The Gibeonites

Well, take your Bibles and let's open them to Joshua, Joshua chapter 9, and we're going to take that entire chapter tonight.

One of the interesting stories in the book of Joshua, interesting story about the Gibeonites and their deception.

And, you know, I've said this a couple of times, especially as we began this study of Joshua, that the author of Joshua, whoever he was, was a master at telling a story.

Well, reciting history, but telling it in a way that makes it so interesting. And this chapter is certainly no exception to that.

And if you've read Joshua, you know what I'm talking about. If you've read chapter 9 and how the Gibeonites, you know, deceived, duped Joshua.

Not just Israel, but Joshua and her leaders in making a covenant with them. And just a really interesting story. And I'm not going to read the entire chapter to begin with.

I want to kind of read it as we step our way through it and divided the chapter into a number of parts that kind of are indicative of the way the story moves.

And each step of the way, we're going to discover some important truths about ourself and some things that we can learn from this chapter.

That's an interesting story. And, you know, as you're reading it, and I hope you'll experience this. I'm sure you have. As you read it, you're kind of, you know, of course, you're privy to the truth.

That's the interesting thing about it. You know, you know the truth about the Gibeonites. And so you're just kind of reading along as a bystander.

You know the truth, but Joshua doesn't know. And it's kind of one of those scenarios, you know, like movies sometimes you'll see. And you know who the villain is, and yet the hero doesn't yet know.

And you just wish you could tell him and that kind of thing. And that's kind of how I react to the story. And then, of course, when Joshua and Israel are hoodwinked, you want to say how foolish.

You know, how blind. I mean, come on, you know, surely you could have seen through this deception. Anybody could, we would say. Of course, we know the truth, so it's easy for us to say that.

And so we say, how could they have fallen for this thing? And that's a good question. And it's interesting. But I think the most important part of this entire chapter is the answer.

The answer to how they could have been deceived by such a really, really kind of ridiculous deception. All right, now, I'm not going to give any introduction.

I want to just get into the teaching itself and get into the text itself in this chapter. And point out the first thing we want to see. First thing that we need to consider is what I want to call the remarkable determination of the Canaanites.

That's point number one. And I say remarkable because what we're going to read here in the first two verses, which seem, by the way, to be unrelated to the Gibeonites' deception.

We just have these first two verses and then we go from there into something that seems separate from that. But what we see in these first two verses is really remarkable because it marks a change, a change in a number of things.

It stands as kind of a contrast to some things and we'll see that here in just a minute. But look at verse one. And it came to pass or it came about 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.

So we're talking about kings in several different parts of the land of Canaan or the promised land. And then they're named here. The Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, not Parasite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, some pronounce it Hivite.

I think it's Hivite, but you can take your pick. And the Jebusite, they heard about it. What did they hear about? They heard about the conquests of Israel.

They heard about what had happened to Jericho and Ai and perhaps other things as well. When they heard about it, they gathered together to fight. That's why I say this marks a change.

And there's a reason for it, as we shall see, I think, here in a moment. They gathered together. They formed an alliance, what they did, to fight, to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord or with this coalition.

Now, I want to just quickly move through these first two verses. Far from being unrelated, these first two verses really serve as an introduction, not only to the rest of chapter 9, but also chapter 10 and 11.

This is an introduction to the next three chapters. Because, you see, we're now moving into a kind of different level, a new level of conflict in the promised land.

Before chapter 9, Israel's opposition in Canaan really came from individual cities, right? Jericho, Ai, individual city, individual groups of people.

So, before chapter 9, that's kind of the way things have been going. And you might imagine that's the way it would be throughout the book of Joshua. But it's not. Now we move to, you know, coalitions, alliances here.

Now, part of that's practical because if the author of Joshua really detailed every single battle, every single city, we would have quite a large book, a number of volumes.

