- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Aug 27, 2016 17:11:23 GMT -8
Joshua 9
It would seem from reading Josh 9:6 that the Hebrews have made a more or less permanent camp at Gilgal. This is a well known spot, described elsewhere in scripture:
Deuteronomy 11:30 (ESV) Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak [terebinth] of Moreh?
Genesis 12:6 (ESV) Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak [Or terebinth] of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
The Hebrew army had just conquered Ai by a divinely inspired ruse. Now we are to see they themselves are tricked by a ruse of the enemy. Ha’satan may be limited in regards to the power he wields in relation to that of YHVH El Elohim- The Lord God of gods, however he is not impotent, and what Elohim does elohim soon copies. He knows the great power of El Shaddai, and from the first he has preferred to win by guile rather than in open confrontation:
Genesis 3:1 (ESV) Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You [plural] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
The Christian church as well as contemporary Judaism has spititually suffered more from the wiles of ha’satan than from his overt attacks.
Joshua 9:1-2 (NASB) Now it came about when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland and on all the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, heard of it, that they gathered themselves together with one accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel.
So the common threat posed by the Hebrews and their God to all the kings and petty gods of Cana’an caused them to unite out of a sense of self-preservation. This response contrasts the response of the Gibeonites to the same threat.
Joshua 9:3-5 (NASB) When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they also acted craftily and set out as envoys, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins worn-out and torn and mended, and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled.
Gibeon, modern el-Jib, is strategically located on an important east-west route 5 1/2 mi. north of Yerushalay’im. The name means “built on a hill.” So they knew they would soon face the invading Hebrew army. Their subtrifuge was well planned. Note the attention to detail in their preparations.
The Gibeonites knew they could not win in a fight against the Hebrew army. So they decided to use the devotion to their God the Israelites held against them. If ha’satan can’t defeat you by coming as roaring lion he will try as deceiving serpent, but he never gives up:
1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
2 Corinthians 11:3 (ESV) But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
The lion’s roar causes fear, and cunning appeals to our self-importance; and both are meant to take our minds off YHVH Maginnenu- The Lord Our Defense.
Joshua 9:6-7 (NASB) They went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.” The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you are living within our land [Lit among us]; how then shall we make a covenant with you?”
The Hebrew leadership was suspicious, and at this point should have sought counsel from Gelah Raz- the Revealer of Mysteries, their Elohim.
Joshua 9:8-9 (NASB) But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Then Joshua said to them, “Who are you and where do you come from?” They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the fame [Or name] of the Lord your God; for we have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt,
The claim they were “from a very far country” would exclude the Gibeonites from the instructions of HaShem to annihilate their people.
Deuteronomy 20:16 (ESV) But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,
“Because of the fame [Or name] of the Lord your God.” The victories of a people of that time were attributed to the gods they worshiped. Even the ancient pagans had more spiritual discernment than the West today.
Joshua 9:10-11 (NASB) and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants; now then, make a covenant with us.”’
The defeat of these Transjordanian kings Sihon and Og, like the Hebrews exodus from Egypt, arouses fear and dread in the inhabitants of Cana’an:
Joshua 2:10 (ESV) For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.
Joshua 9:12-13 (NASB) This our bread was warm when we took it for our provisions out of our houses on the day that we left to come to you; but now behold, it is dry and has become crumbled. These wineskins which we filled were new, and behold, they are torn; and these our clothes and our sandals are worn out because of the very long journey.”
These envoys of Gibeon must have given the performance of their lives here. Their preparations vividly added effect, lending credence to their tale.
Joshua 9:14 (NASB) So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.
Their defeat at the first battle of Ai should have been a lesson for Yehoshua and the Hebrew leadership to take the time to go to Yoetz- their Counsellor, their Elohim.
Isaiah 30:1 (ESV) “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance[who weave a web], but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;
The leaders walked by sight, not trusting HaShem. To walk by sight is to be mindful of the physical world. But “To hear is to doubt, to see is to be deceived, but to feel is to believe,” (Ed Parker). Even though they were at first suspicious on hearing the words of the Gibeonites, the Hebrew leadership would soon feel the sting of being utterly deceived.
By this striking example we are taught to go to and wait on the Lord before making decisions which may prove irrevocable.
