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Tara Leigh Cobble
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Before we launch into today's recap, we need to remember something we read in Deuteronomy 20 to help it all make sense. In that chapter, God gave very different instructions on how the Israelites were supposed to handle cities outside of the promised Land versus cities inside the promised Land. For cities outside Canaan, they were supposed to greet the cities with peace and kill only the males and only if they opposed them. But for those inside Canaan, they were supposed to operate by a principle called Cherim, where everything is dedicated to Yahweh and devoted to destruction. As we've talked about before, God used this practice to serve multiple purposes. Today we meet another group of people from Gibeon. They're called the Gibeonites or the Hivites, and they've apparently gotten word of God's instructions to the Israelites. They lived in Canaan, but decided to pretend like they didn't so they could get the more lenient treatment and not be entirely destroyed. Pretty sneaky. They ask Israel to enter into a protective covenant with them. Remember yesterday how Joshua won the battle against Jericho, then failed to ask God for guidance when fighting against AI and they lost. Then he won against AI when he followed God's commands. It seems like he learned very little from that incident because here he is failing to ask God for guidance again and just forging out on his own. So he gets duped into making a covenant with his enemies, which is in direct violation of God's commands to Israel. In Deuteronomy 7. Pretty quickly, the Israelites find out they've been deceived and they want to destroy the Gibeonites. But the Israelite leaders tell them that they have to keep their covenant and that they'll just have to sever the consequences of their sin in entering into the covenant. But they don't kill the Gibeonites Hivites, and instead just assign them to do manual labor in the service of the temple. Which makes the Gibeonites pretty happy because they know they've avoided being destroyed. One thing I find interesting about this is that even God's enemies who have deceived God's people end up serving God's purposes and glory. Some other local kings get wind of what happened, and they gather together to go to war against the people of Gibeon. Because they had made peace with the Israelites, the Gibeonites panic and beg Israel to help them out. So Joshua talks to God about it. Good call. And God says, do not fear, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you. I love it when God speaks of the future in past tense. I have given them into your hands. It's almost like he wrote the story before it happened. In this battle, God uses some miraculous tactics. Confusion and hailstones and cosmic events, and he wins the war for Israel. Joshua knows how to proceed because he listened to and believed God. He remembers what God said to him, and he quotes God's words to his people as they wrap up the battle. After this, they defeat six more cities in southern Canaan. As a result, the kings of the north get pretty nervous, as you can imagine, as Joshua talks to God about things. God tells him that the next day he'll give all of them to Israel in battle. And he does. Joshua is beginning to listen carefully to what God says. And because of God's unique covenant with this nation state, they continue to see victory in battle. When they obey, Joshua makes sure to do all that God commanded Moses, and he begins to display thorough obedience. And all this fighting takes about seven years. So he also displays persistent obedience. As we wrapped up today's reading, we saw that Joshua defeats the Anakim. And they're always a reminder that there's likely more going on here than meets the eye. It's possible that these people the Israelites are destroying are the enemy's attempt to wipe out the bloodline of the Messiah by interbreeding with humans. It's what the ancient Jews believed, and honestly, who knows? But this has been a pretty consistent thread in the books we've read so far, so we don't want to dismiss it. And that final paragraph of our reading is what made the sentence before that a little easier to process. 11:20 says, for it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle in order that they should be devoted to destruction and receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses. This phrase harden their hearts isn't an easy phrase. Anytime we encounter it, we can't cut it out of Scripture. There's obviously something in it that God wants us to notice about Himself. When God was talking to Moses in Exodus 33:19, he said, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. This has a way of chafing against our sense of justice and equity. It makes us feel like God isn't fair. So it's always important to remember that all of us are sinners who only deserve death and eternal separation from God. For those of us who don't get that we are the only ones for whom things aren't fair, we do not get what we deserve. There's a lot of mystery in this that none of us will understand. On this side of eternity, it's okay to have a hard time with it, to wrestle and question, but keep holding it with an open hand and asking God to reveal Himself and His heart to you. In this pursuit, the enemy of your soul wants nothing more than for you to mistrust God and His heart. But I hope you've seen enough of his heart by now to trust him, even when there are parts of him that you don't yet understand. There's a 100% chance that you won't always like what God does because He's God and you aren't. As Tim Keller says, if your God never disagrees with you, you might be worshiping an idealized version of yourself. Joshua learned that lesson the hard way by losing battles and lives. Hopefully the lesson won't be as hard for us. What was your God shot today? Mine was in that moment where the sun stood still. I found it so odd that Joshua would pray for the sun to stand still. Who would even think of that prayer? And not only that, but God listened to him and answered him with a yes. This story always reminds me of a quote that I think is attributed to Charles Spurgeon. It says, joshua set his heart to obey God and the days were not long enough for his battles. God did not hasten his victory, he lengthened his days. Wow. I wonder why Joshua didn't pray for a quicker victory. Instead, he had the direct line to Yahweh. He asked for something impossible and God granted it. But I wonder what would have happened if he'd prayed bigger. Our God has great things in store for his kids. He's merciful, he's big on the miraculous, and he loves us. I want to ask him for big things today and I want to trust him and praise him even when his answer is no. Because ultimately his answers aren't what I'm after. I'm after him because he's where the joy is. It's weekly check in time, Bible readers. The good news is you are here today. You read your Bible today. What have you learned so far in this journey? If you're behind the schedule you've been aiming for, don't beat yourself up about it. And just like a delayed sunset, even your so called delays in our reading plan still somehow end up serving God's purposes and his timing for what he wants to teach you. Plus, you're probably reading the Bible more than you would on your own. Think about how much joy there is to gain every day just by carving out 20 minutes to read and recap. We'll see you back here tomorrow. I believe God has great things in store for you and they're right on time, even if you're not.