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“And Joshua said unto them [the Gibeonites], Who are ye? And from whence come ye?…and the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord” (Joshua 9:8,14).
If you read the whole story of this incident in Joshua 9, you will see that the Gibeonites played a trick on the children of Israel. They lived in the land of Canaan, but they pretended that they had come from a far country. They wore old clothes, and carried hard and mouldy bread. Their shoes were worn out, and their wine bottles (made of animal skin) were dry and old. Joshua and the other men of Israel should have asked the Lord what to do, but instead, Joshua and the other Israelites believed the Gibeonites, and made a treaty with them, not to harm them.
Then, in a few days, they found out that the Gibeonites lived right there in the land of Canaan. They had been deceived because they did not consult with the Lord. In our lives, we should always ask the Lord’s help before making any decision about what to do. Israel had to suffer for hundreds of years because of this treaty that was made with the Gibeonites, and we may suffer too, in our lives, if we fail to consult the Lord.
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