and sea they're torn and these garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey i mean these guys really did it up good didn't they i mean they really put some effort into this and and want to let them you know make the israelites feel as though they'd come from a great distance often times that's what satan will do isn't it he will make it seem as though he is no threat to you i am here to make a treaty with you i am not here to bring any harm into your life this is really for your benefit to peter chapter 2 we see peter remarking the fact that that that people who are practicing deception will swear they're telling the truth he says but there are also false prophets among the people even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies even denying the lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction and as many as follow their destructive ways because of whom the truth will be blasphemed by covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words for a long time their judgment has not been idle and the destruction does not slumber you know you can really sense from the the text here in joshua that these people were so clever they they really thought through the whole deception so that they weren't just bringing words to joshua they had evidence and you know the old clothes and the the wine bottles that were ragged and uh and the moldy bread and all this sort of thing you know they really want to make it seem as though we've come a great distance to make a treaty with you then the men of israel took some of their provisions but they did not ask counsel of the lord wow how often do we make this same mistake it just seems so obvious lord so i know you're busy running the universe so i'm i'm pretty comfortable with this one and off you go you know they even try to be a little bit scientific notice it says and they took some of their provisions what were they going to do with some moldy bread and some uh you know sandals that are falling apart what were they doing were they analyzing it were they trying to be scientific you know they looked at the messengers old sacks on their donkeys the old wineskins torn and mended old patch sandals on their feet and the old garments on themselves and the bread of their provision was dry and moldy i mean these guys must have really looked a sight and they came to what we will see is the wrong conclusion in fact it was a wrong conclusion at any rate regardless of where they came because deuteronomy chapter 7 said don't make treaties with anyone it's not a matter of where they live that's a stipulation that that joshua and the leaders of israel are making in the same way in which we can say well this isn't something that really is close to me it's something that's a great distance and why not why not just enter into this it begs the question why do they not ask god which of course we can turn that straight around and ask ourselves why do we not draw god into every decision that we make is it because we think he doesn't care is that why i think that if we really thought that through most of us would answer no to that we'd say no we know god cares we know he cares about the very hairs on our head whether he cares whether or not they're the right color or not or how many there are or not you know is a different issue whether it's curled or not but he does care this is what the scriptures tell us did they think they'd know better surely those of you that have had um children you know that that's the reason why children resist the guidance of parents because children obviously know better than their parents in their five or seven or 21 years of life they've obviously had more experience than you and they know what's best for them sadly we live in a world where that whole way of thinking is being constantly supported and encouraged by uh hollywood and uh and everything every movie you see you know the the the especially the father is an idiot and it's always the little kid who rescues the day you know he's the one who's sensitive and and clued up or whatever do we think that they know better than god some people would probably say well of course that's ridiculous i mean god knows everything so why do we not ask god because we get impatient and impatience is a sign of immaturity it's a sign of immaturity when you're impatient it's because you're immature i don't care how old you are you just i just can't wait any longer really why the scriptures tell us how important it is that we be that we be patient james chapter 1 says but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of god who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him notice what james says here patience is a work of god in you he wants to develop patience within you because patience is a fruit of faith the more faith you have in god's ability to do things god's way and in his timing the more patient you can be when you're impatient you are expressing a lack of faith in god's ability to do his will and way in your life you just get impatient i just can't wait anymore right so you can't wait you know isaiah chapter 28 gives us this therefore thus says the lord god behold i lay in zion a stone for a foundation a tried stone a precious cornerstone a sure foundation whoever believes will not act hastily you know we're familiar with the concept of jesus being that that firm foundation upon which we place our faith and our life our eternity is based on our hope in jesus christ but what does that faith produce in us does it do its perfect work in our life which is to draw us to a place to where we can be like those referred to in the book of hebrews in the chapter of the hall of faith where these people believed god and god accounted it unto them as righteousness having not received the promise that's the amazing thing their faith didn't produce substance necessarily in their life abraham never owned the promised land that was promised to him but he believed that god was capable of doing it in his own time and he believed god and god accounted that to him as righteousness you see we even have the sense of impatience with god with a lot of these teachers that are going around teaching people you know you can have whatever you want you just have to