Tonight, we're going to look at Joshua 9. But before we read the text, I want to set the stage a little bit because we're jumping in midstream in Joshua's conquest. So before this, the Israelites have begun their conquest of Canaan, the promised land. And they did this under Moses, first on the east side of the Jordan, against Sihon and Og. And then Moses commanded them to continue this on the west side of the Jordan, putting all of the people under the band. And we can read of this in Deuteronomy 7, verses 1 through 4, as Moses is calling to the Israelites. When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you. And when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods and the Lord's anger will burn against you and he will quickly destroy you. So that's the call given to Joshua. They are to come into Canaan and bring about total destruction on the inhabitants. An order that is looking forward to the final judgment day. As Canaan was the land holy to God. And they brought about destruction there to those who were sinful. that was prophesied already to Abraham back in Genesis 15-16. And so that's what Joshua's conquest is looking forward to, this destruction. And Joshua comes in and he has initial successes before our text against Jericho and against Ai. But the Israelites also have some problems with disobedience. It's not quite as explicit in the first story, but we see spies sent out by Joshua. And where do they go to? They go right away to a prostitute's house, Rahab. And what do they do? They make a treaty with Rahab, a Canaanite. And then also after that, we have Achan, who takes some of the plunder from Jericho that they weren't supposed to take And so causes distress on the Israelites as they're defeated before Ai. And it leads to the death of him and his family. But despite these things, God is bringing about the fulfillment of his promises. He is bringing success to Joshua as they enter the land. And his success is causing the Canaanites to react to that. And so that's where we pick up our text, Joshua 9, and we will read the whole chapter. Now, when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things, those in the hill country and the western foothills and along the entire coast of the Great Sea, as far as Lebanon, the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, They came together to make war against Joshua and Israel. However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to a ruse. They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. The men put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy or crumbly. Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, We have come from a distant country. Make a treaty with us. The men of Israel said to the Hivites, But perhaps you live near to us. How then can we make a treaty with you? We are your servants, they said to Joshua. But Joshua asked, Who are you and where do you come from? They answered, Your servants have come from a very distant country. because of the fame of the Lord your God. For we have heard reports of him, all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. And our elders and all those living in our country said to us, Take provisions for your journey. Go and meet them and say to them, We are your servants. Make a treaty with us. This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is. And these wineskins, they were filled and new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey. The men of Israel sampled their provisions, but did not inquire of the Lord. Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath. Three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors living near them. So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities, Gibeon, Kephra, Beroth, and Kiryat-Yarim. But the Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders, but all the leaders answered, We have given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now. This is what we will do to them. We will let them live so that wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them. They continued, let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community. So the leader's promise to them was kept. Then Joshua subbed in the Gibeonites and said, why did you deceive us by saying we live a long way from you? Well, actually, you live near us. You are now under a curse. You will never cease to serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God. They answered, Joshua, your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you. So Joshua saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them. That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the Lord at the place the Lord would choose. And that is what they are to this day. Thus ends the reading of God's word. Now, to understand our text, we must remember the land of Canaan was not unified like a nation that we think of now. But Canaan was made up of little individual cities that were each their own nation, little city-states, we call them. And sometimes these city-states would fight amongst each other and sometimes they would gang up on another city somewhere else. It's as if Escondido tried to invade Valley Center maybe or we joined up with Vista and San Marcos so that we could invade Oceanside and get some coastal property. And the other thing is that these kings, they now have gotten worried. Israel has come in and they've had success against Jericho and I. And so they decide the best way to defeat this new threat is to form an alliance, to come together as one to fight Joshua and Israel. And the text makes it clear it's the entire land of Canaan has come together. But there is one exception, the Gibeonites. When they heard about the Israelite victories, they decided that they would respond with deception instead of force. Now, the text makes an allusion here. The term that's translated as ruse, right, in verse 4, that they resorted to a ruse, is very closely related to the term used in Genesis 3.1 to describe the serpent, that he was more crafty than all the other animals. So we can see here Israel confronted by a crafty foe. just as Adam was in the garden. And we're wondering, will Israel remain faithful? Will they