The Sanctity of a Deceived Oath Text: Joshua 9:22-27
Introduction: The Weight of Words
We live in a time when words have become cheap, disposable things. Men make promises with their fingers crossed, sign contracts with no intention of honoring them, and take solemn vows as though they were casual remarks. Our entire civilization is built on a mountain of broken promises, from the marriage bed to the halls of government. We have forgotten that words create worlds, and that a man is only as good as his word. This is because we have forgotten the God whose Word created all worlds, and who keeps His promises even when it costs Him everything.
In our passage today, we find Israel in a bind. They have been thoroughly duped. The Gibeonites, fearing the God of Israel and His decree to wipe out the inhabitants of Canaan, concocted a clever ruse. They came with moldy bread, worn-out sacks, and patched sandals, pretending to be from a far country. Israel, failing to inquire of the Lord, fell for it hook, line, and sinker. They made a covenant with them, a sworn oath before Yahweh. And three days later, they discovered the Gibeonites were their next-door neighbors, part of the very people they were commanded to destroy.
The congregation grumbled, and rightly so. The leaders had been foolish. But what happens next is a profound lesson in the sanctity of an oath. What do you do when you have been deceived into making a promise? What is the obligation of a vow made under false pretenses? Our modern sensibilities would say the contract is null and void. Deception invalidates the agreement. But that is not what happens here. Israel, to its credit, understood that an oath sworn in the name of Yahweh was a transaction with Yahweh Himself. To break their word to the Gibeonites would be to break their word to God. And so, a people who were under command to destroy the Canaanites found themselves bound by a holy oath to protect a city of them. This is a hard providence, but it is a righteous one, and it is filled with gospel truth.
The Text
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 nearly in the midst of us? So now, you are cursed, and you shall never be cut loose from being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.” So they answered Joshua and said, “Because it was certainly told to your slaves that Yahweh 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. So now, behold, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.” Thus he did to them and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them. But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of Yahweh, to this day, in the place which He would choose.
(Joshua 9:22-27 LSB)
Confrontation and Curse (v. 22-23)
Joshua begins by confronting the Gibeonites with their successful lie.
"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 nearly in the midst of us? So now, you are cursed, and you shall never be cut loose from being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.'" (Joshua 9:22-23)
Joshua doesn't mince words. "Why have you deceived us?" The sin is named plainly. Deception is a sin, even when it is motivated by a fear for one's life. But notice the consequence. Joshua pronounces a curse. Now, we must be careful here. This is not the curse of annihilation that was upon the other Canaanites. It is a curse of perpetual servitude. They are bound to a life of menial labor for the "house of my God."
What are we to make of this? First, sin has consequences. The Gibeonites saved their lives through deceit, but they did not escape the consequences of that deceit. They are now bound to a lower status. But second, and this is crucial, notice where their servitude is directed: "for the house of my God." This curse is actually a back-handed blessing. In being bound as slaves to the tabernacle, and later the temple, they are brought into the orbit of true worship. They are brought near to the presence of the living God. They get to see the sacrifices, hear the psalms, and live under the shadow of the altar. This curse places them in the one place in all the world where atonement and mercy are found. It is a curse that smells strongly of grace. They wanted to save their lives, and God, through this curse, saves their souls. They are brought into the covenant community, albeit through the servant's entrance.
A Fear-Driven Confession (v. 24-25)
The Gibeonites' response is honest and straightforward. They don't try to dissemble any further.
"So they answered Joshua and said, 'Because it was certainly told to your slaves that Yahweh 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. So now, behold, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.'" (Joshua 9:24-25 LSB)
Their motivation was simple: they believed the Word of God. They had heard the promise God made to Moses, and they took it seriously. "We feared greatly for our lives because of you." This is a kind of faith. It is not yet a robust, saving faith, perhaps, but it is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. They feared the God of Israel more than they feared the other Canaanite kings. Like Rahab, they recognized that the God of Israel was the true power in the land, and that His decree of judgment was coming. Their deception was a desperate act of self-preservation, rooted in a correct theological assessment of the situation.
