And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the princes of the assembly swore unto them.
The men of Gibeon came with worn-out sacks, cracked wineskins and mouldy bread. They claimed to be travellers from a far country. Verse 15 is the result. It comes one verse after Israel "did not ask counsel from the LORD."
Being deceived was no excuse. The trick only worked because no one asked God.
What the Gibeonites said sounded plausible, and their reference to Israel's God may have had a deciding effect with Joshua. But he and Israel made the fatal mistake of receiving them on their own word, without asking counsel from the Lord (v.14). They made and confirmed a covenant with them by an oath (v.15). Do we think Israel was not to blame, since the Gibeonites deceived them? Then think again. If they had taken the matter to God, would the Gibeonites have fooled them? No! If we walk in true communion with the Lord, no one will fool us, for the Lord is not deceived.
Verse 15 names Joshua and the leaders of the congregation. That is what makes the failure so serious.
But here it was God who was not consulted. It is a more serious thing, beloved, when it is not only the men of Israel, but the elders, the princes, the chiefs of the congregation — yes, Joshua himself — who left Him out of a matter which He alone knew.
The story was thin. A few honest questions would have broken it open. But Israel had only their own judgement to test it with.
How easily they were ensnared! Even a little questioning would have exposed the true character of the Gibeonites. If they lived as far away as the mouldy bread and the torn wineskins pretended, they had no cause to fear Israel... Their eagerness to form an alliance would have betrayed them to the wise of the world. But Israel were then in a position where, if they had not wisdom from God, they must sink beneath the world's wisdom.
The same failure came down to a choice: trust the eye, or trust what God had already said.
If the authority of the word had governed them, it would have kept them from the grave error of making a treaty with people they ought to have destroyed completely. But they judged by the sight of their eyes, and had to reap the consequences.
The leaders "swore to them." The Gibeonites had tricked Israel into that oath, but the trick did not release them from it.
There they bound themselves by the name of the LORD. It is very striking for us to see that at that time no one trifled with the honour of that name. They felt that they had been deceived. This was true. But they did not therefore think they were free to break the oath of the LORD, just because they had been tricked into it... The thing was done: it could not be undone. They had made a double error. They entered into it without the Lord. And once the thing was done, we do not find that they spread the difficulty before Him.
The compromise left a permanent mark on Gibeon.
After the treaty it would have been fresh sin, a crime, to have put them to death. They had solemnly given the name of the Lord, and no one can ever treat that name lightly. But on the other hand, the Gibeonites were reduced to the lowest servant work for the sanctuary of the LORD. So it was plain that nothing protected them but His name.
Peace with Gibeon did not end the fighting. The cost surfaced again generations later.
Peace with Gibeon only robs us of victory and brings other wars and troubles upon us. Whatever is not of God always opens the door to Satan... In the days of David there was a famine for three years. It came because of Saul and his bloody house, because he had killed the Gibeonites. All this came from the little act of not taking counsel with God.
Israel's blunder did not defeat God. He turned it into an occasion for mercy.
God overruled their folly. He made it an occasion to show how merciful He would be to those who trembled at His word, even though they belonged to the cursed race of Canaan. That is most blessedly true... The Gibeonites also show the true position of a soul really penitent, for they bow to the sentence of death... They do not plead the alliance, they surrender themselves unconditionally: "Behold, we are in your hand; do to us as it seems good and right in your sight."
- Omission — The covenant in verse 15 grew out of one missing step in verse 14. The deception was the symptom, not the cause.
- Leaders — Not just the men of Israel, but the elders, the princes and Joshua himself left God out of it.
- Oath — Deception did not cancel the oath. Israel could not treat the name of the Lord lightly, even when they had given it wrongly.
- Consequences — The alliance brought new wars at once, and a famine long afterwards. A mistake is far easier to make than to undo.
- Mercy — God still overruled. He spared those who trembled at His word, and left a picture of the sinner who pleads nothing and surrenders everything.
And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt in their midst.
Israel swore peace with men who claimed to come from a far country, and three days later learned they were neighbours. Who was at fault, and could the treaty be undone?
The disguise lasted three days. One writer notes where the real fault lay once it collapsed:
The truth came out at last. What appeared to come from a distance was a next-door neighbour. At the end of three days the error came to light. The princes had committed the people to the alliance. They had opened the way into Israel's heart for the idolaters. And their oath had to be respected. No wonder "all the congregation murmured against the princes." But God would not allow the obvious lies of the Gibeonites to excuse the evil that the princes had brought on the congregation. They had acted on their own wisdom, and they had not humbled themselves to ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord.
