Joshua 9 (NIV) But Joshua asked, Who are you and where do you come from?

Transcription

1 Joshua 9 (NIV) The Gibeonite Deception 9 Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things the kings in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites) 2 they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel. 3 However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4 they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded [a] with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. 5 They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. 6 Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us. 7 The Israelites said to the Hivites, But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you? 8 We are your servants, they said to Joshua. But Joshua asked, Who are you and where do you come from? 9 They answered: Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the LORD your God. For we have heard reports of him: all that he did in Egypt, 10 and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. 11 And our elders and all those living in our country said to us, Take provisions for your journey; go and meet them and say to them, We are your servants; make a treaty with us. 12 This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is. 13 And these wineskins that we filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey. 14 The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD. 15 Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath. 16 Three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors, living nearthem. 17 So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim. 18 But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders, 19 but all the leaders answered, We have given them our oath by the LORD, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now. 20 This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that God s wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them. 21 They continued, Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly. So the leaders promise to them was kept. 22 Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, Why did you deceive us by saying, We live a long way from you, while actually you live near us? 23 You are now under a curse: You will never be released from service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God. 1

2 24 They answered Joshua, Your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. 25 We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you. 26 So Joshua saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them. 27 That day he made the Gibeoniteswoodcutters and water carriers for the assembly, to provide for the needs of the altar of the Lord at the place the Lordwould choose. And that is what they are to this day. Footnotes: a. Joshua 9:4 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint) They prepared provisions and loaded their donkeys 2

3 Joshua 9 (HCSB) Deception by Gibeon 9 When all the kings heard about Jericho and Ai, those who were west of the Jordan in the hill country, in the Judean foothills, [a] and all along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward Lebanon the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites 2 they formed a unified alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel. 3 When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4 they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions [b] and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended. 5 They wore old, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies. Their entire provision of bread was dry and crumbly. 6 They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us. 7 The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, [c] Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you? 8 They said to Joshua, We are your servants. Then Joshua asked them, Who are you and where do you come from? 9 They replied to him, Your servants have come from a far away land because of the reputation of the LORD your God. For we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt, 10 and all that He did to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth. 11 So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us. 12 This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as food on the day we left to come to you. But take a look, it is now dry and crumbly. 13 These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey. 14 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the LORD s counsel. 15 So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them. Gibeon s Deception Discovered 16 Three days after making the treaty with them, they heard that the Gibeonites were their neighbors, living among them. 17 So the Israelites set out and reached the Gibeonite cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. 18 But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders. 19 All the leaders answered them, We have sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. 20 This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them. 21 They also said, Let them live. So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them. 3

4 22 Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us? 23 Therefore you are cursed and will always be slaves woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God. 24 The Gibeonites answered him, It was clearly communicated to your servants that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. We greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. 25 Now we are in your hands. Do to us whatever you think is right. [d] 26 This is what Joshua did to them: he delivered them from the hands of the Israelites, and they did not kill them. 27 On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers as they are today for the community and for thelord s altar at the place He would choose. Footnotes: a. Joshua 9:1 Or the Shephelah b. Joshua 9:4 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Vg; other Hb mss read They went disguised as ambassadors c. Joshua 9:7 = the men of Gibeon d. Joshua 9:25 Lit us as is good and as is right in your eyes do 4

