Covenant and Compromise
Robby Pollard, Lead Pastor
Deuteronomy 1:3
3In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him in commandment to them,
Deuteronomy 7:1-2
1“When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.
Deuteronomy 7:3-6
3You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. 6“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8
7It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Joshua 9:1-15
1As soon as all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the lowland all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, heard of this, 2they gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel. 3But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, 5with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. 6And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.” 7But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?” 8They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?” 9They said to him, “From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, 10and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth. 11So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us.”’ 12Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly. 13These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.” 14So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the LORD. 15And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.
“…but did not ask counsel from the LORD.”
“We’ve come from a long way” (9:6)
“We are your servants” (9:8)
“Because of the LORD your God” (9:9)
“Make a covenant with us” (9:11)
“Worn out sacks for their donkeys” (9:4)
“Worn out, torn…mended wineskins” (9:4)
“Worn out sandals and clothes” (9:5)
“Dry and crumbly provisions” (9:6)
Dry and crumbly bread” (9:12)
Joshua 9:7
7“Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?”
Joshua 9:8
8And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?”
“…but did not ask counsel from the LORD.”
Joshua 9:14 (KJV)
14And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.
Solid reasoning is not a substitute for seeking God.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:7
7Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
James 1:5
5If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Covenant without counsel brings compromise.
Joshua 9:16
16At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them.
Covenant without counsel brings compromise.
Joshua 9:17-18
17And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. 18But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders.
Joshua 9:19-21
19But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. 20This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.” 21And the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them.
Covenant without counsel brings compromise.
God is faithful.
God requires faithfulness from His people.
Numbers 30:2
2If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
Matthew 5:37
37Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Joshua 9:21
21And the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them.
Joshua 9:22-27
22Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you dwell among us? 23Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.” 24They answered Joshua, “Because it was told to your servants for a certainty 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 from before you—so we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing. 25And now, behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.” 26So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. 27But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this day, in the place that he should choose.
Genesis 9:26
26He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.
Joshua 18:25
25Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
Joshua 21:17
17then out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands,
Nehemiah 3:7
7And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, the seat of the governor of the province Beyond the River.
2 Samuel 21:1
1Now 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.”
Covenant without counsel brings compromise.
Seek God before you take a step.
Trust in the Lord. Don’t lean on your own understanding.
God’s grace can redeem our failures.
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