The result of Joshua's Disobediance

Sam Oystein Whats UP 01 December 2015 Hits: 3451

Posted by Sam Oystein
Posted on Sunday, February 11, 2007

God's Command

God delivered the Israelites from the hand of the Egyptians and led them into the Promised Land. Before they entered the Promised Land, God gave the Israelites a firm commandment and this is spelt out clearly in Deuteronomy 7:2 that;

And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them:

This command backed the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 15:18-21 that
15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:Genesis 15:19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,15:20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim,15:21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

The scripture in Deuteronomy 7:2 were commandments from God that had to be followed to fulfil the promise of Genesis 15:18-21. However, because Moses could not lead the Israelites to the Promised Land, Joshua was given the mandate to carry out the commandements.

JOSHUA’S SIN

In the year 1406 BC, Joshua entered the Promised Land with the Israelites. In Joshua 9, the Gibeonites came to Joshua with a deception. They said in Joshua 9:9-11 that
Joshua 9:9 And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, Joshua 9:10 And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth. Joshua 9:11 Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us.Joshua mistakenly made a covenant with the Gibeonites in verse Joshua 9:15 which says "And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them."

Later on, Joshua found out that the people had tricked him. However, because of the covenant that was made in Joshua 9:15 which was directly against the commandment of God in Deuteronomy 7:2, Joshua could not kill them as the Lord had commanded.

Verses Joshua 9:26-27 says

Joshua 9:26 And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not.Joshua 9:27 And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose.

The elders of Israel therefore concluded that the Gibeonites should become hewers of wood and carriers of water. They lived as slaves under the Jews for the generations that followed. They were not allowed to intermarry with the Jews because of their roots.

After the reign of King Solomon, Israel was divided into two; there was the Northern Kingdom and Judah in the south. Generally, the people in the Northern kingdom, which was dominated and described by God in the prophecies as Ephraim were called Israelites. The people of Judah became known as the Jews amongst the international community.

THE RESULT OF THE ‘MERCY TREATY’

In the year 586 BC, which was 820 years after Joshua signed the treaty, Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian Army conquered Jerusalem. The people of Judah were taken captive first and then the people of the north were taken away later. In this conquest every able bodied Israelite and Jew was taken as a slave to Babylon.

The few who were left in the land were the poorest of the poor in the land. These poorest of the poor were the people who were involved in the worst menial jobs like carriers of water and hewers of wood. They were the descendants of the Gibeonites who had tricked Joshua into entering into a treaty with them.

Whilst the Israelites were in exile in Babylon, these remnants of the Gibeonites intermarried with the local Canaanite tribes and they continued to worship idols in the Holy Lands. This was probably because they felt they had no portion in the blessings God had promised the Israelites so they got closer to their neighbours who were more comfortable with idol worship.

With time, some of the Israelites came back home and they intermarried with the remnants of the Gibeonites who had also intermarried with foreigners. Some of the descendants of these marriages formed a proportion of the population of the city of Samaria.

The descendants of these Canaanites, Gibeonites and Samarians lived in the midst of the Israelites and they continued to practise strange religions. After Roman Rule, Jerusalem finally fell to Islamic rulers from the Arabian Peninsular in AD 638.

The Arabs converted the descendants of these people Joshua had refused to kill. The Jews were however adamant. They refused to convert to Islam and many had to be killed, pay excessive taxes or leave the Holy Lands totally. Most of the Jews ended up in Europe as minorities and a few stayed back and they were oppressed by their former slaves.

By 1900, the Turks or Ottoman Empire was controlling Israel. They had little value for the lands and most of the rent of the local inhabitants of the area were farmed by peasants who were descendants of these Gibeonites Joshua failed to kill who were mainly converted to Islam. At that time, nobody in the region had a plan of consolidating the people into a nation so after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and British victory in the 1st World War, Britain was given the mandate to rule over the former territory of Israel.

In the 1920s, the Wahabbi tribe of Arabia, led by the House of Sauds waged a large scale war and conquered the tribes of the Arabian Peninsular. They formed the state of Saudi Arabia and established a monarchy.

Also, the Hashemites who were Britain’s allies in the 1st World War were given the territory east of the Jordan to rule. As the years rolled on, the 2nd World War broke out and the Jews were persecuted. Over six million Jews were killed by 1945 when the war ended.

After the heat of the war, the Jews began to mobilise themselves into group to return to their home in the Middle East. When they returned, there were tensions between the local Palestinian Arabs who can trace their roots to the days of the Gibeonites. The British who were controlling the territory called the Israelites and the Arabs to the negotiating tables on several occasions. Whereas the Jews said they wanted to build a modern Israeli state, the Arabs said they hated the Jews and they only wanted them dead.

Finally, war broke out. People from 12 Arab nations sent support to the local Arabs of Palestine. However, the Israelites stayed strong and they fought back strongly. The armies from foreign Arab nations withdrew. Jordan made an offer to take up all the displaced local Palestinians but they objected. These local Palestinians continue to live in the midst of the Israelites. Whereas Israel continues to build its modern state, the Palestinians who are the seed of the Gibeonites continue to pursue their dream of killing all the Jews as they promised in 1945.

Now, over 3,000 years after the disobedience of Joshua, in the view of showing mercy, the descendants of the Israelites are paying the price dearly.

OBSERVATIONS

Disobeying God’s commandments brings a curse.
A curse that results from disobeying God can last for thousands of years.
The longer a curse remains, the more difficult it is to break.
A curse from disobedience of God, will continue to fight you until you stop it.
No matter how unpleasant a commandment of God may be, one has to obey it.
When it is time for war, showing mercy has serious consequences.