Alliance

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 11
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On the Israelites entering into Canaan they were forbidden to make any league with the people of the land, they were not to show them any mercy, nor to make any marriages with them (Deut. 7:2-32And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: 3Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. (Deuteronomy 7:2‑3)); and later, when Joshua was about to die, he said to them, that with the nations that were still left they were to make no marriages, nor to go in unto them. If they did, God would drive out no more of the nations, and they would be snares and traps unto them, and scourges in their sides and thorns in their eyes (Josh. 23:12-1312Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: 13Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. (Joshua 23:12‑13)). Joshua and the princes of Israel were, alas, deceived by the Gibeonites, and without seeking counsel of God they made a covenant with them (Josh. 9:3-213And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, 4They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; 5And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy. 6And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us. 7And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? 8And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye? 9And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, 10And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth. 11Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us. 12This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy: 13And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. 14And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. 15And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. 16And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. 17And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim. 18And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. 19But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. 20This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them. 21And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them. (Joshua 9:3‑21)). The failure of the Israelites in this particular (compare Ezra 9; Ezra 10; Neh. 13) is typical of the church making alliances with the world which have so sadly dimmed and destroyed the testimony which should have been borne by a heavenly people.