But it does mark a change. And so now we have these coalitions that are mentioned. The first one's here in chapter 9. And it's a coalition of six kings spread, again, spread throughout the whole land, the whole land of Canaan.

And then when we get to chapter 10, and we'll get there next time, it's a coalition of five kings. Now we have five kings from the southern part of the land of Canaan.

And then when we get to chapter 11, we'll have another coalition of kings, unspecified number, from the northern part of the king. So this kind of marks a change.

That's the first observation we ought to note. But there's more. Second, these verses reveal a change not only in how the story is being told from individual cities to now coalitions, but it reveals a change in how the people of the land of Canaan are beginning to think about Israel.

A change in that. Now they were thinking about them before, but their way of thinking about them, their response and reaction to them was different. Now it has changed, all right?

And I want to show you what I'm talking about. Chapter 5 and chapter 9 begin exactly the same way. Now, in my translation or version of the Bible, the New King James Version, they're different words, but I assure you in the Hebrew text, they begin exactly the same.

The beginning of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 9 are exactly the same. Let me read chapter 5 or just the beginning of it, verse 1.

So it was. That's how chapter 5 begins. So it was. Now you may have different words there. And then I'll read again chapter 9, verse 1.

And it came to pass. Or we could say, and so it was. In the Hebrew text, identical beginnings of verse 1.

But then from there, similar things are going to be said. Or at least the approach is the same after that point.

But what is said about the people is quite different. Quite different. Back to chapter 5, verse 1. What does it say? So it was when all.

How many? All the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of Jordan. And all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea.

Heard. That's, by the way, all of the kings, the ruling forces of the land of Canaan. When they heard, it says. That the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over.

That their heart melted. Their heart melted. That means their courage just went away. And there was no spirit in them. No spirit. No positive spirit.

No spirit for protecting themselves or doing battle against Israel. Their spirit in them. Spirit in them. No. Any longer because they had no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

All right. So. And it came about. And so it was. The people of the land of Canaan were struck with fear.

Fear. They had no courage in them at all. Well. What about chapter 9 verse 1? How does it begin? Exactly the same way. And it came about. And it. Came to pass.

When all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan. In the hills and in the lowlands. And in all the coasts of the sea. And then they're named. When they heard about it. What did they do?

They gathered together to fight. Fight Joshua. And fight Israel. See. There's quite a contrast. Quite a change. Now.

You see the difference there. It's very easy to see. And. Identical beginnings. But totally different sentiments. Now that has changed. And so.

What's going on here? Well. I believe it's meant to show a contrast between Israel. Before. Achan's sin. And their defeated AI.

When they. Kind of. Stepped out. Ahead of God. Sin in the camp. Did not deal with the sin. So. Out of.

Sync with God. They didn't even see the sin. And so. When they go out. To battle. They lose. They're defeated. So. Before.

Before this sin. Before this defeat. The kings feared Israel. Feared them. And Israel's God. Specifically.

After the kings. After. The sin. The kings were. Emboldened. Filled with courage.

To stand against Israel. Now what is the lesson? The lesson is that. Sin. Disobedience.

And subsequent. Defeat. Has a tendency always to embolden. Our enemy. Satan for one. And those.

Through. Those he inspires. To be against us. There's always a consequence. For being out of fellowship. With God. The enemy is emboldened.

By that. And I think that's the lesson here. To show this stark contrast. There's a third thing. That we need to see. In the first two verses. These verses. Are a clue.

To how serious. It was. For Israel. To be duped. By the Gibeonites. So that. It is. Setting us up. For. The rest of the story. Here in chapter 9.

So. See. These two verses. Are not unrelated. They not only introduce. The next several chapters. Not only. Tell us about. A change. That's taking place.

And not only. Stand as examples. For us. What it means. When we fail. God. Because of our unbelief. Because of our sin. God. But also. Tell us.

How serious it is. To make alliances. With. With the enemy. How serious. It is going to be. For Israel. To be duped. By the Gideon. So it's. Setting us up.

