More than a Feeling
Joshua 9
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Good morning! Please turn with me in your Bibles to Joshua 9. This morning we are going to encounter yet another group of Canaanites. This time it is the Gibeonites. Gibeon was a city which was just about 5 miles away from Ai. It would have been something of a sister city to Ai, just as Bethel was. So, if you are keeping track of our campaign, we are still taking the central portion of the territory, what I’ve been calling the “Central Campaign.”
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Message starts at approx. the 25:40 mark.
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However, the passage will start by introducing some of the cities and kings that were a part of the Southern region of Canaan. So we are gearing up for that.
But, being that Gibeon was so close to Ai, it is understandable that they would have been some of the first to hear reports of what happened to Ai. As we’ll learn from our text, they were familiar with all the victories of Israel. And we are going to hear how these Gibeonites used this knowledge to their advantage.
Let’s read together Joshua 9...Let's pray together
Introduction
Our text for today has three different groups of people in it, who I want to look at. It starts out in the first two verses by talking about the Canaanites who band together to form a sort of United Nations. There’s an alliance created by the different peoples to stand against Joshua.
In the second section, which starts in verse 3, introduces to us the Gibeonites. And we read how they were real tricksters who pulled one over on Joshua and the people.
Then, of course, we have Joshua and the band of Israelite men who probably would have been his counselors. This handful of fellows serves as the third character group in our passage. And you see they are duped pretty well by the Gibeonites.
So you might say that in our passage you have foes, frauds, and fools. But what I want to do this morning is take each of these different parties and consider what the text has to say about each one. I think we’ll get some good idea what the Lord wants to teach us as we look at each one.
And I want to begin with the foes and the hatred that is displayed.
I. The hatred that is displayed
The first two verses tell us that various Canaanite peoples, which represent specific kingdoms or city states within the southern area of Canaan, all band together. The Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites all make an alliance. The purpose of their treaty is to defend themselves through a united attack on Joshua.
What we see here is a transition. Up until this point, the Canaanites were so overwhelmed with fear that they could do nothing. Jericho and Ai represent cities that were just run over because they were quaking in their shoes. They were in such dread that they couldn’t fight back.
Here we have a definite transition. These guys are obviously still fearful, but they are taking action. They are attempting to take the battle to the Israelites now. They have recovered from their fearful swooning at least in a small way, such that they are taking some initiative in the war.
You understand their rationale in this too. They’ve heard of how the Israelites have demolished their opponents. They understand that the God of the Israelites, YHWY, is trouncing those who live in this land and will stop at nothing until all have been eliminated.
So, this is their reasoning: No one can beat them, but maybe if we work together. Maybe if we have greater numbers. Maybe if we team up and combine our pitiful forces and make one super army—maybe then we can overwhelm the power of this God.
This, of course, stands in opposition to the Gibeonites who decide to try and make some sort of treaty with Israel. We’ll talk about that in a moment, but it is interesting the contrast, isn’t it. One group goes to the Israelites; they recognize the folly of trying to stand against them. The other group recognizes the folly of trying to stand against them, and they determine to just get more power to make this stand.
What I want you to see is the hardness of heart. There is a rage that these peoples express. They are fiercely opposed to the Lord, so much so that they are willing to risk it all. They are willing to die trying. They have their fists clasped tightly and are shaking it with the deepest anger against this God. Their antagonism is such that surrender is not an option for them.
I like what Calvin says on this passage. “Instead of being overcome by manifest miracle (i.e. the walls of Jericho falling), they continue to rage like wild beasts against the unassailable power of God.”
And keep in mind that these people are not all on nice terms with each other. These different people would have normally made war with one another and had their own skirmishes. They were all power hungry pagans who would have had the characteristic hostilities towards each other. But they are willing to “suspend their mutual animosities…to prevent their land from falling into the hand of” the Israelites.
What we have here is Psalm 2 in action. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’"
This really shows you the heart dynamic of the unbeliever. Unregenerate man despises God and has such terrible angst that no sort of treaty will be had.
