Joshua 9:3-27 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,… How often is the believer who, with Joshua, would have withstood some fierce assault, because driven by it to dependence upon the almighty arm, the all-sufficient grace, of his Divine Captain and Defender, with Joshua beguiled by the tempter's wiles and "the deceitfulness of sin"! The Gibeonites presented themselves to Joshua and to Israel as not falling within the number of those nations whom they had been enjoined to destroy utterly, with whom they must make no truce nor covenant, whom their eyes must not pity nor spare. Does your experience prove that sin is always presented to you as sin — in its native hideousness, its essential heinousness, its inseparable danger? Does the tempter always show the hook with the bait? Are you never tempted to make a league with — to tolerate — to conform to — that which ought to be proscribed and opposed without reserve? Never in danger of calling evil good and good evil; of putting darkness for light and light for darkness; of putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter? In a word, are there no Gibeonites among your soul's enemies? (J. C. Miller, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,WEB: But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, |
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