5 Holman Christian Standard Bible - Study Bible 1 Joshua 9 9:1-2 The phrase when all the kings heard is identical to that in 5:1. There the kings heard about God's drying up the Jordan River, and it struck fear in their hearts. In 9:1 the text does not specify what the kings heard, but their reaction is different. Instead of fearing Israel, they formed a unified alliance to fight against the nation. What caused this change? It was the defeat of Israel at Ai that gave the Canaanites hope that they could defeat the people of God. The sin of Achan had far-reaching effects just as all sin does (Rm 5:12-14; 8:9-20). If Achan had not sinned, perhaps Israel's advance into the promised land would have been much easier and far less violent. 9:3 The inhabitants of Gibeon reacted differently, however. They did not seek to destroy Israel but to join it. 9:4-5 Because Israel had been commanded to destroy all peoples in Canaan (Dt 20:16-18), Gibeon wanted it to look like they did not live nearby. 9:6 Gilgal here may be different from the Gilgal of 4:19-20; and 5:9-10. It was probably located in the hill country, perhaps near Mount Ebal. Gibeon was a city north of Jerusalem in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, a few hours journey by foot. The word for treaty (Hb berith) is the same as that for covenant; it recalls the experience of Joshua and the Israelites at Mount Ebal (8:30-35). 9:7 The connection of Gibeon with the Hivites implies that this group may have been a recent addition to the region, coming originally from north of Palestine in Syria (see note at 3:10). 9:8 The self-designation by the Gibeonites as Israel's servants implies that they accepted a relationship of a vassal nation to the people of God. 9:9-10 The confession of the Gibeonites most closely resembles that of Rahab in 2:9-11. Their expression of faith in God was based on God's historic acts of redemption toward His people. The Gibeonites mentioned the same acts of redemption as Rahab did the work of God in Egypt and against Sihon and Og. 9:11 The governance of Gibeon by elders rather than a king implies a different form of rule than what was common in Canaan at the time, which may have been part of the deception. 9:14 The note that Israel did not seek the LORD's counsel, as well as absence of any mention of Joshua in the initial negotiations, all spell trouble. 9:15 That Joshua established peace with the Gibeonites demonstrates his own complicity in the actions. The reference to peace and the swearing of an oath by the leaders of the community bound Israel into a treaty relationship with the Gibeonites that could not be broken. 9:16 The phrase three days may suggest a literal three days such as seems to occur in 1:11; 2:16,22, or it may imply an indeterminate period of more than a second day. 1. Jeremy Royal Howard, ed., HCSB Study Bible, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2010), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Joshua 9". 5

6 9:17 Having discovered the ruse of the Gibeonites, the Israelites set out on the third day and reached the Gibeonite cities on that same day. Like Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim lie a few miles north of Jerusalem and close by one another in the territory that would later be assigned to the tribe of Benjamin. 9:18-19 The two references to the oath that the leaders had made surround the statement that the whole community grumbled against the leaders. The verb "grumble" refers elsewhere almost exclusively to the complaints of the Israelites against Moses' leadership and against God. Its appearance here may suggest the same negative attitude of Israel as that in the wilderness generation. However, this grumbling against the leaders had a point because the present leadership did not seek God's counsel, and they thereby foolishly bound Israel to a treaty with a Canaanite people group. 9:20 The leaders were unwilling to violate their oath and thereby compound their wrongdoing with a second sin. 9:21 Deuteronomy 29:11 implied that aliens living in the land of Israel should fulfill the roles of woodcutters and water carriers. 9:22-23 Joshua pronounced a curse against the Gibeonites for causing Israel to disobey God's command to destroy all the inhabitants of Canaan who did not leave the land. 9:27 The deliverance of a people such as the Gibeonites is not unique to Joshua. In the ancient world, many peoples offered themselves as slaves rather than face extinction at the hands of a superior army. The establishment of the LORD's altar at the place He would choose duplicates Dt 12:5 and the command that Israel should worship God only at the place where He directed they should build an altar. HCSB Apologetics Study Bible 2 Joshua 9 9:1-2 Upon learning of Israel's victories at Jericho and Ai, a group of Canaanite kings formed a defense alliance against Israel. 9:3-27 The Gibeonites devised a plan to protect themselves from annihilation by pretending to be from outside of Canaan. Joshua made a treaty with them without consulting the Lord. When Joshua and the Israelites found they had been deceived, they could not go back on their oath; the Gibeonites were permitted to live, though relegated to permanent servitude. This incident illustrates the force of the oath, and the spoken word, in Israelite culture. It also illustrates the problems that arise when the Lord's counsel isn't sought. 2. Ken Fentress, Notes on Joshua, in The Apologetics Study Bible: Understanding Why You Believe, ed. Ted Cabal (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book,

