Again, I cannot thank everyone enough for your prayers for Luke,
our grandson. Early this afternoon Luke is scheduled for surgery to relieve the
pain that is being caused by the fluid leak from his brain. It will be a very extensive
and complicated surgery involving so many factors that there will be a whole
team of surgeons and specialists involved in it. We are so thankful for all the
special care that he is receiving from this team and the hospital staff. But at
the same time, we know that we need the Great Physician to work through them
and to bring healing to Luke and a quick recovery. Your prayers make all the
difference in the world, and on behalf of Luke, Chris, Kimberly, and our family
we want you to know that we appreciate them so very much!
I know I have said it before, but it bears repeating; “All
of our mistakes and failures are prayer failures”! That is really the story of
Joshua 9. But as we come to the end of this chapter, we find that by the grace of
God, we can turn our mistakes into blessings.
Gibeon was located only twenty-five miles from the camp of
Israel at Gilgal and was on Joshua's list to be destroyed. In Deuteronomy
20:10-20, God's law stated that Israel must destroy all the cities in Canaan.
If after the conquest Israel was involved in other wars, they could offer peace
to cities that were outside the land. Somehow the Gibeonites knew about this
law and decided to use it for their own protection by deceiving the leaders of
Israel into thinking that they came a long way from across the border of
Canaan.
How did the leaders of Israel discover that they had made a
big mistake? Knowing that they were now out of danger, perhaps the
"ambassadors" openly admitted what they had done. However it
happened, Joshua discovered that he and the princes had blundered; and no doubt
they were humbled and embarrassed because of it. We must give the leaders
credit for being men of their word. To violate their oath would have been to
take the holy name of Jehovah in vain, and this would have brought about divine
judgment. Years later King Saul violated this oath; and God judged the nation
severely (2 Sam. 21).
Why did the Jewish people grumble at what their leaders had
done (v. 18)? Moses had given Israel stern warnings against compromising with
the people of the land (Deut. 7), and now they had foolishly made a covenant
with the enemy. However, we wonder what decisions the common people would have
made had they been in the place of the leaders. It's easy to criticize after
the fact!
That wasn't the end of the story. Joshua and his associates
teach us an important lesson: If you make a mistake, admit it; and then make
your mistake work for you! The leaders put the Gibeonites to work hauling water
and fuel for the service of the tabernacle, where both water and wood were used
in abundance. In later years. the Gibeonites were called the Nethinim
("given ones", given to assist the priests) and labored as servants
in the temple (1 Chron. 9:2; Ezra 2:43, 58; Neh. 3:26). In Joshua 10, we shall
see that God overruled Joshua's mistake and used it to give him a signal
victory over five kings at one time.
There's no evidence in Scripture that the descendants of the Gibeonites
created any problems for the Jews. It is also likely that their service in the
tabernacle, and later in the temple, influenced them to abandon their idols and
worship the God of Israel. The fact that over 500 Nethinim returned to
Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity (Ezra 2:43-58; 8:20) suggests that
they were devoted to the Lord and His house.
Today, we need to remember that even though we must face
the consequences for our mistakes and failures we can receive God’s grace and believe,
“that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are
called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
God Bless!
