Firstfruits from the Nations 4

The Inhabitants of Gibeon

“And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.” Joshua 9:15

The truth which is most often induced from the account of the Gibeonites and their false testimony to Israel is the deceitfulness of sin and the need for Christian believers to be on guard against it, pleading to Christ for wisdom, and not leaning on their own understanding, as Joshua and the people of Israel did to their own frustration. This is no doubt the primary lesson of the account in Joshua 9.

But there is another message for us in the story of the Gibeonites, namely, a testimony to the fact that whoever casts himself on Jesus can find mercy, whatever his ethnicity, and whatever his crimes against God and the people of God.

In the opening verses of Joshua 9, there is a contrast in reactions to the report of Israel’s early victories in Canaan between the alliance of kings and the inhabitants of Gibeon. In the arrogant and foolhearty spirit of a yet-to-be written Psalm, the kings of Canaan “set themselves, and [took] counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’” (Psalm 2:2-3). In their own strength and wicked conspiracy, they attempted to triumph over Joshua and the people of God. Their dishonesty aside, the actions of the Gibeonites demonstrate that they, in contrast, feared the God of Israel and perceived correctly that their only hope was to join themselves to His people at any cost, so that by some means they might find themselves in His favor and so escape His wrath.

“And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, ‘We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us’” (Joshua 9:6). They had not, in fact, come from a distant country, but wanted to avoid the destruction which God had prescribed for all of the idolatrous inhabitants of Canaan. The grounds for their request was, as they stated, fear for the LORD, the God of Israel. “For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth” (9:9-10). Moved by recognition of the obvious supremacy of this God of awesome wonders, they risked a desperate and improbable facade for the opportunity to perhaps be granted immunity in Him.

Due to the self-reliance of Israel’s leaders, they were spared death, and entered into a league with Israel which could not be broken even after their true identity was realized. In the midst of two crimes, the Gibeonite’s deception and Joshua’s failure to wait on God, the number of God’s people was swelled by the addition of a pagan nation which sought refuge in Him, demonstrating more faith in His promises and power than the Israelites themselves at many points in their history. Truly, by all rights, they should never have been welcomed by the people of God; but they became, in God’s secret wisdom, firstfruits of all Gentiles who would find refuge in Him.

Confronted by Joshua after the discovery of their lie, the Gibeonites cast themselves on his mercy. Like all who obey the gospel, they did not plead their own merit, but threw themselves at the feet of the only one who could spare them. “We feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing. And now, behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it” (9:24-25).

Joshua, who bore the name and this day anticipated the role of Jesus his antitype, extended pardon in accordance with his faithfulness to the covenant. “So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this day, in the place that he should choose” (26-27). Hear this! A scheming and idolatrous people came into the promises of God, were spared the wrath they deserved, and were given positions of service in the temple of the living God, where they would learn true worship and be turned away from their impotent religion. What was put forth as their “punishment” became their salvation, because as the Psalmist would later sing, “A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:10).

Moreover, in the following chapter, God works one of His most amazing victories to date for Israel against the five kings of the Amorites, and it is worked on behalf of their servants the Gibeonites, who, when faced with vengeful slaughter, once again threw themselves at Joshua for mercy saying, “come up quickly and save us and help us” (10:6). God performed the astounding miracle of stopping the sun for a day as He fought for Israel and for Gibeon.

As a further testament to grace, these temple servants are mentioned among those who returned from the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 8:20). They were, in fact, among “the first to dwell again in their possessions in their cities” (1 Chron. 9:2). And so, early in the story of Israel’s possessing of the promised land, a foretaste is given of the coming flood of nations into the people of God in the account of the inhabitants of Gibeon and their desperate plea for covenant protection.

~~posted by Ambassador