have enough faith to demand god to give it to you and what are we teaching people to be impatient with the plans and purposes of god you know i'm going to claim this today this is going to happen because i have determined it's going to happen and god will do it because he will honor my impatience that's really what we're saying it sounds ridiculous in that context isn't it and yet how often are there those who will who will say you know well i just have the faith for that and that will happen really i i don't know how you can say that because god will produce that which is according to his will with or without our approval now we can participate with that by faith or we can work against it you know i love the saying that i heard years ago that god has seldom early but he is never late you know we may have an anticipation of something and oh that was a little sooner than i thought but if we take that perspective he's never late to what he intends to do in our life maybe according to our time schedule well lord it seems like you're taking an awful lot of time here to do this but when we are impatient it produces all manner of sin in our life we're impatient so we steal we're impatient so we lie we lose faith so we covet but we see impatience as this is the way you get things done in life well that might be true in a secular sense but in terms of the work of god in our life we need to understand god delights in us patiently waiting for him to produce that which will bring glory to him in his time so joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live and the rulers of the congregation swore to them and so wow here we go guys walk up with their donkeys and their moldy bread and their worn out sandals and and a few conversations or who are you guys are you trying to trick us you know you can just see that you know me moi me trick you of course not look at this face you'd buy a used car from this face you know i mean that's the sense right and you're a clever person you can see that i'm a person that would be honest with you this careless covenant so many people do this they lock themselves into something so carelessly a hasty decision yields a lasting covenant based on only a few bits of evidence confirmed by a spur the moment oath they're shackled for a lifetime boy is that not like what happens to us so often in our life people enter into lifelong relationships based on untested promises confirmed during the passion of the moment and they end up miserable for their entire life and they do it because they allow themselves to be drawn into a belief that if the pulse is pumping the heart will lead you into truth jeremiah says the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked who could know it and yet the world is telling us believe what your heart is telling you now i'm not saying that our heart can't be a very important part of the aspect of our human being it's the part of our soul that that seeks to worship and seeks uh the the sense of of emotional connection uh with things that we're committed to but here we see a covenant that is made like so many people do today they don't really take any time to test anything they just launch themselves into and they're going to be shackled with that 2 corinthians chapter 6 tells us starting in verse 14 don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness and what communion has light with darkness and what accord has christ with baal or what part has a believer with an unbeliever paul there is encouraging the corinthians look pay attention to the things that you're yoking yourself to the yoke was a device by which two auxin could be strapped together the benefit was they could pull together the downside is one auxin was normally stronger than the other in terms of the direction the two would go and so you might see some good result wow we're both pulling together this is a good thing right but then again you got to understand the the yoke is also for steering and so if one that you are yoked with decides to go in one direction or another you're going to be pulled in that direction and sadly i've seen that far too often in marital relationships people hastily rushing into um into lifelong commitments without a thought of what the character of the individual is you know i'm i'm one of those in premarital counseling i ask the question of of people that come to get married have you had a good fight yet i mean a real i'm not talking about a disagreement as to you know what restaurant you're going to go to or whatever or who's your favorite pop star i'm talking about something that's really you're ready to die in the ditch over have you had one of those yet and how did that work out for you most people you know the young people oh we just love each other that'll never happen i think wow you'll discover you'll discover what that's about there needs to be a real sense of of understanding and for israel they're taking a little bit of data and making a lifelong decision and it happened at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them three days later they that mean that as it were the ink wasn't even dry on the contract and they recognize oh my goodness you see what's happening is these six nations are from the south of of israel of the promised land and they are they are congregating together to come out to war and so the sense here is that as israel now turns its attention militarily to this confederation of these six nations who are going to come up against them as one as they are looking south they discover something see they're up there in shechem and so no doubt they're beginning to send their spies out to get a sense of military intelligence and of course they discover that that gibeon is right next to ai in fact it was less than 10 kilometers away they walked right by it on their way to shechem and they didn't even see it these are the people no doubt i mean given the size of the nation of israel they couldn't have trans uh you know sort of transited that area uh without making some noise and and their presence known as they they went by and so the gibeonites just sort of must have hid themselves to some degree but they must have had dwellings they must have had sheep and and herds and flocks and and