2012-04-13
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, we saw how God’s promise to the Israelites that they would take the Canaanite territory with His help was kept. That worked in the long run, and as long as they obeyed His commands. However, humans being what they are actually tested how serious God’s covenant promise of His help to them actually was. This test came with Achan’s sin. You’ll remember that JS 6: 17, is where the Lord explained that they were to take Jericho on the seventh sounding of the shofar [ram’s horn] when the walls would fall and to kill every Canaanite man, woman, and child- even their animals found. This seemingly harsh approach was God’s way of expunging believers in their idolatrous polytheistic religion. Remember that the Jews were set apart from any other belief system of their time by the belief in only one God-monotheism [DT 6: 4-5].
JS 7 opens with Achan, son of Zimri, an Israelite soldier who acted unfaithfully taking some of the loot found. The battle of Ai ensured, only the Jews didn’t prevail. Josuah, the leader, went before God to find out what happened. Nothing escapes God [HE 4 :13], and He told Joshua that loot was taken, lied about, and placed with Israelite possessions. JS 7: 15, “He who is caught with the devoted things [loot] shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the Lord and has done a disgraceful thing to Israel.” Clan by clan, the Israelites were questioned, and at last, Achan admitted his crime (20). Achan was stoned to death and the loot burned. A pile of rocks memorializes this event where it happened (26). Once this was accomplished, the Israelites went on to win their battles with the Canaanites. True to his covenant promise, God gave them the Promised Land territory which later came to be known as Israel.
As a matter of a covenant promise, God honored the Gentile prostitute, Rehab. Most of us know the story of how she had hidden two Israelite spies who had been sent to Jericho, and expressed her belief that the God was the God of heaven and earth to them, in JS 2: 11b. She asked them to treat herself and her family with kindness, saving them from destruction, if she took action to save their lives. They told her that this oath she asked them to swear to would not be binding unless they entered the Land (17). This meant she would be silent about them with the other Canaanites. After three days of hiding the two spies, she let them down from the tower of her home, which was built into the Jericho city wall (15), with the promise between them that she and her family would remain there. When the Jews invaded the city, she complied with her promise to let down the red chord from the tower window (21), and the Israelites complied with their end not to harm either Rehab or her family. We have to know that God was an indirect Party to this covenant, and that He was pleased with Rehab’s actions. Over time, we learn that Rehab [MT 1: 5], along with Tamar and Ruth [MT 1: 3 and 7 respectively] , are honored by God to be the only converts to Judaism who appear in the genealogy of the royal house of David, out of which our Lord Jesus would arise.
After the renewal of the covenant after Ai finally fell to the Israelites at Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal [at which Joshua read the Covenant of the Law writing by Moses to the Jewish people], the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites came together to make war against Joshua and Israel [JS 9: 1-2]. When the Gibeonites [a clan of the Hivites who lived near where the Jews were] heard what the Jews had done, they resorted to a ruse. With this we get an example of why it is so important to be sure and careful of any covenant promises we make. They dressed in old clothing and shoes, an approached Joshua at Gilgal claiming to have come from afar, with a bogus covenant (9: 6). After the Gibeonites had promised Joshua to be “at your service,” the men of Israel accepted food from them without consulting God about it. The people complained about this once their true identity became known, but the soldiers told them they had promised God not to harm these Gibeonite men. It was decided to let them live, but that the Gibeonites would be cut wood and carry water as slaves for the Israelites. The weakness of this covenant is shown in the lack of Jewish understanding of God’s purpose in annihilating the Canaanites. Not only were idolaters now living amongst them as their slaves, but the potential for eventual internal trouble to brew was with them. Strangely, mankind has a penchant for not learning the lessons of history, one of which is not to disobey the one and only sovereign God.
It is an interesting conundrum that the Gibeonites recognized covenants while at the same time rejecting the one and only sovereign God. They were pragmatic, recognizing that a covenant would grant them protection from being killed. It is helpful to meditate upon God’s wrath against sinning mankind in RO 1: 18-21. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what may be known about God to plain to them, because God has made it plan to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities –His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” God has made it clear by giving mankind a consciousness of a greater power than themselves and by what they observe in nature. Therefore, for example, the Gibeonites and other Pagans had no excuse for not acknowledging God’s existence or His supreme sovereignty.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your mighty throne having read and considered these examples of the importance You place on making carefully-considered covenants in our lives. We have made the most important covenant of all, the Covenant of Grace. We now understand the sacrifice that our Lord Jesus made for our salvation [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25] and accept Who He is in relation to You and to us. We understand Your contempt for greed, materialism, idolatry, and any form of disobedience. We also understand the consequences for unconfessed sin and a lifestyle of sinfulness characterized by refusal to repent of it. RO 1: 22-24, “Although they [idolaters] claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.” Lord, we understand that in a historical context, this stand against wickedness that You take was referring to the practice of Baalism, a Pagan religion which included burning babies at the stake as offerings to their gods and public demonstrations of sexual immorality. But in the greater perspective, these principles apply today to any form of fornication, adultery, homosexuality/lesbianism, and other forms of idolatrous sinfulness. We understand and acknowledge that Your word is consistent and applies to yesterday, today, and forever [HE 13: 8]. Dearest Abba, we are so grateful to You for the sacrifice of Your Son on the cross for us, for Your wisdom, for the blessings of a covenant relationship with You that is real and personal. We offer You praise, honor, glory, and thanks forever and ever in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I am let to begin a new segment of the “Our Covenant” messages called “Old Covenant Obligations.” At the time of the faulty covenant invitation to covenant made by the Gibeonites, in JS 9: 7, the question of how can we make a covenant with you was asked by Joshua at the time. Joshua understood the warnings about making covenants with any Canaanites that God had given the Jews. This placed the Israelites in direct conflict with God’s teaching, and we will look into that. It’s useful to know that the Gibeonites were a clan of Hivites, one of the tribes of Canaanites. This is only one example of the foolishness of the Israelites in allowing enemies to live within their community. We see another example of the problems that causes in the book of Esther, [ES 3: 1] when Haman, a descendant of the evil and anti-Semitic King Agag, became the Persian king’s second in command, Grand Vizier, and took out his inherited anti-Semitism by trying to fool King Xerxes into killing all the Jews living in Persia at the time [ES 3: 8-9]. We all know this included the beautiful Queen Esther [Hadassah in Hebrew], whom the Persian king adored [ES 2: 7-9, 15-19]. While the stories of the many sinful acts of mankind over history are often scary and unpleasant, God tells us the reasons for reading and meditating over His writings in the Scriptures in 2 TIM 3: 16-17. These things give believers the chance to avoid making history’s mistakes and to keep faith strengthened, so as to gain eternal life. Our faith in Christ and willingness to submit to God’s teaching in thought, word, and deed are the greatest blessings we can give to Him, in our efforts to keep our part of the Covenant of Grace. Praise and thanks be to Him for all He is and does for us!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15