Joshua 9:3-6 – The Gibeonites

Top 10 Lies: 10. We'll stay only five minutes. 9. I'll start exercising tomorrow. 8. I'll respect you in the morning. 7. The check is in the mail. 6. This will be a short meeting. 5. This hurts me more than it hurts you. 4. Your money will be cheerfully refunded. 3. We service what we sell. 2. Your table will be ready in just a minute. 1. I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you.

– Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 4, citing Leonard Sweet, Soul Cafe newsletter

Today, we are going to look at Joshua, chapter 9. This chapter is the story of the deception of the Gibeonites. Just as we tell lies or people lie to us sometimes, Israel was told a huge lie by the Gibeonites.

Joshua 9:1-2 (read)

Here is the scenario at the time of this chapter:

· Thus far in their campaign to conquer the Promised Land, the Israelites had split the nation in two, along the main mountain highway, between Shechem and Ai.

· They were now turning their attention to conquer the southern portion of the country.

· There were six major tribes of people that were living in that area, and they came together to form an alliance to try to defeat Israel.

Joshua 9:3-6 (read together)

Gibeon was a city, about 10 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem. It was the primary city, along with three others linked to it. The people who lived in Gibeon were Hivites, according to Joshua 11:19. This means that their city was a part of the alliance that was going to try to defeat Israel.

The Gibeonites had heard about the victories of the Israelites and the power of the God of Israel. Verse 24 – “They [the Gibeonites] 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.’”

They were afraid of being a part of an alliance that was against Israel and their God. They wanted to link with the Israelite nation, because they understood that God had made a promise to Moses. Verse 9-10 – “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, 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.’” They were not fearful of the people, so much as fearful of their God.

Notice they did not mention anything about Jericho or Ai, although they clearly knew about them, as a part of the alliance. Their strategy for survival was deception. They would make themselves appear to be from a great distance and try to enter into a treaty or covenant with Israel.

Verses 7-13 tell the details of the deception.

Joshua 9:14-16 (read together)

The Gibeonites presented themselves as if they had been travelling for a long time. The Israelites looked over all of the things that were visible, their clothes and their food. But they did not ask God. The result was a covenant with the very people they were supposed to destroy. What is just as bad is that God required that they live with the covenant, as described in verses 17-26.

Here is the first lesson for us from the Israelite encounter with the Gibeonites. The enemy, Satan, will use deception to cause us to fall short of all that God has intended for our lives.

The surest way to be deceived is to think one's self more clever than others.

– French proverb

Pr. 14:12 – There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

We can encounter situations where the solution seems obvious. If we set out in our own wisdom, in our own understanding of what the situation looks like, we can be deceived.

· A business situation where we are considering partnership with someone.

· A personal relationship, such as the choice of a confidant.

· How to handle an interpersonal conflict in our family.

Satan may present a situation that seems like we can figure it out on our own. We may have encountered this before, it’s not a big threat, so we’ll just take care of it. Jesus said (Jn. 15:5) that apart from Him we can do nothing. Go to God with the situations of life as they come to us.

SS. 2:15 – Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.

Not always big issues can distract or disable us, but the little things that add up to a relationship with God that is not working well. We are rarely tempted to murder or rob a bank, but we can overlook the seemingly smaller things that can still cause ruin.

· We may justify not forgiving someone.

· We may not identify when we talk about someone else’s character behind their back as the sin of gossip.

· We may explain away the requirement of tithing.

· We may have reasons why we do not need to attend Sunday service.

Satan may present a situation that does not seem like a big deal to us. We reason that we can take care of these ourselves and not bother God with such a small thing.

Jn. 8:44 – [Jesus speaking to the religious people of His day] You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

· You do not have what it takes to memorize Scripture.

· You will not be able to overcome that habitual sin.

· You are not anointed like that other person, you should not even try to minister.

· You do not have the gift of evangelism. You will never be able to lead someone to Jesus.

Lies! God said we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. God said that He has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power. God said that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.

How do you respond to situations that arise in your life? Let us order our lives in such a way that we take our choices to God and make our decisions based on His wisdom and plan for our lives.

However, what happens if we, like Israel, have made a choice to covenant with the Gibeonites?

Joshua 9:18-21 (read)

The Israelites said that they could not get rid of the Gibeonites, as God told them to do originally. Now they would make them servants to the community. This was agreeable to the Gibeonites, as they agreed in verses 24-25.

Nevertheless, look how these people ended up.

Joshua 9:26-27 (read together)

The Gibeonites did in fact become servants to the nation of Israel. Notice, however, their final place of service. Verse 27 tells us that they worked “for the altar of the Lord at the place the Lord would choose. And that is what they are to this day.”

Even though they started out in deception and were into a place of servitude, they ended up serving at the altar of the Lord, where He chose them to serve.

Here is the second lesson for us from the Israelite encounter with the Gibeonites. When we turn to God, He will take even what seem to be failures and use them for His purpose and service.

Beware of succumbing to failure as inevitable; make it the stepping-stone to success.

– Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

Ro. 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

We are going to have times when the lies of the enemy trick us. We will have times when we make poor choices, and those choices have real and ongoing consequences. Yet God can take our mistakes and poor choices and weave them into the fabric of His design for our lives.

Je. 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God does not ever desire to see us fall into disobedience and sin. However, He is prepared for it. First, He sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin and to restore our relationship with Him. He is also able to include in His plan, a recovery from our sin. The verse does not say that He has plans, a future and a hope for us, but only if we do not ever sin. God’s plan, God’s destiny for your life will move forward, because it is His plan.

Ro. 11:29 – For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable.

God is not going to take away His gifts and His plan for you, because you believed the lie of the enemy. Jesus said in John 10:10 that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. He came to give you a full and abundant life. His abundant call on your life is irrevocable. If you have gotten off the track, if you are sitting on the sidelines, His call and His plan for you are still there.

2 Co. 1:3-4 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God

Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first European to see Pacific Ocean, glimpsing it for the first time on September 25, 1513. He would likely never have seen it, and never have gone down in history, had he succeeded as a planter in Hispaniola. His plantation there failed. To escape his creditors, he was smuggled aboard a ship bound for South America where he became governor of the little settlement that is today the country of Colombia. From there he journeyed west to see the great "other sea" and to his place in the history books.

– Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows,

Not only is the call still intact, God uses everything in our lives for His ministry. Like the Gibeonites serving at the altar of the Lord, He will often use our places of failure and weakness as the very places of ministry and service to Him. Invite God into that place of deception and failure. Let Him heal and restore you, and set you in a place of service before Him. God’s plan and destiny for you are still there, waiting for you to move forward into the call that He has on your life.

joshua 9_3-6 - the gibeonites