Scripture: Joshua 9: 1-27
Sermon: When Surrender is Sweet
Topics: deception, danger, surrender, Gibeonites
Rev. Mike Abma
9Now when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the lowland all along the coast of the Great Sea towards Lebanon—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—heard of this, 2they gathered together with one accord to fight Joshua and Israel.
3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4they on their part acted with cunning: they went and prepared provisions,* and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, 5with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes; and all their provisions were dry and mouldy. 6They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the Israelites, ‘We have come from a far country; so now make a treaty with us.’ 7But the Israelites said to the Hivites, ‘Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a treaty with you?’ 8They said to Joshua, ‘We are your servants.’ And Joshua said to them, ‘Who are you? And where do you come from?’ 9They said to him, ‘Your servants have come from a very far country, because of the name of the Lord your God; for we have heard a report of him, of all that he did in Egypt, 10and of all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, King Sihon of Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth. 11So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, “Take provisions in your hand for the journey; go to meet them, and say to them, ‘We are your servants; come now, make a treaty with us.’ ” 12Here is our bread; it was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey, on the day we set out to come to you, but now, see, it is dry and mouldy; 13these wineskins were new when we filled them, and see, they are burst; and these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.’ 14So the leaders* partook of their provisions, and did not ask direction from the Lord. 15And Joshua made peace with them, guaranteeing their lives by a treaty; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
16 But when three days had passed after they had made a treaty with them, they heard that they were their neighbours and were living among them. 17So the Israelites set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. 18But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. 19But all the leaders said to all the congregation, ‘We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we must not touch them. 20This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that wrath may not come upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.’ 21The leaders said to them, ‘Let them live.’ So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the leaders had decided concerning them.
22 Joshua summoned them, and said to them, ‘Why did you deceive us, saying, “We are very far from you”, while in fact you are living among us? 23Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall always be slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.’ 24They answered Joshua, ‘Because it was told to your servants for a certainty 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; so we were in great fear for our lives because of you, and did this thing. 25And now we are in your hand: do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.’ 26This is what he did for them: he saved them from the Israelites; and they did not kill them. 27But on that day Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to continue to this day, in the place that he should choose
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
INTRODUCTION
What are we to make of this story?
How should we see the Gibeonites?
How should we see the Israelites?
Do we admire the Gibeonites for the savvy survival skills,
or do we despise them for their deception?
And the Israelites?
Do we admire the Israelites for showing mercy to these Gibeonites
and for remaining true to the treaty they made with them,
Or do we blame the Israelites for being duped,
and for not adequately praying about this whole situation?
What do we make of this story?
Admittedly, there is a certain amount of cognitive dissonance raised by this story:
a lot of conflicting thoughts and feelings.
Things are not clean-cut.
No one looks particularly heroic.
No one looks particularly virtuous.
But on the other hand, no one looks overly malicious and evil either.
Let me tell you my own perspective of this text:
I think there is more to admire than to admonish in this passage.
I think there is more to be thankful for than to regret.
I think this story is akin to the parable of the shrewd manager in Luke 16.
Remember that parable?
In that parable, there is a manager who is about to be fired by his boss.
So he uses his last days on the job to reduce everyone’s debts.
To our way of thinking, this man was a crook.
However, Jesus surprisingly commends him and commends his wisdom.
In a similar way,
in this story the Gibeonites obviously lied.
They obviously deceived the Israelites.
But I think there is a sense in which we can commend them for their wisdom.
Before we can do that,
Perhaps we should address some of our concerns.
CONCERN ONE — DECEPTION
The biggest concern, of course, is their deception.
How can we justify their lying?
First of all, Joshua is a battle book.
Israel is at war with all the nations – city-states — of Canaan.
The reality is, truth is the first victim of war.
Deception was, is, and always will be a part of war.
In World War 1, the British ship the Lusitania, flew an American flag in a ruse to avoid being shot at by German U-boats.
In World War II, the British built all kinds of cardboard planes and stuck them on airfields to trick the German Lufftwaffe.
Recently, I watched the movie Master and Commander, based on a Brian Patrick novel set in the Napoleonic Wars between Great Britain and France.
In that movie, a British navy ship disguises itself as a whaling vessel in order to lure a French navy ship close enough to attack.
Again, deception – the ruse of war.
Even the Israelites used deception in their military campaigns.
In spying on the country,
the Israelites relied on the deception and lies of Rahab
in order to take the city of Jericho.
Later, the judge, Ehud, relied on lies and deception to assassinate Eglon,
the King of Moab.
Later yet the judge Gideon relied on torches and trumpets and clay jars to deceive
the enemy into thinking his small band of 300 was something like 3000.
And on and on I could go with examples of deception being used in warfare.
So I do not think we should fault the Gibeonites too much in their use of deception in this passage.
CONCERN TWO — DANGER
A second concern, however, is less immediate and more future.
