“Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!” (Psalm 24:9-10 ESV)
US Air Force Academy Chapel
Joshua 9
Sneaky Neighbors
¨A group of over 600,00 or so does not travel around unnoticed and the Israelites are no exception. In fact, in the book of Joshua a common theme is how the nations of Canaan heard of what the Israelites were capable of and how these nations became fearful as the Israelites came near.
¨One often overlooked fact is that the people of Canaan have had 40+ years to prepare for the Israelites to cross over the Jordan and to start taking over. Do they go the route of the Jericho citizens and shut themselves inside in fear or do they have the reaction of these Canaanite kings, and try to join a coalition to stop Israel?
¨WRONG! The answer is “D”- try to get on the Israelite’s good graces. We read in Psalm 2 that the natural inkling is to try to plot against the Lord and his people, but this is a hopeless ideal. You are not going to be able to beat God Almighty- try as hard as you want you ain’t gonna be able to do it.
¨Rahab the prostitute put it right out there that she had heard and knew how powerful Yahweh was and that she wanted to be on his side when she helped the Israeli spies. The Gibeonites figured they try this same tactic, just in a more sneaky and cunning way. Instead of trying to go about it through traditional means the Gibeonites used deception.
¨A group of over 600,00 or so does not travel around unnoticed and the Israelites are no exception. In fact, in the book of Joshua a common theme is how the nations of Canaan heard of what the Israelites were capable of and how these nations became fearful as the Israelites came near.
¨One often overlooked fact is that the people of Canaan have had 40+ years to prepare for the Israelites to cross over the Jordan and to start taking over. Do they go the route of the Jericho citizens and shut themselves inside in fear or do they have the reaction of these Canaanite kings, and try to join a coalition to stop Israel?
¨WRONG! The answer is “D”- try to get on the Israelite’s good graces. We read in Psalm 2 that the natural inkling is to try to plot against the Lord and his people, but this is a hopeless ideal. You are not going to be able to beat God Almighty- try as hard as you want you ain’t gonna be able to do it.
¨Rahab the prostitute put it right out there that she had heard and knew how powerful Yahweh was and that she wanted to be on his side when she helped the Israeli spies. The Gibeonites figured they try this same tactic, just in a more sneaky and cunning way. Instead of trying to go about it through traditional means the Gibeonites used deception.
Sneaky Neighbors Continued
¨Did you catch where even though they are Gibeonites the Israelites called them Hivites? The Gibeonites were a tribe inside the larger nation of the Hivites.
¨The Gibeonites pull one of the oldest tricks in the book when they show up at Israel’s doors with tattered clothes, hard bread, and old wineskins but the sad thing is that the Israelites fell for it. In 9:14 we read that they didn’t ask counsel from God before signing the treaty.
¨The Israelites honor the treaty and let the Gibeonites live, but mostly they live as servants. You may think this is undignified but it’s better to be a servant and live than to be free, be an enemy of God, and die.
¨Did you catch where even though they are Gibeonites the Israelites called them Hivites? The Gibeonites were a tribe inside the larger nation of the Hivites.
¨The Gibeonites pull one of the oldest tricks in the book when they show up at Israel’s doors with tattered clothes, hard bread, and old wineskins but the sad thing is that the Israelites fell for it. In 9:14 we read that they didn’t ask counsel from God before signing the treaty.
¨The Israelites honor the treaty and let the Gibeonites live, but mostly they live as servants. You may think this is undignified but it’s better to be a servant and live than to be free, be an enemy of God, and die.
Joshua 10
The Day the Sun Stood Still
¨The King of Jerusalem sees how powerful Joshua and the Israelites are and what they are capable of so he creates a coalition and decides to go after the guys that just joined Israel- the Gibeonites.
¨The coalition didn’t even go after the Israelites- they went after the servants but since Israel had promised to let the Gibeonites live when the Gibeonites were attacked the Israelites came in and cleaned house.
On a related note, the Gibeonites are mentioned later on in the Bible as being servants of the Israelites so this treaty was kept, which is more than can be said for those who didn’t try to make peace. Have you ever met a Jebusite?
¨When the Israeli army comes in after marching all night and surprises the aggressors, the enemy becomes panicked and tries to flee but in their attempted escape the Lord starts to strike them down with hail stones.
¨This is very similar to an event that is prophesied and is still yet to come- when a future alliance of northern nations go to attack the Israelites in a surprise attack, Yahweh strikes back at them himself and takes them down. (Ezekiel 38)
¨While the battle is still going on in the book of Joshua, Joshua prays that the sun stay up longer so they can finish the battle and Yahweh answers his prayer and they get some more day light to finish the job.
¨The King of Jerusalem sees how powerful Joshua and the Israelites are and what they are capable of so he creates a coalition and decides to go after the guys that just joined Israel- the Gibeonites.
¨The coalition didn’t even go after the Israelites- they went after the servants but since Israel had promised to let the Gibeonites live when the Gibeonites were attacked the Israelites came in and cleaned house.
On a related note, the Gibeonites are mentioned later on in the Bible as being servants of the Israelites so this treaty was kept, which is more than can be said for those who didn’t try to make peace. Have you ever met a Jebusite?
¨When the Israeli army comes in after marching all night and surprises the aggressors, the enemy becomes panicked and tries to flee but in their attempted escape the Lord starts to strike them down with hail stones.
¨This is very similar to an event that is prophesied and is still yet to come- when a future alliance of northern nations go to attack the Israelites in a surprise attack, Yahweh strikes back at them himself and takes them down. (Ezekiel 38)
¨While the battle is still going on in the book of Joshua, Joshua prays that the sun stay up longer so they can finish the battle and Yahweh answers his prayer and they get some more day light to finish the job.
Joshua 11-14 (summary)
The Land Has Rest
¨The basics of these chapters is that Joshua has pretty much conquered all of Canaan and that the tribes of Israel start to receive their territorial allotment.
¨The tribes that wanted to stay outside of the holy land and east of the Jordan are given their territory and the tribes that are staying in the holy land are also given all of their cities.
¨The tribe of Levi is given no inheritance (as was told to them all along), they would be the priestly tribe.
¨Finally, Caleb the faithful spy is given an inheritance all his own in the city of Hebron.
¨The basics of these chapters is that Joshua has pretty much conquered all of Canaan and that the tribes of Israel start to receive their territorial allotment.
¨The tribes that wanted to stay outside of the holy land and east of the Jordan are given their territory and the tribes that are staying in the holy land are also given all of their cities.
¨The tribe of Levi is given no inheritance (as was told to them all along), they would be the priestly tribe.
¨Finally, Caleb the faithful spy is given an inheritance all his own in the city of Hebron.