Joshua Chapter 9. What does it mean?

[Jkdbuck76]

So I'm reading Joshua Chapter 9.
Please read it and I ask: what does it mean for us today?
What are the principles for us?


Who did right?
Who did wrong?
The Gibeonites: was their heart in the right place?
Was the outcome a good and Godly outcome?

Are there modern-day Gibeonites?
Is this passage some kind of picture of New Testament Christianity?
I'm curious what YOU think and how YOU interpret the passage.

 

[Scarlett O.]

Who did right?
Who did wrong?
The Gibeonites: was their heart in the right place?
Was the outcome a good and Godly outcome?

Are there modern-day Gibeonites?
Is this passage some kind of picture of New Testament Christianity?
I'm curious what YOU think and how YOU interpret the passage.

I don't think either side was totally right or totally wrong, but shared in both. That's just my opinion as I have read the chapter.

Wrong: [1] The Gibeonites lied, deceived, and presented false testimony.
Wrong: [2] The Isrealites trusted their own senses and trusted the moldy bread and old wineskins and didn't seek the Lord in the matter.

Right: [1] The Gibeonites accepted their fate. When the Isrealites forced them to be servants, they knew, based on what they had learned of God that there was no other way out and they submitted to God via His people.
Right: [2] The Isrealites refused to go back on an oath. (Note that later, God punished the nation with a famine when King Saul killed Gibeonites - Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” 2 Samuel 21:1)

Was the heart of the Gibeonites in the right place? Was Rahab's heart in the right place when she deceived people? They seemed to have deceived just like Rahab did in order to save themselves, but yet they accepted their association with God's people just like she did, too.

Was the outcome good and Godly? Well, I looked up some things about Gibeon (I would have never found the following on my own).

The Gibeonites became servants at the tabernacle, just as Joshua had commanded.

Gibeon becomes a priestly city; the Ark of the Covenant stayed at Gibeon often in the days of David and Solomon (1 Chronicles 16:39-40 and 21:29).

At least one of David’s mighty men was a Gibeonite (1 Chronicles 12:4)

God spoke to Solomon at Gibeon (1 Kings 3:4)

Gibeonites were among those who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem with Nehemiah (Nehemiah 3:7 and 7:25).

 

[Jkdbuck76]

No matter what, it seems God worked it out.