Granted, not all express it to this degree. Some have a much more quiet dissent. But those are only because they’ve been restrained by the hand of God and tempered by His providence.
But this is the real expression of man’s depravity. The heart naturally is in defiance to God and is so obnoxiously uncompliant that it will resist at all costs. Even in hell the unregenerate man will only bow through force. Despite the agonies and terrors inflicted upon him, he still rages in his hatred of God.
This is why Jesus would say, “If you are not for me, you are against me.” He understood the nature of man and the innate opposition unregenerate man has for the things of God.
This is why we can expect that the kingdoms of earth and man will oppose us as well. As our society becomes more hardened in its humanism and the Christian anchors of our society are cast away, we will no doubt see increasing pressures. The forces will align and they will not care who their associates are. The Marxist reject all things divine, but that will not prevent them from banding together with the Muslim. If it means opposing Christ, they will happily work together.
In the book of Revelation, we see the beast and the whore in league with each other. If you interpret, like I do, the beast as the Roman government and the whore as the Jewish people, you understand that these two have no comradery other than their opposition to the Lordship of Jesus.
It is enough to say that unregenerate man will stop at nothing to see the light of Christ stomped out. For despite whatever may be their differences, they are unified in their rebellious unbelief.
But let’s turn our attention to the Gibeonites and think about what they are doing. If in the Canaanite tribes we have an alliance that is formed, in the Gibeonites we have a trick that is played.
II. Frauds: The grace that is shown
Of course, it all begins with a trick. You heard the story. The people of Gibeon acted shrewdly. They had witnessed the same devastation the Lord had wreaked upon the people of Jericho and Ai. They had heard the stories of how the kings on the other side of the Jordan had fallen. They may have even heard the stories coming out of Ebal.
Think of that. Remember that last time we said that there were some sojourners who went to Mt. Ebal with the Israelites. They were just checking things out. Could it not be possible that they heard the Book of the Law read and heard how God had commanded there that all the Canaanites were to be eliminated and that the power of the Lord their God would be with them to do that very thing. Some of these sojourners came back and spread the word?
Whatever may be the case, the Gibeonites (as opposed to the other Canaanites we just studied) recognize that the gig is up. They are no match for the Lord and His people. They discern that the Lord is giving his people the land and will have domination of this area.
And, as the old adage goes: if you can’t beat them, join them, right?
So they concoct this elaborate story. They put it into play perfectly. Old shoes, old bread, old wineskins. Maybe they even smeared some dust on their faces to give themselves to further that rugged, distanced look.
And it works. Joshua and his crew buy it, hook, line and sinker. They are able to enter into a covenant with Joshua and, even after they are found out, they are spared. They just end up living a life of manual labor for the rest of their generations.
Now, let’s think about this. I want you to analyze it for a moment. What do we have going on here? On the one hand you may say that these people are just as terrified and acting erratically as the other Canaanites. This is nothing more than an attempt at self-preservation. We may even call it a selfish or self-centered act that is solely in their best interest.
We might make this equivalent to the people who go to an evangelical tent revival and hear some fire and brimstone preaching. They are terrified of the wrath of God, and so what do they do? They walk the aisle at the invitation and they “accept Jesus into their hearts.” It seems on first glance to be nothing more than a get out of hell free card.
But I would like to say that it’s more than that. For we read in verses 25f that they accept whatever lot may be given to them. “Do to us whatever you deem right” is essentially the claim.
What we have in that statement is an expression of submission. Think about how profound that statement would be. Joshua might have said, “Well, we got to kill you.” He doesn’t say that, but he very well could have.
I would like to suggest to you that the Gibeonites have, at least to some small degree, demonstrated true faith. They have pledged submission and are willingly giving themselves over to the will of the Lord.
No doubt it would have been a huge relief to hear that they were just going to be enslaved, rather than killed. Sure, they may have lost their homes and everything else they possessed, but they survived. That’s a pretty good trade off.
