"How To Compound Our Problems"
Joshua 9:1-27

(This Sermon was preached at Trinity Bible Church on December 30, 2001. All Scripture
references used in this sermon are based upon the NASB^®, unless otherwise stated)

1 Now it came about when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland and on all the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, heard of it, 2 that they gathered themselves together with one accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel. 3 When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4 they also acted craftily and set out as envoys, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, 5 and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled. 6 And they went to Joshua to 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." 7 And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you are living within our land; how then shall we make a covenant with you?" 8 But they said to Joshua, "We are your servants." Then Joshua said to them, "Who are you, and where do you come from?" 9 And they said to him, "Your servants have come from a very far country because of the fame of the LORD your God; for we have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt, 10 and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth. 11 "So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, 'Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them and say to them, "We are your servants; now then, make a covenant with us."' 12 "This our bread was warm when we took it for our provisions out of our houses on the day that we left to come to you; but now behold, it is dry and has become crumbled. 13 "And these wineskins which we filled were new, and behold, they are torn; and these our clothes and our sandals are worn out because of the very long journey." 14 So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the LORD. 15 And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them. 16 And it came about at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were neighbors and that they were living within their land. 17 Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim. 18 And the sons of Israel did not strike them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. 19 But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, "We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. 20 "This we will do to them, even let them live, lest wrath be upon us for the oath which we swore to them." 21 And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken to them. 22 Then Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, "Why have you deceived us, saying, 'We are very far from you,' when you are living within our land? 23 "Now therefore, you are cursed, and you shall never cease being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God." 24 So they answered Joshua and said, "Because it was certainly told your servants that the LORD your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; therefore we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 "And now behold, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us." 26 Thus he did to them, and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them. 27 But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this day, in the place which He would choose.

Introduction: There's an old saying that goes something like this, "He's his own worst enemy." Often times we do or react to things in such a way that doesn't help a situation that we have gotten into to get better, but more often than not we only make it worse. For example, maybe you didn't do your homework, so instead of telling the truth you say something like, "my dog ate my homework." I liked the old "Leave It To Beaver" TV shows, because they taught lessons about how people (in this case, children) can find themselves in a situation that is often make worse because of poor decisions or by making wrong choices. Like the time when Beaver was told not to play with a his father's baseball that had Babe Ruth's signature on it (along with many others). Well you know the rest of the story, Beaver allows himself to be swayed by his friend Larry and they end up destroying the valuable ball. Beaver then compounds his problems by not being honest and telling his father what he had done. In fact they replaced the baseball with another one and signed it "Baby Ruth." In the end his schemes are always found out and he gets into more trouble because he makes the wrong choices. You know, as a kid those TV shows used be make me cringe because they seem to make me feel like I was the one doing those things. I guess they hit to close to home! The writers of "Leave It To Beaver" had a good understanding of our "human natures," or should I say our "sin natures." Often times in real life we find ourselves compounding our problems because we fail to seek God's wisdom and counsel, and put our trust in our own wisdom and understanding. In the end we only end up compounding our problems even more. In our lesson today, let's learn from Joshua's and the Israelites' mistakes so that when faced with various situations in life, we will do the right thing and not make things worse by making the wrong choices.

I. By Using Only Human Discernment (vv.1-14a).
1. The Gibeonites' plan (vv.1-13).

A. All the city-states in mountainous regions joined forces against Joshua (vv.1-2: EBCNT).

1) The heathen tribes of Canaan were divided into many little "nations" (city-states) with key cities as their centers (BS).

2) They usually fought each other, but when God's people arrived, these petty kings united to oppose Israel (BS).

A) Those from the hill country of central Palestine.

B) Those from the western foothills (valleys or lowlands).

C) Those from the coastal plain stretching north to Lebanon.

B. The Gibeonites were convinced they could never defeat Israel in war so they pursued peace by using deceit (vv.3-13: BKC).

1) They dressed themselves to appear like men who had been on a long journey, with old sacks, patched (clouted) shoes, and moldy food, and their plan worked (BS).

2) God had commanded Israel to make no covenant with the nations in Canaan (Deut. 7), but the Gibeonites knew that if they did get a covenant, Israel would keep it (BS).

3) They lied when they said they came from a far country and note also that they said nothing about Israel's victories at Jericho and Ai (BS).