Would this treaty with the Gibeonites hurt Israel in the future?
Already in Deuteronomy 29,
God warned Israel that the Canaanites would lead his people astray.
Would the Gibeonites do that?
Did the Gibeonites do that?
Did they jeopardize Israel’s faithfulness?
The short answer is no.
In fact, by all appearances, they assimilated into Israel quite well.
They did not weaken Israel’s faithfulness.
If anything, they strengthened it.
When the ark of the covenant was lost to the Philistines,
and the Philistines ended up returning it,
the ark ended up in the Gibeonite town of Keriath-Jearim.
And the Gibeonites aided in the worship of the Lord.
When King Saul tried to destroy the Gibeonites,
in violation of the long-standing peace,
the Lord punished Saul and Israel with a 3-year drought and famine.
When King Solomon made sacrifices to the Lord,
he made them in the town of Gibeon.
It is in Gibeon that the Lord appeared to Solomon
and allowed Solomon to ask for whatever he desired.
Gibeonites were part of the exile in Babylon,
and when the Gibeonites returned from exile,
they were also involved in rebuilding both the Temple in Jerusalem
and the walls of Jerusalem.
So, all in all, the Gibeonites ended up being a faithful part of God’s people.
CONCERN THREE — ISN’T THERE SOMETHING COWARDLY ABOUT SURRENDER
I think there may be one more lingering concern about these Gibeonites.
Isn’t there something cowardly about their surrender?
Weren’t they chicken?
And how can we respect chickens?
First, we should acknowledge that the Gibeonite surrender was a great help to Joshua and Israel.
It basically broke apart the alliance that was forming against Israel,
and gave Israel the central part of Canaan.
From here Israel first conquered the southern cities,
and then turned north to conquer those cities.
This Gibeonite surrender spelled the beginning of the end for the Canaanites.
But let me return to their surrender and whether their surrender can be considered honorable.
Why did they surrender?
Why were they repeatedly willing to become the servants and slaves of the
Israelites?
It was because of fear – but it was not so much fear of the Israelite army.
It was because of their fear of the God of Israel.
They knew everything that God had done for Israel:
how he delivered Israel from Egypt;
how he had defeated the Amorites kings Sihon and Og;
how he had given Jericho and Ai into their hands.
The chapter ends with Joshua asking the Gibeonites outright,
Why did you lie?
Why did you surrender?
And the Gibeonites answered:
“Because we knew for a certainty
that the Lord your God
had given you all the land,
and had given you the power to destroy all its inhabitants.”
They surrendered because they feared the Lord.
SWEET SURRENDER
What I find particularly telling is the way the very end of this chapter reads.
Listen to the last verses again:
This is what he [Joshua] did for them:
he saved them from the Israelites; and they did not kill them. 27But on that day Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to continue to this day, in the place that he should choose.
Here is what I find remarkable.
Out of a fear of the Lord,
people surrender to Joshua.
And Joshua saves them …Joshua saves them.
And they become servants of God.
The name Joshua means The Lord saves.
The Greek version of the name Joshua is Jesus.
The Greek version of the name Joshua is Jesus.
Isn’t it true that we must all become Gibeonites?
Out of a fear of the Lord,
we surrender to Jesus.
and Jesus saves us
and we become servants of God.
Is it easy surrendering?
No.
Do we resist surrendering?
Yes.
But in surrendering, we swallow our pride,
and we become servants, slaves in his kingdom,
knowing that in his kingdom
the last will be first,
and the greatest must become the least.
We become servants, slaves in his kingdom,
knowing that in his kingdom
we must turn the other cheek
and we must love our enemies
and pray for those who persecute us
and put others first,
And…and…and….
It isn’t easy.
It is frightening.
But it is also absolutely necessary.
CONCLUSION
I would like to end with a poem
that Jay Curry[1] wrote about Surrender:
It’s here that it all begins and ends —
No matter what our age may be
No matter how much has gone into our being
No matter how many roads we have traveled
No matter how many are the inner strengths of our souls
No matter how fragile and fearful
No matter how much we have struggled to put it all together.
It all begins and ends with surrender —
The abandonment of all our days and thoughts
The surrender of all our intensions and struggles to become.
It is a frightening word!
We hate the word.
Something in us says “no.”
To surrender is to “give up.”
We say, “We can do it.”
Our honor is in winning.
But this is where it all begins and ends for all of us —
Whether a washerwoman or a nuclear physicist
Whether a philosopher or a non-learner
Whether a apparent success or an apparent loser
Whether we like it or not
Whether we want it or not
Whether we believe it or not
This is where it begins and ends — surrender.
The Source of life and hope,
The Purpose of our existence
Waits and wait to hear “We give up.”
We give up to the One we are not sure of.
We give up to the One whom we doubt.
We give up…. We give up…We give up….
It all begins and ends with surrender.
Amen
-
Jay Curry, a Woodlawn member who had recently passed away ↑
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