Introduction
With the Israelite victory over the city of Ai in chapter 8, it seems that things are back on track for Joshua and Israelites and we’re expecting them to conquer the rest of the Promised Land with the help of the Lord. However, there’s another setback in today’s chapter, when the Gibeonites deceived the Israelites in order to preserve their lives.
Before we get into the chapter, I should perhaps explain the background to the passage, which is found in Deuteronomy 20, where Moses gave the Israelites instructions about going to war. First of all, he told the people not to be afraid when they go to war, because the Lord their God will be with them. Secondly, if anyone is afraid, or if anyone has another good reason for not going into battle, they could be excused. Thirdly, when it comes to cities that are at a distance from them and not part of the Promised Land, they should make an offer of peace. If the people of the city accept the offer of peace, all the people will become subject to Israel. If they refuse the offer of peace, then the Israelites are to lay siege to the city. And when the Lord delivers them into their hands, they’re to kill the men and take everything else as plunder. Fourthly, when it comes to cities in the Promised Land, they are not to leave anything alive. They should completely destroy the peoples in the land of Canaan. If the Israelites leave any of them alive, then those people will only lead the Israelites astray by teaching them to worship false gods.
And so, according to the word of the Lord which Moses taught them in Deuteronomy 20, they’re to destroy the pagan nations in the Promised Land of Canaan, but they’re allowed to make peace to nations outside the Promised Land. That’s the background to today’s chapter.
Verses 1 and 2
The chapter begins by telling us how some of the kings in Canaan joined forces to make war on Joshua and Israel. And that makes sense, doesn’t it? When they heard what Israel had done to Jericho and Ai, the local kings must have thought that Israel was a mighty nation. And the best way to fight against a mighty enemy is by working together. Let’s combine our armies and our resources and attack them together.
Verses 3 to 15
However, when the people of Gibeon heard about Jericho and Ai, they decided to try another approach. Instead of joining the other nations to attack the Israelites, they decided they would try to fool the Israelites.
They sent a delegation to meet the Israelites and they brought with them worn-out sacks and wineskins and they dressed themselves in old shoes and clothes and they packed some food that was dry and mouldy. And their plan was to pretend that they had come a long way to meet the Israelites. They pretended that their sacks and wineskins and their shoes and clothes and their food was all new when they started their journey. And because their journey was so long, everything was now old. And when they arrived, they asked Israel to make a treaty with them.
Our narrator refers to them in verse 7 as Hivites. So, that’s the name of their people group or ethnic group. And Gibeon is the name of the city where they lived. And the Hivites are one of the groups which the Israelites were meant to destroy according to Deuteronomy 20.
And it seems from verse 7 that the Israelites are a little suspicious. You know: We’re new. We don’t know anything about the people here. And we’ve never seen you before. Perhaps you haven’t come a long way. Perhaps you live near us. They’re a little suspicious. And Joshua also asked them to tell them who they are and where have they come from.
And they replied by telling Joshua and his men that they’ve come from a very distant land and we’ve come because we’ve heard all about your God and what he did in Egypt and what he did to the kings of Heshbon and Bashan. And our elders want us to make a treaty with you. And then they pointed to their props: they old sacks and wineskins and shoes and clothes and the mouldy bread.
And we read in verse 14 that the Israelites sampled their provisions, but — and this is the significant thing — they did not enquire of the Lord. I mentioned the Urim and Thummim last week: those stones which they used in those days to discern God’s will. We think that one signified yes and the other signified no. They would ask the Lord a question and pull out one of the two stones and get their answer: the Lord either says yes or no. That’s how they discerned God’s will in those days.
But on this occasion they did not enquire of the Lord. They relied instead on their own reason and to what seemed right to them. And it seemed to them that they were permitted to make a peace treaty with these people. And so, the Israelites promised on oath that they would not harm the Gibeonites.
Verses 16 to 27
Three days later the Israelites discovered that they had been deceived: the Gibeonites had not come from a far off land. In fact, Gibeon was only down the road a little. Can you imagine that creeping sense of fear as it dawned on them what a colossal mistake they had made?
According to verse 17 they set out on the very same day and came to Gibeon and the cities associated with them. But they did not attack them. And they did not attack them, not because they didn’t want to attack them, but because they couldn’t. They had made a peace treaty with these people. They had sworn on oath never to harm them.