Israel really was lied to. Yet commentators refuse to treat that as an excuse. One question to God would have exposed everything first:
What the Gibeonites said sounded plausible. Their reference to Israel's God may have had a deciding effect with Joshua. But he and Israel made the fatal mistake of receiving them on their own word without asking counsel from the Lord... If we think Israel was not to blame since they were deceived, then let us think again. If they had taken the matter to God, would they have been deceived? No! If we are in proper communion with the Lord, we shall not be deceived, for the Lord is not deceived.
Another writer names who was behind the trick, and when such tricks work:
Satan can use religious language as well as anyone. But he deceives only when we take charge ourselves, instead of consulting the Lord. They needed communion with Him to see that these were people of the country, enemies who did not dare to be enemies.
The Gibeonites fooled the leaders, not the ordinary people. One writer explains why, and why they had no excuse:
The princes of Israel use their own wisdom instead of asking counsel of Jehovah. This time it is confidence, not in the strength, but in the wisdom of man. The princes of the congregation are used to thinking things through and giving direction. They are more likely to fall into this snare... The princes had some misgivings, so that they are without excuse.
Another writer draws out why capable leaders find such a mistake so hard to walk back:
For such men, few things are harder than retracing their steps. It is harder still the higher the character and the greater the experience in the ways of God. If Satan gains such an advantage, the difficulty is enormous... let us pray for those that most of all need counsel from God, that they may be kept from hasty words and measures.
The lie did not give Israel a way out. They had sworn by the name of the Lord, and that settled it:
They felt that they had been deceived. This was true. But they did not therefore think they were free to break the oath of Jehovah because they had been deceived into it. We too must take care how, where we have committed ourselves to what is wrong, we lightly deal with that name. No; the thing was done: it could not be undone. They had made a double error. They entered into it without the Lord. And when the thing was done, we do not find that they spread the difficulty before Him.
Another writer shows what happened to a later king who tried to undo the mistake:
Could they cancel the covenant now on the basis of having been deceived? Absolutely not! Why? Because, though others may act falsely, this never gives a Christian the right to act falsely in return. Later King Saul, in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah, killed some of the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1-2), and God sent a famine on Israel in the days of David because of this. Saul chose a foolish way of trying to correct the failure of his forefathers. What a lesson to teach us the importance of bowing to the governmental results of our failures, rather than proudly thinking we can correct them!
Because God's own name stood behind the oath, the enemy stayed inside the camp:
Israel spares the enemy. And the name of Jehovah, which had been brought in, obliges His people to keep a lasting snare among them.
God did not remove every consequence:
God delivers us from certain consequences of our sin, and allows others to remain. The people of God had to undergo the sad experience of keeping the Gibeonites among them, as a lasting witness to their failure.
- Skip — Israel swore the oath without asking God first. We are deceived when we manage decisions ourselves.
- Act — the leaders acted on their own wisdom, and their experience made the mistake harder to undo.
- Discover — the disguise failed in three days. Mistakes made without God come to light, but too late to stop them.
- Abide — the lie did not release Israel from their oath. Another's falsehood never excuses our own.
- Live with it — God removes some consequences and leaves others standing. The Gibeonites stayed as a lasting reminder of the question Israel skipped.
And the children of Israel journeyed, and came to their cities on the third day; and their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.
Israel had sworn peace with men who claimed to come from far away. Three days later its army reached their cities and found them next door, which leaves one hard question: what do you do with a promise you should never have made?
The whole treaty rested on one claim: distance. Three days of marching proved it false.
The truth came out at last. What appeared to come from a distance was a next-door neighbour. After three days the mistake came to light. The princes had committed the people to the alliance. They had opened the way into Israel's heart for the idolaters, and they had to keep their oath.
A few sharp questions would have exposed the same lie before the oath. The story had a hole in it from the start.
How easily they fell into the trap! Even a little close questioning would have exposed what the Gibeonites really were. If they really lived as far away as the mouldy bread and the torn wineskins pretended, they had no reason to fear Israel... Their eagerness to form an alliance would have betrayed them to the wise of the world.
The Gibeonites tricked Israel. That did not make Israel innocent.
Do we think Israel was not to blame, because the Gibeonites deceived them? Then let us think again. If they had taken the matter to God, would the deceit have worked? No! If we are in real communion with the Lord, we will not be deceived, for the Lord is not deceived.
The men who fell here were the ones trained to weigh evidence and lead.
The princes of Israel use their own wisdom instead of asking counsel of the Lord. This time it is confidence, not in the strength, but in the wisdom of man. The princes of the congregation are used to thinking and guiding, so they are more likely to fall into this trap... The princes had some misgivings, so that they are inexcusable.
Israel reached the four cities and could not touch them. The reason was the name they had sworn by.
There they bound themselves by the name of the Lord. It is very striking for us to see that at that time no one treated the honour of that name lightly. They felt that the Gibeonites had tricked them. This was true; but they did not think they were free to break the oath of the Lord just because the Gibeonites had tricked them into it... They had made a double error. They entered into it without the Lord, and afterwards we do not find that they brought the difficulty to Him.