For that. And this is interesting. The coalition. Of these six kings. That are given to us. Here. In verse 2. There.

There. There. There's nothing. In the book of Joshua. I don't know. If you've. Read further. And maybe you've. Wondered about this. But here. These kings are mentioned. And this alliance.

Is mentioned. And yet. There is nothing. Said. About any actual. Fighting with them. No actual battles. They just formed. A coalition.

And then. That's. That's it. Then we go on. With the story. And never. Never hear about. Any battles. Against this coalition. Of kings. Kings. And why is that? Because again.

I think. The author's purpose. Here. Is something else. That. We have to dig. A little bit. To find. I think. Notice. The six kings. That are named.

Here. They're named. In a particular order. There's the Hittite. The Amorite. The Canaanite. The Perizzite. The Hivite. And the Jebusite. So they're named. In that order. Those six kings. Now.

The list. Of the kings. Of Canaan. Are. Are. Given to us. In scripture. Many. Many times. And. You'll find. These kings.

That are mentioned. These six. You'll find them. Listed. In the list. Or given to us. In the list. In Joshua. Chapter 3. Verse 10. We'll not. Look at that. But I'll just. Tell you. That they. Are included.

In that list. In chapter 3. Verse 10. But they are. In a different order. You say. Is that important? Well. I think it is. Of the.

21 times. That the bible. Lists. These nations. Only. The only time. They match. This order. The order.

Given here. In chapter 9. The only time. That they. The same order. Exists in scripture. Is in Joshua. 12. Verse 8. A little bit later. But most. Significantly.

In Deuteronomy. Chapter 20. In verse 17. Now. Follow me here. Here's this list. Of kings. There's six of them. And they're listed.

In a particular order. Order matters. Apparently. That is. If you're trying. To make a point. And the author. I think. Is trying to make a point. He's trying to connect us.

With something. The order. Doesn't matter. Apparently. In any other way. Because. The list. Is given. Other places. But in different orders. And so.

When you have. The same order. Appearing. In a couple of places. In one particularly. Significant place. Then you should take notice. I said. It was Deuteronomy.

Chapter 20. Verse 16. And. It's significant. That's significant. Because. It is there. That Moses. Gives his instructions. To Israel. Really.

God giving his instructions. To Israel. Concerning. How Israel. Should deal. With the people. In the land of Canaan. And. It's.

You know. Pretty serious stuff. If you want to turn over there. You can look real quickly. When I'll read the entire chapter. The entire chapter. Chapter 20. Is. Is. Is. Focused.

On this issue. But. Particularly. Verse 16. And. 17. And 18. Listen to it. But to the cities. Of these peoples.

Which the Lord. Your God. Gives you. As an inheritance. That's. That's all the cities. Of the land of Canaan. You shall let. Nothing. That breathes. Remain alive.

Now forget about having trouble. With that. All right. We've talked about that before. But. The instruction is clear. Isn't it? None are to. Live.

They're to be utterly destroyed. But you shall. Utterly destroy them. And here's the list. The Hittite. And the Amorite. And the Canaanite.

And the Perizzite. And the Hivite. And the Jebusite. Just as the Lord. Your God. Has commanded you. Lest they teach you. To do. According. To all their abominations.

Which they have done. For their gods. And you sin. Against the Lord. Your God. So if you wanted a reason. Why they should be. Destroyed. Annihilated. There's the reason. So.

So he's giving instructions. This is what you're to do. With the people of the land. And he lists this. These six kings. Now this isn't. Everybody. But. But. It's. Assumed.

He's talking about. All of the kings. All of the peoples. All of the. Cities. Of the land. Of Canaan. So the. List is here. As it is in chapter nine.

Do you understand? Israel. Was not to make peace. With any of the people. In the land of Canaan. Not any of them. Which of course. Is exactly.

