Wise As Serpents
Blue Handshake v3-26 Ch 9 JoshWise as serpents but... harmless as doves? hmmm- sort of
"Why did you deceive us?" v22
~what is heard then believed will become the motivation to act~
sweetest name
we... have come from a distant country because of the fame of the LORD your God...we have heard reports of Him (v9).
~sounds good don't it, like you're on my side, but what motivated this statement for real?
Report: Faith comes by hearing (Ro 10:17) Motive: Fear - Root (v24)
Response: Deceive, lie, to protect & self-preserve - Surface (v6)
Need One of These...
v14 The men of Israel sampled the Gibeonite guys stuff but did not inquire of the LORD and as a result Joshua (v15) made a treaty of peace with them. (Sounds good don't it? Until finding out the root of the treaty is based on a lie and the guys don't live that far away, & all that moldy bread and cracked wine skin were merely a set up to make the story look more convincing (deception), which meant the peace-peace treaty isn't really all that peaceful now that it's clear you lied to me. How is trusting relationships built on that?) Next time prayer will be used and just ask the LORD so then if something bad happens it's either deserved or is just supposed to happen this way, but at least won't have to wonder if God is for or against me & will He still help?
v18 Integrity -
The ability to swear to your own hurt because even when it hurts you did what you said you were going to do.
The peace treaty couldn't be broken not unless Josh wanted to experience punishment for breaking his promise (v20), he had to let those guys live, but what ended up happening was that under the curse (v23) they had to become loggers and irrigationists for the lying, self-preservation, deception, which reaped its own consequence (Ro 8:13) while on the mercy side they were allowed to do this work in the community and for the altar of the LORD (v26).
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