fully implement God's commands? Or will they fail like Adam did? And thus have their descendants bear the consequences. Now, another thing for understanding our story is that Israel was to relate differently to people that were inside the land of Canaan and those that were outside of this. And we see this distinction made in Deuteronomy 20, verses 10 through 18. If you want to turn there. So again, as Moses was commanding the Israelites. Deuteronomy 20, 10 through 18. When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to the city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock, and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby. However, in the cities of the nations, the Lord your God has given you as an inheritance. Do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them, the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worship, worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God. So only the cities in the land of Canaan were under this total ban. Only these cities were to point forward to the final judgment, not the cities outside of the land of Canaan. They were to make a distinction between them. But Gibeon was a city in Canaan. In fact, it was actually one of the closer cities to Gilgal, where Israel was staying. We read later in chapter 10 that Joshua and the army was able to make the march from Gilgal to Gibeon in one night. It was a pretty hard march because it's about 20 miles and quite a bit of elevation gain. But anyway, it's close. And not only is it fairly close, I, the last city that Joshua defeated, is even closer to Gibeon. So it looked like Joshua was on the march towards them. So you can see why the people of Gibeon were a little uncomfortable. They were worried about what was coming. So they prepare this deception and set out. They take old bags for their donkeys, old wineskins for their wine, and they put on old clothes and worn out sandals and carry with them old, dry, crumbly bread. Now, they obviously weren't trying to impress the Israelites with their appearance. No, they were trying to deceive them for their distance. And so they come to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal. And they speak to Joshua, but also to the Israelites that are near him. And their request, you know, is quite pointed in the text. We wonder if there was a little more speech or not. But they say, we're from a far land. Now make a treaty with us. In many ways, this would have been a very appealing offer for the Israelites. They, right, are just a bunch of runaway slaves from Egypt. They have no permanent home, right? They're still living in a camp. And now there's people from a distant land, presumably important people, they want to make a treaty with Israel. But the people respond with doubt properly, right? They remember God's command not to make a treaty with anybody in the land. And if you notice, lest we forget that these are Hivites, people they're supposed to destroy, right? When the text tells us their answer, right? It says in verse 7, the men of Israel said to the Hivites, perhaps you live near us. So they are living near them, and the text brings that out. Well, the Gibeonites, you know, they don't give up and they don't immediately answer this question of the Israelites, right? Instead, they turn to Joshua and in some ways they make their offer a little sweeter. They tell him, we are your servants. So not only do they want to make a treaty with Israel, right? They want to be the lesser party. They want to be the servants of Israel, the ones who do the heavy lifting. while Israel, right, would be their lord, would be the upper party in this treaty. But Joshua, again, doesn't give in right away. He wants some more information. Who are you? Where do you come from? And again, the Gibeonites, they avoid being specific, right? Who are we? Well, we're your servants. Where are we from? We're from a very distant land. Now it's become a very distant land versus just distant. And not only that, right, why are we here? Well, we're actually quite pious, right? We've come because of the fame of your God, right? We know, we heard all that he did in Egypt and also all that he did across the Jordan to Sihon and Og. Notice they remember not to include Jericho and Ai, thus giving themselves away, right? They only talk about the past victories. So these people come, right, as the biggest fans of Israel, right? We admire your God, so come now, make a treaty with us. And if you still doubt us, look, we have evidence here. We got our bread and our wineskins, our clothes and our sandals, right? They all prove that we've been on this long journey. Now, some commentators think there's humor in this passage, right? This scenario is too ridiculous. How could Israel really fall for this? These people who come dressed up, right? They may have some hard evidence, right? Hard bread, that is. But it crumbles on inspection. But yet, it somewhat rings true to how things work, right? We are often misled when we want something to be true, right? The Gibeonites had appealed to their pride, right? Here was a quicker way for them to get international renown, right? This deal, this was too good to pass up. Here was somebody who wanted to be an ally of Israel, giving them some legitimacy and support. And the drama is also raised by an allusion to another deception. Can you think of any other time in biblical history when somebody dressed up in different clothes? and cooked a special meal to come in and deceive somebody. There's direct ties to when Jacob deceived his father Isaac to steal the blessing from his brother Esau. And so now here we have the descendants of Jacob falling for the very same trick. They're about to give the blessing of a covenant of peace to the wrong people. And the Israelites fall for this ruse. They have their doubts assuaged as they sample this bread, the provisions of the Gibeonites. And then Joshua and the leaders, they make a treaty, a peace treaty, a treaty to let them live. Now in these verses, you notice all the groups that are mentioned. We have the men of Israel, Joshua and the leaders of the assembly, right? This is a pretty full showing of everybody who's