Now there’s two things I want to mention: First, let’s admit that the Gibeonites lied. They tricked Joshua. It was intentional and it was deceptive. They lied. But they weren’t raised in Sunday School and they were still very much acting according to their pagan ways.
But, again, what was the nature of that lie? Remember we studied Rahab and her lie. Her lie wasn’t just self preserving, but it was a form of allegiance to God. In lying to her kinsman, she was demonstrating her faithfulness to the Lord.
It’s not an exact parallel, but you see something similar here. Yes, the Gibeonites lie, but they do it so that they can come into covenant life with the Lord.
I’m not saying that the Gibeonites should have done what they did. I’m simply saying that the Gibeonites at least were seeking alliance with the one and only true God. They were giving up on their gods and they were recognizing YHWH as the true and living God. And that at least is commendable.
The second thing I want you to notice is that despite getting to live, these Gibeonites still come under the ban. They are cherem-ed. Remember that principle from our study in Jericho. Everything was supposed to be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only the gold was kept. But it was devoted to the Lord and to his treasury. We looked at the word “cherem” and we said that is what it meant, to devote to the Lord (and usually it meant for the purposes of destruction).
Now, did you notice what it said in verse 27? It says that the Gibeonites job (cutting wood and drawing water) was going to take place in the tabernacle (i.e. for the alter of the Lord). The Gibeonites are devoted to the Lord’s house and are made to be God’s servants, so to speak. They would be assisting the Levites and priests in the sacrifices that occurred in the temple that would eventually be built.
And we read in the book of Ezra that some of these Gibeonites were part of those who returned from the exile hundreds of years later.
Say what you want about enslavement, there’s something beautiful about this. Obviously they live, but they also live in such a way that they are nestled as closely as Gentile Hivites could be to the Lord.
Think of it, these Gibeonites get to enjoy some of the best blessings in all Israel. They get to grow up and live in the church, surrounded by the worship of God. They would get to hear the word of God, perhaps more than any other Israelite. You know what the psalmist says, “It’s better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” These Gibeonites get to do that.
All in all, this is a wonderful testimony to the Lord’s gracious acts towards a sinful and undeserving people. I think it is just another testimony to how the Lord welcomes those who fear him and willingly receives the sinner to turns to him.
And it doesn’t make sense. Why does Joshua not kill them off like they were supposed to? Joshua did not have to keep this oath. It was a oath made under guise. There’s no obligation to keep his side of the bargain.
I want you to keep in mind that that tension is the tension of grace. Whenever things turn out better than you deserve or don’t quite go the way they should have, that is a moment where God is showing his wonderful ability to pardon and forgive.
There’s one more group that we must touch upon though. It is Joshua and the Israelite leaders. And we may talk about them in terms of the folly that is exhibited.
III. Fools: The folly that is exhibited
Verse 14 sums it all up: They took some of the provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.
You just got back from Ebal, right? You spent an entire day, maybe longer, listening to and reading the word of God. You may have been the very on who etched it on the stone monument that was set up there. You’ve gone through this covenant renewal ceremony and you said, “I’m never going to do the Achan thing ever again. We’re going to listen to the Lord and always make sure that we abide by His.”
Not but 24 hours later you’re giving a free pass to a bunch of strangers because they have some moldy bread.
I want you to understand something: Joshua’s reasoning wasn’t wrong. Do you understand that? They had lots of evidence that they examined. They asked all the right questions. In so far as they could they did a pretty good job conducting a background check. They looked at the bread, they looked at the wineskins, they inspected the sandals. All of it seemed pretty legit.
So remember: Their reasoning wasn’t wrong, it just wasn’t enough. All of their human faculties were exerted, but it wasn’t enough. They needed enlightenment from above. They needed a knowledge that their hands could not give them. They needed understanding that their eyes could not impart. They needed truth that their mental rationale alone could not properly bestow.
What they needed was divine revelation and that could only come from seeking the face of God.
