Revering the Word
Joshua 10 Why may have God spared the Gibeonites and what about Gaza?
Good morning everyone. This morning we are in Joshua chapter 10. Now when it came about when Adonai Zetik, King of Jerusalem, heard that Joshua had captured AI and had utterly destroyed it just as he had done to Jericho and its king so he had done to AI and its king. And that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel. We heard about that last time. Remember that man came on false pretense and acted like he was coming from a faraway land and enticed Joshua essentially to make a covenant or a treaty with him but he really lied but then Joshua made a treaty and said we wouldn't harm you and then he found out they were a neighboring country versus one that was from far away but God still had Joshua honor that agreement even though it was made on a false pretense. But anyways now we have it's interesting you know Jerusalem's not under the control of Israel and we have the king of Jerusalem hearing about all that Israel is doing and he's gonna gather together the king of Jerusalem is going to gather together neighboring kings to attack Gibeon because now Gibeon is you know has made this treaty with Israel. So he feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city this is the king of Jerusalem he feared Gibeon because Gibeon was a great city like one of the royal cities and because it was greater than AI and all its men were mighty so they didn't like the fact that this already strong city now had Israel's backing and therefore at an IZEDIC king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron and to Pyram king of Jarmuth and to Jephiah king of Lashish and to Debeir son of Egon saying come up to me and help me and let us attack Gibeon for it is made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel so he's gathering together five countries to attack Gibeon so the five kings of the Amorites and the king of Jerusalem the king of Hebron the king of Jarmuth and the king of Lashish and the king of Egon gathered together and went up they with all their armies and camped by Gibeon and fought against it then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua to the camp at Gil-Gal saying do not abandon your servants come up to us quickly and save us and help us for all the kings of the Amorites that live in a country have assembled against us so Joshua went up from Gil-Gal he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors the Lord said to Joshua do not fear them for I have given them into your hand so the Lord God has a heart for the this treaty with the Gibeonites and he's gonna help Joshua to protect them and I want to share with you in a bit a little bit about the future history of the Gibeonites do not fear them for I've given them in your hands the Lord said not one of them shall stand before you so Joshua came upon them suddenly by marching all night from Gil-Gal and the Lord confounded them these five armies before Israel and he slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and pursued them by the way of the ascent to Beth Huron and struck them as far as Azikah and Makkata and as they fled from Israel while they were at the descent of Beth Huron the Lord threw large stones from heaven on them so a miraculous thing from God as far as Azikah and they died there were more who died from the hailstones than those from the sons of Israel killed with the sword then Joshua said to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel and he said in the sight of Israel this is not seems to be like a prayer or song that he said with this victory oh son stands still at Gibeon an old moon in the valley of Azshalan so the sons of still on the moon stopped until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies and it is seen and it says is it not written in the book of just char and the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day there was no day like that before it or after it when the Lord listened to the voice of man for the Lord fought for Israel then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal so it appears there even was a special power of God that actually had the son stand still that day pretty incredible the miracle of God coming to Joshua's aid but also coming to the rescue of the Gibeonites against these five kings now it's interesting in later in history when you know David it and then ultimately Solomon takes over leadership of Israel it in Gibeon the there was a high place and it's where they put Moses's tent of meeting before they built the palace and the temple in Jerusalem this is what it says first second Chronicles chapter 1 verse 3 then Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the high place which was at Gibeon for God's tent of meeting was there which the Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness and then it says in the later in the chapter see if I can put my finger on it yeah verse 13 of that same chapter it says so Solomon went from the high place which was at Gibeon from the tent of meeting to Jerusalem and he reigned over Israel and after this passage in in second Chronicles 1 now we have the building of the temple in Jerusalem but the tabernacle was set up at Gibeon so perhaps that's why God you know saved Gibeon and the Gibeonites and as I mentioned the other day in a podcast too you'll see that when Nehemiah went to build the walls of Jerusalem the people of Gibeon ended up helping Nehemiah rebuild those walls so God had a purpose in saving this in this in saving this people even though it was made on a false pretend treaty but boy blessed were they the Gibeonites to end up having peace and safety from Israel because you know what happens next is in the southern territories and interestingly enough all the way to Gaza Joshua and Israel are going to conquer and and take over and kill the people of that land the promised land and it's interesting you know that the Gaza comes up several times in scripture even into the New Testament and it was on the very southern border of what would be the land of Israel and what was the land of Israel it seems like at times it kind of maybe went back and forth or they didn't secure it always because of just reading through some of the history of Gaza this morning it appears that at times maybe they weren't controlling it but indeed in this chapter they do take it over so let's read on now these five kings had fled and hidden themselves at the cave of Makata so the kings were still alive and they hid it was told Joshua saying the five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makata Joshua said roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and assign men buy it to guard to guard them but do not stay there yourselves pursue your enemies and attack them in the rear and do not allow them to enter their cities so they're still chasing after the five armies of men who they've defeated but who have run and they're gonna capture him he came about when Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished slaying them with a very great slaughter until they were destroyed and their survivors who remain of them had entered the four to five cities that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makata in peace no one uttered a word against the sons of Israel so now Joshua is going to put these five kings to death and then after these five kings put to death this is where in verse 29 it says then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Makata to Libna and fought against Libna and this is where they're going to go all the way south to Gaza comes up at the end verse 40 of the chapter 10 here it says then Joshua struck all the land the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings he left no survivor but he other utterly destroyed all who breathed just as the Lord the God of Israel had commanded Joshua struck them from Kaddash Barnea even as far as Gaza and all the country of Goshan even as far as Gibian Goshua captured all the kings and their lands at one time because the Lord the God of Israel fought for Israel so Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal and that's where the chapter ends what what I didn't cover is Joshua and Israel going to five cities in the southern land of Palestine all the way down to Gaza taking over the cities and killing the people this is what God had asked them to do we've talked about this many times and yet it's challenging but it is what God had in that season of history he wanted to give Israel the land and you know that's interesting even as it is it relates to today God gave Israel this land and they had to fight for this land and God blessed them with this land and you know then later on they they lost their land through their own misgivings of not following God when King Nebuchadnezzar came in and took over the land and then Israel did not get it back until after World War II which is incredible by the way that a country was not a country for that many years you know for Gosh you know over 2,000 years they weren't a country and then they became a country again after World War II but at that time a lot of people had had gone into the land so now there's these bitter debates and divisions and wars over the land of Israel but indeed God did originally give them a blessing and his hand was upon them to take over this land you know many many years ago as we see here the land that was promised to Abraham but people are still as you see fighting about this land today but yes in that period of history God was not wanting them to mix with the people and mix with the gods of that country but that's not what we're here to do today God is in a new dispensation a new season we're in a new age we're in the church age and Jesus said I made you to be my witnesses in Jerusalem Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth and that you're supposed to go make disciples of all nations and when you when you see the word nation that what that means is not just Israel go make disciples not just in Israel but in all nations meaning to the Gentiles to the non Israelites make them followers of me baptizing them and the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you that's the mission that we're on today we're not we're not overtaking countries we're not killing the people of the country instead we're trying to win them to the gospel of Jesus Christ so that they can have forgiveness of sins eternal life and so that they can live for Jesus so yes God did destroy with Israel the people of the land to give Israel that land in that day but today we're trying to win the world of Jesus Christ thank you for listening and God bless you all You