important. Seems like everybody was included in this decision, right? But the text says no, right? They failed to inquire of the Lord. The men of Israel took of the Gibeonites' provisions, but they failed to inquire of the Lord. Now, the Gibeonites came to Joshua at Gilgal. And it's important that they came to him there at the camp. The camp where the tabernacle was located, where the Ark of the Covenant was located, where the high priest was located. And we can think of another law that Joshua should have remembered. In Numbers 27, 18 through 21, when Joshua was being commissioned, he was given the command. So the Lord said to Moses, take Joshua, son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. He is to stand before Eliezer the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord. At his command, he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command, they will come in. So Joshua had neglected to inquire of the Lord by the appointed means that he had given him, the high priest. they had made a covenant with this nation without talking to their Lord, the one they were in covenant with, the one whose servants they were. They had trusted in the bread of these Gibeonites instead of in the word of God. And this point is also highlighted in our text because what occurs right before Joshua 9? We have in the end of chapter 8, Joshua bringing the people for covenant renewal near Shechem, where they stand on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and all the words of the law are read to them, reaffirming that they are the servants of Yahweh. They are under his command. And yet, in the next chapter, they're operating on their own. And how often do we do that? Do we depend on our own wisdom, our own insight, instead of turning to God? We face life and its decisions, neglecting to remember that we are servants of the great king. For all practical purposes, we think of ourselves as the masters of our own fate. How often do we not consult his word? Or maybe sometimes, like the Israelites, we remember part of it. You know, it wasn't quite as it says in Deuteronomy, but, you know, they said they're from a far land, and so they remembered the gist of the law, but yet they were really pursuing their own purposes. And we also do this having reaffirmed our covenant with God every week. For when we come together in our church services, we are doing much the same as Joshua did with Israel in their covenant renewal. We come here and we hear God's law read. We hear his word preached. And then we go out in the week and we act like we never heard it. So we need to repent. And we need to turn to the one who was faithful where we fail. Because as the Gibeonite deception looks back to Adam's failure and repeats it, it also looks forward to the second Adam, right? The true Israel who faithfully followed and perfectly obeyed all of God's law, Jesus Christ. As recorded in the Gospels, he too entered Canaan and he was confronted by a crafty one, the devil himself. But to each of the temptations, Jesus responded with the word of God, a portion of scripture revealing his will. And so we also need to be equipped by God's word so we can discern his pure and holy will. But we should also see in this passage the perils confronting the church. When God commanded Israel not to make covenants with the inhabitants of the land, As we read in those passages, it was so that those nations would not lead Israel into false worship, right? Into idolatry, into the detestable practices that they use to worship their gods, which eventually led to Israel's exile. Likewise, the church, right, is confronted daily by temptations, by pressures to conform to this world. It's tempting to align ourselves with some groups that will give us greater prominence or greater standing in this world. Or sometimes it's tempting to change our practices to fit contemporary culture. Do sermons and sacraments really speak to the average American? There are also pressures to be more politically correct. How can we really make the exclusive claims of Christ? in this day and age and these temptations come not only from outside but even from in the church itself and so God has given us leaders right to protect us to keep the church pure in its worship and doctrine and this is a great and awesome responsibility so in this text we see a warning to our pastors, our elders, even our deacons, not to depend on their own wisdom as they seek to guide the church. It calls you to be diligent in guarding the sheep from the wolves that are without and from the wolves that are within. Not to try to be wiser than God. He is the Lord of this church. And may we always act in submission to him. And as members of this church, it calls on us to pray for our leaders, to give them support and the respect that they're entitled as leaders given by God. But yet we must remember they're not perfect. And sometimes we will need to bear with their failings. Israel soon found out, right, the mistake that had been made. The Gibeonites were not from a far land. They were very near, close by. And the people of Israel grumbled against their leaders. It's allusion to back during the wilderness, but now they were legitimately grumbling. They had reason to be angry. And so also our leaders sometimes make decisions that in retrospect are wrong, unwise. But the Israelites did not rebel. They did not break this oath that the leaders had sworn. And so we're also called to abide by the decisions, even when we disagree with them and sometimes circumstances prove them wrong, because they are God's appointed authority. Now, it must be emphasized that this does not apply when they seek to lead us into heresy, into false worship. Any distortions of the gospel cannot be tolerated. But Joshua and the leaders here were not trying to implement Baal worship. Instead, they were acting unwisely, failing in their duties as they ought, and the whole community suffered because of it and had to bear with them. And so also we must bear with the leadership God has given to us until he returns. But their imperfections should not lead to less respect or honor. But instead it should spur us to further support and encouraging