This is what we need to remember too. We need to remember that we are to live by faith, not by sight or by the power of our reason alone.
We have to understand that, yes, God has given us the ability to investigate. He has given us the wonderful ability to think and reason. We can see, taste, touch, and smell. All of these faculties are given by God and should be employed for His sake. But we must always remember that these great resources have their limitations. And they are not to be exalted to the point where they exceed the wisdom and revelation of God. Neither are they to be employed without the guidance and direction of God’s truth.
Some of you young people may study philosophy and learn about different types of knowing. You may study guys like John Locke or Francis Bacon. These guys were called empiricists because they said that all knowledge comes from our senses. We understand and live on the basis of what we know through our ability to see and feel.
Or you may get into guys like Renee Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, these were guys who held to what is called Rationalism. It’s the belief that your opinions and actions are to be based on your reason. So on the one hand you have the guys who say you know through your fingertips another who says you know through logic.
As Christians we say, both your senses and your ability to think have a place, but knowledge first comes from God. And it is the fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom. He is to be consulted. His way is to dictate our lives. So every decision is to be from the Lord.
Does that mean we lay in bed until we get a revelation from God? Well, if you mean that you sit there until God audibly speaks to you and tells you to get up, obviously no. Or if you think you need to page through the Bible until you get a verse that says you need to go brush your teeth, that’s not right either. But God does direct us, does he not? Go to the ant, you sluggard!
And this is why you pray and seek the Lord, asking that he would guide and direct you. You pray that He would teach you his ways and impart understanding. You pray because you want him to remove from you ignorance, atheism and agnosticism, and so you don’t end up making the mistake that Joshua did here.
The great failure of our day is found in the failure to recognize the limitations we have as finite and fallen creatures. There are some things we cannot know on our own, and there are many things that we cannot know aright because our thinking is guided by the corruption of our souls.
I believe I have mentioned before the debate that was had between Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. In the debate the moderator asked “At what point does a baby get human rights.” After hesitating for words Obama said that answering that question with specificity was “above his pay grade.”
Later on he would backpedal on the issue, but at the time I appreciated his answer. He may not admit it, but he was exactly right. It is not within the bounds of human knowledge. The answer can only be obtained by divine revelation.
What happens is that people seek to fill in the blanks. They will, with no basis, say that a child in the womb is merely cells or does not have personhood until some other arbitrary point. And thus they will conclude that they can abort that baby at any point.
Now, even there, is the logic wrong? It may be wrong headed, but it is not necessarily wrong. It is logical in so far as it follows the basic principles of reason: The child is not a child, so you can take its life.
The problem is not the process of the logic, it is the limitation of the logic. The answer to this question, as well as questions about gender and racism and virtually every other talking point today, is found not in investigative science or speculative philosophy, but it is found in the counsel of the Lord.
And that is why Christ has to be first in our lives and Lord of all.
While we can appreciate that Joshua’s bad decision ended up not being all that bad. They were able to recoup and the bad decision ultimately led to a people walking with the Lord.
Yet we should not write Joshua’s failure off because it did not end in a train wreck. The only reason it did not was because the Lord, by his grace, intervened.
“They did not ask counsel of the Lord.” These words of verse 14 are to haunt us. They are to remind us that our lives are not to be governed by just what we think, what we can intuit, or what we can discover just with our personal intellect, no matter how great that can be.
Our foundation is built upon the wisdom and knowledge of God, which is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. He is to be our guide in everything. And we are to have a healthy distrust in ourselves. All our decisions are to be in submission to Christ and our decisions are to be submitted to Christ—who is actually the fourth character in our text.
Conclusion:
He is not explicitly mentioned, but he is implicitly recognized as the main character of this passage. Joshua is a failure. Up until this point Joshua has been an impeccable fellow. His character has been above reproach, but here we see that he is just a man; a sinner, like everyone else.
But now we see that we need a greater Joshua, one who follows the Lord without a single deviation—one who we can really trust to never deceive us or lead us astray.
