BIBLE READING: Joshua 8-10
In Joshua 9, men from Gibeon had heard what God had done by the hand of Joshua at Jericho, Ai and Bethel. They had heard that Jehovah had commanded Joshua to not make any covenants with any of the people of Canaan, but to destroy its inhabitants. Therefore, out of fear for their own lives, they pretended to be travelers from a far country seeking to make a covenant with the people of Israel. They must have put on a good show, because Joshua fell for their trick, hook, line and sinker. I’m not sure if Joshua had grown overconfident in his own leadership abilities or if it was a simple lapse in judgement, but the Bible is very clear when it says that he “did not seek the counsel of the LORD” (Joshua 9.14) Joshua does the very thing he was not supposed to do, make a covenant with the enemy. Shortly after, they are found out as fraud, but the damage had been done. When the people of God make a covenant with someone, it had to be kept. In time, this lapse on Joshua’s judgement would come back to haunt the nation. So, what is to be learned from Joshua’s mistake? First, when making big decisions in our life, its best that we seek the counsel of the LORD in prayer. He may not directly answer us, but He is still listening. It also sets a good precedent for putting God first in our lives. Next, sometimes our enemy, the devil, does a good job at pretending to be something he is not. The Devil can disguise himself as something that is appealing and good and be ugly and condemning at the same time. If he is crafty enough to trick Joshua, he has the power to trick us as well.