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Context No. 1947 of 4322 · Joshua

Context · Reflection

Joshua 9:14-21: in context

14The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from the LORD’s mouth. 15Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live. The princes of the congregation swore to them. 16At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. 17The children of Israel traveled and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. 18The children of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. All the congregation murmured against the princes. 19But all the princes said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them. 20We will do this to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them.” 21The princes said to them, “Let them live.” So they became wood cutters and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the princes had spoken to them.

Deceived by the Gibeonites, who pretended to be travelers from a distant land, the leaders of Israel make a covenant with them and swear by the LORD to let them live, without asking counsel from God. Three days later they learn the truth: the Gibeonites are near neighbors, the very people Israel was to have driven out. The congregation murmurs; but the leaders say, we have sworn to them by the LORD; we may not touch them. And they keep their oath, though it was obtained by deception.

The leaders of Israel made two mistakes that led to this bind: they judged by appearances, taken in by the Gibeonites' ruse, and they did not ask counsel of the LORD before making the covenant. Had they sought God's guidance, they might have avoided the deception. But having sworn, they faced a choice: to keep the oath they had been tricked into, or to break it now that they knew the truth. And they kept it. We have sworn by the LORD, they said; we may not touch them. Though the covenant had been obtained by deception, though the people murmured, though they had every excuse to consider the oath void, the leaders honored their word because they had sworn it in God's name. There is a striking integrity here worth learning. It would have been easy to argue that an oath obtained by deception was not binding, that they were not obligated to keep a promise gotten by fraud, that the changed circumstances released them. And they refused that reasoning; they had given their word, sworn by the LORD, and they kept it, even though it was costly and even though they had been tricked into it. This is the mark of true integrity: keeping our word even when it turns out costly, even when we could find a plausible excuse to break it, even when the other party did not deal honestly with us. The righteous, the psalm says, keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change. We are quick to look for excuses to break commitments that have become inconvenient, to argue that changed circumstances or the other party's failings release us from our word. The leaders of Israel had a better excuse than most, deception, and still they kept their oath, because they had sworn by the LORD. This calls us to a like faithfulness with our own commitments: to keep our word even when it proves costly, even when we could find a reason to break it, honoring what we have promised rather than seizing an excuse to escape it. They kept the oath they had been tricked into, because they had sworn by the LORD; and the integrity that keeps its word even at cost, even when excuses abound, is the integrity God honors.

When a commitment I have made turns out costly or inconvenient, am I quick to look for excuses to break it, arguing that changed circumstances or the other party's failings release me, or can I honor my word as the leaders of Israel honored their oath even when tricked into it, keeping my commitments even at cost rather than seizing an excuse to escape them?

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