vineyards and fields and things and israel passes them by turns around these very same people they've passed are going to now be the people that have come and fooled them because they didn't take time israel walked right by them then the children of israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day now their cities were gibeon sufirah biroth and kirjath jiram but the children of israel did not attack them because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the lord god of israel and all the congregation complained against the rulers you know and rightfully so there's disappointment when you realize oh my goodness i can't believe that i got myself into this into this situation here and the people are thinking what kind of rulers are you i mean seriously is the army is beginning to march south they're gonna they know they're gonna confront these these nations that are coming together together there's that disappointment of deception they have the right to complain the leaders had let them down by seeking a simple solution or an easy solution and so often that's what we do well this just seems logical it just seems okay and yet that is what's opening us up for the deception because we're relying on the little bit of intelligence we might have rather than saying god revealed to me what's happening here if anyone lacks wisdom let him ask and then give it some time to see what happens what happens with this person what is this person like what we're going to go into business partnership you know let's do some research on this person then all the rulers said to the congregation we have sworn to them by the lord god of israel now therefore we may not touch them this we will do to them we will let them live lest wrath be upon us because of an oath which we swore to them and the rulers said to them let them live but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation as the rulers had promised them so you know israel finds itself in a situation now that people are complaining against the leadership and they're doing what most of us do trying to make something good out of a bad situation okay how are we gonna how are we gonna live with this we're not gonna go against our oath we did tie ourselves into this how are we gonna make something good out of this and so they did not attack the cities as they were instructed to by moses as recorded in deuteronomy they'll simply treat them as slaves wood cutters and water carriers for all of israel were told you know these are difficult daily chores but they are essential tasks at the core of their life you know it's easy sometimes for us to simply say well that's just something that that uh i don't really like to pay attention to anyway let's give that to uh to these uh to these people that that really i should have nothing to do with but and what they're doing is they're giving the very core work eventually these people will be the wood cutters and the water carriers for the temple itself they will they will embed themselves in israel and and and it will turn out in one sense to not be a horrible hindrance but it's there as a result of their disobedience doesn't mean their lives completely come apart just like when you see that that young woman marrying a non-christian guy and everybody tries to give her you know the wisdom of the word don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers and she rages ahead and says no no we love each other it'll be okay and then you know five years down the line she's she's moaning about the fact the counsel to that person that point is look you need to make it you need to make good your oath to the glory of god you will don't turn around i i it's horrible the number of times i've been uh had been in you know marriage counseling relationships and you hear this well of course you know we really shouldn't have got married in the first place i say that's a little late you know why is that even part of this conversation that just that just is that's sort of just an arrow sent out to injure that's not going to create anything what do you mean we shouldn't have gotten married back then how is that solving anything today that's you know as they say water under the bridge god will hold them to their oath and the leadership of israel understand that in fact we read in samuel 2 samuel chapter 21 when saul is king he goes out and he actually kills some gibeonites during his reign and as a result of that god sends a famine on the whole nation of israel for four and a half years and david is confronted by some of the leaders of the gibeonites and david asks them what shall i do for you because he wants to try to make amends and they said we want to be able to kill seven of saul's descendants know we want recompense and so david agrees it's a horrible story but they're saying hey you made an oath we didn't break the oath you did your king went out and killed some of our people we have the right as the near kinsmen to avenge blood that's what the law says and so unfortunately saul lost some of his descendants verse 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 dwell dwell near us now therefore you are cursed and none of you shall be freed from being slaves woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my god so they answered joshua and said because your servants were clearly told that the lord your god commanded his servant moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you therefore we were very much afraid for our lives because of you and have done this thing and now here we are in your hands do with us as it seems right do with this as it seems good and right to us to do to us and so you see as joshua's again almost sounding like a naive leader at this point he is he's questioned him why did you deceive us and they revealed they clearly understood what took place in egypt what took place in the wilderness what took place at the foot of mount sinai they understood who moses was they understood who the god of abraham isaac and jacob was they understood the people in canaan this whole land of canaan they knew they were not ignorant to the god of israel they had the same access as abraham had if you go back to the book of genesis you'll find that you even have the pharaoh