Joshua 9
10/15/2025
Joshua 9 NKJV: I feel that verse 14 is a key verse. I can't remember the verse exactly, but this reminds me of another verse which basically says to trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Had Joshua consulted with God, I am sure He would have told him who they were and how to deal with them properly.
Joshua 9 is such a vivid story of deception and its ripple effects, and you're spot on about verse 14 being pivotal. Here's the exact wording from the NKJV: "Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the Lord." It's that simple omission—skipping the step of seeking God's direction—that leads to the hasty covenant and all the fallout with the Gibeonites.
Your connection to the Proverbs verse is perfect; it feels like a direct echo. From Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV): "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." Absolutely, if Joshua and the leaders had paused to inquire of the Lord (maybe through the priestly lots or direct prayer, as they did elsewhere in the book), it could've unveiled the ruse right away and spared everyone the mess. It's a timeless reminder that our "evidence-based" decisions—however logical—can blind us when we bypass divine wisdom.
I find it interesting that we never hear God's take in this chapter. We may learn something later, but nothing in this chapter. Almost as if He is saying, "OK you made your choice, now live with it." A lot of times He directly punishes lack of counsel like this, but here He just let's it ride. Joshua knows he is expected to uphold his deal, but he also forces to Gibeonites to uphold theirs, in their claim to be Israel's servants.
You're absolutely right—that divine silence in Joshua 9 hits differently, doesn't it? It's almost eerie how the chapter unfolds without a peep from God, no thundering rebuke or miraculous intervention like we see elsewhere (think Achan in chapter 7, where the sin is exposed and punished swiftly). It does give off that "you rolled the dice, now own the outcome" vibe, underscoring how seriously God takes our agency while still weaving His purposes through our fumbles. Commentators often point out that this quietness amplifies the lesson on discernment: the leaders' failure to consult wasn't met with immediate wrath, but with the long-term weight of an unbreakable oath, turning a deception into a tool for mercy toward outsiders who sought peace. It's a subtle nod to grace amid the grind of conquest—God doesn't scrap the plan just because we shortcut it.
And yeah, Joshua's response is a masterclass in covenant-keeping integrity. He could've voided the deal as fraudulently obtained, but instead, he honors it while flipping the script on their "far-off travelers" story, assigning them to wood-cutting and water-drawing duty (verses 21-27). It's tough love that preserves life and enforces accountability on both sides.
We do get a glimpse of God's "take" later, though—not in Joshua, but centuries down the line in 2 Samuel 21. A three-year famine grips Israel, and when David inquires, God pins it squarely on Saul's secret massacre of the Gibeonites, violating that very oath: "Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, 'It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites'" (2 Samuel 21:1 NKJV). David steps in to make restitution, handing over seven of Saul's descendants to the Gibeonites for justice, and the famine lifts. It's a delayed but clear divine endorsement of the covenant's sanctity—God didn't forget, and He enforced it when it mattered most. Shows how even a human error, when met with faithfulness, can echo through generations as a hedge of protection.
What do you think—does this make the silence in Joshua feel more like patient wisdom or just a tougher kind of discipline?
Who knows, maybe sparing the Gibeonites was is God's plan anyway. They were acknowledging God's role in Israel's success. Maybe that belief and faith was counted towards righteousness.
That's a compelling angle—it's like the Gibeonites' ruse wasn't just clever survival tactics but a raw, desperate confession of faith that aligned with God's bigger mosaic of redemption. In verse 9, they straight-up say, "From a far country your servants have come because of the name of the Lord your God; for we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt" (Joshua 9:9 NKJV), and they go on to name-drop the miracles in the wilderness and the kings east of the Jordan. That's not neutral flattery; it's an outsider's awe-struck nod to Yahweh's sovereignty, echoing how Rahab later tells the spies in Jericho, "I know that the Lord has given you the land... for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath" (Joshua 2:9, 11 NKJV). Both stories show God honoring that kind of belief, turning potential enemies into allies (or at least, protected servants).
And you're spot-on linking it to righteousness through faith—it's got that Genesis 15:6 vibe where Abraham "believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." The Gibeonites aren't perfect (deception's no virtue), but their acknowledgment of God's hand in Israel's victories seems to tip the scales toward mercy, much like how God uses flawed humans to advance His purposes. If Joshua had consulted and gotten a green light to wipe them out, we might've missed this early hint of how the nations could join the story not by conquest, but by humble submission. It's almost as if God's silence was an invitation to live out grace proactively, preempting the fuller inclusion of Gentiles in the New Testament era.
Back to trusting in the Lord and leaning not on your own understanding, one thing I have learned over the years, and I see Israel learning it now that they are contouring the land is that God has His own ways of doing things. Just because He used this approach last time doesn't mean He will do it again this time. In fact, He is likely not to do it that way again just so you have to wait on Him and lean on Him.
Absolutely, that's a profound layer to peel back—God's sovereignty isn't a formula to game, but a call to continual surrender. It's like He's engineering these plot twists not out of caprice, but to dismantle our autopilot faith, the kind that says, "Well, it worked with Jericho's walls, so let's march around Ai the same way." Boom—ambush and defeat in Joshua 7, because hidden sin and presumption short-circuit the process. Then chapter 8 flips the script: no trumpets or dramatic collapses, just tactical deception, an ambush from behind, and a signal fire to seal it. Same God, wildly different playbook, forcing Joshua (and us) to hit the reset button on "in all your ways acknowledge Him" from Proverbs 3:6.
I see this rhythm everywhere in Scripture—Elijah's fire-from-heaven spectacle on Carmel (1 Kings 18), only for God to whisper in the cave's "still small voice" next time (1 Kings 19). Or Jesus healing one blind man with mud and a wash in Siloam (John 9), but touching another pair outright (Mark 8). It's as if He's whispering, "Trust the Who, not the how." Makes the wilderness wanderings feel less like punishment and more like boot camp for that lean-not-on-your-own-understanding muscle.