 |
We be come from a far country:
now therefore
make ye a league with us.
From a very far country thy servants are come
because of the name of the LORD thy God..
We are your servants: therefore now make ye a
league with us.
|
What thinkest thou of the Gibeonites?
Deceivers? Desperadoes desiring deliverance?
I wish many more have the same sense of
urgency and earnestness of these Gibeonites. If their wiliness is all we could
see, I fear we have missed the WHOLE point!!!
Let's meet the incredible Gibeonites...Joshua
9
They did know a few things, and earnestly
acted upon them, and they were blessed abundantly!!!
1. They KNEW, by the commandment of God, that
they should be exterminated...
"...And Joshua called for them, and he
spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far
from you; when ye dwell among us?... And they answered Joshua, and said,
Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded
his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants
of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because
of you, and have done this thing."
2. They also KNEW there is a commandment of
God whereby they may be spared... and they desperately hanged on to, and
leveraged earnestly on that commandment...
"... Thus shalt thou do unto all the
cities which are VERY FAR OFF from thee, which are not of the cities of these
nations." Read Deu 20:11-15 to appreciate the context.
The Gibeonites latched on to that commandment
of the LORD God and SUED for peace and life...
- "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." Jos 9:6.
- "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..." Jos 9:9.
- "And these bottles of wine, which we
filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our
shoes are become old by reason of the VERY LONG JOURNEY." Jos 9:13.
- "And Joshua called for them, and he
spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are VERY FAR
from you; when ye dwell among us?" Jos 9:22.
3. They KNEW too that the Israelites would
honor an oath made in the name of the LORD God of Israel. So they rested not
till they obtain an oath of peace from Israel.
- "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... We are your
servants: therefore now make ye a league with us....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." Jos 9:9,10,15
They obtained what they so desperately
desired and sought for!
- 18 And the children of Israel smote them
not, because the princes of the congregation HAD SWORN TO 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 SWORNUNTO THEM by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore
we may not touch them.
20 This we will do to them; we will even let
them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of THE OATH WHICH WE SWARE UNTO THEM.
Jos 9.
4. They knew there would be abundant mercies.
- When their deceitful way to seek for mercy
was discovered... this was all their plea, "And now, behold, we are in
thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do."
- They desperately wanted to live, and they
were let to live! "This we will do to them; we will even let them live,
lest wrath be upon us, because of THE OATH WHICH WE SWARE UNTO THEM."
- The Israelites wanted to make the
Gibeonites their own bondmen, "And the princes said unto them, Let them
live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water UNTO ALL THE
CONGREGATION; as the princes had promised them."
5. Joshua elevated them to be bondmen unto
the LORD God of Israel...
- "Now therefore ye are cursed, and
there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and
drawers of water FOR THE HOUSE OF MY GOD." 9:23.
- "And so did he [Joshua] unto them, and
DELIVERED THEM out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them
not." 9:26
- "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." 9:27.
WHAT INCREDIBLE blessings Joshua secured for
these Gibeonites who came to seek for refuge, in the only way they knew how!!!
ALL
the others in the land were doing this:
9:1 ¶ And 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;
2 That they gathered themselves together, to
fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.
BUT the Gibeonites did this:
3 ¶ And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard
what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,
4 They did work wilily, and went and made as
if they had been ambassadors...
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.
That should put the so called
"wiliness" of the Gibeonites in its proper light.