What they're about to do. With the Gibeonites. You say. Well they didn't know it. But they should have. And we'll answer. The Bible's going to answer. Why they should have. Here in just a minute. So the author then.

Is doing what? With these first two verses. He's preparing us. For. For this. Drama. That is going to unfold. Here. With the Gibeonites.

All right. So the remarkable determination. Of the Canaanites. First thing we see. And this coalition. This. This alliance. That is made. Is. Mentioned here.

Not that it didn't exist. But it's mentioned here. Because. The author is preparing us. For a number of things. Informing us. And preparing us. For the chapter. Number two.

I see the deplorable. Deception. Of the Canaanites. Gibeonites. The deplorable. I mean. This is just shameful. Deception.

Of the Gibeonites. They went to. Great lengths. To. To. Stage this deception. To the nth degree. And.

Verse three says. But when the inhabitants. Of Gibeon. All right. So. That comes hot off the heels. Of. Verses one and two. This alliance. Has been formed. They're going to fight.

But when the inhabitants. Of Gibeon. Heard what Joshua. Had done. To Jericho. And Ai. They did something else. Didn't they? The Bible says. They worked craftily.

Craftily. I think the. King James says. Wildily. But since. It's hard to say that. I think craftily. Even that's a little bit. Of a tongue twister. How about deceptively?

All right. That's exactly what is meant here. All right. So. You see. It's pretty easy to say. Not all Canaanites. Reacted with paralyzing fear. Like Jericho. And not all the Canaanites.

Reacted with bold aggression. Like these coalitions. At least one group of people. Reacted with trickery. With deception.

So what did they do? Well. Let's read it. Or let me read it. And you can follow along in your Bible. Starting with verse 3. But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard that what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai.

They worked craftily. And went and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys. Old wineskins torn and mended.

Old and patched sandals on their feet. And old garments on themselves. And all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. Now why would they want to do that?

Well. They went to Joshua. To the camp at Gilgal. By the way this is a different Gilgal. Than when they. Where they had. You know.

The renewal of the covenant. And so forth. There are at least four. Maybe five. Gilgals. In the land of Canaan. But. So they're encamped here at this place called Gilgal.

And. So they went to him. And they said to him. And to the men of Israel. We have come. From a far country. Now therefore. Make a covenant with us. That's why they.

Did this. Then the men of Israel. Said to the Hivites. They didn't know they were Hivites. By the way. But the author.

Is. Telling us that they are. And. And so. We're kind of. Privy to. The. The ruse here. Perhaps you dwell among us.

That is. You're of this land. So. How can we make a covenant with you? Which was a good question. Because they were not to make a covenant. With any of the people in the land of Canaan.

And so they're saying. You could be living here. How could we make this covenant with you? We can't. And so they said to him. Said to him. From a very far country. Your servants have come.

Because of the name of the Lord your God. The fame really. Because of the fame. Of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard of his fame.

And all that he did in Egypt. So they go all the way back to Egypt. And by the way. This is a good tip here. And there are other indications of this.

Not only in Joshua. But other places. That the people were well aware. Of what had happened to Egypt. I believe that Egypt was. At the time when Moses and Israel.

Were captive to Egypt. I believe they were at the very pinnacle. Of their history. They were the world power. Of the day. And you know the devastation.

That the plagues brought upon that. That city. Those people. All the way. Not only the plagues. But all the way to the destruction. I think. Of the better part. Of Egypt's army.

There drowned. In the Red Sea. And so. That was. That was known. Around the known world. Civilized world. Of the day. And so.

They go all the way back. To Egypt. Here. We have heard. And all that he did. In Egypt. And all that he did. To the two kings.

Of the Amorites. Who were. Beyond the Jordan. So the conquest. On the other side of Jordan. To Sihon. King of Heshbon. And Og. King of Bashan. Who was of Ashtaroth.

Therefore. Our elders. Our leaders. And all the inhabitants. Of our country. Spoke to us. Saying. Take provisions. With you. For the journey. And go to meet them.

