Anyone remember what momentous event took place June 29, 2007?  The debut of Apple’s iPhone. 

Apple and ATT sold over 500,000 of these on the first weekend.  The cost of the parts to put together an iPhone is about $200.  The average cost for an iPhone is $400 to $600.  Plus $60 monthly service fee.  And a $175 termination fee. (1)   People - lined up - camped out - were ecstatic just to get one of these things.

Some people would say “That’s good business.”  Some would say “It’s criminal.”  Doing what it takes to survive.

Would you agree with this?  We live in a society where people are expected to do what it takes to survive and it really doesn’t matter if that hurts the next guy.  Buyer beware.

This morning - coming to Joshua chapter 9 - we’re going to look at how Israel was deceived - and probably more importantly how we can avoid getting taken in by our adversary - Satan.

Joshua 9 - starting at verse 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, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, heard of it, that they gathered themselves together with one accord to fight Joshua and with Israel.

If you look at the map you’ll see the places and cities we’ve been looking at so far.  Israel’s base camp at Gilgal.  Jericho - now a pile of burnt rubble.  Ai and Bethel - that we saw Israel defeat in chapter 8.

The green area is where these nations - listed here in verse 1 - that’s where these people were living.

The point being that when the people who were coming up on Israel’s “Cities to be Conquered” list heard how Israel had mowed down all the people of Jericho and Ai and Bethel - and Og and Sihon  - kings from the east side of the Jordan River - and what had happened in Egypt - to Pharaoh - these nations realized that unless they banded together - and fought together against Israel - that they were toast.  So, what we see here is an alliance of independent city states - scattered across Canaan - the green area - who’ve joined together - with one purpose - defeat Joshua and Israel.

Verse 3:  When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 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, and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provisions was dry and had become crumbled.  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 - because we’ve come from a long way off and have nothing to do with the cities you’re suppose to conquer - therefore, make a covenant with us.”  The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you are living within our land; how then shall we make a covenant with you?”  But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”  Then Joshua said to them, “Who are you and where do you come from?”  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, and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Hesbon and to Og king of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth.  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.”’  “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.  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.”

Let’s pause and make sure we’re together on what’s going on.

First we need to understand who the inhabitants of Gibeon are.

On the map you’ll see four cities that are just to the southwest of Bethel and about 8 miles northwest of Jerusalem.  These four cities were located on the great central plateau of the country - up above the Jordan River Valley.

When we come to verse 17 we’re given the names of these cities.  I don’t want to spoil things for you.  But, the names are listed there:  Beeroth, Gibeon, Chephirah, and Kiriath-jearim.  There was probably some kind of confederation between the four cities - a political alliance arrived at by a decision of the people.  There’s no king mentioned - just elders and people - inhabitants.  Gibeon was probably the most important of the four cities.

Chapter 10:2 calls Gibeon a “great city” - greater than Ai - which may not been saying much.  But, it was known for having mighty men - valiant warriors.  Militarily these were not people to be messed with.

Second we need to be impressed with the craftiness of the Gibeonites.

Adlai Stevenson said, “A lie is an abomination unto the Lord, but a very present help in time of trouble.” (2)

This is a great strategy isn’t it?  They could have said, “We’re really buff mighty warrior dudes we can take these guys” and gone out and gotten slaughtered like everyone else.  Necessity is the mother of what?  Invention.  Pride withstanding - what needs to be invented here is a strategy to survive.

Looking at the map.  Joshua’s in Gilgal - at the most 20 miles away.  When the Gibeonites arrive at Gilgal they look like they’ve been traveling for decades.  Their sacks are worn out.  Their wineskins are worn out - torn and mended.  Their sandals - their clothes - are worn out.  Their food - what’s left of it - is dry and crumbling.

These guys probably had fun with this.  Getting ready.  Finding all kinds of old stuff to dress up in.  Cleaning out their closets.  Not taking baths for weeks.  Dumping dust on each other.  “We’re gonna’ really pull one over on the Hebrews.  Hit me with some more dirt.”  Can you imagine this?

