Joshua 9 tells a fascinating story of deception. As Joshua and the children of Israel began to invade the Promised Land, the native nations in the land were terrified. Here was this massive army sweeping into their territory, and they seemed to fight with divine power! Rumors had spread of how their God stopped up the waters of the Jordan and destroyed the walls of mighty Jericho. So the natives began to band together to repel this invading force.
“However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to a ruse…” Joshua 9:3-4a
But the Gibeonite tribe was more devious and cunning than the others. Fearing Joshua and his God, they came up with a clever plan to fool the Israelites into an alliance. They put on ratted clothes, packed moldy stale food, strapped old worn out sandals on their feet, and set out to meet Joshua.
As they approached the Israelite camp, they began to limp, put on worn expressions, and acted as if they'd been traveling for months. Then they gave their story, "We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us." (9:6).
Joshua is instantly suspicious of this bunch, saying "Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?" (9:7). The Israelites knew that if they made an alliance with any of the inhabitants of the land, they would never truly take possession of the land.
The Gibeonites pressed harder however, displaying their old provisions and worn out clothes. They insisted on their story, that they had traveled from a distant county. It was a convincing story, so Joshua decided it was reasonable and practical to make a treaty with these travelers from a "distant land."
As you read the account, Joshua and his men are held accountable for falling for this deception. Verse 14 goes out of its way to point out that they did not consult the Lord for guidance. In the long run, they had to pay a price for this mistake.
What is so striking about this account is how reasonable it all was. From Joshua's perspective, there was no good reason to turn these people away. They clearly have a lot of respect for his God and his people. They had seemingly gone to great lengths to form this alliance, and as a newly established nation, such an agreement would be very beneficial to the Israelites! It was a perfectly reasonable business transaction. On top of that, Joshua's advisers were on board with it. I'm sure Joshua felt he had made a wise decision.
The problem with human wisdom is it is so very limited in scope. Had Joshua stopped and taken the time to seek the wisdom of God, he would have understood how bad a decision this really was. Instead he leaned on short sighted human wisdom.
We do this so very often in our own lives. There are so many decisions to be made, and we lean on our own wisdom to make them. Instead, Christian decision making needs to be characterized by prayer. Seeking God's will first is the only path to Godly success. Joshua's folly should serve as a warning to us, however. Even well vetted plans are prone to fail and derail us from God's will. Christ must become the first adviser of our lives.
Contrast Joshua here with the saints in the early Church. They model Christian decision making by constantly seeking guidance from the Spirit. Sometimes He led them to do strange things that, at first, seemed to be contrary to conventional wisdom. But by following God's Living Word rather than their own judgement, the Church exploded in effect and power, fueled and led along by the Spirit (for examples, look to Philip in Acts 8, Peter in Acts 10, or Paul in Acts 16.).
What kind of big decisions do you need to make in your life? Have you made a habit of seeking God's counsel? Is it possible that you may be missing something huge, something that God wants to show you? Let's learn from Joshua's mistake and make Christ our Wonderful Counselor, our First Adviser on all matters. He won't let us down.