The Guise of the Gibeonites

Joshua Chapter Nine

I think we are discovering that Joshua, like Elijah, was a man subject to like passions such as we are. Someone said on one occasion that the Bible is brutally honest when it looks at its heroes.

If I was Joshua, I would want to leave out chapters seven and nine, they don’t show Joshua up in a good light

We are writing the Bible a chapter each day.

By the deeds that we do and the words that we say.

Men read what they see whether faithful or true.

So what is the gospel according to you?

I wonder if we were writing a chapter each day, how many chapters we would want to remove?

Chapter eight finished with God’s people, having defeated Ai, going to mount Ebal and Gerizim, as Moses commanded them to do. An altar was erected, on which they wrote the words of the law.

Joshua 8:32 And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

The law was read out from the word of God

Joshua 8:34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

We are told that it all was read.

Joshua 8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.

Just in passing, notice that "the little ones" were present. How important it is for the little ones to hear the Word of God.

Let’s just see the context here once again the Lord’s people have allied themselves to the word of God.

 

What will happen next?

1.The aggravation.

Joshua 9:1And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;

Notice the last two words "heard thereof".

The enemies of God had heard how that the Israelites where once again allied to the word of God. When we get back to the word of God, we can be sure of aggravation from Satan’s allies.

Notice the unity among these nations.

Joshua 9:2That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

When we get back to the word of God. We will find that the enemies of Christ will unite against our stand

They united against Joshua, how the enemies of Christ united against the Joshua of the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 23:12 And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.

Now we notice that the Canaanites are going on the offensive this reminds us of one side of Satan’s character.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Here is the roaring lion, he is aggravated because God’s people are once again standing for truth.

Interestingly enough, they posed no problem to Israel as we shall see in further studies but let’s move on to verse three, where we see another side to Satan’s character.

This time he is not a roaring lion, he is a slithering serpent.

This time Satan was successful be careful for the slithering serpent.

2 Cor. 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

2. Exaggeration.

Joshua 9:3 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

Here we meet the Gibeonites, they decided to try a different approach.

Joshua 9:4 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

They did work wilily, or subtly.

Let us just quickly summarise how they fooled Joshua and his men, then we will make some applications for us today.

"Went and made as if they had been ambassadors"

They were pretending they occupied important positions as they came to the camp of Israel.

Joshua 9:4-5 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; [5] And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.

They dressed in a particular way to mislead, again this was adding to their deception as they sought to gain acceptance with Joshua.

Joshua 9:6 and they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us.

They pretended to come from a far away place.

Why did they want Joshua to think they were from a far country?

Moses told Israel quite clearly that all the nations should be destroyed in Canaan.

Exodus 34:12-13 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: [13] But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

Deut. 7:2 And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

But other nations were to be treated differently.

Deut. 20:10-11 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. [11] And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

Can’t you see that very often, the world knows more about this book than we do. Satan will use God’s word for his own ends.

Here we find the slithering, subtle serpent see how they worked their way into the camp of Israel feigning their position, their fashion and their habitation.

Joshua 9:8And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye?

"We are thy servants." Do you see their submission? Oh what subtlety.

Joshua 9:9 And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,

In verse six it was a "far country" now it is a "very far country" and they have come all this way because of the Lord.

What pretence we have here, they were from a neighbouring city.

Joshua 9:10 And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth.

They don’t mention the victories in the land of Canaan. Do you see how they watched their words?

Can’t you see the exaggeration, deceit and lies of this people.

What practical lessons can we learn from this?

  1. Hypocrisy. As believers we should avoid pretence and exaggeration.
  2. Unequal yoke.

God did not want his people making leagues with the unsaved, and it is still the same today.

2 Cor. 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

In religious circles, in business circles God would warn us against being yoked together with unbelievers.

But the closest relationship is that between man and woman, husband and wife, this is something scripture is clear on.

1 Cor. 7:39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

Christians are not permitted to marry unbelievers.