Joshua 9:15 (NASB) Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
HaShem takes such vows very seriously:
Exodus 20:7 (ESV) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
So we see here one of the main themes of this chapter- the conflict that all too often arises between our obligation to obey HaShem’s instructions and the keeping of our oaths made in His Name. That Yehoshua made the right decision in keeping their oath was right is later proven in scripture, when Melech Shaul killed some of the descendants of these people, and it angered El Shaphat- God the Judge:
2 Samuel 21:1 (ESV) Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
This episode ended in the execution of seven of Shaul’s remaining sons to appease the Gibeonites and relieve the bloodguilt Yisro’el had incurred in their land.
Joshua 9:16-20 (NASB) It came about at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were neighbors and that they were living within their land. Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim. The sons of Israel did not strike them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be upon us for the oath which we swore to them.”
The way in which Yehoshua dealt with the Gibeonites was in accordance with the laws of warfare:
Deuteronomy 20: (ESV) “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword,
However it was not in accordance with HaShem’s command to kill all the inhabitants of the land. The sticking point is they had, however rashly and despite the deception, sworn an oath by the name of El Elohe Yisro’el. To break this oath would have been a much more grievous sin, and so it was binding. What likely decided the issue is that the primary reason for the destruction of all the inhabitants was their hostility towards El Elyon and His people. Their influence on the Hebrew people was somewhat attenuated by making of them the most menial of servants. History did vindicate this decision, as the Gibeonites never betrayed this trust, nor did they ever lead Yisro’el into idolatry.
Joshua 9:21-23 (NASB) The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken to them. Then Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you are living within our land? Now therefore, you are cursed, and you shall never cease being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”
“Hewers of wood and drawers of water” were menial jobs to which the Gibeonites were perpetually assigned. This was in spite of the fact that even such lowly workers were equal participants in the covenant:
Deuteronomy 29:10-11 (ESV) “You are standing today all of you before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water,
The perpetual nature of this assignment is repeated in verses 23 & 27, thus underscoring their servitude and the fact they could not inherit equally with the Hebrew people. But they lived, and this was any way you look at it another defeat. YHVH Gibor Milchamah- The Lord Mighty in Battle lost glory, the Hebrew leadership lost some of their stature, and the nation lost the victory.
Joshua 9:24 (NASB) So they answered Joshua and said, “Because it was certainly told your servants that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; therefore we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.
The Gibeonites are here referring to the ‘herem’:
Deuteronomy 20:16-18 (ESV) But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.
The Hebrew term herem signifies a setting-apart for a particular purpose. An example would be spoils devoted for Temple use. It may also indicate items or people set aside for destruction. When Yericho was destroyed, a herem was pronounced on anything from that city. When Achan took from that which was proscribed, both he and the people were severely punished (Joshua 6-7).
Joshua 9:25-26 (NASB) Now behold, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.” Thus he did to them, and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them.
And so the vow was honored. Note the trust of the Gibeonites in placing themselves entirely at the mercy of the Israelites. They were pretty sure the Hebrews would honor a vow made in the name of their Elohim.
Joshua 9:27 (NASB) But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, in the place which He would choose.
Those who served the priests in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple were called nathinim, or those given:
1 Chronicles 9:2 (KJV) Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in their cities were, the Israelites, the priests, Levites, and the Nethinims.
H5411 נָתוּן נָתִיןo nâthı̂yn nâthûn naw-theen', naw-thoon' The second form is the proper form, as passive participle; from H5414; one given, that is, (in the plural only) the Nethinim, or Temple Servants (as given up to that duty): - Nethinims.
The phrase “place which He would choose” is typical of the language of Deuteronomy. It looks expectantly to one central place for making sacrifices to YHVH Elohim- The Lord God. This indirectly refers to Yerushalayim, and so flows into the next chapter which tells of the Cana’anite coalition led by the king of Yerushalayim.
The lesson to be taken from this chapter, according to Meyer is “if in the earlier part of your life you have made some great mistake which threatens to limit your influence for good, do not sit down in despair, but get service out of it.” I would say the same applies if people have dealt duplicitously with you. This is one characteristic of a true leader. My wife was once unjustly fired from a job at the library where we used to live; the board there bowing to the pressure of a local bigwig. She then got a job selling Christian books, and that library was one of her better customers- owing most likely to their sense of guilt. The incident also set her on the path to a management position in government in a much larger county. Make it work for you.