They show up at Gilgal and these guys look like road warriors that have been out in the dessert way too long.

At first the Hebrews aren’t buying the story.  They’re suspicious.  “Maybe you guys are from around here?”  Which means they don’t know.  They should have known who all the peoples around them were.  They’re in hostile territory.  Where are the spies?  Where are the intelligence reports?  The Hebrews are sleeping on the job.  But to their credit - at least the Hebrews are asking questions.

Notice, the Gibeonites never answer the geography question.  They want to stay as far away from talking about what really concerns them - being on the list of cities to conquer - being in the green zone.  So they switch the focus to Joshua.  These guys can lie with the best of them.  They switch to Joshua and play the ego card.  “We’re your servants.”  “You’re such a great leader we want to serve you.”

Then they play the God card.  “We heard about what your God did - His reputation - His character.  That’s why we’re here.  Because of your God.”

It sounds so good.  “These guys traveled all this way because of God.  Its a spiritual thing.  Maybe God sent them to us.  Hadn’t thought about having servants.  But now that we think about it.  Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”

Then - verses 12 and 13 - just in case the Hebrews still haven’t bought all this - the Gibeonites pull out the visual aids.  “Did we mention we’ve been traveling for a long time?  All this stuff was new when we left home.  Look at it.  Touch it.  Feel it.  Taste it.  Did we mention that its worn out because we’ve been on a very long journey?”

The Gibeonites are shrewdly wearing the Hebrews down.  Deception.  Playing them for suckers.

Third we need to understand what the Gibeonites want.

What these people wanted was what most of us want.  Aren’t most people concerned about their wives and children and families and homes and what the future is going be like?  All these other green area city states - remember the map - the Hittites - the Amorites - the Parasites - they’re all putting together an alliance to take on the Hebrews militarily.  Why?  Same concerns as everyone else - wives - children - families - etc...

But the Gibeonites - crafty as they are - realize that military power isn’t going to defeat God.  Can’t take out God.  But you can go after His people.

What they’re trying to trick God’s people into - is a covenant - a treaty - literally an alliance where Gibeon would become the servants of Israel.  Servanthood means that instead of Israel wiping out Gibeon - Israel would be required to protect Gibeon.

Verse 14:  So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.  Underline that.  They did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.  Who’s counsel did they not ask for?  The Lord’s.   Hang on to that.

Verse 15:  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.

Taking the provisions - sharing a meal - often was part of making a treaty.

It also put them in contact with the Gibeonite props.  Seeing is what?  Believing.  They’re relying on their own wisdom - their own senses -touching stuff and eating it.  They’re so impressed with the stale bread of the Gibeonites that they’re neglecting the riches of God’s wisdom.

Joshua fails the people.  Same thing happened when he followed the counsel of the spies and sent 3,000 men charging up the hill to get creamed at Ai.  He’s trusting in his own ability to evaluate the evidence.  As a leader he should have been pointing them to God.

Below it all is a spiritual issue.  Faith in ourselves not God.  Walking by sight not by faith.  Ever been there?

“It just felt so right.”  “I know its probably not God’s best for me.  But, what else am I suppose to do?”  “Looking back on things I would have taken more time to make the decision.”

It is important for us to understand where God’s people got off track so that we can avoid making the same mistake.

Hold onto this:  Like God’s people moving forward into the Promised Land - if we’re moving forward into what God’s placed before us - effective ministry in the Merced metroplex - healing in our homes - living courageously for God at work or at school - whatever that may be as we live in obedience to God - if we’re moving forward into what God’s placed before us we become a target for the enemy - Satan and his hoards.  Another word for someone living in obedience to God:  “Target.”  Live God’s way and you become a target.

Share that with the person next to you.  “You’re a target.”