of egypt rebuking abraham for being unrighteous and later the abimelech the king of the philistines rebukes isaac for being unrighteous these men knew these people knew and they lived in the land for 430 years after the the departure of jacob and his family to meet up with joseph and during that time that knowledge that they had they didn't lose they understood what was going on and yet they chose as people to worship these foreign gods so they weren't ignorant what happens to the person that never hears these people all knew they clearly were aware of what took place they knew of god's promises but what we see here is their belief caused them to act even though their actions were wrong they used lying but the motivation behind their actions was right their attitude was right in the sense that they did not want to to um to be wiped out they were willing to put themselves in a position of servitude if that was what it would take for them to survive in that sense they're a people similar to what rahab seemed to do with the spies from israel in jericho she appealed to them and knew that god had given the land uh to the nation of israel the only difference there of course is she physically removed herself and joins israel she marries into israel and one of the things that we can certainly gather from this study of chapter 9 is we will never know what the council of the lord would have been concerning gibeon we know that they were people they obviously did did not want to be destroyed they did not fight against israel it's difficult to know exactly what would have happened and herein we have an interesting parallel between the joshua of this incident and the jesus of the new testament because the scriptures tell us that god is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance in the midst of all of this you see god's grace being extended even though they appropriated that grace by deception from the perspective of the gibeonites they were looking for god's mercy they came at it the wrong way but nonetheless they did what they did israel did what they did and as a result there is a treaty between the gibeonites and the israelites so he did to them and deliver them out of the hand of the children of israel so they did not kill them and that day joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the lord in the place which he would choose even to this day you know when you look at the legacy of the gibeonites where do they show up from this point forward well they become a permanent member as servants to the nation of israel and notice they not only carry water for the nation but they also carried water and wood for the temple tabernacle at this time later the temple there's no evidence anywhere in scripture that these descendants caused any problems in israel in fact one of the gibeonites become one that becomes one of david's mighty men of valor 1 corinthians chapter 12 verse 4. he embeds him so they embed themselves so well into the nation of israel that uh that he that he's one of the mighty men and valor of david they continue to serve the temple until it's destroyed by the babylonians they're a constant group that are there serving uh in accordance with their oath to joshua as a people it's interesting and later even after the babylonian captivity these people return and help nehemiah rebuild jerusalem so as much as we might say wow they are really awful people in the sense that they use deception to achieve what ultimately was a good end we can we can characterize that but we can see that there was a a an earnestness in their desire to be joined to that which god was going to sustain their methodology is not good and certainly the nation of israel had no right to do what they did in the way in which they did it but we do see that historically you look back on the gibeonites they become a significant contributor to the welfare of israel and one might say and in the end it turned out okay that's rather a pragmatic way to look at things because what we don't know is what might have happened had israel been obedient in the same way in which i have sat with married couples one saying oh well you know we should have never been married and this and that and whatever i can't un pick the past what we can do though is take what we have and go forward in service of god and so in this sense we see a sense of god's graciousness and mercy to in the long term make something good out of what really was a failure in the leadership of israel and aren't we glad that god can take even the failures in our life and he can take those ashes and he can turn it around to something that's glorifying to him we don't want to dwell how the ashes got there but the end result is god can have even that be individuals who are participating in the worship of god in our next study we'll do chapter 10. we've slowed down a little bit in the middle of the book i think there's some elements there that we want to spend some time with and so for our next session next monday we'd like you to read chapter 10. so with that let's close with the word of prayer lord we're grateful that you are a gracious god lord even as you send your people into the land under a simple and direct command yet lord we're discovering that there are people whose hearts are sensitive to you lord father may we listen to you and may we not rely upon the [Music] capabilities that we might find ourselves being proud of lord i mean we see ourselves as children needing the guidance of our of our heavenly father lord may we learn to trust in you more and more lord may patience work its perfect work in us lord may it be a sign of our maturity as we we wait no longer feeling like we need to through the power of our own flesh or through the fury of our own anger be able to bring about some kind of result in your name lord for we know the the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of god so lord we're grateful that you persevere with us so lord may we learn to be patient with what you're doing in our life for we pray this in the name of your son jesus christ amen

Channel: Koinonia House

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Length: 59min 41sec (3581 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 07 2020