7.29.26 – The Book of Joshua, Chapter 9

  The book of Joshua is not only about our journey, literally fighting with the armor of God for the inheritance, but it's really an incredible book on leadership. One of my favorite books for leadership is Nehemiah. But Joshua—wow. Talk about incredible leadership, let alone stories like King David and the way that he handled situations.

Joshua chapter 8, we defeat Ai. We take our past failures, and we utilize them to guarantee victory in the future. We follow the instructions of the Lord. He sets up the enemy, and victory is won. After victory, it's really important to remember: who was it who gave you the victory? Really, a major focus of Deuteronomy chapter 8 is, once you've accomplished something, to remember it was God who did it for you. Yes, you're responsible for doing your part, but God is the one who orchestrates and makes things happen. You know, as the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he says, "I plant the seed, Apollos waters, and God gives the increase." It's really important to do our part. When it comes to the inheritance, your inheritance is based on your participation. It's not just the simplicity of saying, "I asked Jesus into my heart," but it's literally the reality of you fighting for the land. And your inheritance will be based completely on how you reproduce yourself into the lives of other individuals.

It's kind of scary to think about entering into the Promised Land, leaving the exile, crossing the River Jordan, going in to fight against walled cities like Jericho, enemies like Ai, and then running into trickery—like the trickery of the Gibeonites. Now, whenever an enemy recognizes that they are doomed, they'll do just about anything in order to be able to survive. That's exactly what happens in Joshua chapter 9. The Gibeonites, they have heard all that Joshua and the Lord did on behalf of the people of Israel—defeating Jericho, defeating Ai. And now because they know that they are near of kin, near of neighbor, they try to make up a little diabolical plan. So they send some ambassadors who take old sacks and put them upon their donkeys, and wine bottles old and rent and bound up, and old shoes and put them on their feet, and old garments upon them, and bread that was previously dry and moldy. And when they come to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, they say to the men of Israel, "Oh, we've come from such a far, far distance. Now, would you please make a league with us?" Well, the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, "Why should we let you dwell among us? And how will we make a league with you?" And they said to Joshua, "We're your servants." Joshua said, "Well, who are you guys? And from where do you come?" And they told him a far-fetched story from a very far country: "Your servants have come because in the name of the Lord your God, for we've heard the fame of Him and all that He did in Egypt." Well, that's a fact. Everything that God did in Egypt with the 10 plagues, the deliverance of the children of Israel with the firstborn, the crossing of the sea, the providing of the cloud, the manna, the rock—you bet, we've heard it all. And all that you did to the Amorites, to Sihon, and to Og. And we left our home; we had fresh clothes, fresh bread, fresh wine, fresh everything, and we've come to make a league. I mean, we've traveled a long, long distance. Joshua says, "That sounds logical. And because you're from a far distance and you're not here next to us in the Promised Land, I guess that's a pretty good thing. Why don't we make a league with you? Why don't we make a commitment to you? Why don't we make a covenant with you?" And the men took their victuals. And you know what they didn't do? They didn't ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord. That's Joshua 9, verse 14.

You know, after a victory, it's easy to feel overconfident. And that overconfidence can lead to faulty diplomacy, to commit yourself to a group of people. Victory oftentimes lulls you into complacency. Now these Gibeonites—these Hivites—are going to actually pull the wool over the eyes of Joshua, and they're going to literally defeat Joshua over some stale pita bread. Which really opens up a question in my life: where in life am I relying on logic—"Well, that sounds good. Yeah, I think that'd be a good thing to do. Okay, yeah, let's do it"—rather than upon the Lord? If Joshua would have gone to the Lord first, I wonder if they would have made a treaty. Well, regardless of whether they would have or not, we know that he said, "Okay, we'll make a league with you. We'll go ahead and bring you into our fold." And the princes said, "I think it's a great idea." And they did. The bad news is that they find out that Gibeon—these Gibeonites—they're not far from them at all. They're very, very close. And because Joshua made a covenant, he made a league with them, he didn't destroy them. Good leadership is: keep your word. If you say you're going to do something, at all costs, do it, even if it's to your own hurt.

Well, the princes said, "We can't destroy them. We've made a commitment to them." That's exactly what we've done. Now, the people were not happy about it. Joshua says, "What I'm going to do is we're going to make them servants." They said, "We're your servants," so we're going to put them on the bottom rung of the ladder—there at what we would call the bottom of the totem pole. They were going to become hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation. So they were going to have some work to do. And Joshua, he said, "Because you've beguiled us, then you're going to be cursed—with bondage, with servitude, slave mindset to us—that's what you're going to do." And when Joshua made them in that role, they gladly accepted it. I mean, it's either that or be put to death. They were getting the opportunity to be close to the people of God. They were going to be hewers of wood, drawers of water. And they say, "OK, whatever you think, it's good." It's something that King David did frequently.

Verse 25: "And now, behold, we are in your hand; as it seems good and right unto you to do unto us." They recognized, "Okay, we deceived you. We were afraid." And because they were afraid, they lied. You know, that is one of the reasons—probably the number one reason—why we lie. The reason why people lie is that they're afraid. They're afraid of being caught, number one. Number two, afraid of the consequences. Number three, they're afraid that the person won't accept them for who they are or what they've done or where they're at. But they openly say, "Whatever you choose to do, that's what we'll do." And so Joshua said, "OK." And he delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, because the children of Israel wanted to slay them, and they didn't slay them. And verse 27, to finish out the chapter: "And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose."

Now, that's amazing. You know, it reminds me of Psalm 84:10, where he says, "One day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere." And here, these individuals got the opportunity to serve at the altar. Wow, what an amazing thing. Deception, restitution, doing what God said, and then they were saved. What a life lesson for us. 

Shalom,
Alan