When God’s people failed at Ai - they were overconfident in their own abilities.  They saw the objective.  Knew it was a city God told them to conquer - and went charging up the hill to get creamed.  Don’t think.  Just go.

They learned.  Don’t get all caught up in ourselves.  Its not about us.  Its about what God is doing.  No matter how easy things may seem - always seek out God first.

Here in chapter 9 - Satan switches tactics.  Instead of going with obvious - he goes with the deceptive.  “Use your brains.  Think it through.  It seems like a God thing.  So let’s do it.”

Genesis 3:1  “The serpent was more crafty - same Hebrew root word as here in Joshua 9:4 - “arom” - means to be crafty - cunning - shrewd - The serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field.”  The serpent says to Eve, “Maybe you didn’t understand God right.  Doesn’t this seem like something God would want for you?  You’re smart enough to make a decision here.  Eat the fruit.”

When I finally get the answer they change the question.  Heard that?

Different tactic - same objective:  Trust self - not God.

Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness fasting - a time of testing and preparing for ministry on our behalf.  Satan comes and says, “Jesus, if you really are the Son of the Almighty God - Savior of mankind - what are you doing out here in the wilderness?  I can hear your stomach growling.  Look around you.  You’ve got brains.  You can do miracles.  Turn the rocks into bread.  Satisfy your needs.  Can you really trust what God said? ”

Jesus - answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”  (Matthew 4:3)

Satan takes Jesus to the top of the Temple - 450 feet high.  Satan says to Jesus, “If you really do trust God’s word - step off.  God will protect you.  He said He would.  Or, don’t you trust Him?”   Jesus answers him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  (Matthew 4:5,6,7)

Satan takes Jesus to the top of a high mountain - shows Him all the kingdoms of the world - the wealth - the glories of human civilization - all our achievements - all of what we might desire.  Satan tells Jesus they’re all His for one act of worship.  No need for the cross - the beatings - the rejection - the agonizing death.  You can have it all by worshipping Satan.  (Matthew 4:8-10)

Again Jesus quotes Scripture “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”   (Matthew 4:1-11)

Two things.  It is significant that Jesus - each time He refutes Satan - rejects any plan other than the one laid out by God - Jesus does so by quoting Scripture.

Second:  It is significant that Jesus - each time - quotes Moses - as Moses is speaking to the Hebrew people who are about to enter the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership. (Exodus 17:1-17; 23:20-33; Deuteronomy 6:13,16; 8:3)  Joshua and the people should have known all this. 

But, who’s counsel didn’t the Hebrews seek?  The Lord’s.

When did God ever say to His people, “Go make covenants with other peoples to become their protectors”?

Exodus 23:32 - God giving instructions for His people when they enter the Promised Land:  “You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.”

Deuteronomy 7:2:  “When the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them.  You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.”

Deuteronomy 20:16:  “In the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.  But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord you God has commanded you.”

Sound familiar?  Same people listed in Joshua 9:1.  Look at verse 7.  Who are the Gibeonites?  Nationally - they’re Hivites.  No wonder the Gibeonites avoided the geography question.  They’re on the list of nations to destroy.  Not to make alliances with to become their protectors.

Fool me once shame on you.  Fool me twice shame on me.

We’re incredibly clever people.  While God is at work in our lives and circumstances it is so tempting for us find our own solutions - to become  involved with things God never intended us to be involved with.  Everyday we face the temptation to live by this world’s system - to follow Satan’s plan for this world - to seek success by our own means - to fantasize that our money - our time - our talents are ours - to imagine that we’re the masters of our own fate - to invest in the plans of men rather than the plans of God.  To worship ourselves rather than God.  Even to rationalize all this a someone part of what God has for us - that we’re really serving God.

Psalm 119:9:  “How can a young man keep his way pure?  By keeping it according to Your word.  With all my heart I have sought You.  Do not let me wander from Your commandments.”  Do you know how the next verse goes - Psalm 119:11?  “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.”