Jesus’ whole life was dedicated to doing the will of the Lord. And now He sits upon the Throne of heaven, leading and guiding his people. He sends forth His Word and Spirit to be that guiding agent for His people. And because he will not fail to be faithful in all things, we can put our trust in him and look to him for perfect guidance for all things in life.
But, being that Gibeon was so close to Ai, it is understandable that they would have been some of the first to hear reports of what happened to Ai. As we’ll learn from our text, they were familiar with all the victories of Israel. And we are going to hear how these Gibeonites used this knowledge to their advantage.
Let’s read together Joshua 9...Let's pray together
Introduction
Our text for today has three different groups of people in it, who I want to look at. It starts out in the first two verses by talking about the Canaanites who band together to form a sort of United Nations. There’s an alliance created by the different peoples to stand against Joshua.
In the second section, which starts in verse 3, introduces to us the Gibeonites. And we read how they were real tricksters who pulled one over on Joshua and the people.
Then, of course, we have Joshua and the band of Israelite men who probably would have been his counselors. This handful of fellows serves as the third character group in our passage. And you see they are duped pretty well by the Gibeonites.
So you might say that in our passage you have foes, frauds, and fools. But what I want to do this morning is take each of these different parties and consider what the text has to say about each one. I think we’ll get some good idea what the Lord wants to teach us as we look at each one.
And I want to begin with the foes and the hatred that is displayed.
I. The hatred that is displayed
The first two verses tell us that various Canaanite peoples, which represent specific kingdoms or city states within the southern area of Canaan, all band together. The Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites all make an alliance. The purpose of their treaty is to defend themselves through a united attack on Joshua.
What we see here is a transition. Up until this point, the Canaanites were so overwhelmed with fear that they could do nothing. Jericho and Ai represent cities that were just run over because they were quaking in their shoes. They were in such dread that they couldn’t fight back.
Here we have a definite transition. These guys are obviously still fearful, but they are taking action. They are attempting to take the battle to the Israelites now. They have recovered from their fearful swooning at least in a small way, such that they are taking some initiative in the war.
You understand their rationale in this too. They’ve heard of how the Israelites have demolished their opponents. They understand that the God of the Israelites, YHWY, is trouncing those who live in this land and will stop at nothing until all have been eliminated.
So, this is their reasoning: No one can beat them, but maybe if we work together. Maybe if we have greater numbers. Maybe if we team up and combine our pitiful forces and make one super army—maybe then we can overwhelm the power of this God.
This, of course, stands in opposition to the Gibeonites who decide to try and make some sort of treaty with Israel. We’ll talk about that in a moment, but it is interesting the contrast, isn’t it. One group goes to the Israelites; they recognize the folly of trying to stand against them. The other group recognizes the folly of trying to stand against them, and they determine to just get more power to make this stand.
What I want you to see is the hardness of heart. There is a rage that these peoples express. They are fiercely opposed to the Lord, so much so that they are willing to risk it all. They are willing to die trying. They have their fists clasped tightly and are shaking it with the deepest anger against this God. Their antagonism is such that surrender is not an option for them.
I like what Calvin says on this passage. “Instead of being overcome by manifest miracle (i.e. the walls of Jericho falling), they continue to rage like wild beasts against the unassailable power of God.”
And keep in mind that these people are not all on nice terms with each other. These different people would have normally made war with one another and had their own skirmishes. They were all power hungry pagans who would have had the characteristic hostilities towards each other. But they are willing to “suspend their mutual animosities…to prevent their land from falling into the hand of” the Israelites.
What we have here is Psalm 2 in action. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’"
This really shows you the heart dynamic of the unbeliever. Unregenerate man despises God and has such terrible angst that no sort of treaty will be had.
Granted, not all express it to this degree. Some have a much more quiet dissent. But those are only because they’ve been restrained by the hand of God and tempered by His providence.