I think it would be appropriate to speak to the young people for a moment.

Sometimes among a young man and woman there is physical attraction. Infact the very lifestyle of an unbeliever can have an attraction. When this attraction is greater that the attraction to obey the word of God, you are heading down a slippery slope.

It is not a question of not marrying a bad unbeliever, but any unbeliever.

Here are some of the problems you could encounter.
  • The problem of interests & friends.
  • The problem of bringing up children.
  • The problem of facing eternity.
  • The problem of maintaining your spiritual life.

Dear young people avoid the unequal yoke it is contrary to the word of God.

We are considering some practical lessons from this passage.

  1. You reap what you sow.

    2. Joshua 9:7 And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you?

    We read that these men were Hivites.

    Back in Gen. 34 the Hivites were deceived by some of God’s people.

    Genesis 34:2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.

    If you read that Chapter you will discover how they where deceived by Simeon and Levi. Now Israel was being deceived by the Hivites.

    Let us continue to draw some practical lessons here.

  2. Dressing up sin.

Is it not true that we are guilty of dressing up sin?

Remember how God told Saul to kill all the Amalakites and destroy their animals.

But he didn’t kill Agag and he took some of the animals.

1 Samuel 15:14-15 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? [15] And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

He had a religious reason for his sin, "We wanted the best for the Lord."

Is it not true that we dress up sin from time to time?

We talk about our brothers and sisters in the Lord, we call it concern, God calls it gossip and sin.

We mix with the world, indulging in their activities. We call it witnessing. The bible calls it unequal yoke and sin.

We want to be top dog, steal the show we call it zeal. It really is simply, self-centerdness and sin.

We won’t have anything to do with certain people, we walk on by. We call it separation the Bible calls it pride, partiality and sin.

We will look at people’s lives examine them and call it constructive criticism. The Bible calls it jealousy and envy.

We call it a white lie, a slip, a small thing, the Bible calls it sin.

We dress up sin like they dressed up Calvary and called it justice.

Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Hebrews 4:13 neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

May we not dress up sin.

Aggravation- Exaggeration-

3. Omission.

Joshua 9:14 And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.

Why did Joshua fail? Why did Israel fail here?

They trusted their senses and went by the physical and not the spiritual they never sought the Lord’s face in prayer.

Lack of prayer will always cost us dearly. Remember how they had given the plunder from Jericho to the Lord. They then received the plunder from Ai. Now they would loose out because they had made a league with the Gibeonites.

We will always loose out, when we neglect prayer.

Joshua 9:15-16 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. [16] And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them.

They had given their word and now they would not attack these people.

Joshua 9:18-19 And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. [19] But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them.

Let us notice finally their –

4. Occupation.

The Gibeonites fooled their way into the midst of God’s people.

Joshua 9:27 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.

There are many ways of looking at this, but I want to make one application in closing.

Remember how they feigned themselves to be something they were not.

I wonder about some whom claim to know the Lord, take the position of believers.

When I consider the Gibeonites, the occupation they were given according to v 27 would be boring, burdensome and dreaded.

We have often heard it said that no truly saved child of God would find happiness in the things of the world.

Could we not also say that if you have feigned yourself to be a child of God, you would never enjoy the things of God. They will be boring, dreaded and burdensome.

Do you find the Bible boring?

Do you find the prayer meetings a real dread?

Do you thing the Lord’s table is burdensome?

Do you find the preaching of the Word of God to be dull and uninteresting?

Are you truly saved?

Unless you are saved you will not enjoy the fellowship of God’s people and many other precious things.

Could this be why many Churches now cater for the entertainment factor and the things of God have been neglected?

Could the slithering serpent have infiltrated even some places of worship today?

I hope no one reading this message is like the Gibeonites. If you are I hope that you will turn from your sin and truly repent, believe and be saved.

The Guise of the Gibeonites.

 

Email Pastor Ian Wilson


Return to Pastor Wilson's Sermon Index Page