4) The Gibeonites story sounded reasonable; the food and clothing certainly seemed to be old and worn out; and everything appeared to be in order (BS).

2. The Israelites' response (v.14a).

A. Joshua and his leaders failed to seek God's mind in the matter, but instead, they judged by appearances (BS).

B. In sampling their provisions they accepted as evidence things that were highly questionable (BKC).

1) If the visitors were true ambassadors with power to conclude a treaty with another nation they should have had more substantial credentials.

2) It was foolish of Joshua not to demand them.

II. By Purposefully Ignoring Spiritual Discernment (vv.14b-15).
1. Israel failed to seek God's counsel (v.14b).

A.". . .and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord."

1) "ask," ("sha'al" {shaw-al'}); to ask, inquire, consult, seek direction.

2) "counsel," ("peh"); mouth, commandment, word, wishes.

B. Even though Joshua and the people just read God's Word prior to this event, they failed to apply it.

A. Based upon the outward appearance and the wisdom of man, Joshua made a peace pact with the Gibeonites.

B. And without hesitation, the rest of Israel's leaders followed suit.

III. By Paying The Price For Poor Discernment (vv.16-27).
1. The truth revealed (vv.16-17).

A. It only took three days before the deception was discovered.

B. Once Israel arrived at Gibeon and its allied cities, Israel discovered that they could not attack because of the covenant that they had made.

2. The price to be paid (vv.18-27).

A. The cost of keeping your word (vv.18-19).

1) Israel's leaders had been embarrassingly deceived.

2) Though the Israelites wanted to break the covenant because it was based upon false information, its leaders refused because they had involved God (JIS).

A) The agreement was sacred because it had been ratified by an oath in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel (BKC).

B) To break the covenant made in the name of Jehovah would have compounded their sin and "two wrongs never make a right" (JIS).

B. The cost of deception (vv.20-27).

1) Joshua rebuked the Gibeonites for their dishonesty, and announced that they were cursed to perpetual slavery (BKC).

A) This slavery would take the form of their being woodcutters and water carriers for the Israelites.

B) In order to keep the Gibeonites' idolatry from defiling the religion of Israel their work would be carried out in connection with the tabernacle where they would be exposed to the worship of the one true God.

2) So the freedom that the Gibeonites hoped to attain they lost, and in the end they became slaves (BKC).

    I know of a church here in our area who received a phone call from a lady who said that her trailer was in desperate need of repair. The pastor and some of his deacons met the lady at her trailer and they found that it was indeed in need of repair and being that it was around Christmas time, one of the deacons promised to bring her a turkey and some food. Well it turned out that this lady owned the trailer court and thought that she could get some free repairs to a trailer that she rented, but her lie found her out. But the deacon who had promised her the turkey and food fulfilled his promise even though she had lied to them. This is a good illustration of how we should be true to our promises even when the world isn't.

    This account in Joshua is also a reminder that there is always a price to pay by those who deceive and by those who are not willing to seek the Lord's guidance before they enter into an important agreement. The Israelites word was their bond and now they had to live up to their end of their agreement whether they liked it or not, and the Gibeonites had to pay a hard price for their lies. There is always a price to pay for our actions, so this is why that it is important that we seek the Lord's advise before we enter into any agreement. Failure to do otherwise will only compound our problems.

Truths To Ponder:
1. First, Do not lean on your own wisdom, but always seek the Lord advise first.

A. According to John 8:15, we must beware of "judging according to the flesh"

B. We are also warned not to depend upon our own wisdom in Proverbs 3:5-7.

C. As Christians we have been promised, according to James 1:5, that God will give us wisdom if we ask for it, so lets claim that promise each and every time we need to make an important decision.

3. Lastly, know that there are consequences to our decisions and for what we say that will always have to be paid whether we
    like it or not.
 

BKC - John Walvoord & Roy Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Old Testament ed).
BS - Be Strong; putting God's Power to Work in Your Life, by Warren Wiersbe.
BFS - Bible Studies Foundation (http://www.bible.org/).
EBCNT - Zondervan's, Expositor's Bible Commentary, New Testament.
JIS - Journey Into Success, by Tommy C. Higle.
MOT - Mastering the Old Testament, vol.6, Joshua, by John Huffman.
WTWBC - Warren Wiersbe, With The Word Bible Commentary.
 
 

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