And say to them. That we are your servants. Now therefore. Make a covenant. With us. We're no threat to you. We want to be friends. We will serve you. Make a covenant.

With us. A promise. An alliance. This bread. See here. This bread. Of ours. We took. Hot. For our provisions. From our houses.

It's right out of the oven. On the day. We departed. To come to you. But now look. It is dry. And moldy. You just want to say. You know. You're reading this.

You would say. Oh brother. I think I'm going to fall for this. I'm in the old. Ragged clothes. And moldy bread trick. You know. And. And these.

Wine skins. They said. Which we. We filled. They were brand new. And see. They're torn. And these. Our garments. And our sandals. Have become old.

Because of the very long. Journey. Then the men of Israel. Took some. Of their provisions. All right. What does that mean? Means. I think. You know.

They're different ideas. Different thoughts. I think. Basically. It just means. They took them. To look at them. To examine them. To see if it were true. You know. They looked at their clothes. They looked at their bread.

They looked at. At. You know. Their moldy bread. Their wine skins. And. You know. Just a little bit of inspection. To see if this is on the up and up. All right. So. You know. What.

What. A. What. What a. A deceptive thing. And again. As. As a reader. You're watching all of this. Kind of unfold. And you almost want to scream.

Watch out. Joshua. You know. It's all a big lie. You know. Can't you see through that? These people were from Gibeon.

The Bible says. They were Gibeonites. Matter of fact. They were from Gibeon. Not far from Ai. So. They didn't even have to travel very far. They were.

They were close. And. Again. According to verse 7. The author tells us. That they are. Hivites. Is that important? Hivites.

Hivites were part of the coalition. Now. I don't think that. They were trying a little different angle. That they were still part of the coalition. I believe that they. Kind of stood apart.

And we're going to discover that. I think. In the very next chapter. But. They were Hivites. All right. They. No treaty. Should have ever been made. With these people. From Gibeon.

They're Hivites. Yes. So. The. Deplorable. Deception. Of the Gibeonites. And. You know. Of course. Joshua's not going to fall for this.

Right. He's going to see right through this. I mean. You know. It's just. It's just. There's just too much. It's kind of one of these things. Where there's too much evidence.

There's just too much here. You know. For this to be true. Too good. To be true. All right. So we have the remarkable determination. Of the Canaanites. Of forming the.

This. This coalition. They're going to fight. We're not going to go down. We're going to fight. And then the deception. The deplorable. Almost. Inexcusable.

Embarrassing. Deception. Of the Gibeonites. And then that leads us to a third thing. The inexcusable. Disobedience. Of the Israelites.

And it's inexcusable. Did Joshua fall for it? You bet he did. Verse 14. And by the way.

Verse 14. Is. The key. To the entire chapter. It answers the question. How. Joshua. And Israel. Could have been so deceived.

And make. Such. An unwise. And disobedient. Decision. It's all right here. In verse 14. And the men of Israel. Took some of their provisions. All right. To inspect. And here it is.

But they did not. Ask counsel. Of the Lord. There's the simple answer. Right smack dab. Really. In the middle of the chapter. Of the chapter. Is the key lesson.

In. For the entire chapter. And it's really. The lesson is. That is given over. And over again. Throughout. Scripture. And it is. The reason. Given. And over. And over. In scripture.

Why God's people fail. Why God's people falter. Why. Why they suffer defeat. And it's because. They did not. Ask counsel. Of the Lord. They would rather. Look at what they could see.

You know. And base their judgment. Upon tangible things. And they. Looked at their clothing. And then. They looked at their wine skins. And they looked at their moldy bread. And. And. And.

It didn't even. Enter their minds. That this could have been. A deception. A deception. And it's because. They just didn't ask God. You see. What happens. And we kind of put.

This. This part of it. Together. With what we have. Already discussed. What happens. When. Because of sin. We falter. In our faith. We fail.