Dan C
Resources: JPS Study TNK, W Wiersbe, FB Meyer, Edersheim, Pastor Ed Cole, Ed Parker, My father, Rav S and others
It would seem from reading Josh 9:6 that the Hebrews have made a more or less permanent camp at Gilgal. This is a well known spot, described elsewhere in scripture:
Deuteronomy 11:30 (ESV) Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak [terebinth] of Moreh?
Genesis 12:6 (ESV) Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak [Or terebinth] of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
The Hebrew army had just conquered Ai by a divinely inspired ruse. Now we are to see they themselves are tricked by a ruse of the enemy. Ha’satan may be limited in regards to the power he wields in relation to that of YHVH El Elohim- The Lord God of gods, however he is not impotent, and what Elohim does elohim soon copies. He knows the great power of El Shaddai, and from the first he has preferred to win by guile rather than in open confrontation:
Genesis 3:1 (ESV) Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You [plural] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
The Christian church as well as contemporary Judaism has spititually suffered more from the wiles of ha’satan than from his overt attacks.
Joshua 9:1-2 (NASB) Now it came about when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland and on all the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, heard of it, that they gathered themselves together with one accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel.
So the common threat posed by the Hebrews and their God to all the kings and petty gods of Cana’an caused them to unite out of a sense of self-preservation. This response contrasts the response of the Gibeonites to the same threat.
Joshua 9:3-5 (NASB) When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they also acted craftily and set out as envoys, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins worn-out and torn and mended, and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled.
Gibeon, modern el-Jib, is strategically located on an important east-west route 5 1/2 mi. north of Yerushalay’im. The name means “built on a hill.” So they knew they would soon face the invading Hebrew army. Their subtrifuge was well planned. Note the attention to detail in their preparations.
The Gibeonites knew they could not win in a fight against the Hebrew army. So they decided to use the devotion to their God the Israelites held against them. If ha’satan can’t defeat you by coming as roaring lion he will try as deceiving serpent, but he never gives up:
1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
2 Corinthians 11:3 (ESV) But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
The lion’s roar causes fear, and cunning appeals to our self-importance; and both are meant to take our minds off YHVH Maginnenu- The Lord Our Defense.
Joshua 9:6-7 (NASB) They went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.” The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you are living within our land [Lit among us]; how then shall we make a covenant with you?”
The Hebrew leadership was suspicious, and at this point should have sought counsel from Gelah Raz- the Revealer of Mysteries, their Elohim.
Joshua 9:8-9 (NASB) But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Then Joshua said to them, “Who are you and where do you come from?” They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the fame [Or name] of the Lord your God; for we have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt,
The claim they were “from a very far country” would exclude the Gibeonites from the instructions of HaShem to annihilate their people.
Deuteronomy 20:16 (ESV) But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,
“Because of the fame [Or name] of the Lord your God.” The victories of a people of that time were attributed to the gods they worshiped. Even the ancient pagans had more spiritual discernment than the West today.
Joshua 9:10-11 (NASB) and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants; now then, make a covenant with us.”’
The defeat of these Transjordanian kings Sihon and Og, like the Hebrews exodus from Egypt, arouses fear and dread in the inhabitants of Cana’an:
Joshua 2:10 (ESV) For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.
Joshua 9:12-13 (NASB) This our bread was warm when we took it for our provisions out of our houses on the day that we left to come to you; but now behold, it is dry and has become crumbled. These wineskins which we filled were new, and behold, they are torn; and these our clothes and our sandals are worn out because of the very long journey.”
These envoys of Gibeon must have given the performance of their lives here. Their preparations vividly added effect, lending credence to their tale.
Joshua 9:14 (NASB) So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.
Their defeat at the first battle of Ai should have been a lesson for Yehoshua and the Hebrew leadership to take the time to go to Yoetz- their Counsellor, their Elohim.
Isaiah 30:1 (ESV) “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance[who weave a web], but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;
The leaders walked by sight, not trusting HaShem. To walk by sight is to be mindful of the physical world. But “To hear is to doubt, to see is to be deceived, but to feel is to believe,” (Ed Parker). Even though they were at first suspicious on hearing the words of the Gibeonites, the Hebrew leadership would soon feel the sting of being utterly deceived.
By this striking example we are taught to go to and wait on the Lord before making decisions which may prove irrevocable.
