Joshua 9 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Joshua 9 Summary - A Quick Overview

WHEN:

• Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land began around 1450 B.C., which places the events of Joshua 9 in approximately 1450 B.C.

CHARACTERS:

• Joshua - Moses’ assistant while he led the people in the wilderness. God selected Joshua to lead the Israelites into Canaan after Moses’ death.

• The Gibeonites – They dressed up as foreigners and tricked the leaders of Israel into making peace with them.

WHERE:

• The cities of the Gibeonites are key in Joshua 9. These cities included: Gibeon (see map), Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim (9:17).

• The Israelites were camped at Gilgal (9:6).

OUTLINE:

• THE GIBEONITES TRICK ISRAEL (9:1-15):

  • When the kings of the coast, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites heard of the overthrow of Ai (Joshua 8), they were terrified and planned to ally together to fight against Israel.

  • But another group of people, the Gibeonites, had another plan.

  • Some men from Gibeon dressed themselves in old clothes and patched sandals and put worn-out sacks on their donkeys and dry food in their bags and approached the camp of Israel to speak with Joshua.

  • They lied and told Joshua they had travelled a long distance from a far away land to make a covenant of peace with Israel.

  • Some of the Israelites questioned their story, but the Gibeonites offered their old bread, burst wineskins, and worn sandals as proof they were telling the truth.

  • In the end, Joshua agreed to make a covenant of peace with them.

  • The text specifically mentions the Israelite leaders failed to ask God for counsel when deciding what to do with the Gibeonites (9:14).

• THE GIBEONITE LIE IS EXPOSED (9:16-27):

  • After 3 days, the Israelites learned the Gibeonites were lying, and they were actually their neighbors.

  • Even after the lie was exposed, Israel did not make war with the Gibeonites because they had sworn an oath of peace before the Lord.

  • Instead of killing the Gibeonites, the Israelites made them their servants for carrying water and cutting wood.

  • Joshua asked the Gibeonite men who tricked him why they lied about their identity, and they told him it was because they were aware of God’s command to Israel to destroy the inhabitants of the land. They knew their only chance to survive was to pretend they weren’t residents of the Promised Land.
    

APPLICATION:

• Don’t forget to ask God for help when making your decisions.

• There are so many variables to every decision and there’s no way for our limited minds to account for all of them.  

• We need God’s help. We should want God’s help even with the smallest decisions of our daily lives.

• As often as you can remember, take a moment to ask God for wisdom in your decision making.