Author: Sjirk Bajema
Last saved by: Andrew Nugteren

JOSHUA 9
	(Reading: Joshua 9)
	
	While God's Ban Isn't Obeyed, His Plan Yet Won't Fail

Congregation of Christ Jesus...

	There is a flow to the book of Joshua which is irresistible.
		The powerful sense of a great plan, which is clearly at work.
			
	Already the early chapters of Joshua have spelt this out.
		For there has been quite some detail given to the conquest over Jericho, and then the eventual defeat of Ai.
			And you won't get that kind of description given to any more of the battles after the chapter of our text.
				But the scene by now has been set.

	Someone noted that in the book of Joshua thus far, the Jericho, Ai and Gibeon events are treated at length because they each emphasise a particular point - points that will be repeated in subsequent conquests.
		These points are that Jericho was the first fruit of the land reserved for the LORD God alone.
			Ai, as the second fruit, could be shared by Israel - God's people.
				 And Gibeon, well, the Gibeon story shows how Israel failed to utterly destroy the inhabitants of the land because she made an unlawful covenant with them.
 
	Let me ask you, though, was this your impression probably as the text was read?
		Could it have been that what struck you in this chapter was more the gruesome violence of this invasion of the Promised Land, and the very clever deception by those Gibeonite leaders.
			For they were true pragmatists - they honestly weighed up the odds of being the next victory medal hanging from Israel's military chest - and they came on board.
				They saw this as either "Surrender or Die!"

	So it may seem somewhat strange that the first consideration now is...GOD'S LEADER SINS IN FAILING TO KEEP HIS BAN.
		Understanding this, however, will draw us to see, that, secondly...GOD'S ENEMY BECOMES HIS SLAVE ACCORDING TO HIS PLAN; and further, in the third place, that...GOD'S PEOPLE ARE HUMBLED BY OTHERS HE PUTS IN HIS LAND.

	Firstly, then...GOD'S LEADER SINS IN FAILING TO KEEP HIS BAN.
		Here, we meet the strategy of the Gibeonites.
			Their deception is intricate and clever.

	There are those donkeys used, animals which specialised in longer journeys; the worn-out sacks and old wine-skins, all cracked and mended.

		Consider what the men are wearing - worn and patched sandals, old clothes.
			The food they carry is dry and mouldy.

	Then, reflect on the psychology in their approach.
		They have come so very far to honour the Israelites!
			From a distant country they've heard of the fame of the LORD God.
				All that YAHWEH did with the exodus out of Egypt, right up to the devastating defeat of the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan.

	Friend, did you notice that touch?
		They reinforced the appearance of coming from afar by mentioning victories won a long time ago - victories won before Jericho and Ai were so overwhelmingly crushed.
			What a play on those Israelite egos!
	For the words these appointed ambassadors have said have been just what they - and any of us - like to hear!
		Imagine some folk coming to our church and saying similar things to us?
			“What a great and loving God you preach here!”
				“Man doesn’t He look after you!”
	Well, what could we say - it's all true of course!
		Our anxious insecurities are so salved!

	We're reminded that "There's nothing new under the sun", in the well-known words of the teacher in Ecclesiastes.
		We see it again with this duping of Joshua.
			He is, after all, Israel's leader.
	It's to Joshua directly that these men place their case.
		In the verses 8 and 9 they tell him, "We are your servants."
			And it's Joshua who makes the treaty with them, the treaty to let them live, the treaty which the other leaders of Israel ratified by oath.

	You know, Joshua would have been perfectly right if these men were from a land outside the Promised Land, as they claimed.
		Through Moses in Deuteronomy 20 provision had been made for a particular type of treat with those nations outside Palestine.
			A treaty which meant they would be servants to God's people.

	But the LORD God had made it abundantly clear then that all those nations in the Promised Land had to be totally obliterated!
		"Don't leave anything alive that breathes!"
			"Completely destroy them - the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites...", YAHWEH had decreed.
	
	Why?

