Joshua: Kingdom Conquest (9)
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As we get ready to read through the end of Chapter 8 and through chapter 9 a pattern begins to emerge. Israel headed into Jericho obedient. Left Jericho with their victory in sin. Attacked AI in sin and lost. Went to God to complain about loss. God told them why they lost. Left AI and here we are Israel is still being obedient to God.
At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.
And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel.
And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.
These verses astonish me at times. Building this Alter wouldn’t have been done overnight.
Interesting fact: The Torah, the original Hebrew book containing Moses’ 5 books states that they should use lime plaster.
It has been found that the use of lime is one of the best ways to preserve stone structures and this alter is was found and is still around today.
I couldn’t find just how long this took to accompish, but I would assume it would have taken some time. The reason this is important is because, at the very least if Joshua was the only one writting, then He would have spent much time in the word of God. Reading the word. Once the alter was finished they offered peace offerings on it.
The Torah uses the term well-being offering. They were thanking God for their well being. The fact that they fought this war and lost no one. This same offering would be used to display the fellowship God has with his people and the fact that God desires a relationship.
This is a very important lesson to learn and practice because they understood, at this point, their dependence on God and that God is faithful to those whom obey.
They built this in direct command from that God gave to Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. They then read and listed all of the curses and blessings written from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 27. The Israelites spent time, possibly months, cultivating this relationship with God.
These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.
At the end of the blessings and curses God calls this agreement a covenant. Which is almost like a legal agreement. I want to use the word promise, but it’s deeper than a promise. By Joshua going through these motions he is promising this covenant relationship. Or a promised relationship with God. He is promising to be obedient to the word of the Lord and to do what He says.
In today’s language it would be like accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. When you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior you are stating that you will work to maintain a relationship with Him. Receiving this relationship is free, but like anything else it takes work, communication, and sacrifice on both parts to ensure the relationship lasts and grows.
Then we get to Joshua 9 and we need to realize we cannot maintain obedience to God living off of yesterday’s relationship.
Joshua 9:1–4 (NKJV)
And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—heard about it,
that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord.
But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,
they worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors.
Understand Satan, his forces, the world isn’t going to try to attack a Christian who is being victorious head on.
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Satan works in the complex. I had a discussion with someone about how people fall into sales traps. The best sales men know this secret. In order to sell someone something they neither really don’t want or need you need to make it seem like it was their idea to buy it in the first place. How you do this is you talk fast, you make sure they agree (you can achieve this with subtle head movements, and word usage. You get them talking to expose something oyu can exploit and then you close the deal using their story. Now if done right the person will think it’s their idea to but said product and will walk away a happy customer. At least for a while.
Joshua 9:4–15 (ESV)
they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended,
with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly.
And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.”
But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?”
They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?”
They said to him, “From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt,
and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.
So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us.” ’
Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly.
These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.”
So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.
And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.
This is how Satan works. Notice in v 8-They introduced themselves: we are your servants.
v9 Your servants have come—see the idea they are planting?
v11 We are your servants
They implanted this idea, made Joshua feel so comfortable with it that Joshua believe he that it was the right thing to do. He didn’t even have to ask God first.
At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them.
These people, Joshua included, slipped Israel into sin and it was because of this agreement Israel eventually got thrown out of the promised land. The people who first surrendered as servants overtook them as their enemy.
Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,
and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?
So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”
As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.
And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.
They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.
Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
Then in v16 they start this seesaw.
Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so.
Once you start on a disobedient rode it is very difficult to get back to where you were. Satan wants to distract you with small steps that go against God’s word and against his will for your life so that you will eventually leave God’s protection, lost and not knowing how you got there.
It reminds me of the undercurrent of an ocean.