We hear many sermons and it is easy to fall into the trap of saying “because the preacher said this I must believe it!” It is much more wise to consider, “Do I agree with all that I hear within the sermon?” and then answer “Why or why not?” For there are many good preachers and many bad preachers, preachers that preach very biblical messages that are well in the center of Christ-centered biblical theology and there are many preachers today who preach very good sounding sermons but when you look at the evidence of what you are hearing within the framework of the message of Holy Scripture you may have to do a double check on what you are hearing! For instance, if you hear of something that makes you question a preacher, one thing you can do is check the context of the passage the preacher is preaching on. If he preaches something that does not sit well with your heart then look at the chapters before and after and ask do these chapters support what he or she says? Does the New Testament support the particular message that he has spoken regarding this passage?
It is always hard to say, “I disagree with what the pastor has spoken concerning this Scripture!" but it is always in everyone’s best interest to hear out disagreement. For instance, I shall use the Scriptural passage of Joshua 9 as an example. Chapter 9 is the passage on the Gibeonite Deception in which Joshua and the Israelites were camping at Gilgal. They had just had a major victory and through excellent military strategy had defeated the huge city of Ai in chapter 8. They had not gained victory and killed the entire 12000 population city of Ai by their military might however. They had done so by the word of the Lord. The Lord has given the city into Joshua’s hand and he gave orders to the Israelites in ambushing the city and they obeyed the Lord and carefully, in the fear of the Lord destroyed a city that did not fear God. Joshua and the Israelites then honored the Lord by renewing their covenant at Mount Ebal. At this time, all of Israel gathered as Joshua read the whole law of Moses to the people which included both blessings and curses. This was an act of acknowledgement of God from the people because they desired to honor Him for his faithfulness to them through the killing of a wicked city and for God’s faithfulness in giving them victory to take a portion of the land that God had promised to them. He promised that they would be given this land as a possession when they entered the promise land if they followed and obeyed all He said and did. Joshua was the military leader that God anointed and blessed to lead the people in this conquest and He was a very good leader!
As you enter chapter 9, another people group comes to Joshua and the Israelites who are in Gilgal and they come with some sort of muster of courage in which they look like they don’t have it together. They sound like they don’t have it together. In fact their very description makes you want to turn them away and say, “Poor beggars go find some other place to live and some other people to bother!” What often happens when you listen to sermons at this point is that the preacher has to send out a message about Joshua and why his decision was either right in the way that he worked with these people or why his decision to make a treaty with them was wrong! So, if the preacher says in his message one thing and you sincerely read the passage another way you may find yourself wondering about the validity of the message and the heresy of the proclamation. There is not really anything you can do at this point other than put down your position and state what you think! You either will be corrected and receive confirmation from God or you will win hearers and help others to interpret more correctly the Holy Scripture and also receive confirmation from God in that!
Many pastors may preach that in this passage Joshua shows an immense amount of weakness and bad leadership quality because he makes a bad decision to make a treaty with the people. In fact it is not just a bad decision but a wrong decision. I actually disagree with that. I will say that at this point, I have not consulted commentaries to see why Joshua would be considered to have made a bad move in making a peace treaty here or just to see if they agree with the idea of Joshua being right or with the idea that He is wrong. However, from just reading the passage and in my personal and academic study I would stand on my conviction here and respond with a rebuttal answer that says Joshua made the right decision and that the text and chapters that proceed chapter 9 support Joshua’s good decision in making this treaty with this somewhat deceptive but oddly humble and helpless people.
Here are some of my personal ideas about this text and reasons why I would consider Joshua's response in making a peace treaty with them good.
1. When God says come to me and bring me your burdens he does not say that we must be perfect to cast our cares on Him. These people by far are not perfect when they approach Joshua and the Israelites. In fact they show an immense amount of distrust and are afraid for their lives because they fear that Joshua would kill them and that they will become like the city of Ai-destroyed. We see somewhat of a psychological funny disturbance of pirates trying to rationalize through a situation in which they are guessing each other's responses and making comback answers. One collection of Gibeonite pirate leaders say, “Make a treaty with us; we are from a distant county.” Of course we see in the text they are lying-they live close by but the Israelites in conquest say, “Really? What if you do live near by?” to which the Gibeonites say, “Then we are your servants.” The Israelites don’t believe these pirates and they say to them, “Who are you and where did you come from?” Obviously we are looking for straight answers and communication is a hard thing between a group of rag tag people with bad food and a victorious army that is new to the area and been given permission to be there under certain strict rules and standards from God. The pirates of Gibeon go on to say, “We are from a distant land and we heard of the Lord who has given you victory and we don’t really want to die. So can we serve you?” Obviously, when God calls us into His fellowship with Himself and His people He does not call us to a full clean up first. We enter into His presence just as we are with all our sins on our shoulders and then what do we do? We confess! When we do we get what is sticky, messy, and scary on the table so God can look at it. We might be deceptive in the process but God has plans to love us through every bit of the cleansing process of salvation, healing, and sanctification! These people were trying to talk with Joshua but they didn't give all the information and slid a few lines under the table in trying to keep a meaure of protection since they do not have a strong relationship with Joshua and the Isrealites. They only gave information that seemed relevant and then Joshua had to make a decision based on that.