But this is the real expression of man’s depravity. The heart naturally is in defiance to God and is so obnoxiously uncompliant that it will resist at all costs. Even in hell the unregenerate man will only bow through force. Despite the agonies and terrors inflicted upon him, he still rages in his hatred of God.
This is why Jesus would say, “If you are not for me, you are against me.” He understood the nature of man and the innate opposition unregenerate man has for the things of God.
This is why we can expect that the kingdoms of earth and man will oppose us as well. As our society becomes more hardened in its humanism and the Christian anchors of our society are cast away, we will no doubt see increasing pressures. The forces will align and they will not care who their associates are. The Marxist reject all things divine, but that will not prevent them from banding together with the Muslim. If it means opposing Christ, they will happily work together.
In the book of Revelation, we see the beast and the whore in league with each other. If you interpret, like I do, the beast as the Roman government and the whore as the Jewish people, you understand that these two have no comradery other than their opposition to the Lordship of Jesus.
It is enough to say that unregenerate man will stop at nothing to see the light of Christ stomped out. For despite whatever may be their differences, they are unified in their rebellious unbelief.
But let’s turn our attention to the Gibeonites and think about what they are doing. If in the Canaanite tribes we have an alliance that is formed, in the Gibeonites we have a trick that is played.
II. Frauds: The grace that is shown
Of course, it all begins with a trick. You heard the story. The people of Gibeon acted shrewdly. They had witnessed the same devastation the Lord had wreaked upon the people of Jericho and Ai. They had heard the stories of how the kings on the other side of the Jordan had fallen. They may have even heard the stories coming out of Ebal.
Think of that. Remember that last time we said that there were some sojourners who went to Mt. Ebal with the Israelites. They were just checking things out. Could it not be possible that they heard the Book of the Law read and heard how God had commanded there that all the Canaanites were to be eliminated and that the power of the Lord their God would be with them to do that very thing. Some of these sojourners came back and spread the word?
Whatever may be the case, the Gibeonites (as opposed to the other Canaanites we just studied) recognize that the gig is up. They are no match for the Lord and His people. They discern that the Lord is giving his people the land and will have domination of this area.
And, as the old adage goes: if you can’t beat them, join them, right?
So they concoct this elaborate story. They put it into play perfectly. Old shoes, old bread, old wineskins. Maybe they even smeared some dust on their faces to give themselves to further that rugged, distanced look.
And it works. Joshua and his crew buy it, hook, line and sinker. They are able to enter into a covenant with Joshua and, even after they are found out, they are spared. They just end up living a life of manual labor for the rest of their generations.
Now, let’s think about this. I want you to analyze it for a moment. What do we have going on here? On the one hand you may say that these people are just as terrified and acting erratically as the other Canaanites. This is nothing more than an attempt at self-preservation. We may even call it a selfish or self-centered act that is solely in their best interest.
We might make this equivalent to the people who go to an evangelical tent revival and hear some fire and brimstone preaching. They are terrified of the wrath of God, and so what do they do? They walk the aisle at the invitation and they “accept Jesus into their hearts.” It seems on first glance to be nothing more than a get out of hell free card.
But I would like to say that it’s more than that. For we read in verses 25f that they accept whatever lot may be given to them. “Do to us whatever you deem right” is essentially the claim.
What we have in that statement is an expression of submission. Think about how profound that statement would be. Joshua might have said, “Well, we got to kill you.” He doesn’t say that, but he very well could have.
I would like to suggest to you that the Gibeonites have, at least to some small degree, demonstrated true faith. They have pledged submission and are willingly giving themselves over to the will of the Lord.
No doubt it would have been a huge relief to hear that they were just going to be enslaved, rather than killed. Sure, they may have lost their homes and everything else they possessed, but they survived. That’s a pretty good trade off.
Now there’s two things I want to mention: First, let’s admit that the Gibeonites lied. They tricked Joshua. It was intentional and it was deceptive. They lied. But they weren’t raised in Sunday School and they were still very much acting according to their pagan ways.
