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The Book of Joshua – Part 10, Joshua 9:1-27 – Take heed to thyself

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The Book of Joshua – Part 10, Joshua 9:1-27

“Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: ” – Exo 34:12

[Study Aired April 29, 2023]

The Body of Christ is highly conversant with the Lord’s stunning statement that “all things are yours” (1Co 3:22, 23). As such, until the end of the rule with the rod of iron and the death of all flesh, the Bible is written purely for Christ’s Christs!

The saga continues with Israel crossing the Jordan as a young nation in the bloom of her youth, learning her Lord’s commandments.

The violent death of Achan and his seemingly innocent family made Israel sit up straight and take the Lord seriously ~ well, that is what they believed without knowing the future power of the holy spirit. The Lord is still in the process of laying the foundation of His Temple for His distant Elect, and this study of Joshua continues with Israel’s milk and honey chastisements and blessings that will never depart while they are given to depend upon their flesh as a savior.

The Body of Christ is most blessed to understand that everything, both good and evil, negatively and positively, in scripture is a symbolic image of us that genuinely makes us sit up and take notice! Now, Israel, who is us, is about to entertain some rag-tag Gibeonite strangers.

Even with the holy spirit being that still small voice behind us, we downplay the warning trumpet of war in our heavens and graciously engage a little Gibeonite sin ~ it’s our nature to be kind to strangers and not judge with the fleshly facts at hand, and particularly by our own strength. Yet, and by the Lord’s hand for our torturous learning, we capitulate to His warnings.

Deu 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
Deu 7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
Deu 7:3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 
Deu 7:4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

The Gibeonite Deception

Jos 9:1 And it happened, when all the kings who were on this side Jordan, in the hills and in the valleys, and in all the coast of the great sea over against Lebanon heard, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,
Jos 9:2 they all, with one mind, gathered themselves to fight with Joshua and with Israel. 
Jos 9:3 And when those who lived in Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 
Jos 9:4 they worked slyly. For they came and acted as if they were ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their asses, and old and torn and bound up wineskins,
Jos 9:5 and old and patched sandals on their feet, and old clothes on them. And all the bread they had taken was dry and moldy. 
Jos 9:6 And they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country. Now therefore, make a treaty with us. 
Jos 9:7 And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you are living among us, and how shall we make a treaty with you? 
Jos 9:8 And they said to Joshua, We are your servants. And Joshua said to them, Who are you, and from where do you come?
Jos 9:9 And they said to him, Your servants have come from a very far country, because of the name of Jehovah your God. For we have heard of His fame and all that He did in Egypt, 
Jos 9:10 and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth.
Jos 9:11 And our elders and all those who live in our country spoke to us saying, Take provisions with you for the journey, and go to meet them. Say to them, We are your servants. And now make a treaty with us. 
Jos 9:12 We took this bread hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came out to go to you. But now, see, it is dry, and it is moldy. 
Jos 9:13 And these wineskins which we filled were new. And, see, they are torn. And these clothes and shoes of ours have become old because of the very long journey.
Jos 9:14 And they received the men because of their provisions, and did not ask at the mouth of Jehovah.
Jos 9:15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a treaty with them, to let them live. And the rulers of the congregation swore to them. 
Jos 9:16 And it happened at the end of three days after they had made a treaty with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them.
Jos 9:17 And the sons of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.
Jos 9:18 And the sons of Israel did not strike them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by Jehovah, the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the rulers. 
Jos 9:19 But all the rulers said to the congregation, We have sworn to them by Jehovah, the God of Israel. Now, therefore, we may not touch them. 
Jos 9:20 This we will do to them. We will even let them live, lest wrath be on us because of the oath which we swore to them. 
Jos 9:21 And the rulers said to them, Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and drawers of water to all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them. 
Jos 9:22 And Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, Why have you fooled us saying, We are very far from you, when you dwell among us? 
Jos 9:23 And now you are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being slaves and woodcutters and drawers of water for the house of my God. 
Jos 9:24 And they answered Joshua and said, Because it was certainly told your servants how Jehovah your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all those who lived in the land from before you; therefore, we were very much afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 
Jos 9:25 And now, behold, we are in your hand. As it seems good and right to you to do to us, do it. 
Jos 9:26 And so he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the sons of Israel, so that they did not kill them. 
Jos 9:27 And Joshua made them that day woodcutters and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of Jehovah, even to this day, in the place which He should choose.

