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Context No. 3723 of 4322 · Joshua

Context · Reflection

Joshua 9:1-6: in context

1When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it 2they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord. 3But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4they also resorted to a ruse, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and old, torn-up and bound up wineskins, 5and old and patched sandals on their feet, and wore old garments. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. 6They went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country. Now therefore make a covenant with us.”

As the kings of Canaan gather to fight Israel, the people of Gibeon take a different, cunning approach. They disguise themselves as travelers from a distant land, with worn-out sacks, patched sandals, and dry, moldy bread, to trick Israel into a treaty they would otherwise refuse.

The ruse is clever, and, as the next verses reveal, it works, because Israel judges by appearances and, crucially, does not inquire of the LORD before making the covenant. There is a warning here that reaches well beyond this one story. Israel was deceived because they trusted their own reading of the evidence, the worn sandals, the moldy bread, rather than seeking God's guidance in an important decision. When we lean only on our own judgment of appearances and fail to seek God, we can be taken in by a deception that a moment's prayer might have exposed. Seeking God's wisdom before major decisions guards us against being fooled by clever appearances.

Before important decisions, do I seek God's guidance, or do I lean only on my own judgment of appearances, which can be deceived, as Israel was with the Gibeonites?

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