Have you ever had to choose to move towards something that you knew was going to be painful and yet you also knew it would ultimately lead to that which was very good? How do you resolve the problem of pain while trying to hold onto that which is essential to right relationship? Do I hate the dentist, do I distrust and pull away from my parents who sent me there, or do I resolve to see purpose beyond pain. It's a simple question to answer when we think of cavities cleaned and filled to rot no more, but it's more difficult to answer when we consider the pages of the Old Testament.
In Deuteronomy 7:1 all the people of Israel were told that they would take over the land of Caanan from seven nations that were greater and stronger than themselves. Verse 2 says, ? ?you shall defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with . . .
I remember a time when I was about 8 years old and was having a lot of problems with my teeth. It was at that time in my life that I developed my first great fear, the fear of sitting in a dentists chair and watching him approach me with a needle as big as a matadors? sword. There was one time when I had to make my way to the dentists? office all on my own, to sit in the waiting room and then present myself as a willing participant in the removal of decayed enamel.
Have you ever had to choose to move towards something that you knew was going to be painful and yet you also knew it would ultimately lead to that which was very good? How do you resolve the problem of pain while trying to hold onto that which is essential to right relationship? Do I hate the dentist, do I distrust and pull away from my parents who sent me there, or do I resolve to see purpose beyond pain. It's a simple question to answer when we think of cavities cleaned and filled to rot no more, but it's more difficult to answer when we consider the pages of the Old Testament.
In Deuteronomy 7:1 all the people of Israel were told that they would take over the land of Caanan from seven nations that were greater and stronger than themselves. Verse 2 says, ? ?you shall defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.? In Joshua 6, Jericho and all its? people were destroyed, in Joshua 8 Ai was utterly destroyed. When we read chapter 9 and especially chapter 10, we will be confronted with the mess of historical conquest and the pain inherent in it and will want to look away from the God who could order such destruction and even allow Israel to suffer deception. Let us set the compass for our spiritual journey this morning with these verses :
Daniel 4:35 "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done? - THE SOVEREIGNTY OF A HOLY GOD
Lamentations 3:32,33 For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men. - THE LOVE OF A HOLY GOD
Eziekiel 18:23 "Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? - THE MERCY OF A HOLY GOD
From the time of the Flood of Noah, about 2400 B.C., to the time the time of the conquest of Caanan by Joshua, about 1400 B.C., man had gone from an absolute knowledge of the God Who is and Who had unmistakably rescued them(Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth and their wives) to a full blown case of ignorance and rebellion against God in the nations of Caanan. To God this 1000 years must have been like a day, which makes it all the more remarkable that He allowed the events of Joshua 9 to occur. Let's read that.
I. Gibeon's Choice, Seek For Mercy or Fight to Death.
Whether through the public proclamations on Mount Ebal or through the conversations of spies, the people of Gibeon came to know that the occupation of Caanan was going to be absolute and the policy of the eradication of the kings, armies and cities would be carried out. The surprising aspect of this is? why only Gibeon ? Did the others really believe they could overcome on their own, did they think that should they loose Israel would somehow make an exception for them? Clearly there were only two choices, seek for mercy or fight to death, yet only Gibeon sought this. It's strange that these two choices are a lot like those which we are faced with in our relationship to God? will we seek mercy or will we fight to death? Can we gain God's approval by our best efforts and what happens should we fail? Will He somehow make an exception just for us? The answer is clear, to seek for mercy is the only path to life. I'd like to emphasize the importance of seeking mercy from God's point of view.
Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy.
Psalm 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Psalm 147:11 The LORD takes pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
It's clear that God values the heart that seeks for mercy, but can this describe the Gibeonites? Weren't they deceptive, didn't they try to sneak in the back door so to speak? That really leads us to the second point?
II. Gibeons Survival, Security Through Servanthood.
There is another principle that is also involved here. The leaders and Joshua had promised, in the name of the Lord, to show mercy to the Gibeonites. The name of the Lord had been used to seal the covenant of peace, which meant that it was irrevocable, it couldn't be broken or gone back on. They hadn't just given their word, they'd given God's word that they would be faithful to this promise of life. So what it boils down to is that Gibeon didn't deserve mercy but received it because they were covered under the name of the Lord. Remarkably, God accepts both Gibeon and Israel , one had been deceptive and the other negligent. Mercy over arches them both.
Where there should have been death, there was now secured life, there was a covenant of peace that bound them to Israel and to God. So what does Joshua do? He assigns them to be servants to all Israel , but more specifically, they are assigned to serve the Levites and the priests in keeping the Temple area and its fires. They were to be near the bronze layer where the priests ceremonially washed, they were to be near the fire where offerings for guilt were done. They were to see sin and its price and they were to see the evidence of the holy God of Israel. Joshua had saved them from certain death in order to serve in the holiest place on earth. In these actions they learned to serve the holy God of Israel.
So we could ask, was it God's will that Israel make a covenant with the people of Gibeon . The answer from Deut. 7:2 is clearly, No. Was it God's will that those who seek for mercy, receive mercy in His name, the answer from Joshua 9 is, Yes. In fact if you peek ahead to Joshua 11:19,20, you?ll see that it was only Gibeon that desired peace, God hardened the heart of every one of the other cities that they would fight to death. What does this mean for us?
1. God's Almighty sovereignty is higher than our opinions of fairness or equality.
2. God has tremendous purpose in pain, He is dealing with the decay of sin in all humanity and is passionate that right relationship with Him be sustained even as sin is dealt with.
3. God was not willing to grieve His greatest pleasure, the person of Jesus Christ, but God was willing to send Jesus Christ into humanity that by His holy death the sin of mankind against God would be completely paid for.
4. God is willing to love you to death, He is willing to place you in the holiest place on earth in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
5. God has secured your life to Him by the promise of His Word, even Jesus Christ, He's given you His word on that!
6. God has ordained you as priests forever, to eternally be His servants to all but the angels.
Rev. Spence Laycock pastors at Church of the Open Bible, Ponoka, Alberta, Canada.
www.churchoftheopenbible.ab.ca