————-

Jos 9:1 And it happened, when all the kings who were on this side Jordan, in the hills and in the valleys, and in all the coast of the great sea over against Lebanon heard, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,
Jos 9:2 they all, with one mind, gathered themselves to fight with Joshua and with Israel.

In Deuteronomy 7:1, we read that there were “seven nations greater and mightier than thou” – the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now we have an eighth, the Gibeonites. All eight of these nations within are of one mind, gathered to fight Christ’s Christs and cause them to doubt that the Lord will fight our wars for us when we ask. The hills and valleys within us hide our spiritual filth and all the way to the “coasts of the great sea” of humanity from which we are being told to leave.

With the number seven meaning completion and the whole of a thing, especially judgment, these seven nations are our spiritual enemies, representing the eight and many legions of evil spirits.

Who are these additional Gibeonite enemies making an eighth?

Gibeon H1391

As it turns out, the Gibeonites are close relatives of Israel through Benjamin, who were unaware of the commandments of Moses since the Gibeonites didn’t come out of Egypt with greater Israel.

Regardless of the Gibeonites’ (‘city of Benjamin’) close association with Israel, we don’t acquiesce to our close relatives when they live contrary to the Lord’s word. 

Mat 10:36 And a man’s foes shall be those of his own household. 
Mat 10:37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

Giving our Gibeonite kin a nod and a wink for their seeming innocence is the same as welcoming Babylonian Christianity doctrines.

Most interestingly, with the Gibeonites being an apparent eighth enemy in the land, the Lord started with them as the head, the last great day of judgment (eighth day), and worked backwards to kill the remaining seven, the figurative body of Joseph’s brothers as one action in the Lake of Fire.

The relatively small cities of Jericho and Ai were teaser victories of the eight that arrogantly emboldened Israel. It doesn’t matter if there were many enemy sub-cities of the eight since the meaning of the number seven encompasses them all. We know that we don’t just rid our land of the chief cities but also the children-cities within.

So, beginning with the sneaky Gibeonites, representing the eighth and the Lake of Fire/Last Great Day, he is the man of perdition of the Seven. The Lord is about to show the Elect, who negatively begin as The Great Whore, the process of getting rid of our spiritual enemies, starting with us, and represented as Benjamin, Joseph’s blood brother with us, drinking from the same “cup” (Gibeon – cup; bowl) as their Lord.

We are the Beast and Great Whore, becoming fully developed and signified as Israel from Mt Sinai through her many upcoming whoredoms.

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 
Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 
Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 
Rev 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 
Rev 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 
Rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 
Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition [G684 – 1. destroying, utter destruction a. of vessels 2. a perishing, ruin, destruction a. of money b. the destruction which consists of eternal misery in hell; judgment]

Beginning with the destruction of the man of perdition (the eighth – Gibeonites), the Lord kills (disempowers) the head of the snake, Satan, and symbolically, the subsequent seven more powerful cities (than us) are destroyed along with him in the resurrection to judgment, including the eradication of death.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.

Satan is the ultimate eighth man of perdition who will have no power in the lake of fire. The Christs contend with Satan before the first resurrection, with the Lord Himself crushing the serpent’s head on our acknowledgement for our sins and the light yoke of the Lord’s work within. Yet, for the Elect of God and since they are not hurt by the second death, the destruction of the man of perdition to becoming Christ seems a long and drawn-out process.

Rev 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

At this point, it is highly informative to understand the spiritual attributes of all eight nations within, who are stronger than we are. The bulk of the cities are the seven descendant sons of Ham, and they infest the land of Canaan, the promised land. The eighth is the Gibeonites who, in shadow, represent an Elect who forgot their inheritance and election as we once did, and just as much later, treacherous Judah did. Israel is yet to be a fully puffed-up whore, and under Judah’s God-given right to hold and teach the oracles of God, Judah, represented here as Benjamin through the Gibeonites, became worse than her sisters.

Jer 3:9 And it happened, from the folly of her whoredom, she defiled the land and fornicated with stones and stocks.
Jer 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says Jehovah.
Jer 3:11 And Jehovah said to me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 
Jer 3:12 Go and cry these words toward the north, and say, Return, O backsliding Israel, says Jehovah; and I will not cause My anger to fall on you; for I am merciful, says Jehovah, and I will not keep anger forever. 
Jer 3:13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have sinned against Jehovah your God and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says Jehovah.