Leaving Gibeon standing was not the end of it. The cost showed up centuries later.
The result was that, for their oath's sake, Israel had to leave Gibeon standing. Misery followed for Israel centuries later. A famine came on them in David's time because Saul killed the Gibeonites.
This verse has a sharp edge for anyone who has already signed or married without asking God.
Gained by deceit, must this covenant stand? Yes, it must. Had Israel been with God, no deceit could have prevailed against them. So there are yokes which, though unequal, we cannot escape from. If we can leave without doing an injustice to someone else, then of course we are bound to leave, provided the work we have tied ourselves to is itself evil. If I have married an unbeliever, the oath of the Lord forbids me to withdraw from it. In the same way there may be business relations which, once we have entered them, plain righteousness would forbid us to leave.
- Cause — Israel never asked God. Everything else in this verse follows from that one silence. If they had been walking with Him, no deceit could have worked.
- Clue — Ordinary questions would have cracked the story. Mouldy bread and torn wineskins prove nothing when the visitors' eagerness contradicts their tale.
- Class — The experienced guides fall more easily than the crowd. They even had misgivings, and went ahead anyway, which leaves them without excuse.
- Cost — The three days' march exposed the lie but changed nothing. Four Canaanite cities stayed inside the land, because Israel had sworn by God's name, and no one could treat that name lightly.
- Continuation — The consequences ran on for centuries, down to a famine in David's reign. Some ties, once made, righteousness itself will not let us break. So ask God before the promise, not after.
And the children of Israel did not smite them, because the princes of the assembly had sworn unto them by Jehovah the God of Israel. Then all the assembly murmured against the princes.
Israel marched to the Gibeonite cities and found that the far-off strangers were next-door neighbours, yet the people spared them because the leaders had sworn by the LORD. Then the whole congregation turned on the leaders in anger — so why did a promise won by lies still hold?
How did Israel fall for it? One writer traces the failure to a single omission, and says being deceived is no defence:
What the Gibeonites said sounded plausible, and it may be that their reference to Israel's God had a deciding effect with Joshua, but he and Israel made the fatal mistake of receiving them on their own word without asking counsel from the Lord… If we think Israel was not to blame since they were deceived, then let us think again: if they had taken the matter to God, would they have been deceived? No! If we are in proper communion with the Lord, we shall not be deceived, for the Lord is not deceived.
Israel had a real excuse to tear up the agreement. They did not use it, because of the name they had sworn by — Jehovah, which the ESV renders "the LORD":
It is a more serious thing when it is not merely the men of Israel who leave Him out of a matter that only He knew, but the elders, the princes, the chiefs of the congregation — yes, Joshua himself… There they bound themselves by the name of Jehovah. It is very striking for us to see that at this time no one trifled with the honour of that name. They felt that they had been tricked. This was true; but they did not therefore consider that it was open to them to break the oath of Jehovah because they had been deceived into it. We too must take care how, where we have committed ourselves to what is wrong, we lightly deal with that name. No; the thing was done: it could not be undone. They had made a double error: they entered into it without the Lord, and once it was done, we do not find that they brought the difficulty to Him.
The people had good reason to complain: their leaders had opened the door. Yet the Gibeonites' lies gave Israel no way out:
The truth came out at last. What appeared to come from a distance was a next-door neighbour. At the end of three days the error came to light. The princes had committed the people to the alliance, they had opened the way into Israel's heart for the idolaters, and their oath had to be respected. No wonder all the congregation murmured against the princes. But God would not allow the obvious lies of the Gibeonites to excuse the evil that the princes had brought on the congregation. The princes had acted on their own wisdom, and had not humbled themselves to ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord.
The oath did more than save Gibeon for a day. It left Israel with something they could not remove:
Israel spares the enemy; and the name of Jehovah, which had been brought in, obliges His people to keep a lasting snare among them.
The murmuring was not the end of the story:
God delivers us from certain consequences of our sin, and allows others to remain. The people of God had to undergo the sad experience of keeping the Gibeonites among them, as a lasting witness to their failure. Having begun by murmuring against the princes, the children of Israel are brought eventually to a truer sense of their duty.
This oath still speaks to ties we make today. One writer marks off which ones hold and which must be broken:
Gained by deceit, must this covenant stand? Yes, it must: for had Israel been with God, no deceit could have prevailed against them. And so there are yokes which, though unequal, we cannot escape from. If we can escape without doing an injustice to another, then of course we are bound to do so, when the work we have yoked ourselves to is itself evil. If I have married an unbeliever, the oath of the Lord forbids withdrawal from it, and there may be in the same way business relations from which, after having entered them, simple righteousness would forbid us to withdraw.
