If the Old Testament is a freezer at McDonalds, the stories hidden inside are stacks upon stacks of McGriddle Pancakes.
Let that wonderful image melt into your brain for a minute.
I found one such savory morsel in Joshua 9:1-21. To summarize, this is the story of the Gibeonite deception, where Israel was blazing through the Promised Land, slicing and dicing every person and thing, in obedience, devoting all to destruction. As any reasonable group of people would do, the Gibeonites heard about this God, Yahweh, and how His people were valiant in war and commanded to destroy everyone. In trying to save their own skins, they concocted a cleverly devised plan to manipulate Israelite sensitivities sensitivities. Though the account doesn't say, I wonder if the Gibeonite solution was based on some knowledge of Yahweh's law as presented in Deuteronomy, and the Lord's emphasis on the treatment of strangers and sojourners in a foreign land. Yahweh is a God who is kind to the helpless, and He commands His people to do so also (Read: Deuteronomy 10:17-19). Their solution was to pretend to be a poor and tired people who have traveled from afar and desired to make a covenant with the Israelites for their protection. In reality, their town was like the next town over, so they took old clothes, and "crumbly" bread as a disguise.
Not seeing the problem with this, the leaders of Israel took their own provisions and gave them to the Gibeonites, offering them shelter and protection, and they made the covenant with them. The Bible says, "...but did not ask counsel from the Lord."
Hm. When I read this, I saw an ominous darkness surrounding what was about to happen. Though the Israelites responded in kindness, they made a covenant with a foreign people and they did not ask counsel from the Lord.
Hm. Interesting.
The McGriddle continues.
After the covenant-making process was finalized three days after the initial point of contact, the leaders of Israel found out that the Gibeonites were actually neighbors, not a raggedy nation eating pizza crusts. As I probably would have done, the people of Israel "murmured against the leaders." No kidding. I would be at least mildly upset if my nation's leaders gave money that we didn't have to a cause or program that didn't need money... Oh wait...
That's another post for another time.
But here's the kicker; the leaders said, "We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them."
I read this and am convinced that these leaders are honorable men for a few reasons:
1) They are men that the Psalmist describes as those who dwell on Yahweh's holy hill: "[He] who swears to his own hurt and does not go back (Psalm 15:4)." The leaders see the power of the covenant and the implication that they cannot so easily extricate themselves from it.
2) They saw that Yahweh hates broken covenants far more than He hates bad covenants.
This is how I see it: in covenanting themselves with the Gibeonites, the Israelites, by necessity, disobeyed the edict of the Lord to devote all things to destruction. In not asking counsel from the Lord, they proved themselves foolish. However, though foolish, the leaders of Israel thought it safest for the nation to swear to their own hurt and not change, rather than attack the Gibeonites (in obedience and righteous indignation), which would incur the immediate wrath of God upon them.
I was taken aback at this reasoning. If the leaders were right, which they seem to be, it implies that God would be less wrathful towards them if they remained in covenant with an evil people, than if they broke the covenant with the evil people to then act in obedience to God's original decree.
Woah.
Application: This is a formative principle for me in my thinking about covenants and, God's view of them. God is a covenant God. He loves them. He loves keeping them. There have been many a book and seminary course devoted to covenants, but simply, my conclusion is that God likes them. He hates when covenants are broken. That's why He hates divorce. The most prominent covenant that we still have in America is treated like we treat trash. I can understand why God probably isn't thrilled with America right now.
However, positively, He loves covenants. And He's in a covenant with us. As children of God, we are now His covenant people! He will never leave us! He will never forsake us! If He broke His covenant sealed with the blood of His Son, well... it's just not possible. He is a good God, and He loves being in covenant with us, though it is hard to see sometimes when He doesn't feel very near.
Though this discussion deserves many more words than I am able to give right now, I want to say one more thing: have you ever heard a covenant described in the same way as a contract?
No.
This is a life or death issue: if a contract is nullified by one party's lack of fulfillment, then I am in trouble. If God held on to me with such a weak bind, I'd have been disposed of long ago. But He doesn't. As the Israelites saw in a small sense, God is a covenant God. Covenants aren't so easily broken.
I literally am and will be eternally grateful for that.
.DSN.
1) They are men that the Psalmist describes as those who dwell on Yahweh's holy hill: "[He] who swears to his own hurt and does not go back (Psalm 15:4)." The leaders see the power of the covenant and the implication that they cannot so easily extricate themselves from it.
2) They saw that Yahweh hates broken covenants far more than He hates bad covenants.
This is how I see it: in covenanting themselves with the Gibeonites, the Israelites, by necessity, disobeyed the edict of the Lord to devote all things to destruction. In not asking counsel from the Lord, they proved themselves foolish. However, though foolish, the leaders of Israel thought it safest for the nation to swear to their own hurt and not change, rather than attack the Gibeonites (in obedience and righteous indignation), which would incur the immediate wrath of God upon them.
I was taken aback at this reasoning. If the leaders were right, which they seem to be, it implies that God would be less wrathful towards them if they remained in covenant with an evil people, than if they broke the covenant with the evil people to then act in obedience to God's original decree.
Woah.
Application: This is a formative principle for me in my thinking about covenants and, God's view of them. God is a covenant God. He loves them. He loves keeping them. There have been many a book and seminary course devoted to covenants, but simply, my conclusion is that God likes them. He hates when covenants are broken. That's why He hates divorce. The most prominent covenant that we still have in America is treated like we treat trash. I can understand why God probably isn't thrilled with America right now.
However, positively, He loves covenants. And He's in a covenant with us. As children of God, we are now His covenant people! He will never leave us! He will never forsake us! If He broke His covenant sealed with the blood of His Son, well... it's just not possible. He is a good God, and He loves being in covenant with us, though it is hard to see sometimes when He doesn't feel very near.
Though this discussion deserves many more words than I am able to give right now, I want to say one more thing: have you ever heard a covenant described in the same way as a contract?
No.
This is a life or death issue: if a contract is nullified by one party's lack of fulfillment, then I am in trouble. If God held on to me with such a weak bind, I'd have been disposed of long ago. But He doesn't. As the Israelites saw in a small sense, God is a covenant God. Covenants aren't so easily broken.
I literally am and will be eternally grateful for that.
.DSN.
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