2. Joshua was wrong to make a treaty with these people and God took His blunder and used it for His purposes! Actually, I don’t think so. I think Joshua was right to make a treaty with these people and God took His obedience and he taught the larger assembly who complained a bigger lesson or perhaps God taught them a bigger lesson. We see in the coming chapters that the Israelites are still given military victory on account of listening to God over the kings of other cities. They continue to be victorious in conquest by God’s power. I mentioned above that there is a measure of humbleness of these people to approach Joshua and the Israelites and ask to be servants. Is that nothing more than what God does with willing sinners whom He calls to be His ministers or whom calls out for salvation and deliverance today? No one is perfect but God continues to call us to Him to make us like Him. Our fellowship with Him is to be constant and not just a quick change of one area of our heart and then we go back to our old ways that haven't been addressed yet for the rest of the next decade. Rather, when Joshua made a treaty with these people he did so because that is what God would do and Joshua was in regular fellowship with God. They had just finished renewing their covenant with God and were deeply aware of the blessings and curses that were pronounced on Mount Ebal as was given to them through the law of Moses. Joshua had a healthy fear of God and of disobedience. There is still more revelation that Jesus has for the people that would come centuries later through Jesus' incarnational ministry and it seems odd that Moses would say, “Do not murder” and then you see all through the conquest that the Isrealites are given land through killing people that were wicked and that God gave them permission for that. However, perhaps Joshua and his leadership renewed a recovery of the understanding of the grace of God with them at the same time. For in the plea to be servants, the Gibeonite people made it obscure where they lived and Joshua and the Israelites acted in faith of God nevertheless that they did not fully have clear all of the information as the Gibeonites did not answer straight and then when the information was revealed they confronted the people of their sin and the people confessed their sin to Joshua in verse 22 and the punishment for their sin is in verse 23. I believe Joshua did the right thing because God gave Joshua a huge measure of wisdom in how to deal with the people. This is early evidence for what Paul proclaims in Romans that there is punishment for sin and there is godly management of people who desire to live peacefully together just as there is management within the body of Christ, His Church. In fact, it is also a picture of a theme in the New Testament in which God sends Jesus as the Messiah to be the Savior. A problem that arises is that the Jews think that He is their Messiah and that the Gospel is for them only. So, one thing that you see going on over and over and over in the New Testament is that God says, “The gospel is for both Jew and Gentile.” God has to open the eyes of the Jews and teach them that the Gentiles are going to be included in this inheritance and that they are not to be considered unclean. Here again in Joshua 9, you see that theme of the inclusion of a people that are not the Israelites. They were deceptive and unclean people that the majority of the Isrealites were skeptical about and they were not 100% honest and clear from the start and so why would you make a peace treaty with a people like that? Obviously, we find the answer to that question in the New Testament. Jesus tells His disciples that I am going to send you to preach the good news of the kingdom of God into all the cities and you will preach the forgiveness of sins. Here we see an early glimpse of the foolishness of the gospel at work in a broken community that God wants to build together to be His people. It is an early witness that God bridges the gap between the Jew and the Gentile, the slave and the free, and the killer and the peacemaker. He is for those who hear His Word and come to repentance. Here, the Gibeonites did not even get a preacher. Instead they got a picture of a dead city and they knew they did not want to be like that. They wanted to be victorious but they were a little bit helpless and didn’t have good stuff. So how could that happen? Joshua and the Israelites hold their commitment to God and remain faithful to Him so that these early people could see a glimpse of the reality that God is for His people and is willing to include those who come to Him for help. Verse 9 says that the Gibeonites had heard of the fame of their God and the reports of what their God had done. It was more about their God than it was about the Isrealites. He had to make the peace treaty with them because they came to Him on account of the Lord Himself. It is a command of God to be a witness. It is a shame to see the Lord suffer as He did when He was crucified and not 1 disciple could show His face as a witness at the trial and yet they are restored as witnesses after the resurrection. Yet, here Joshua did what he could though it seemed some what foolish-he made a peace treaty to hono r God and extent the covenant to the people if they were willing to obey. So, the curse that fell on them was the first act of their learning to act in submission to God’s will and serve Joshua and the Israelites until they could learn to serve God alone within the building of the church that would later be established after Jesus ascends to heaven (post resurrection). Their curse to be woodcutters and water carriers was a blessing (and they probably would have to learn why they did not need to be grumbling about this blessing to serve but that would only come when they grew in their relationship with the Lord and as they formed a relationship with the Isrealites and they both grew in relationship with the Lord and each other and in forgiveness and grace!)
