Word of Encouragement (06/20/2023)
At that time Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. (Josh. 10:12-13)
This happened during Israel’s battle against the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. They joined all their forces together to fight against the people of Gibeon. Why? Because they heard that Israel utterly destroyed the city of Ai, and the people of Gibeon surrendered themselves and made a pact with Israel. The Gibeonites did that because they heard about the destruction of Jericho and Ai at the hand of Israel. So, they tricked Joshua into thinking that they had come from a faraway country so that he would make a peace treaty with them. Even though their deception was soon discovered, Joshua kept the covenant and spared them.
Joshua’s willingness to make a covenant with the Gibeonites showed that Israel had two different rules of engagement: one was for the people dwelling within the promised land and the other was for those who lived outside of the boundary. For the former, Israel had to employ cherem warfare and devote them to utter destruction, not leaving any survivors. For the latter, Israel could ask them to surrender and spare the lives of those who did. The two rules of engagement showed that Israel’s mission was not to destroy all pagan nations but only those in the land of Canaan. God commanded Israel to devote only the Canaanites (or the Amorites) to destruction to cleanse the land of their sins and make it holy. It was a cultic act—that is, an act of sacrificial worship. In Israel’s sacrificial worship, the Israelites were allowed to offer animals as their substitutes because they were under the covenant of grace. The Canaanites had to be slaughtered for their own sins because God’s judgment had come upon them.
Joshua would not have made a covenant with the Gibeonites if he knew that they lived in the land of Canaan. But he failed to do his due diligence to find out who the Gibeonites were. Maybe he decided to honor the covenant because he made a mistake, too, and could not just blame the Gibeonites. Another failure of Joshua was not to consult with the LORD, both before he entered the treaty and after he found out about the Gibeonites’ deception.
What is interesting is why God did not intervene. Quite often we do something wrong and blame God because He did not stop us from doing it! If God is good and all-powerful, shouldn't He stop us from doing bad things? Well, it seems that God's goal is more than just making us behave properly. Of course, God wants us to do what is right rather than what is wrong. But what does it profit us to do the right thing when our motives are all wrong—out of fear of punishment rather than love of what is good and true and beautiful?
Such integrity cannot be cultivated when God intervenes and makes us do the right thing. God must deal with our hearts. For that, He allows the condition of our heart to be exposed so it can be dealt with. Our (sinful) actions and words have consequences. But when God in His infinite wisdom allows them to happen, it is because He wants to expose what is in our hearts and address it. It is also because He is able to cause all things together for the good of His people, sanctifying not only our actions but also our hearts. Let us not blame God for our troubles. Instead, let us strive not to waste our sufferings if they come from God’s fatherly discipline. And let us pray for God’s wisdom and guidance in humble reliance upon Him in all our ways.
Tomorrow, we will see why God allowed Joshua to spare the Gibeonites, and how it is related to our prayer.