What happens. Our enemies. Are emboldened. Against us. And that is the lesson. Of verses one. And two. And.

Now. What happens. When we become. So self-confident. So self-reliant. And we stop praying. For God's wisdom. And guidance. What happens.

Our enemies. Deceive us. And we. Cannot. We cannot. Make. A right decision. We make. Poor decisions. Some of them.

Some of those decisions. As is the case here. Are permanent. Permanent. Ramifications. That. Are not going to be reversed. They're unalterable.

The decision. That. As we shall see. That Joshua. And the leaders of Israel. Made at this point. Was binding. Binding.

Under God. And so that's what happens. We. You know. We're confused. We. We. We. We. We. We step too soon. Or we step in the wrong direction.

Or we. And we make wrong decisions. Because we just did not ask the counsel of the Lord. Walking by sight. Making decisions based upon human wisdom.

Our own wisdom. And experience. And tangible things. That we can see and touch. And hear and feel. And so forth. Rather than trusting God.

And so look at verse 15. So Joshua. So. So. What happened? They didn't pray. So Joshua made peace with them. Made peace with them.

Peace with the Gibeonites. And made. A. Covenant. Covenant. By the way. This is the. The. Very strong term. Terminology.

Same word used. In regard to the covenant between Israel and God. They made a covenant. It was binding. A covenant with them.

To let them live. In absolute contradiction. To what God had commanded. That Israel do. When they entered the land. They disobeyed him.

They let them live. And the rulers of the congregation. Swore to them. Everybody's in agreement. That didn't mean they cussed them out. Okay. All right.

And. You know. This. This. This was binding. All right. But the story then. Does not end there. Does it? The Gibeonites are discovered.

Very shortly. Matter of fact. You know. If Joshua just would have. Said. Let's just. Stop a minute here. Hold off. And let's think about this a while.

Give it a few days. And. You know. In a week. A couple of weeks. We pray about it. We seek God's counsel on this. And we'll get back with you. And we'll make a decision.

But apparently. From the way the scripture reads. It was a snap decision. Based on what they saw. And so Joshua made a covenant with them. Made peace with them.

And. But they're discovered. Very shortly. And so what would Joshua do to them? Would he say. All bets are off. Okay. You deceived us. And so this is not a binding contract.

You know. Like. We could probably. We could. In our legal system. Wiggle out of certain contracts. If the other party was. Lying. Or deceiving.

And. And there are certain parts of the contract. That. That are false. And so it. Makes the entire contract. Void. Null. And void. Is that what Joshua did?

Well no. And so I want you to consider one final thing. And this is kind of a twist in the story. That we don't really expect. And it is what I call. The honorable decision.

Of the Israelites. Actually it was Joshua. And the leaders. The. The rank and file of Israel. Were grumbling about this.

But they made an honorable decision. That is they honored the covenant. That they made. Look at verse 16. And it happened at the end of three days.

Just three days later. After they had made a covenant with them. That they heard. That they were their neighbors. Who dwelt near them. Not neighbors in a friendly way. They were near them.

They lived in close proximity. To where they were. They learned that. After three days. Then the children of Israel.

Journeyed. And came to their cities. On the third day. The cities of the. Gibeonites. The people who were there. Making this. Ruse. The cities of Gibeon.

Kepherah. Berath. And Kirjath. Jerim. But the children of Israel. Did not attack them. Because the rulers.

Of the congregation. Had sworn to them. By the Lord. God of Israel. And all the congregation. Complained against their rulers. They didn't like it. But this is the way. It had to be.

Then all the rulers. Said to all the congregation. We have sworn to them. By the Lord God of Israel. This is a. Binding covenant. We've made with them.

It's been made. Under God. And all the congregation. Complained. Oh excuse me. We have sworn to them. By the Lord God of Israel.