3. Why else do I consider this a good decision and the right decision for Joshua to make a peace treaty with the Gibeonites? That inclusion of the Gentiles theme continues to run in chapter 10. Verse 6 says, “The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all of the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.” Honestly, at first, it seems like a helpless people is clinging to another victorious people and that they could be scheming Joshua and setting a deeper trap for God’s chosen people and they may cause the Israelites (our heroes for following God in obedience and gaining victory in conquests) to stumble. Here we find the test of the covenant between the people! Will God’s people help this ‘lesser’ people? Will they turn from them in the covenant relationship of being a neighbor and being right with God and with others who are seeking peace?” In this chapter we find out a few things. First, we find out that Joshua backs them up and does save their lives from their enemies. Second, we find out that God approves of it. How can we ever dare say that Joshua was wrong in making a treaty with the people or that it was a blunder and that Joshua was deceived? He handled a situation in chapter 9 and then was tested further in chapter 10 and God is walking all the way through these chapters giving Joshua instruction. He was prepared to handle the Gibeonites when Joshua and the rest of the Israelites renewed their covenant on Mt Ebal and I would say that is why they did not inquire of the Lord. They continued to seek God. There is no place where it says they did not inquire of the Lord and therefore it was sin not to inquire of the Lord here. In fact verse 14 gives a huge synopsis of the revelation of God that they encountered and began to believe. The word that spread and went deeper into the hearts of the Israelites and the Gibeonites was that “There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel.” They were growing in their faith through this instance. There may have been some doubt but God settled that through reveling Himself to them as they were obedient and through the leader that God had given them, Joshua. He was courageous and he was obedient and Joshua was wise. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He was wise in every verse that is read in chapters 8-10. A huge victory does not mean that that there is going to be a huge lapse of the faith immediately after. Usually a huge victory from God indicates a growing confidence in God and a deeper faith in God than what was had before.
4. When someone deceives you or when others do not communicate clearly, that is not something that we can control. We must wait and continue to seek clarity in the relationships we have with others. Joshua in verse 9:14 did not inquire of the Lord because he didn’t have all the information. He was dealing with an imperfect people that were on the brink of the faith and brand new to service. They had not even met the Israelites but had only heard of them and their God. If you were to ask God "What would He do" such as the famous cliché says, “What would Jesus do in this situation?” Well, he says over and over in the New Testament that “I have come to give life and give it abundantly.” Jesus was not willing that any should perish it says in Scripture (Luke 13:34) when He sat on a hill that over looked Jerusalem and wept for Jerusalem saying that as a mother hen gathers her chicks I would have done to you as well if you had sought me. Joshua actually acted in line with the example of Jesus in giving these people their lives and in making them servants and then coming to their aid. These people did exactly what Jerusalem would not do in Luke 13:34 and yet they are not the model example but they showed courage in coming and asking for help despite their inadequacies and distrust! They had heard something that had attracted them to this God and it was their lives or this God! The treaty was not a bad decision or wrong at all. It looks like a military strategy that is made for both sides to be victorious and it is a treaty that brought God glory because the people were inquiring of the Israelites on the behalf of the fame of God and their own lives. God gives salvation. To me it seems Joshua was right and showing faithful leadership to God in making the treaty with the Gibeonites.
5. In short, I would say that while logic can be set up against God’s purpose and His ways that God also does use logic to bring about His plans in people that are truly Christ followers. In this case, Israel’s decision was all very logical and it was all very right. If called on to act and you do not have time to pray, then act within the measure of the knowledge and resources of what God has given you in those crazy situations. Sometimes there are times we are able to withdraw and not act but that is not always true. Sometimes the worse thing to do is not act. The best thing to do is act with the reason and sound judgement that God gives you and which He prepared in advance for you. In this case He was prepared through the gathering on Mount Ebal. They sought when they gathered not to fall into sin on account of such a great accomplishment and I believe God blessed that as they rounded the next curve and faced a new set of circumstances. God does not leave us unequipped to face the newest obstacles that come against us. God’s work is not limited to what we see and know and to another group’s honesty or lack of it or to distrust. Our blunders may not really be blunders if we are seeing and acting within the purposes of God! Sin must be confessed and He can not use sin and calls us to rid ourselves of sin. The foolishness of the world and the foolishness of God are two separate things. One is account for and the other is condemned to hell.
I invite you to dialogue on what you think of Joshua’s actions in Joshua chapter 9 or I challenge you to think deeper on the subject and re-evaluate if Joshua truly was in sin, passively or not, or if he was deceived or really acting in the righteousness of Christ which is foolishness to the world!
Thanks for listening and thanks for thinking with me! I hope you are challenged to live better by hearing God's Word, thinking about it, and obeying God!
Sincerely,
SE
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