Joshua pt 6

Now all the kings west of the Jordan River heard about what had happened. These were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who lived in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far north as the Lebanon mountains. These kings combined their armies to fight as one against Joshua and the Israelites. But when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to deception to save themselves. They sent ambassadors to Joshua, loading their donkeys with weathered saddlebags and old, patched wineskins. They put on worn-out, patched sandals and ragged clothes. And the bread they took with them was dry and moldy. When they arrived at the camp of Israel at Gilgal, they told Joshua and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land to ask you to make a peace treaty with us.” The Israelites replied to these Hivites, “How do we know you don’t live nearby? For if you do, we cannot make a treaty with you.” They replied, “We are your servants.” “But who are you?” Joshua demanded. “Where do you come from?” They answered, “Your servants have come from a very distant country. We have heard of the might of the Lord your God and of all he did in Egypt. We have also heard what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River—King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan (who lived in Ashtaroth). So our elders and all our people instructed us, ‘Take supplies for a long journey. Go meet with the people of Israel and tell them, “We are your servants; please make a treaty with us.” ’ “This bread was hot from the ovens when we left our homes. But now, as you can see, it is dry and moldy. These wineskins were new when we filled them, but now they are old and split open. And our clothing and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.” So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord. Then Joshua made a peace treaty with them and guaranteed their safety, and the leaders of the community ratified their agreement with a binding oath. Three days after making the treaty, they learned that these people actually lived nearby! The Israelites set out at once to investigate and reached their towns in three days. The names of these towns were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. But the Israelites did not attack the towns, for the Israelite leaders had made a vow to them in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. The people of Israel grumbled against their leaders because of the treaty. But the leaders replied, “Since we have sworn an oath in the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel, we cannot touch them. This is what we must do. We must let them live, for divine anger would come upon us if we broke our oath. Let them live.” So they made them woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community, as the Israelite leaders directed. Joshua called together the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you lie to us? Why did you say that you live in a distant land when you live right here among us? May you be cursed! From now on you will always be servants who cut wood and carry water for the house of my God.” They replied, “We did it because we—your servants—were clearly told that the Lord your God commanded his servant Moses to give you this entire land and to destroy all the people living in it. So we feared greatly for our lives because of you. That is why we have done this. Now we are at your mercy—do to us whatever you think is right.” So Joshua did not allow the people of Israel to kill them. But that day he made the Gibeonites the woodcutters and water carriers for the community of Israel and for the altar of the Lord—wherever the Lord would choose to build it. And that is what they do to this day.

I want to start with a reminder on how to read a passage of scripture. You can apply this to most every passage in the Bible because most all of scripture, not all, is situational. It is

Events that happened to real people often in front of crowds who knew who everyone was. So when we look at passages think about who is part of the crowd. Too often people read something but don’t consider who really experienced the events in scripture.

How would they tell us what they experienced? Looking back so far we are seeing that there were people who came out of slavery from Egypt, people who joined with the Israelites, and there are gentiles who aided the in the establishment of Israel.

Their cultural background didn’t include the covenant with Abraham or Moses. Many of the people had backgrounds that worshiped the gods made by human hands or no god at all.

Why is this important to consider? It’s important because the culture that will be established will blend in the various parts that they bring that will honor God and in the very DNA of the nation will be all people from all backgrounds. There will be those who are born Jewish, Raised Jewish and those who convert to Judaism as well as those never fully leave their past behind.

The birth of Israel isn’t a unibody of culture but hybrid of back grounds that will lead to Christ dying for all the sins of the world, both Jew and Gentile.

It is critical to remember as you read through the O.T. that we see the intention of God from the very beginning, so there is no question as to who Christ died for. Christ died for all who believe.

With all the being said lets dive in here and see if we can pick up a few things from this.

Verify who you are dealing with in life with the Lord. Israel got in trouble because they didn’t seek the lord’s leadership in this area.

Just because they bring you gifts, you have to ask are they coming with gifts to distract me from who they are. You see they started this off with a lie and had no qualms about deceiving the people of Israel. Why?

Because they feared the power of God but not the people of God. They were willing to lie to the people of God to get them obligated to keep God from destroying them. You see there will always be people who will see you faith in God as tool to manipulate and control you, not as how you worship God. Ya’ll the devil is real and this is how you can tell something is of the Devil.

“When they try to get you to make an impulsive decision in God’s name, it’s a form of deception.” When they try to get you to forget to ask God what His will in the matter, it’s a form of deception. When they chip at a values you hold dear because it conflicts with their wants, it’s a form of deception.

Next,

When they Go out of their way to hide who they are, you are being deceived. If a person or people won’t show you their real self and you have to keep digging to find out who they are, they have just shown you who they are. They are liars.

You see the people of Israel were not hiding who they are, they were living and breathing their true selves. They were out in the open, being the people of God. They were freer than the people living a lie. The lie they told Israel made them slaves.

It amazes me that the people who were lying, who believed the powerful works of God, had another option, they could have just left and not returned. Instead their lies made them slaves to Israel because they were liars.

Don’t be a liar. Don’t Deceive others to get what you want. Sure you might temporarily get what you want but in the end you lose freedom for yourself and the generations that follow.

Take the blow of the hard things. It will make you stronger and keep your freedoms generationally.

If you do get deceived, learn the lesson here:

Yes Israel was at fault for not consulting God.

Yes, the liars lied.

Yes, Israel kept their word even though they were deceived.

However, Israel kept their integrity in tact because they themselves didn’t become liars.

This can be really hard but this is what is meant in Matthew 5:37

Matthew 5:37 NLT

Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

When we give our YES, or our NO, we have commited to the consequence of those answers.

Joshua and the leaders of Israel made a commitment and by not taking the time to pray and seek out the will of God, they made this commitment and had to live with it. Yes the liars got what they wanted but they also didn’t care about impact their deceit on Israel.

The liars also robbed themselves of venturing into a new land and becoming a great nation on their own. They knew they weren’t going to win a fight with Israel, so lied to maintain their mediocre lives.

It has always amazed me what people will put themselves through to avoid changes. As if no change is security.

Change, when it’s done to honor God, is growth. YEs we have to embrace the boredom sometimes but in those times we must always be preparing for the moments of Change that is coming. Its never a question of if change is going to happen, its are you ready for change, because its going to happen.

Don’t Be like the liars, they will fight for their own insignificance and complacency.

Just like Israel in Joshua, we must always remain on the march toward the Goals God Has Set for Us.

Are there times when you were living a lie or Getting others to compromise themselves so you could live in a complacent state?

Perhaps you are now. Now is the time to do whats right and stop being like that. Don’t take the easy way out and try to manipulate others. Do the hard things like radical confession of your sins. Tell God all the real truths.

God wants you to be free from it all. It takes truth to free you.

Remember John 8:31-32

John 8:31–32 NLT

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

There is a radical thing that truth does for a person who believes in Christ: It sets them Free. You see you are saved but living in the truth of that salvation is another thing.

It means that Christ love and light has seen the dark places of your life, shined into those dark places chasing those shadows away.

What was once a place inside of you that was a prison is now a source of strength that empowers your freedom from it all. Knowing the truth sets a person free by showing you how powerless and small the lies and guilt are compared to the love of God. This is why we focus so much on the character of Christ and the teachings of scripture.