		Well, in the further words of the LORD, "Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshipping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God." (Deut.20:10-18)
			This is the BAN; this is what physically had to be done so that Israel would be the witness to the LORD God in the place He had promised.

	GOD'S LEADER SINS IN FAILING TO KEEP HIS BAN.
		You know, Joshua only had to do one thing, and it would have all become absolutely clear.
			Those words at the very centre of the chapter - verse 14 - are the key, "The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD."

	Congregation, however much we may know about God and think that we understand His will, it's still a world apart from actually asking Him and so listening to His Word.
		Haven't we realised that often enough as we went and made that decision?
			Didn't we then think we could be so definite in our own discernment?
				We thought it would turn out alright!

	Mind you, not that Joshua and other leaders didn't raise the possibility of being deceived.
		But what did they do with that prompting?
			Would it have involved all that much to check with Urim and Thummim of the priests - the way the LORD guided them at that time?

	Of course it wouldn't have!
		Just like it wouldn’t be toom much for us to seek the Lord’s guidance in His Word, through prayer.

	But there's always 20/20 vision in hindsight.
		And later, with the discovery of the deception by the Israelite people, they saw it all clearly too.

	They grumbled because of it.
		Still, it had happened.
			And as Joshua and the leaders had acted then, another wrong wasn't going to make it right.
				Two wrongs never do make it right - do they?

	Yet the treaty now had an even stronger force.
		For while there could be no reneging of the promise to let the Gibeonites live, there would be the full force of their subjection under that treaty.
			There could even be the breaking of that treaty by Israel because they had been deceived.
				It's a part of our law today also that anyone who was deceived in entering upon any kind of agreement may have that contract reneged.
		
	But those Gibeonites cannot be totally destroyed now.
		They kind of knew that by tricking Joshua into that treaty.
			Because they were honest in one thing - they spoke the truth as they respected the fame of Israel's God.
	They knew a little of the character of this awesome God - especially about His Truth.
		He had, after all, spoken a clear word to Israel.
			Words that meant they had to keep their word.
	The Word which they trusted in now.
		The Word which said, in the second place...GOD'S ENEMY BECOMES HIS SLAVE ACCORDING TO HIS PLAN.

	In this whole story, congregation, we mustn't miss the sense of the Gibeonite's desperation.
		For while we may see this as a wiley move of a lesser power, it is the move, nevertheless, of a people who were one of the greater powers in Palestine.
			In chapter 10 it is said of the Gibeonites that "all its men were good fighters".
				And when the neighbouring nations seek their revenge on the capitulating Gibeonites, they make sure that it's five kings who comes together with all their troops to fight Gibeon.

	But, still, knowing that all of the Canaanite tribes were meant to be wiped out, how can one say that...GOD'S ENEMY BECOMES HIS SLAVE ACCORDING TO HIS PLAN?
		Wasn't His Plan the actual Ban?
			
	It should have been, but there were notable exceptions.
		One was Rahab the prostitute and her family.
			A situation we may say is about obvious faith in the Saviour God.
	Here we meet another, though different.
		But a situation also where grace is shown.
			We need to remember that.
	The Canaanites really shouldn't have had a life.
		And if the boot had been on the other foot, with Israel being the weaker force, there would have been no mercy.
			That's just the way it was then.
	This is what the Canaanite woman recognised in Matthew 15, as she dared to approach Jesus.
		When she pleaded with the Lord for healing for her daughter, suffering from demon possession, He replied, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
			And  then when she pleaded with Him further,  He said, "It's not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."
	The message couldn't have been clearer to that Gentile woman.
		She didn't belong.
			But she wasn't stopping!
				"Yes, Lord," she responds, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."

	That's desperation!
		That's an urgency because with out it she doesn't have a hope!
			The same desperation of the Gibeonites, the same saving wisdom which had them begging for mercy too.
	For surely they knew that their deceit would come to light?
		It would be found out!
			But they would try anything to keep from the righteousness of Israel's God!
				Even to be condemned to perpetual slavery was far better than total annihilation.
	
