Ill-Advised Treaties

6 The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: "Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us."
7 So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. 8 The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you."

With these words God lead Israel to victory against an alliance of enemy kings who sought to destroy the city of Gibeon for allying itself with Israel. Joshua was not afraid of the enemy, for he knew God was with him. He defeated the enemy kings in a single battle. Gibeon was saved from the wrath of its enemies.

There was only one problem with all this: God had commanded Israel to conquer all the land of Canaan and had strictly forbidden Israel from making any treaties with its inhabitants. But that is just what Joshua and the Israelites did in the case of Gibeon: without consulting God, they went ahead and made a treaty with the wily ambassadors from that city.

Joshua’s victory here is an example of the depth of God’s forgiveness for disobedience. He had promised to help Israel conquer the Promised Land and He was faithful to His promise. Even though Israel had sinned by making a treaty with Gibeon, God made it possible for His people to move on and conquer the other parts of the land as He’d commanded. His forgiveness of their sin, however, did not mean there would be no consequences.

Later, of course, we discover that many of the Israelites intermarried with the remaining Canaanites or turned away from God to worship the idols the Canaanites worshipped. This lead eventually to the trading of the freedom, which God led the Israelites into through Moses and Joshua, for captivity. In other words, although God was merciful and forgave Israel for its disobedience and kept His promise to make them victorious against their enemies, there were still consequences for Israel’s failure to obey Him completely.

There is instruction for us here. We are instructed not to assume that because God forgives our sin, He also eliminates the possibility of its consequences. Just as God was faithful to His promise to deliver the Canaanites into the hands of the Israelites, He is faithful to His promise to look upon our sin in light of the sacrifice Jesus made for us upon the cross. Let us not forget, however, that Israel suffered from the consequences of failing to live wholly and completely for God. Let us not make ill-advised treaties with the world and find ourselves forgiven, yet chastised again and again. The pastor at my former church once said that our faith saves us; the question is in what condition will we enter Heaven?