“The men sampled some of their food but didn’t seek the advice of Adonai, so Y’hoshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to spare their lives, and the leading officials of the community swore to them.”-Joshua 9:14-15
Verse 14 tells us that once the soldiers of Israel sampled the spoiled food the Gibeonites had prepared, they were convinced they were not lying when they claimed they were NOT residents living in Canaan but had indeed traveled from a far-off location.
Now take a good look at the second half of verse 14.
It says the men…
…”didn’t seek the advice of Adonai”.
BOOM!
That right there folks is THE reason behind every divine failure in our lives past, present and future.
The men of Israel were about to make the very same mistake they had made when they first attacked the city of Ai which ending up being a most costly and painful defeat.
At this juncture, the question is…
…so how exactly would Joshua have gone about consulting God?
Remember Joshua wasn’t a Mediator like Moses was.
He wasn’t allowed to enter the Tent of Meeting directly like his predecessor did.
Well, the answer to that question is…
…the part about “seeking the advice of Adonai” is…
…actually referring to the Urim and Thummim.
Recall that these were those two tiny stones the High Priest carried in a tiny pouch that was attached to his ephod (the item worn over the High Priest’s heart that contained the names of all the 12 Tribes of Israel).
This was the method the Israelites had utilized for centuries whenever they needed to consult the Lord on any given matter.
We don’t know exactly how these stones were used to reveal the Lord’s answer but according to the ancient Rabbis, the two stones would reveal either a YES or NO answer to a question.
I should also add that in addition to the Urim and Thummim, another divine method often employed to discern the Lord’s Will was the drawing of lots.
Recall that lots was the method used to find out who had stolen God’s holy property at Jericho (which turned out to be Achan).
The differences between the Urim and Thummim and lots were that…
…any leader of Israel could use lots (he didn’t have to go through the High Priest) and…
…lots revealed much more than one YES or NO binary response.
Unfortunately, Israel used NONE of these methods to discern God’s Will and instead decided to rely on their own wisdom (a major lesson for us here folks).
Minus consulting God, the Israelites decided to enter into a peace covenant with the people of Gibeon that would end up sparing their lives in spite of their deceitfulness.
Understand that from a Biblical perspective, entering into a covenant or a treaty was concluded by making a vow.
Do you remember what the Biblical definition of a vow is?
It is a solemn promise SEALED in the name of a tribe or nation’s God.
In other words, it is an unbreakable oath.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
Leave a Reply