But, again, what was the nature of that lie? Remember we studied Rahab and her lie. Her lie wasn’t just self preserving, but it was a form of allegiance to God. In lying to her kinsman, she was demonstrating her faithfulness to the Lord.
It’s not an exact parallel, but you see something similar here. Yes, the Gibeonites lie, but they do it so that they can come into covenant life with the Lord.
I’m not saying that the Gibeonites should have done what they did. I’m simply saying that the Gibeonites at least were seeking alliance with the one and only true God. They were giving up on their gods and they were recognizing YHWH as the true and living God. And that at least is commendable.
The second thing I want you to notice is that despite getting to live, these Gibeonites still come under the ban. They are cherem-ed. Remember that principle from our study in Jericho. Everything was supposed to be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only the gold was kept. But it was devoted to the Lord and to his treasury. We looked at the word “cherem” and we said that is what it meant, to devote to the Lord (and usually it meant for the purposes of destruction).
Now, did you notice what it said in verse 27? It says that the Gibeonites job (cutting wood and drawing water) was going to take place in the tabernacle (i.e. for the alter of the Lord). The Gibeonites are devoted to the Lord’s house and are made to be God’s servants, so to speak. They would be assisting the Levites and priests in the sacrifices that occurred in the temple that would eventually be built.
And we read in the book of Ezra that some of these Gibeonites were part of those who returned from the exile hundreds of years later.
Say what you want about enslavement, there’s something beautiful about this. Obviously they live, but they also live in such a way that they are nestled as closely as Gentile Hivites could be to the Lord.
Think of it, these Gibeonites get to enjoy some of the best blessings in all Israel. They get to grow up and live in the church, surrounded by the worship of God. They would get to hear the word of God, perhaps more than any other Israelite. You know what the psalmist says, “It’s better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” These Gibeonites get to do that.
All in all, this is a wonderful testimony to the Lord’s gracious acts towards a sinful and undeserving people. I think it is just another testimony to how the Lord welcomes those who fear him and willingly receives the sinner to turns to him.
And it doesn’t make sense. Why does Joshua not kill them off like they were supposed to? Joshua did not have to keep this oath. It was a oath made under guise. There’s no obligation to keep his side of the bargain.
I want you to keep in mind that that tension is the tension of grace. Whenever things turn out better than you deserve or don’t quite go the way they should have, that is a moment where God is showing his wonderful ability to pardon and forgive.
There’s one more group that we must touch upon though. It is Joshua and the Israelite leaders. And we may talk about them in terms of the folly that is exhibited.
III. Fools: The folly that is exhibited
Verse 14 sums it all up: They took some of the provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.
You just got back from Ebal, right? You spent an entire day, maybe longer, listening to and reading the word of God. You may have been the very on who etched it on the stone monument that was set up there. You’ve gone through this covenant renewal ceremony and you said, “I’m never going to do the Achan thing ever again. We’re going to listen to the Lord and always make sure that we abide by His.”
Not but 24 hours later you’re giving a free pass to a bunch of strangers because they have some moldy bread.
I want you to understand something: Joshua’s reasoning wasn’t wrong. Do you understand that? They had lots of evidence that they examined. They asked all the right questions. In so far as they could they did a pretty good job conducting a background check. They looked at the bread, they looked at the wineskins, they inspected the sandals. All of it seemed pretty legit.
So remember: Their reasoning wasn’t wrong, it just wasn’t enough. All of their human faculties were exerted, but it wasn’t enough. They needed enlightenment from above. They needed a knowledge that their hands could not give them. They needed understanding that their eyes could not impart. They needed truth that their mental rationale alone could not properly bestow.
What they needed was divine revelation and that could only come from seeking the face of God.
This is what we need to remember too. We need to remember that we are to live by faith, not by sight or by the power of our reason alone.
We have to understand that, yes, God has given us the ability to investigate. He has given us the wonderful ability to think and reason. We can see, taste, touch, and smell. All of these faculties are given by God and should be employed for His sake. But we must always remember that these great resources have their limitations. And they are not to be exalted to the point where they exceed the wisdom and revelation of God. Neither are they to be employed without the guidance and direction of God’s truth.