Joshua 9:15 (NASB) Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
HaShem takes such vows very seriously:
Exodus 20:7 (ESV) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
So we see here one of the main themes of this chapter- the conflict that all too often arises between our obligation to obey HaShem’s instructions and the keeping of our oaths made in His Name. That Yehoshua made the right decision in keeping their oath was right is later proven in scripture, when Melech Shaul killed some of the descendants of these people, and it angered El Shaphat- God the Judge:
2 Samuel 21:1 (ESV) Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
This episode ended in the execution of seven of Shaul’s remaining sons to appease the Gibeonites and relieve the bloodguilt Yisro’el had incurred in their land.
Joshua 9:16-20 (NASB) It came about at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were neighbors and that they were living within their land. Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim. The sons of Israel did not strike them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be upon us for the oath which we swore to them.”
The way in which Yehoshua dealt with the Gibeonites was in accordance with the laws of warfare:
Deuteronomy 20: (ESV) “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword,
However it was not in accordance with HaShem’s command to kill all the inhabitants of the land. The sticking point is they had, however rashly and despite the deception, sworn an oath by the name of El Elohe Yisro’el. To break this oath would have been a much more grievous sin, and so it was binding. What likely decided the issue is that the primary reason for the destruction of all the inhabitants was their hostility towards El Elyon and His people. Their influence on the Hebrew people was somewhat attenuated by making of them the most menial of servants. History did vindicate this decision, as the Gibeonites never betrayed this trust, nor did they ever lead Yisro’el into idolatry.
Joshua 9:21-23 (NASB) The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken to them. Then Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you are living within our land? Now therefore, you are cursed, and you shall never cease being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”
“Hewers of wood and drawers of water” were menial jobs to which the Gibeonites were perpetually assigned. This was in spite of the fact that even such lowly workers were equal participants in the covenant:
Deuteronomy 29:10-11 (ESV) “You are standing today all of you before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water,
The perpetual nature of this assignment is repeated in verses 23 & 27, thus underscoring their servitude and the fact they could not inherit equally with the Hebrew people. But they lived, and this was any way you look at it another defeat. YHVH Gibor Milchamah- The Lord Mighty in Battle lost glory, the Hebrew leadership lost some of their stature, and the nation lost the victory.
Joshua 9:24 (NASB) So they answered Joshua and said, “Because it was certainly told your servants that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; therefore we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.
The Gibeonites are here referring to the ‘herem’:
Deuteronomy 20:16-18 (ESV) But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.
The Hebrew term herem signifies a setting-apart for a particular purpose. An example would be spoils devoted for Temple use. It may also indicate items or people set aside for destruction. When Yericho was destroyed, a herem was pronounced on anything from that city. When Achan took from that which was proscribed, both he and the people were severely punished (Joshua 6-7).
Joshua 9:25-26 (NASB) Now behold, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.” Thus he did to them, and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them.
And so the vow was honored. Note the trust of the Gibeonites in placing themselves entirely at the mercy of the Israelites. They were pretty sure the Hebrews would honor a vow made in the name of their Elohim.
Joshua 9:27 (NASB) But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, in the place which He would choose.
Those who served the priests in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple were called nathinim, or those given:
1 Chronicles 9:2 (KJV) Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in their cities were, the Israelites, the priests, Levites, and the Nethinims.
H5411 נָתוּן נָתִיןo nâthı̂yn nâthûn naw-theen', naw-thoon' The second form is the proper form, as passive participle; from H5414; one given, that is, (in the plural only) the Nethinim, or Temple Servants (as given up to that duty): - Nethinims.
The phrase “place which He would choose” is typical of the language of Deuteronomy. It looks expectantly to one central place for making sacrifices to YHVH Elohim- The Lord God. This indirectly refers to Yerushalayim, and so flows into the next chapter which tells of the Cana’anite coalition led by the king of Yerushalayim.
The lesson to be taken from this chapter, according to Meyer is “if in the earlier part of your life you have made some great mistake which threatens to limit your influence for good, do not sit down in despair, but get service out of it.” I would say the same applies if people have dealt duplicitously with you. This is one characteristic of a true leader. My wife was once unjustly fired from a job at the library where we used to live; the board there bowing to the pressure of a local bigwig. She then got a job selling Christian books, and that library was one of her better customers- owing most likely to their sense of guilt. The incident also set her on the path to a management position in government in a much larger county. Make it work for you.
Dan C
Resources: JPS Study TNK, W Wiersbe, FB Meyer, Edersheim, Pastor Ed Cole, Ed Parker, My father, Rav S and others
