Joshua 9

Tired? No way. Well, maybe you should have a little bit of coffee. Maybe it's hot. It's not hot. It's actually very cold. Well, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotion. This morning, we are at Joshua chapter 9. We're going to talk. Hey, you can drink all of it. There's none left for me. You little coffee lush. Oh, man, you took all my coffee. That was my last drops this morning.
Okay. Well, uh, this morning we're going to be talking about a treaty with a tricky people. How are they tricky? Oh, you're going to find out. There's a treaty with some tricky people. They fool Joshua and the Israelites. They're going to cause some problems here. So let's go ahead and pray, and we'll read Joshua chapter 9.
God, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for the day that you have given us. And we pray that as we read your word, that you would please help us to understand it. Lord, we pray that you would teach us and that we would I pray that we would have wisdom in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, Joshua chapter 9. Here we go, Dan.
And it came to pass when all the people 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 against Joshua and Israel in one accord. So all the camps are together and they're like, man, we're afraid. The Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, all the Ites.
So you have the Ite camp. Why are they trying to destroy Joshua? Because Joshua and the Israelites are coming in to conquer the promised land. Why did they win? Well, they won at Jericho and they won at Ai, but now they've got a whole bunch of more battles to go.
Okay, but when the inhabitants of Gibeon, which that's about five miles north of Ai, when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard 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.
And they went to Joshua to camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country, and now therefore make a covenant with us. Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you dwell among us, so how can we make a covenant with you? But they said to Joshua, We are your servants. And Joshua said to them, Who are you, and where do you come from? So they said to him, From a very far country your servants have come, because of the name of Jehovah your God, for we have heard of his fame, 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 king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who was at Astaroth. Therefore, our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, Take provisions with you, go for a journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, We are your servants, now therefore make a covenant with us. This bread of ours we took hot from our provision and from our houses on the day we departed to come to you.
But now look, it's dry and moldy. And these wineskins, which we filled, were new. And see, they're torn. And these, our garments and our sandals, have become old because of the very long journey. See what they're doing? Why do they want a covenant? Well, they don't want to be conquered. They don't want to be killed. What's the covenant, then? Well, we'll see.
Then the men of Israel took some of the provisions. They did not ask counsel from the Lord. But Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. And the rulers of the congregation swore to them. And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to the cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Shephora, Baroth, and Kirthjath-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.
So they had made a covenant like, okay, we're going to be friends. We're not going to fight each other. We're not going to, we're going to make a compact. We're allies. Well, they went to their city and they found out, Oh man, they're not, they didn't come from a far country. There were only a few miles up the road and we didn't know it.
Yeah, they tricked them Then all the rulers said to all the congregation we have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel Now therefore we may not touch them This we will do to them We will let them live less wrath be upon us because of the oath we swore to them and the ruler said to them let them live and But let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation as the rulers had promised them All right, so they can live but they're gonna be servants.
They're gonna have to do the hard manual labor Then Joshua called for them and he spoke to them saying Why have you deceived us saying you were you are very far from you? Or we are very far from you when you dwell near us. I 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 they answered Joshua and 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 before you. Therefore we are very much afraid. We are very much afraid. for our lives because of you and have done this thing. And now here we are in your hands. Do to 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 him or did not kill them. But they did kill other people. Well, yeah, like an eye and a Jericho. 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. So they did destroy the city? Nope.
They let them live. They had made a promise. They had taken a vow. They were going to do it. But not then they destroyed the city. They didn't. They didn't destroy their city. Yes a promised land, but they made an oath did they even ask God about it But did they go and did they go and search things out beforehand Nope Right they had flattered them. They played all the right moves didn't they?
But they had false signs right look at her look at our bread. It was hot when we left home and now it's a dry and moldy. Look at our sandals and our clothes that was fresh and new when we left the house. And now it's dirty and torn up. Yeah. Yeah, they tricked him. But notice what else they tricked them with. Did you see how they started?
So they said to him, we are from a very far country. Your servants have come because of the name of the Lord, your God. For we have heard his fame and all that he did in Egypt. So they even flatter them by appealing to their God and to their faith. You know, people will still do that today.
