Joshua 9:1-27 - Joshua's Overconfidence

It is good to be with you guys today, whether you’re joining us here live at North, online, or at our Fig Garden campus. My name is Mike, and I’m one of the teaching pastors here at The Well. It is a privilege to open up God’s Word with you.

If you have your Bible, please turn to Joshua chapter nine. We are continuing our journey through this book, picking up right where we left off last week. I hope that as you’ve been working through these pages of the Old Testament, you are enjoying the story of our faithful God. These stories may be ancient, but they are very much alive and well in our lives today. We are seeing that God is still at work in the midst of human failure and leadership, specifically through the hand of Joshua.

The Danger of Overconfidence

I’ve been in a bit of a pensive and reflective mood this week. I was texting with my high school buddies, talking about old “war stories”—you know, telling lies about how great we used to be. I was thinking specifically about my time playing soccer in high school. I didn’t have the physique for football, so soccer was my game.

I was very privileged to play with an incredible group of guys at Plano Senior High School. I was a mediocre dude on a really, really good team. We won the state championship three times and were ranked second in the nation twice. By my senior year, we were undefeated. In three years, our record was something like 55-0-5. We were rolling. We had a swagger about us—an arrogance, really—because of our track record. We were an intimidating team; we looked like a football team and could field three different varsity-level squads.

We walked into our third playoff game and were up 2-0 within fifteen minutes. Our coach made the decision to pull three-quarters of the starters that early. The bench held the lead until halftime, and everything seemed fine. But with ten minutes left in the game, the other team scored. 2-1. Our coach panicked and put the starters back in cold. Then came a fluke goal. 2-2. Suddenly, we were in overtime—a place we never expected to be. The coach changed goalkeepers in the middle of the game, and a strange bounce off the AstroTurf went over his head. Game over. 3-2.

In a moment, the season was over. Our high school careers were over. We didn’t think we were beatable. Our history and track record had created an overconfidence and a pride that led to poor decisions by both the players and the coaching staff.

As we look at Joshua chapter nine, we see a repeat of that same theme: overconfidence in leadership and the poor decisions that arise from it. Joshua has just come off an incredible victory at Ai. After the initial defeat caused by Achan’s sin, God restored them. Joshua is walking in a season of victory, having seen God move on his behalf. But now, look at how the nations around them are responding.

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.

These southern kings have watched what happened at Jericho and Ai. They realized that while Jericho was an impossible victory, something changed at Ai. They saw that Israel was actually defeatable. These kings decided to double down and form a coalition to fight. This was exactly what Joshua feared back in chapter seven when he worried that the inhabitants of the land would hear of their weakness and surround them.

A Strategy of Craftiness

However, there is one group of people who do not share the opinion of the rest of the southern kings. Instead of forming a coalition to fight, they choose an entirely different strategy.

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.

This group is the Gibeonites. Their city was just south of Ai and Bethel—literally a stone’s throw away. As we learn in chapter ten, Gibeon was a great royal city, and its men were mighty. They were a significant power, but they had a different posture. Instead of joining the military alliance, they decided to act “craftily” or with “cunning.”

They showed up with worn-out sacks, ratty wineskins, patched sandals, and moldy bread. This was a deliberate ruse.

Joshua 9:6 (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.’

Now, Gilgal was Israel’s home base. The Gibeonites were only about 25 miles away, but they were trying to convince Joshua they had traveled from a distant country. Why go to such lengths? Because they had done their homework.

In Deuteronomy 7, God gave Joshua clear instructions: when you enter the land, you shall utterly destroy the nations there—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, and others. You are to make no covenant with them and show them no favor. There were to be no terms of peace for those living inside the land.

Deuteronomy 7:1-2 (NASB)

’When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.

But the Gibeonites also knew what God said in Deuteronomy 20 regarding cities outside the promised land.

Deuteronomy 20:10-12 (NASB)

’When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. ’If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. ’However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

God’s “first pitch” to nations outside the land was an offer of peace. The Gibeonites were smart. They wanted to stay in their homes but avoid destruction, so they feigned being from a far-off country to secure a treaty.

The Failure to Consult the Lord

Joshua was suspicious at first. He sensed something was off.

Joshua 9:7-8 (NASB)

The men of Israel said to the Hivites, ‘Perhaps you are living within our land; how then shall we make a covenant with you?’ But they said to Joshua, ‘We are your servants.’ Then Joshua said to them, ‘Who are you and where do you come from?’

He pinned them down, asking, “Who are you and where do you come from?” He wanted to know if he could legally make a covenant with them according to the Word of God. Watch how the Gibeonites responded with flattery and half-truths.

Joshua 9:9-13 (NASB)

They said to him, ’Your servants have come from a very far country because of the fame of the LORD your God; for we have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt, 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.’’ ’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.’

Notice what they don’t mention. They talk about Egypt and the kings beyond the Jordan (Sihon and Og), but they don’t mention Jericho or Ai. They knew that if they were truly from far away, news of the recent battles wouldn’t have reached them yet. They were brilliant. They even used spiritual language, saying they came because of the “fame of the Lord your God.”

They appealed to Joshua’s physical senses—the crusty bread, the torn wineskins—and they appealed to his ego by exalting the God he served. And tragically, it worked.