Gibeonites

We have already spoken of the Gibeonites, who symbolize the Elect going before their brothers’ and sisters’ destruction. As we will soon see, the Gibeonites are a shifty bunch, cunningly trying to slip into Israel to destroy her from within. Typically, as did Achan, we deal passively with that enemy, thinking them inconsequential. However, for the Elect of God’s torturous learning, we “little by little” route the enemies from our land lest we be overcome by attacking them all at once (Exo 23:30). When any of us are given to kill the eighth, we spiritually outflank death entirely, and that is precisely what will happen to those in the Resurrection to Judgment.

Hittites

From experience, typically, this is what happens spiritually to the Lord’s Elect. They launch into attacking the Jerichos and Ais in their lives with jubilant success, only to be shattered, broken and dismayed by their Lord’s seemingly heavy chastisement in their affairs.

Psa 22:1 To the Chief Musician, on the deer of the dawn. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me, and are far from my deliverance, and from the words of my groaning?
Psa 22:2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not answer; and in the night, and am not silent.

Psa 107:21 Let them praise Jehovah for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the sons of man!
Psa 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing! 
Psa 107:23 They who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24 these see the works of Jehovah and His wonders in the deep. 
Psa 107:25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves. 
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble. 
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and all their wisdom is swallowed up. 
Psa 107:28 And they cry to Jehovah in their trouble, and He brings them out of their troubles. 
Psa 107:29 He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still. 
Psa 107:30 And they are glad because they are quiet; so He brings them to their desired haven.

We reach our desired haven as we learn to walk up and down in the coals of our chastisements, and the King of Tyre that we are, learns to become Christ (Eze 28:11-19). We learn to take fire into our bosom at our Lord’s hand, who blazes upon our filthy clothes to be refined as pure gold dressed in white raiment.

Pro 6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Pro 6:28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

Of course, the Elect of God learn to precisely do that joyfully.

Girgashites

Adam and we were clay, made from water (the deep; the beast coming out of the sea) added to the dust of the ground. The Girgashites symbolise our raw clay state, which vessels the Master Potter shapes and reshapes of the highest quality to His good pleasure.

Isa 45:9 Woe to him who fights with the One who formed him, a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to its former, What are you making? Or your work, He has no hands? 
Isa 45:10 Woe to him who says to his father, What are you fathering? Or to the woman, What are you laboring over? 
Isa 45:11 So says Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and the One who formed him, Do you ask Me of things to come? Do you give command to Me about My sons, and about the work of My hands?
Isa 45:12 I have made the earth, and created man on it; I with My hands have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I commanded.
Isa 45:13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let My captives go, not for price nor reward, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Amorites

Ammorites are proud vessels made in their own image of importance.

H567
– Original: אמרי
– Transliteration: ‘Emoriy
– Phonetic: em-o-ree’
– Definition: amorite = a sayer
One of the peoples of east Canaan and beyond the Jordan, dispossessed by the Israelite incursion from Egypt.
Origin H559
– 1. to say, speak, utter
a. (Qal) to say, to answer, to say in one’s heart, to think, to command, to promise, to intend
b. (Niphal) to be told, to be said, to be called
c. (Hithpael) to boast, to act proudly
d. (Hiphil) to avow, to avouch.

Thus far, these names represent proud clay vessels made to be smashed and utterly destroyed by the Israelites, which parallels what our Lord does to us, as depicted in Nebuchadnezzar’s image in Daniel 3 and what Job graphically experienced.

Isa 30:12 Therefore so says the Holy One of Israel, Because you have despised this Word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rest on them;
Isa 30:13 therefore this iniquity [pride] shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant [a “swelling out in a high wall” is like a hernia; it is a result of poor structural integrity in that section of the wall and will ultimately collapse unexpectedly].
Isa 30:14 And He shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces. He shall have no pity, so that there shall not be found in the breaking of it a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit.

Canaanites

Canaanites are the fourth son of Ham, and, along with their neighbours, the Ishmaelites were merchant traders by caravans.

Spiritually, we are brought low and our pride smashed until we are brought into total subjection in Christ.

1Pe 5:5 Likewise, younger ones, be subject to older ones, and all being subject to one another. Put on humility. For God resists proud ones, but He gives grace to the humble. 
1Pe 5:6 Therefore be humbled under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time,
1Pe 5:7 casting all your anxiety onto Him, for He cares for you.

Perizzites

Typically in Babylon today, as we have been, we believed in the safety of Jesus having done everything on the cross without us having to lift a finger. A Perizzite depicts us having once dwelt in the imagined safety that we have a husband and are not a widow, living luxuriously in His shadow while eating our own bread and wearing our own clothing.

Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothing; only let us be called by your name, to take away our shame.

Rev 18:6 Reward her as she has rewarded you, and double to her double, according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix double to her.
Rev 18:7 As much as she has glorified herself and has lived in luxury, so much torment and sorrow give her. For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow; and I do not see mourning at all.

Hivites

Yes, they, too, are descendants of Canaan. 

All the people of Canaan are the equivalent of the “deep” where the Beasts come forth; they represent the entirety of humanity, as seen by their name connected to Eve, the mother of all living. There is no escaping the fact that there is one event for all of mankind.

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 
Ecc 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Jebusites

Ironically, since Jerusalem at a later date means “city of peace”, its earlier name decidedly meant downtrodden, a place spiritually for Israel and us for our threshing to bring forth righteousness as the new heavenly Jerusalem above.

So, we have the meanings of all eight names of the primary (full number seven) cities and people of sin within us. They all culminate in the eighth and the grand finale of death being destroyed at the end of the one-thousand year reign with the rod of Iron. Of course, many other heathen people and towns were plaguing Israel’s peace, as they do spiritually to us today, the budding sons of God.

In the next verse, the Gibeonites, who represent Benjamin, are those who abdicate their calling to be the Lord’s chosen. They look like ambassadors for Christ, yet have sneaked into the ranks of the Lord’s house with their Babylonian Christian doctrines on the backs and strength of asses with their mouldy worn-out traditions of men and the wine of a different Jesus. Again, they like the concept of salvation yet bring false humility symbolised by old sandals and clothing that forecast the eventual putting to shame the Old Covenant that is replaced by the spirit of Christ in the New. They can look like wheat but are tares.

Mat 9:16 No one puts a piece of new cloth onto an old garment; for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 
Mat 9:17 Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; else the wineskins burst, and the wine runs out, and the wineskins perish. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved together.

Jos 9:3 And when those who lived in Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 
Jos 9:4 they worked slyly. For they came and acted as if they were ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their asses, and old and torn and bound up wineskins,
Jos 9:5 and old and patched sandals on their feet, and old clothes on them. And all the bread they had taken was dry and moldy.
Jos 9:6 And they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country. Now therefore, make a treaty with us.

Regarding any enemy of the kingdom of God and the consequences if we are slothful to fulfil our Lord’s commands:

Jdg 2:2 And you shall make no treaty with those who live in this land. You shall throw down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. What is this that you have done?
Jdg 2:3 And I also said, I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.

Jos 9:7 And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you are living among us, and how shall we make a treaty with you?

The Lord’s people unequivocally know that the enemy is living right inside of their sinful flesh from birth; we do not make treaties with them nor serve them.

Jos 9:8 And they said to Joshua, We are your servants. And Joshua said to them, Who are you, and from where do you come?

Although the symbol of Achan’s spirit was gone, the Lord was teaching Israel the machinations of other enemies for our spiritual learning. If we are given to always be on guard for the enemy’s attacks, we also know that if we fail to thoroughly clean one evil spirit out of our house by the entirety of the Lord’s word, he could return with many others worse than him. Also, if we are not practised at discerning the spirits, we will not know the origin of their alleged truth.

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the [church] world.

Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walks through dry places seeking rest, and finds none. 
Mat 12:44 Then he said, I will return into my house from where I came out. And when he has come, he finds it empty, swept, and decorated.
Mat 12:45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and live there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so it also shall be to this evil generation. 

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Jos 9:9 And they said to him, Your servants have come from a very far country, because of the name of Jehovah your God. For we have heard of His fame and all that He did in Egypt, 
Jos 9:10 and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon [H2808 origin – account, reasoning, reckoning], and to Og [5746 – 1. (Qal) to bake, bake a cake], king of Bashan [H1316 – fruitful; the half-tribe of Manasseh], who was at Ashtaroth [H –  star n pr f deity 1. false Goddesses in the Canaanite religion, usually related to a fertility cult. H6238 –  1. to be or become rich or wealthy, enrich, pretend to be rich].

We can easily see the connections between the names of the enemies and their spiritual significance, that they are proud of their spiritual richness through their glorification of other gods.