- Counsel. The whole disaster traces to one omission: Israel decided the matter without asking God. A believer in communion with the Lord will not be deceived, because the Lord is not deceived.
- Oath. The lies of the other party did not release Israel. Once the name of the LORD was pledged, the thing was done and could not be undone.
- Murmur. The people were right to be angry. Still, the Gibeonites' deceit was no excuse to cancel what the leaders had pledged.
- Snare. Sparing the enemy left a permanent problem in the camp. It stood as a lasting witness to the failure behind it.
- Yoke. Some consequences God removes and some He leaves. Where righteousness binds us — a marriage, a business tie — we keep our word and bear the cost. Only where the work itself is evil, and no one is wronged by our leaving, are we bound to go.
And all the princes said to all the assembly, We have sworn unto them by Jehovah the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.
Israel's leaders had just made a peace treaty with people who lived a few miles away — people God had marked out for destruction. The Gibeonites got it by lying, and now the lie is out. The people are angry, and the leaders give one answer that settles everything: they swore by God's own name.
The trouble did not start with the Gibeonites' lies. It started when the leaders settled the matter without asking God.
Here it was God whom they did not consult. It is more serious when the men of Israel are not the only ones who leave Him out. This time the elders, the leaders, the chiefs of the congregation — yes, Joshua himself — left Him out of a matter that He alone knew. They bound themselves by the name of the Lord. It is very striking for us to see that at that time no one trifled with the honour of that name. They felt they had been deceived. That was true. But they still did not think they were free to break the oath of the Lord just because they had been deceived into it. No; the thing was done: it could not be undone. They made a double error. They entered into it without the Lord. Then, once it was done, we do not find that they spread the difficulty before Him.
The Gibeonites were enemies who had lied their way into the promise. That changed nothing, because the name in the oath was God's.
Zeal only for God's people, or zeal in name only for God Himself, can never make disrespect to His name holy. That holds even if that name had been pledged to His worst enemies, and only through trickery. In truth the question was not who received the pledge, but whose name was sworn. If the Lord's name was given as a shield to anyone, the Lord would guard its holiness Himself, unswerving and utterly righteous.
The same rule shapes everyday Christian life, and how we handle our own past mistakes.
Could they cancel the covenant now on the grounds that they had been deceived? Absolutely not! Why? Because, though others may act falsely, this never gives a Christian the right to act falsely in return. They had given their word. God would not allow them to go back on it, despite the problems that might follow. Later King Saul killed some of the Gibeonites "in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah." Because of this, God sent a famine on Israel in the days of David. Saul chose a foolish way of trying to correct the failure of his forefathers. What a lesson! It teaches us to bow to the consequences God brings on our failures, instead of thinking in our pride that we can correct them.
The people blamed their leaders, and the blame landed in the right place.
The leaders had committed the people to the alliance, they had opened the way into Israel's heart for the idolaters, and their oath had to be respected. No wonder "all the congregation murmured against the leaders." But God would not let the obvious lies of the Gibeonites excuse the evil the leaders had brought on the congregation. They had leaned on their own wisdom. They had failed to humble themselves and ask counsel from the Lord. Leaders lead among God's people, and He lets the evil of their self-sufficiency stand. They cannot root it out — what is sown must be reaped.
The oath stands, so only one honest course is left. Israel must live with the Gibeonites without calling the alliance good.
God delivers us from certain consequences of our sin, and allows others to remain. The people of God had to undergo the sad experience of keeping the Gibeonites among them, as a lasting witness to their failure. The children of Israel began by murmuring against the leaders, but in time they were brought to a truer sense of their duty. There was only one thing to do — bear with the Gibeonites among them, while keeping them in the place of the curse. "Now therefore you are cursed," said Joshua to them. Israel could not touch them; they had to bear their humiliation.
One habit would have saved them from all of it, and it is still open to us.
Nothing matters more in difficulty or trial than this. Before we venture an opinion, before we take a step, before we let ourselves be drawn to one side or the other, we should ask counsel of the Lord. This would spare us many a sorrow. It would prevent much shame and defeat before our enemies. I must say this holds above all for people who have wisdom and are used to guiding others. There are few things harder than for such people to retrace their steps.
- Cause. The oath bound them because of one omission — the leaders never asked counsel of the Lord.
- Claim. Once the oath was sworn, God's name decided the case, not the honesty of the other side. Trickery could not cancel it.
- Cost. Leaders bound a whole nation, and the nation had to carry what its leaders could not root out.
- Conduct. Israel kept the oath and kept the Gibeonites under the curse. They honoured their word without pretending the alliance was right.
- Cure. Ask counsel of the Lord before you act. Those most used to guiding others find it hardest to retrace their steps.