Joshua 9:14-15 (NASB)

So the men [of Israel] took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the LORD. 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.

This is the heart of the failure: they took the evidence at face value and “did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.” They rushed the decision. They didn’t say, “Hey, give us a few days to pray and talk this over.” They relied on their own eyes and ears.

We’ve seen this before. In chapter seven, before the first battle of Ai, Joshua failed to consult the Lord and relied on the report of spies instead. That decision cost thirty-six men their lives. Here we are again. Joshua, the great warrior, is still learning how to be dependent on God daily, not just in the big battles but in the diplomatic decisions too.

The Consequences of Independence

It didn’t take long for the truth to surface.

Joshua 9:16 (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.

Three days later, the truth was revealed: “You aren’t from a far country; you’re our neighbors.” Joshua realized he had been duped.

Joshua 9:22 (NASB)

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?

Joshua is learning a hard lesson. Obedience is necessary for victory, but dependence is necessary for sustained leadership. Joshua is a “fight first, ask questions later” kind of guy, but God is pulling him toward a closer relationship.

This isn’t unique to Joshua. The Old Testament is full of people who overestimated their own ability. Abraham fled to Egypt during a famine without asking God. David foolishly counted his fighting men because he wanted to trust in the size of his army rather than the strength of his God.

And if we’re honest, this is our story too. How many times has overconfidence or spiritual arrogance led us to self-sufficiency? We see a job opportunity with more pay and better vacation, and we say, “Clearly, God is aligning the stars!” We jump in without ever stopping to ask, “Lord, is this what You want?” We make business deals or enter relationships based on how things look on the surface, only to find out in hindsight that we jumped the gun.

God doesn’t just want to be part of your “big battles”; He wants to be part of your daily life.

Proverbs 3:5-7 (NASB)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

Proverbs 16:9 (NASB)

The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.

Grace in the Midst of Deception

When Joshua confronted the Gibeonites, they were honest about their motives.

Joshua 9:24-25 (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. ‘Now behold, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.’

They were afraid. They knew they couldn’t win, so they lied to save their skins. They didn’t necessarily have the repentant heart of Rahab; they were just being shrewd. They treated God like a genie in a bottle to get what they wanted.

When the Israelites found out they had been deceived, they were furious.

Joshua 9:18-21 (NASB)

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 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.

Israel had to honor the covenant because they had sworn it in the name of Yahweh. To break it would bring God’s wrath upon Israel. They took their word seriously. But Joshua made a decision that showed God’s ability to take what is intended for deception and use it for good.

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.

Joshua didn’t just make them general laborers; he put them at the altar of the Lord. He basically made them go to church every day. He said, “If you want to live among us, you’re going to be around the priests and the Levites. You’re going to see the sacrifices. You’re going to see how sins are atoned for.”

Instead of practicing their old pagan religions, they were placed in the presence of the one true God. And the beauty of the story is that it worked. Years later, the Gibeonites showed a profound loyalty to God. When Nehemiah returned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem centuries later, a group of Gibeonites was right there helping him. God took their sin and used it to bring an entire people group into His service.

Lessons for the Heart

As we close, I want to highlight two lessons. First, the lesson for those of us who struggle with spiritual overconfidence.

God often allows, and sometimes even orchestrates, circumstances in our lives to bring us to a place of dependence. This morning, I woke up long before my alarm. My eyes opened, and I immediately felt a sense of anxiety. I started thinking about my day, the boxes that needed to be checked, and the things that had to get done. My heart rate was pegged.

In that moment, I just had to stop. I said, “Lord, I can’t do this. I’m a control freak, and I’m trying to manage things I can’t control. I need You to just be present with me.” I offered a prayer of intention, asking Him to guide my steps.

I wonder how different Joshua’s story would have been if he had just stopped to ask for counsel. And I wonder how different our stories would be—the mistakes in our rearview mirrors—if we had the wherewithal to wait and listen for God’s Spirit before we moved.

Second, there is a lesson in the Gibeonites. As questionable as their motives were, they are a picture of the Gospel. They realized they had two options: fight or surrender. They knew they couldn’t win against the Almighty, so they laid down their arms.

As a result of their surrender, these former enemies were brought into a covenant. They were made friends. They were secured and sealed. Next week, we’ll see Joshua risking his own life to protect these people because they belonged to God.

Some of you might be here today, and like the Gibeonites, you’ve been fighting or fleeing. You can keep trying things that don’t work, or you can simply surrender. You don’t need the lies or the deception. You can just be honest and say, “God, I need You. I want to find life in You.”

That is the picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross. He took us, His former enemies, and through His sacrifice, He made us friends and brought us into His presence.

When we live in that place of dependence, the words of the Psalmist become our reality:

Psalms 16:11 (NASB)

You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

May we be a people who embrace that reality.

Father, thank You for these stories—for the flaws and the imperfections of these men and women that mirror our own. Teach us what it means to walk with You. Break our pride and our overconfidence. Use the hard times in our lives to cause a deep dependence on You. Thank You for the Gospel, which allows us to lay down our arms and find safety in Your grace. We love You, and we thank You for the salvation found in Jesus alone. Amen.