Some of you young people may study philosophy and learn about different types of knowing. You may study guys like John Locke or Francis Bacon. These guys were called empiricists because they said that all knowledge comes from our senses. We understand and live on the basis of what we know through our ability to see and feel.
Or you may get into guys like Renee Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, these were guys who held to what is called Rationalism. It’s the belief that your opinions and actions are to be based on your reason. So on the one hand you have the guys who say you know through your fingertips another who says you know through logic.
As Christians we say, both your senses and your ability to think have a place, but knowledge first comes from God. And it is the fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom. He is to be consulted. His way is to dictate our lives. So every decision is to be from the Lord.
Does that mean we lay in bed until we get a revelation from God? Well, if you mean that you sit there until God audibly speaks to you and tells you to get up, obviously no. Or if you think you need to page through the Bible until you get a verse that says you need to go brush your teeth, that’s not right either. But God does direct us, does he not? Go to the ant, you sluggard!
And this is why you pray and seek the Lord, asking that he would guide and direct you. You pray that He would teach you his ways and impart understanding. You pray because you want him to remove from you ignorance, atheism and agnosticism, and so you don’t end up making the mistake that Joshua did here.
The great failure of our day is found in the failure to recognize the limitations we have as finite and fallen creatures. There are some things we cannot know on our own, and there are many things that we cannot know aright because our thinking is guided by the corruption of our souls.
I believe I have mentioned before the debate that was had between Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. In the debate the moderator asked “At what point does a baby get human rights.” After hesitating for words Obama said that answering that question with specificity was “above his pay grade.”
Later on he would backpedal on the issue, but at the time I appreciated his answer. He may not admit it, but he was exactly right. It is not within the bounds of human knowledge. The answer can only be obtained by divine revelation.
What happens is that people seek to fill in the blanks. They will, with no basis, say that a child in the womb is merely cells or does not have personhood until some other arbitrary point. And thus they will conclude that they can abort that baby at any point.
Now, even there, is the logic wrong? It may be wrong headed, but it is not necessarily wrong. It is logical in so far as it follows the basic principles of reason: The child is not a child, so you can take its life.
The problem is not the process of the logic, it is the limitation of the logic. The answer to this question, as well as questions about gender and racism and virtually every other talking point today, is found not in investigative science or speculative philosophy, but it is found in the counsel of the Lord.
And that is why Christ has to be first in our lives and Lord of all.
While we can appreciate that Joshua’s bad decision ended up not being all that bad. They were able to recoup and the bad decision ultimately led to a people walking with the Lord.
Yet we should not write Joshua’s failure off because it did not end in a train wreck. The only reason it did not was because the Lord, by his grace, intervened.
“They did not ask counsel of the Lord.” These words of verse 14 are to haunt us. They are to remind us that our lives are not to be governed by just what we think, what we can intuit, or what we can discover just with our personal intellect, no matter how great that can be.
Our foundation is built upon the wisdom and knowledge of God, which is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. He is to be our guide in everything. And we are to have a healthy distrust in ourselves. All our decisions are to be in submission to Christ and our decisions are to be submitted to Christ—who is actually the fourth character in our text.
Conclusion:
He is not explicitly mentioned, but he is implicitly recognized as the main character of this passage. Joshua is a failure. Up until this point Joshua has been an impeccable fellow. His character has been above reproach, but here we see that he is just a man; a sinner, like everyone else.
But now we see that we need a greater Joshua, one who follows the Lord without a single deviation—one who we can really trust to never deceive us or lead us astray.
Jesus’ whole life was dedicated to doing the will of the Lord. And now He sits upon the Throne of heaven, leading and guiding his people. He sends forth His Word and Spirit to be that guiding agent for His people. And because he will not fail to be faithful in all things, we can put our trust in him and look to him for perfect guidance for all things in life.