However, our narrator tells us at the end of verse 18 that the whole assembly grumbled against their leaders. They grumbled against them, not because they blamed their leaders for making the treaty, but because the leaders were the ones preventing them from attacking the cities. It seems the people wanted to forget about the treaty and destroy the Gibeonites. But the leaders were saying to them that they can’t attack Gibeon and the other cities because of the treaty. The leaders were saying in verse 19 that they’ve sworn in the name of the Lord that they will not harm the Gibeonites. And if they break their oath, then they are dishonouring the name of the Lord in whose name they made the oath. And that would be a terrible sin.
But here’s what they can do. We will let them live, but we’ll make them serve us as wood-cutters and water-carriers. So, we’ll make them do all the manual jobs that we don’t want to do ourselves. And according to what Joshua says in verse 23, they will serve as wood-cutters and water-carriers in the house of the Lord. And the phrase ‘house of the Lord’ refers to the tent where they kept the altar and where they worshipped the Lord.
And in verses 24 and 25 the Gibeonites explain to Joshua why they did what they did. They explain that they had heard that the Lord had commanded the Israelites to destroy the inhabitants in the Promised Land. And so, because they feared for their lives, they came up with this plan to deceive them. And now, do to us whatever seems good and right to you. So, they put themselves into the hands of the Israelites. And because of the oath, Joshua saved them from those Israelites who wanted to kill them. Instead of killing them, they made the Gibeonites serve the Lord and his people.
Guidance
In those days, the Lord revealed his will to his people through the Urim and Thummim. And the people were at fault for not seeking the Lord’s will and for deciding on their own what to do about the Gibeonites.
In our day God reveals his will to his people through the Scriptures, which is his word to us, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In his word he teaches us everything we need to know about him and about our salvation and everything we need to know about serving him. As our Shorter Catechism says: the Scriptures are our only rule for faith and practice. So, they show us what we’re to believe and what we’re to do. To paraphrase our Confession of Faith: in the past God revealed himself and his will in various ways, but now the Bible is essential, because God’s former ways of revealing his will have ceased. So, in the past God revealed his will through the Urim and Thummim and in other ways. But those ways have ceased, now that we have the Bible to guide us.
And the whole will of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory and for our salvation, faith and life is either expressly stated in Scripture or may be deduced from Scripture by good and necessary reasoning. So, God has revealed everything we need to know about what we’re to believe and what we’re to do in the Bible. He has either expressed it clearly in the Bible or it may be worked out from what the Bible says. For instance, there isn’t a verse in the Bible which expressly refers to the Trinity. But the doctrine of the Trinity is a necessary consequence of everything the Bible says about God.
And so, when we have decisions to make, we must prayerfully study the Scriptures to see what they forbid and what they command. If something is forbidden, then we must not do it. If something is commanded, then we must do it. And if God’s word does not say anything about it, then we are free to make up our own mind about it so long as in everything we do we aim for the glory of God and for the good of the people around us. And for that, we need wisdom from above. And so, we should always been praying to God to help us to make good and wise decisions and to keep us from doing anything we would later regret.
And so, when we have decisions to make, we must not be like the Israelites who did not enquire of the Lord. Instead we should inquire from the Lord by studying his word to see what he has revealed about this matter. And we must pray for his help.
Grace
And before we finish, notice one other thing. The Gibeonites were wrong to deceive the Israelites, because God forbids lying. And the Israelites were wrong not to seek God’s will. Nevertheless, God was able to use their shortcomings for good, because from that time on the Gibeonites were brought near to God. They were put to work in the house of the Lord, where the Israelites offered sacrifices to the Lord for the forgiveness of their sins and to worship him.
And in Nehemiah 3, men from Gibeon are listed among those who repaired the walls of Jerusalem. And in Nehemiah 7 men from Gibeon are listed among those who returned from the exile. And that means that the Gibeonites were assimilated into the Israelites and they became members of God’s people.
You see, it was always God’s will to bring the Gentiles into his kingdom. And the Gibeonites were among the first Gentiles to enter his kingdom. Because of God’s overflowing grace and mercy and love, he calls men and women and children from every nation of the world into his kingdom of grace where there is forgiveness and peace with God and the hope of everlasting life. This doesn’t mean we can use sinful methods to reach the lost. But it shows us the mercy and power of God, who is willing and able to use our sins and shortcomings for his own glory and our good.