Of Christians in America - 23% say that they never read their Bibles.  Never - not seldom - not sometimes - but never.  Only 18% say they read their Bibles daily.  What’s more important than statistics is the time you spend with the Bible.

We need to be in the word - prayerfully digesting the bread of God - reading - disciplined in our study - sharing together around the word of God - studying together - asking questions - challenging each other with God’s word - holding each other accountable.  The wisdom and truth of God’s unchanging word should so saturate us - so permeate our hearts - so that obedience - knowing what to do and doing it -  is our natural response regardless of the temptation.

If we want to avoid being deceived by our adversary we must be in the counsel of the Lord.

Verse 16 to 27 focus on what happens to the Gibeonites.

Verse 16:  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.  Opps.

Verse 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.  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 - why?  Because we could have taken these guys - wiped them out and gotten more plunder for ourselves

Verse 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.  This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be upon us for the oath which we swore to them.”  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.

If we fast forward through history - early in the reign of Saul - Saul tried to exterminate the Gibeonites.  The result of that was a 3 year famine in Israel and the death of seven of Saul’s descendants by public hanging.  (2 Samuel 21:1-9)

Swearing by God - appealing to the Almighty God to witness and hold accountable the parties of the treaty - is a serious thing - because God takes it seriously.

Despite the deception - God honors the commitment made by His people.  That’s something we need to hold on to.  The Gibeonites are now people under God’s protection.

Verse 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?

Seems like a silly question.  “We lied because we want to live.”  But culturally - Joshua probably thought honorable death was better than degrading subservience.  Very Klingon.

Verse 23:  Now therefore - because you pulled off the deceit, and we fell for it, getting locked into this alliance - 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.” - “You wanted to be servants.  Okay, you get to be servants.  Cursed.  But servants.”

Verse 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.  Now behold, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.”

The very command of God that God’s people should have clung to and set the Gibeonites packing with in the first place was exactly the motivation behind the Gibeonites deceit.  They’re following the Lord’s counsel more closely than God’s people.  For God’s people this is like getting hit in the head by God with 2X4.  “Can you hear Me now?”

Notice also this:  The Gibeonites accept their new position as servants.  To live and serve God is a blessing.  A new course of life which is far better than death.

Verse 26:  Thus he - Joshua - did to them, and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them.  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.

To perform the sacrifices on the altar - all those burnt offerings - required a lot of wood.  To supply the water for the ritual washing required a lot of water.  It was the responsibility of the Gibeonites to supply the wood and the water  for the altar of God - a responsibility that they faithfully fulfilled.

At the end of Joshua - when the Promised Land is divided among God’s people - Gibeon was one of the cities given to the tribe of Aaron.  It became a special place in the people’s relationship with God.  In the days before the Temple was built the location of God’s altar changed - from Shechem to Shiloh - 400 years later - during David’s time - the tabernacle was moved to Gibeon - the altar and the priesthood were there.

One of David’s military advisors was a Gibeonite.  When the Jews returned from captivity in Babylon there were Gibeonites among them.  By the time of Ezra and Nehemiah there were Gibeonites who were given honorary titles among the people - those given to assist the priests.  Gibeonites helped to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Verse 27 makes it very clear that while the one speaking is Joshua - the One doing the choosing is God.

God blessed the Gibeonites and made them a blessing to Israel.  That God brings the Gibeonites into the camp is an act of God’s grace - mercy - and love.  Not as a reward of being crafty people.  But because God is a God of forgiveness - healing - restoration - salvation.

We said last Sunday that there is no moral failure or mistake that cannot be remedied by the grace and mercy of God.  That is true of those who are deceived and those who do the deceiving.

God has brought each one of us here this morning - into His camp - because He is gracious - merciful - loving.  Regardless of where you have come from - what you have been involved with - what your relationship with God - or where you have fallen short - He still desires to bless you and to make you a blessing.

Our choice is to seek God’s counsel then to step out in faith trusting Him.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.