Their submission is total. "Behold, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us." They throw themselves on the mercy of Joshua. They have no ground to stand on, no rights to claim. They lied, they were caught, and now they submit to the judgment of the covenant head. This posture of utter helplessness and submission is the only appropriate posture for a sinner before a holy God. It is only when we stop making excuses and cast ourselves entirely on the mercy of our Judge that we can find grace.
An Oath Honored, A People Spared (v. 26)
Here we see the crucial decision. Joshua and the leaders of Israel choose integrity over expediency.
"Thus he did to them and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them." (Genesis 9:26 LSB)
Joshua acts. He honors the oath. He "delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel." This tells us the temper of the congregation was hot. The people wanted blood. They felt cheated and foolish, and they wanted to carry out the original command. It would have been the popular thing to do. It might have even seemed like the "obedient" thing to do, if you were to pit God's prior command against this new, deceived oath.
But Joshua understood a principle that our generation has utterly lost: an oath made in the name of God is binding, even when it hurts. Psalm 15 asks who may abide in the Lord's tent, and part of the answer is the one "who swears to his own hurt and does not change" (Psalm 15:4). The leaders of Israel had sworn to their own hurt. This oath complicated the conquest. It created a political and theological problem. But their integrity before God was more important than a streamlined military campaign. They feared God's wrath for breaking an oath more than they feared the grumbling of the people or the inconvenience of the situation. This is true leadership. Later in Israel's history, King Saul would forget this lesson. He slaughtered the Gibeonites, breaking this very covenant, and God brought a famine on the land for his treachery (2 Samuel 21:1). God takes oaths seriously, and He expects His people to do the same.
Servants of the Sanctuary (v. 27)
The chapter concludes by formalizing the Gibeonites' role in Israel.
"But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of Yahweh, to this day, in the place which He would choose." (Joshua 9:27 LSB)
Their sentence is confirmed. They are to be servants, performing the heavy, menial labor that supported the worship of Israel. They chopped the wood for the sacrificial fires. They drew the water for the ritual washings. They were the grounds crew for the house of God. And notice the scope: "for the congregation and for the altar of Yahweh." Their service benefits both the people of God and the worship of God.
The phrase "to this day" indicates that this account was written sometime after the events, and that the Gibeonites were still faithfully performing this role. They were integrated into the life of Israel. They were no longer Canaanites destined for destruction, but servants of the living God. The final phrase, "in the place which He would choose," points forward to the establishment of the central sanctuary, first at Shiloh and ultimately at Jerusalem. The Gibeonites were tied to the future of God's redemptive plan.
The Gospel in the Ruse
This entire episode is a beautiful, if messy, picture of the gospel. We, like the Gibeonites, were outsiders. We were inhabitants of a condemned land, children of wrath, destined for destruction under the righteous judgment of God (Ephesians 2:3). We were without God and without hope in the world. And the report of God's judgment reached our ears. We heard that the wages of sin is death.
And what did we do? We came to God in a ruse. We came to Him pretending to be something we are not. We put on the filthy rags of our own self-righteousness, like worn-out garments, and we tried to present ourselves as worthy of a covenant. We are all deceivers at heart. But our fear, like the Gibeonites', was well-founded. We rightly feared for our lives.
But we came to a better Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He, unlike the Israelite leaders, was not deceived. He knew exactly who we were. And yet, He made a covenant with us anyway. This covenant was not based on our cleverness or our worthiness, but upon His own promise. It is a covenant of grace. And this covenant was sealed with an oath, not our oath to Him, but God's oath to His Son, an unbreakable promise to save all those who come to Him.
And what is the result? We are brought under a "curse" that is actually our salvation. We are made slaves. "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We are called to be bondservants of Jesus Christ. But this is the most glorious slavery imaginable. For in being made His slaves, we are set free from our slavery to sin and death. We are made "hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God." We are brought into the life of His church, given meaningful work in His kingdom, and set to the task of serving His people and His altar. He takes our condemned lives and gives them purpose and dignity in the service of His sanctuary. The Gibeonites were saved by a flawed oath kept by fallible men. We are saved by a perfect covenant sealed by the blood of the Son of God, a better Joshua who never fails to inquire of His Father, and who keeps His promises forever.