Joshua 9

[mrcorey]

In Joshua chapter 9 it tells of the inhabitants of Gibeon, how they deceived Joshua and lied about who they were, and where they come from. I am wondering, why then, did Joshua have to keep his word and not destroy them? I mean, shouldn't the covenant become null & void because these folks were acting deceitfully & lied to Joshua?

Thx;

-c-

[traveller]

Actually, this is a very interesting story from the OT, and one with a great lesson.

A covenant is to be taken very seriously. This story tells us how important our word truly is, and that what we say wse are going to do, we are bound to do. One of the lessons here is that the Lord was not consulted before making the agreement, else he would have know of the deceit and a deal would not have been made. But, since he opted to do this thing on his own, he had to live with the results. And no - dishonesty from the other side does not make our word void.

A few years ago I did a thread on this story. It can be found here. It's interesting because this deal that was struck carried though several generations and actually impacted David.

[tah]

Amen to that traveller...

It is a frightening thing to make a covenant without asking God about it first ...

frightening to me because I have done it and suffered the consequences...

I pray earnestly God will keep me from doing such a foolish thing again....

and when we do not ask and make the covenant we are still bound to it..

I hope all here will read your thread...

The seriousness of this is monumental....

[shepherdsgrace]

Another reason to simply let our yes be yes and no be no. We need not to be entering into covenants except of course for the marriage covenant. There is something about the human nature that as soon as it promises it tends to break that promise.

[Leonard]

It shows the seriousness of our WORD, and the bond of honor. Both are quite lost in this age.