There will be I just got a phone call from someone that I think was trying to scam daddy and they were Trying to essentially like you should give us your credit card number and help us out, right? If you're if if you're a Christian, we know that you're the pastor of this church And so we we need a hotel room and I they wouldn't tell me their names They wouldn't tell me exactly where they were from. They wouldn't tell me their full story and It's like the scammer who stole $100,000 from somebody.
Yeah, right. Just give them just enough information where it seems true and they might even play on your faith though. And are the people happy about this? The people of Israel when they find out that the elders made a covenant, made a treaty with these people?
Nope. Nope. So they never got the punishment? They didn't get the cities of Gibeon. Nope. Nope. They had made a promise. They had made a vow and now they could destroy that city, but they had to stay alive. Nope. Nope. They make, they make this treaty with them. They're going to be, they're going to be friends. They don't, they don't pray for wisdom. They don't go and investigate the matter. They're so excited about this that they rush into this agreement.
And then now here's the thing. They made this agreement. Now they got to live by this agreement. and they lose like 20,000 feet of land. Yeah, right. They lose a lot of land because of this, right? The land that they should have gotten if they had thought through this and invested. Like, hmm, you guys are actually only like five miles away. Aren't you guys the one who have the palm's land?
Yeah, right. So. But they didn't. So what do you think this is about? Don't trust somebody you just meet. Are there any spirituals? Not just that, but in this passage, what was God saying in Joshua chapter 9 here? What was this history about? Because it's a history story. Good, the Gibeonites tricked Joshua and the leaders.
So now let's talk about Beth's verse. This is a hard one for Beth's verse because it's all over the place. I have underlined in my Bible verse 14, but they did not ask counsel of the Lord. And I'm going to say that for our calling. Even as we're doing religious things, you have to still plead with God for wisdom. Lord, please show me your ways. Please help me make right decisions. There's a way in which seems right to us if we can rush into things and not ask the Lord, God, how should we do this? Please lead us in the right way. Help us to investigate and get to the truth of things.
So they needed to make sure that they actually, that was actually the right thing. Yeah. Instead of being like, hey, oh yeah, we can do that. Yeah. And I think there's also another moral lesson here. The other moral lesson would be that if we're going to say something, if we're going to make an agreement with someone, we got to keep it, don't we? Instead of being like, you know, I just want to destroy your city. Yeah, as much as we can, we should be truth tellers and promise keepers, right? But most, uh, who was that guy? Who was this? Joshua? Joshua.
Joshua, uh, keep his promise and they'd be like, hey, we'll actually destroy your city. Yeah. Now were there consequences for them for deceiving? Yes. Yeah. They were kept alive and they kept their houses, but now they had to provide the food or the, the wood and the water for the temple or for the tabernacle. They had to cut wood, yes! That would actually be fine. So essentially saying, you said that you feared God, now you're going to have to provide for the fire of the altar and for the water that's needed. So they had to keep that promise too. So they had to actually serve that God who they had tricked. But they did. They did. Yeah, they did.
So, but here's where I want to ask, right, as to get us out of a moral, just moral lessons. Do you think Jesus makes covenants like this and didn't know what he was doing? No, he would know. Oh, you guys are tricking me. So when Jesus made at the Last Supper, he made a covenant and it was in his own blood. Was it, did he know that Judas was going to betray him? Did he make this covenant not knowing what was about to happen on the cross? He knew it was going to happen. But it was hard to keep that covenant. He just knew the law told him to do that. But it was going to be really, really hard for him to keep that.
Well he did it so we couldn't be sinners and be bleh. Yeah, he did it for us, right? Jesus is the ultimate promise keeper, isn't he? Yep. He would know that they were tricking him and he would be like, let me investigate. And then he would just destroy the city. Yeah. You ready to pray? Yeah. Okay. God, we thank you so much that we have a better Joshua. We have our Jesus.
Lord, we pray that you would please help us to trust him, the covenant that he's made. Lord, we pray that in our lives we would have wisdom, that we would seek your counsel and desire to follow in your ways in our life. Lord, we pray that you would also help us to when we do make promises to be promise keepers. But Lord, we pray this because we know that you have made promises to us, and your promises are always yes and amen.
And you do not stop half-heartedly, but you finish every good work you've begun. And you've begun a good work in us. Thank you, Lord, that we can trust in your faithfulness to make us faithful. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, God bless you, and we'll see you next time. You wanna say goodbye? Bye. Bye.