Jos 9:11 And our elders and all those who live in our country spoke to us saying, Take provisions with you for the journey, and go to meet them. Say to them, We are your servants. And now make a treaty with us.
Jos 9:12 We took this bread hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came out to go to you. But now, see, it is dry, and it is moldy. 
Jos 9:13 And these wineskins which we filled were new. And, see, they are torn. And these clothes and shoes of ours have become old because of the very long journey. 
Jos 9:14 And they received the men because of their provisions, and did not ask at the mouth of Jehovah.
Jos 9:15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a treaty with them, to let them live. And the rulers of the congregation swore to them.

That is how easy it is for an Elect of God to fall back into his old ways, especially if the multitude of counselors are babes in the Lord. Of course, if we are Body members and not Elders, we still are accounted as Elders since our hope is in the First Resurrection.

1Ti 5:22 Do not lay hands quickly on anyone, neither be partaker of the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. 

1Ti 3:1 Faithful is the Word: If anyone reaches out to overseership, he desires a good work. 
1Ti 3:2 Then it behooves the overseer to be without reproach, husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, well-ordered, hospitable, apt at teaching, 
1Ti 3:3 not a drunkard, not contentious, not greedy of ill gain, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, 
1Ti 3:4 ruling his own house well, having children in subjection with all honor.
1Ti 3:5 (For if a man does not know to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) 
1Ti 3:6 not a novice, lest being puffed up he may fall into the condemnation of the Devil. 
1Ti 3:7 But he must also have a good report from those on the outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the Devil.

Jos 9:16 And it happened at the end of three days after they had made a treaty with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them.
Jos 9:17 And the sons of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.
Jos 9:18 And the sons of Israel did not strike them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by Jehovah, the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the rulers.

What an utter disaster! The process of spiritual progression through judgment (number 3) soundly made foolery of Israel, starting with the Elders. A “treaty” is a covenant with a level of sanctity equivalent to the spiritual morality of the individuals in agreement, and here we have one party morally corrupt and the other, babes to the Law. To boot, and for us spiritually, an oath between the parties soberly sealed the deal!

A spiritual lesson from this shifty deal is that we don’t allow false doctrine to coexist privately in our heavens or in the Body of Christ without the multitude of counselors. One sin potentially leads to a cascade of sins.

Mat 5:34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all! Not by Heaven, because it is God’s throne;
Mat 5:35 not by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King;
Mat 5:36 nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 
Mat 5:37 But let your word be, Yes, yes; No, no. For whatever is more than these comes from evil.

Pro 6:1 My son, if you are surety for your friend, if you struck your palms with a stranger [precisely what the Elders of Israel did],
Pro 6:2 you are snared with the words of your mouth, you are taken with the words of your mouth.

Jos 9:19 But all the rulers said to the congregation, We have sworn to them by Jehovah, the God of Israel. Now, therefore, we may not touch them.

For those seeking the spirit of that occasion, it is similar to remaining unwittingly under the law in Babylonian Christianity. If they are baptised by water or keep one of the laws of Moses, they are bound to keep the entire Law and cannot touch Christ, and the Christs cannot touch their doctrine ~ nor do the Christs remotely wish to touch the former things! If they do, they are slaves to the Law.

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

Jas 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 

Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. [1Co 7:17-24]

Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 
Gal 4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. 
Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

This slavery sometimes results in God’s wrath on us through the bondage of oaths, as in Israel with their enemy. It resulted in them living with a thorn in their sides every time they saw the woodcutters and water drawers and were painfully reminded of their sin, just as we are spiritually.

Jos 9:20 This we will do to them. We will even let them live, lest wrath be on us because of the oath which we swore to them.
Jos 9:21 And the rulers said to them, Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and drawers of water to all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them.
Jos 9:22 And Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, Why have you fooled us saying, We are very far from you, when you dwell among us?
Jos 9:23 And now you are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being slaves and woodcutters and drawers of water for the house of my God.

Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 
Gal 5:2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 
Gal 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 
Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 
Gal 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Jos 9:24 And they answered Joshua and said, Because it was certainly told your servants how Jehovah your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all those who lived in the land from before you; therefore, we were very much afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing.
Jos 9:25 And now, behold, we are in your hand. As it seems good and right to you to do to us, do it.
Jos 9:26 And so he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the sons of Israel, so that they did not kill them.
Jos 9:27 And Joshua made them that day woodcutters and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of Jehovah, even to this day, in the place which He should choose.

Indeed! The elect of God is ecstatic to be in the hands of Christ. All of our woodcutter and water-hauling works of the flesh are going and gone and replaced by His work within.

Mat 11:28 Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. 
Mat 11:30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

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