7 NLT Life Application Study Bible 3 Joshua 9 9:1-6 As the news about their victory became widespread, the Israelites experienced opposition in two forms: direct (kings in the area began to unite against them); and indirect (the Gibeonites resorted to deception). We can expect similar opposition as we obey God's commands. To guard against these pressures, we must rely on God and communicate daily with him. He will give us strength to endure the direct and indirect pressures and wisdom to see through deception. 9:14-17 When the leaders sampled these men's provisions, they saw that the bread was dry and moldy, the wineskins were split open, and the clothes and sandals worn out. But they did not see through the deception. After the promise had been made and the treaty ratified, the facts came out Israel's leaders had been deceived. God had specifically instructed Israel to make no treaties with the inhabitants of Canaan (Exodus 23:32; 34:12; Numbers 33:55; Deuteronomy 7:2; 20:17, 18). As a strategist, Joshua knew enough to talk to God before leading his troops into battle. But the peace treaty seemed innocent enough, so Joshua and the leaders made this decision on their own. By failing to seek God's guidance and rushing ahead with their own plans, they had to deal with angry people and an awkward alliance. Once again, they had forgotten to go to God; yet how often we do the same. A new situation arises, and we forget to seek God's wisdom and guidance. When we learn the lessons of the past and apply them to today, we save ourselves a lot of trouble. 9:19, 20 Joshua and his advisers had made a mistake. But because they had given an oath to protect the Gibeonites, they would keep their word. The oath was not nullified by the Gibeonites' trickery. God had commanded that oaths be kept (Leviticus 5:4; 27:2, 28), and breaking an oath was serious. This encourages us not to take our promises lightly. 3. Life Application Study Bible, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1988), WORDsearch CROSS e-book,

8 Life Essentials Study Bible Satanic Deception 4 from Joshua 9:1-15 We must be on guard against Satan, the father of lies. Joshua had just reviewed the law of God for all the children of Israel. Everything seemed to be in order to move forward victoriously. And then it happened. Joshua was caught off guard, failed to seek God s counsel, and fell prey to the Gibeonite deception. Satan at times camouflages his roar with gentle, sweet, and subtle words a ploy that worked on Joshua. The Gibeonites knew God had instructed the children of Israel to be merciful to those people who lived beyond the borders of Canaan (Dt 20:10-12). This is why they feigned having come from a far away land (Jos 9:9). In this sense, they used God s words to deceive Joshua. We must all realize that Satan is a subtle enemy, and lying is one of his common tactics. One of his most deceptive schemes is to use God s Word to achieve his insidious goals. This is exactly the way he tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Mt 4:1-11). When Jesus was confronting the unbelieving Pharisees, He described the Devil and his strategies: You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars. (Jn 8:44) The apostle Peter warned us against Satan s tactics in no uncertain terms: Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. (1Pt 5:8) Reflection and Response What are some of the ways all of us can fall prey to Satan s schemes, and more importantly, how can we avoid this kind of deception? (See Eph 6:11-18.) 4. Gene Getz, Life Essentials Study Bible, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2011), WORDsearch CROSS e- book,

9 Handling Mistakes 5 from Joshua 9:16-27 There are times we must live with our mistakes, accepting the fact that we cannot correct something we did wrong by making another wrong decision. Joshua and his advisers had made a decision they could not reverse. This decision involved God His name and His reputation. If the children of Israel had broken their oath with the Gibeonites, they would have brought the name of the God of Israel under contempt among the Canaanites. Though Joshua and all Israel sinned in allowing themselves to be deceived, to break the covenant would have compounded the sin (Ex 20:7; Lv 19:12). Most of our mistakes today can be undone, but there are some that we cannot undo without violating God s will a second time. For example, when a Christian marries a non-christian, the fact that it s a mixed marriage between a believer and an unbeliever is not a valid reason for divorce (Mt 5:31-32; 1Co 7:10-16). Like the children of Israel and the Gibeonites, a husband and wife in a mixed marriage are to live together in a God-honoring way. We hope, of course, that the unbelieving partner will eventually come to know God personally through the Lord Jesus Christ. However, we have no guarantee that this will ever happen and we must be prepared to love that person as Christ loved us until death separates us. Before we make this kind of decision, we must take Paul s words seriously, being aware that we can also be deceived: Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? (2Co 6:14) Reflection and Response What kind of mistakes can be undone, and what biblical principles should guide us in undoing these mistakes? 5. Gene Getz, Life Essentials Study Bible, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2011), WORDsearch CROSS e- book,