This verse 19. Now therefore. We may not touch them. This we will do. To them. We will let them live. Lest wrath be upon us.

Because of the oath. Which we swore to them. And the rulers. Said to them. Let them live. But let them be. Woodcutters. And water carriers. For all the congregation.

As the rulers. Had promised them. Then Joshua. Called for them. And he spoke to them. Saying. Why have you deceived us. Saying. We are very far from you.

When you near. Dwell near us. Now therefore. You are cursed. And none of you. Shall be freed. From being slaves. Woodcutters. And water carriers.

For the house of my God. So you know. The Gibeonites. Got their. Upcomings. They were cursed. Cursed in a way. That they would.

Now be. Required to. Live a life of servitude. To the people of Israel. And indeed. They would. And you can kind of trace. You see.

The Gibeonites. Mentioned a number of times. All throughout the Old Testament. And so. This is what happened. To the Gibeonites. So this is an honorable decision. Made by Israelite.

The Israelites. Joshua. And the leaders of Israel. To. To know that this. This covenant. Is. Binding. And Israel honored that.

In fact. We will see. A visible. Demonstration. Of that. In the very next chapter. The very next chapter. Is that. You know.

Amazing. Battle. That takes place. Where. The sun stands still. That's one of my. Favorite stories. In Joshua. Amazing. Amazing mirror.

That comes in chapter 10. Israel's doing battle. And who are they doing battle for? The Gibeonites. So it's not just. Simply that. They are saying.

Okay. All right. You're just going to be our servants now. But that's all. You know. We'll let you live. But that's all. They actually were duty bound. To even protect them. From their enemies.

As well. And that's exactly. What they did. By the way. And here's kind of an interesting twist. Again. About this miracle. If Israel had not made this covenant. With the Gibeonites.

Not that they should have. Not justifying it. But if they had never done that. We would not have in scripture. This most amazing miracle. Of the sun standing still. Not an interesting twist.

In it. But it just is a testimony. To. To a God. Who works all things out. For good. There's another note here. As I get. Close to the end of it here.

And that is. Though it's subtle here. And we have to go further. To find the truth of this. But the. Other interesting thing is. That we discover.

Is the faith. Of the Gibeonites. There's actual. An. An. Allusion. To. To faith. In Yahweh. The one true God. Look at verse 24. So they answered Joshua.

This is how they answered him. They said. Because your servants. Were clearly told. That the Lord your 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 very much afraid. For our lives. Because of you. And have done this thing.

And now. Here we are. In your hands. Do with us. As it seems good. And right. To do to us. So he did to them. And delivered them out. Of the hand of the children of Israel.

So that they did not kill them. And that day. Joshua made them. Woodcutters. And water carriers. For the congregation. And for the altar of the Lord. In the place. Which he would choose.

Even to this day. Now. What they said. To Joshua. The reason. Why they did what they did.

It's not justification. But the reason why they did it. Was all about. Fearing the one true God. They said. Something very similar.

To what Rahab said. And Rahab. Became a believer. Isn't that interesting? I think clearly.

That the Gibeonites. Became. Many of them. Became true followers. Of the one true God. True believers. In Yahweh God. And there is some evidence for that.

In the book of Nehemiah. And we don't need to turn to it. But there are two lists. In Nehemiah. Lists of the men. Who came out of the captivity.

Were allowed to come out of the captivity. To help repair the walls. Of Jerusalem. It's in Nehemiah 3. 7. And 7. 25. The two lists of these. These men. Who helped rebuild the walls.

And Gibeonites. Are listed among the Jews. They were believers. In Israel's God. As was Rahab.

A similar set of circumstances. And therefore. Equal recipients. Of God's saving grace. What a great God. You know. Think about it. To turn disobedience.

Into a blessing. That serves his purposes. A blessing. For a people. Who were. Outside. Of the covenant of God. And were.

Doomed. To destruction. Just like. You. And me. God is a gracious God.

Thank you.