Joshua 9-11

Another beautiful day here in Columbia, Missouri.  Hope your day was filled with sunshine wherever you are.

Interesting story here in Joshua 9 about the Gibeonites.  They know, like Rahab before them, that God is with Israel and they cannot possible stand against them.  Them come to deceive Joshua and Israel and are successful in convincing them that they come from a far county.  When Joshua discovers the lie, Israel has already entered into a covenant with Gibeon.  I know that lying is a violation of one of the big 10, but making and then breaking an oath is another grave sin before God.  Two wrongs don't make a right so Joshua and Israel keep their oath with Gibeon but make the Gibeonites servants, bearing wood and water for the tabernacle.

Interesting sidelight.....Gibeon becomes linked to Israel in some interesting ways.  The continue as servants to the tabernacle.  Gibeon is named a priestly city.  One of King David's men is named as a Gibeonite.  God speaks to King Solomon at Gibeon.  The Gibeonites are among those named who help Nehemiah rebuild the wall of Jerusalem after the exile.  Has God redeemed the Gibeonites as he did the Harlot Rahab?  When King Saul breaks the oath and attacks the Gibeonites in 2 Samuel, God punishes Israel with a famine.

Notice one of the names of the Southern King of Jerusalem: Adoni-Zedek.  That means King of Righteousness.  Can't be!  God is King of Righteousness......this king of a pagan land must represent a false God.  No matter what Satan may call himself.....he cannot stand against the one true God.  Adoni-Zedek and all of his allies fall to Israel on the longest day of history.....the day that God causes the sun to stand still until the victory is completed!

In Chapter 11, the Northern Kings are similarly dispatched.  After both North and South are under Israelite control, Joshua turns toward the Anakim.  Do you remember that it was the Anakim that caused the 10 spies to return to Moses and say, "we are as grasshoppers among the giants."  Their fear of these people led to 38 more years in the wilderness and the needless deaths of a generation.  This time Joshua does not falter in his faith.....The Anakim are destroyed except for some in a few coastal cities.  Israel will pay for this failure....Goliath of David and Goliath fame will come from the city of Gath.  Paul's adage from the Book of Romans rings true in Israel's conquering of these Canaanite lands, "if God is for us, who can be against us?"