them, knowing they need our prayers to carry out the duties that God has given to them. But we can see in this text also that despite Israel's failing, or really through it, God accomplished his purposes. Even though Israel didn't break this treaty with Gibeon, they're placed under a curse. And this is, in many ways, a fulfillment of what Noah had prophesied in Genesis 9.25. But maybe more importantly, in the very next chapter, we have the story of this group of kings, right? The southern part of it attacks Gibeon because they have made this treaty with Israel. And this attack provokes Israel to respond because part of their duty as a covenant member, right, because of this treaty, is that they need to help protect Gibeon when they're under attack. And it's through this attack that God brings about victory over the whole of southern Canaan. And then after this, they defeat the northern tribes. And so God used this covenant to provoke the conflict with the nations and even to divide this coalition that had come up against Israel, that was forming against Israel. But we also need to ask about the Gibeonites. We focused most of our attention on Israel and their actions. But what can we learn from those of the Gibeonites? especially their very pious-sounding confessions. In some ways, the actions of the Gibeonites really highlight Israel's unfaithfulness. In the description of their clothes and their sandals and even their food, we see allusions back to the wilderness wanderings. Only there, Israel's sandals did not wear out. Their garments did not become old. And they didn't have to eat dry, crumbly bread, right? They were fed by the bread of heaven, the manna. And so these Gibeonites who have only heard about what God has done are in many ways showing greater faith than the Israelites who have experienced it themselves. And we see in their confession in Joshua 24 that they almost have more faith in what God will do than Israel itself. They say to Joshua, Your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God has commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. They know that their only hope of preserving their lives is by attaching themselves to Israel. Once the leaders swore an oath to the Gibeonites, the God of Israel was now the one who would protect the Gibeonites. Because they swore an oath in his name. And if they broke that oath, they would be under God's wrath. And we even see this later in Israelite history, in 2 Samuel 21, where Saul had taken revenge on the Gibeonites and it caused a famine in the land. So even though Joshua curses them here and tells them that they will be at the lowest class of society, they still know that they need to be in his hands, right? They put themselves at his disposal, knowing that a covenant of peace is the only way they will save their lives. And Joshua upholds this. And it says in verse 26, So Joshua saved them, the Gibeonites, from the Israelites, and they did not kill them. The Gibeonites were saved from judgment. this judgment that Joshua was bringing, because they received mercy from Joshua, though he didn't plan it, and it was only because of his failings. And of all the nations, the Gibeonites were the only ones who received this. We see in chapter 11, verses 18 through 20, Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time, Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Why was it that the Gibeonites alone did not fight against Israel? This text tells us that it was the Lord who hardened the hearts of the other kings, but not those of Gibeon. So here in the midst of a picture of God's judgment brought by Joshua, we also have a note of his mercy. And Joshua here points us to another Joshua, right? Jesus Christ. And if we're united with him in a covenant of peace, we will be saved from the final judgment of God's wrath. But unlike Israel and Joshua, we do not need to deceive him to gain that life. Instead, he takes unto himself all who turn to him in faith. For not only is he willing to save, he is the one who made that salvation possible through his own suffering and death. Now, I'm not saying that the Gibeonites all became good followers of Israel's God, right? The text makes it clear that most of them were worried about their lives. But it is because they received this mercy that we read about the Gibeonites later in history. And it continues on down, even past the exile. And so the mercy, the call for mercy is still going out today. Today is the day of salvation. And if you repent in your sins and believe, you will be saved. But we cannot delay. For when Jesus returns, he will return with a sword like Joshua. It will be the day of judgment for all the world and its sins. And all who do not have a covenant of peace with him will perish in eternal punishment. He will execute God's judgment perfectly, unlike Joshua. For no one will be able to deceive him, for he sees the heart. As he said, many will cry, Lord, Lord, and he will say, I never knew you. So examine yourself, for this is a most serious matter. The Gibeonites were worried about their lives, but we need to worry about our souls. Why are you in the church? Is it a social thing? Is it a family thing? Or is your only comfort in life and in death that you belong to your faithful Savior, Jesus Christ? You may be able to deceive your family. You may be able to deceive your friends or even leaders of the church in making a profession, but you will not deceive the Lord of all when he returns to judge the living and the dead. So come to him so that he can give you life. Entrust yourself to him, and he will feed you not dry, crumbly bread, but his own body and blood. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we glory in your grace, your grace shown to us, that you have chosen us, chosen us who have more in common with the Gibeonites, for most are not of the race, ethnic race of Israel. But you have joined us to yourself, and through Jesus Christ have given us peace with you, and we rejoice in that. And may we, in the strength of your spirit, go out in this week to serve you with our whole hearts, with all our minds, with all our strength. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.