	While God's Word to Moses had been clear about the complete obliteration of the nations in the Promised Land, there had been an earlier word God had spoken in Genesis 9.
		In the situation when Noah's son, Ham, saw his father's nakedness, and disgraced him by talking about it, there was a curse placed upon Canaan, Ham's son.
			As verse 25 of Genesis 9 quotes Noah, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."

	So it was the defeat of the third nation in the Promised Land.
		While this time the nation capitulated voluntarily, and while the Israelites may have argued with Joshua on the basis of Deuteronomy 7 for complete destruction, it is yet Canaan's continued submission to Israel.
			The triumphant note in the book of Joshua continues on!

	But, now, we turn to those people who were arguing with Joshua otherwise.
		These are the Israelites who appear, in the vast majority, most unhappy about this.
			It's a natural reaction, mind you.
	They had been deceived - deviously tricked.
		In our time it could well have brought down a government!

	Here, however, it has become a most salutary lesson for God's people.
		For, in the third place...GOD'S PEOPLE ARE HUMBLED BY OTHERS HE ALLOWS IN HIS LAND.

	It needs to be added here that the Gibeonites would be in no position to poise the danger of Deuteronomy 20.
		While their lives are spared, they are reduced to perpetual slavery, instead of being allies, or equal in any way whatsoever.
			Further, there was no way they would be able to practice their previous religion because now they would be totally taken up with serving the LORD's people and the LORD Himself at His Tabernacle.
				Later on in Israel's history the name of Gibeon appears in connection with this service and as the place where the ark of the covenant was kept for a long period.

	But that wasn't really the issue with the Hebrews - was it?
		Ah, their silly human pride!

			While things had gone conqueringly well, and they felt on top of the world, and, indeed, were putting their heel into the rest of the world, things were fine.
	But then to think of foreigners they had to deal with face-to-face, people of real flesh and blood - that was a responsibility they just didn't want!
		Who wants a complicated life, when it used to be so simple?
			"Don't do it, Joshua! Keep things the way they are!"
	If they were pleas to God's righteousness fair enough.
		But they weren't, for God's righteousness had spoken through Joshua and the leaders submitting Gibeon to servitude.

	As S.G. de Graaf writes, "Against its will, Israel now had to absorb the Gibeonites into its national life. 
		“Through this experience, the Israelites had to humble themselves and learn that of themselves they were no better than the Canaanites. 
			“They owed their privileges solely to the gracious covenant of God. 
	“The Gibeonites, too, were people who could seek protection within the sphere of God's justice, to which the Israelites had sworn an oath. 
		“If the other Canaanites were to be wiped out, it was only for the sake of the righteousness of God, against which they had committed the most extreme offenses."

	Like the Gibeonities, congregation, we too have fled, for our protection, to God's justice.
		We've thrown ourselves upon His grace, for we too have done the most terrible things against Him.
			But unlike Joshua and Israel's leaders, who failed then, we have the ultimate Ruler who perfectly followed God's Word.
	In fact, Jesus Christ is God's Word Personified!
		He shows us in Himself why there is this mighty movement in the book of Joshua, and right throughout Scripture!	
		
	The Lord who turned and blessed the Canaanite woman because of her faith, and thus healed her daughter, heals us Gentiles today too!
		Just as those Gibeonites, slaves as they were when they came into God's covenant, became used to serve God at His tabernacle, so we are today equally part of Christ's Church, sharing in that precious privilege because of His sacrifice on the cross.
	
	As the curse upon the Gibeonites became a blessing to them, so God's curse of the cross became the ultimate blessing for all who have faith in His Son, Jesus Christ!
		With the Psalmist may you and I sing, "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked (Ps.84:10)."
			AMEN.

PRAYER:
	Let's pray...O Mighty & Marvellous God, How much doesn't Your love shine in Your Word. Against the darkness of the night of our sin, we see so brightly the saving work of Your beloved Son.
		Please, make us to look to Him, and to all that He did on our behalf, that we won't depend on our own words and wisdom, but only Him - Your Living Word to us.
			In His Precious Name we plead, Amen.