1. The Gibeonites deceived Israel into making a peace treaty by pretending to come from a faraway land. Joshua agreed without consulting God. 2. Joshua was misled because he judged the situation based on surface details instead of seeking God's guidance. 3. Christians can be led astray if they interpret the Bible subjectively without proper principles or allow circumstances to influence their understanding over Scripture.

1. Caught Off
Guard
Joshua 9:1-27
Based on Joshua: Living as a consistent role
model by Gene A. Getz

2. ● While Israel was worshipping God and reviewing
God’s Law, the Canaanites were forming an alliance
(v.1-2)
● The Hivites of Gibeon didn’t want to fight because
they knew they couldn’t win.
● Gibeon was ruled by a council of elders, not a king,
and was one of the largest cities in Canaan. (Joshua
10:2)
● Gibeon was the only city to realize Israel had divine
help.
Meanwhile throughout Canaan...

3. ● Their conclusion was accurate, but their strategy was
wrong.
● If they had abandoned their false gods and followed
Jehovah, there would have been no judgment on
them.
● v.4-6 The Gibeonites deceived Israel by making it
look like they’d come from far away to seek peace.
● This shows how much they knew of Israel because
they knew to make a covenant in the name of God.
A shrewd, brilliant strategy

4. ● Exodus 23:31-33.
● They knew God had made provision to spare cities
outside of Canaan, but none inside.
● Deuteronomy 20:10-12
● Joshua 9:7-13
● They were also smart enough to avoid any reference
to Ai or Jericho because they wouldn’t know if they’d
been traveling!
● Joshua and the men of Israel made their mistake
here.
A shrewd, brilliant strategy

5. ● Joshua makes peace with them in verse 15, but his
mistake is in verse 14. Can you see it?
● He never asked God. He had even been skeptical in
verse 7, but still acted too quickly.
● He could have gone to the High Priest to seek God’s
will. It would not have delayed anything by more
than a few minutes.
● Joshua trusted people because he was an honest
man with pure motives, so he viewed others - even
his enemies-through his own eyes.
Caught off Guard

6. ● Joshua was even acting as God had said he should
in such circumstances.
● The problem is the circumstances were not what he
thought they were.
● Consequently, he misapplied Scripture because he
didn’t have all the facts.
● It took only three days to discover the mistake. (v.16-
17)
● So do you honor the covenant or break it?

7. ● Breaking it makes God look bad. Keeping it means dealing with
the consequences.
● v.19-27 Joshua keeps the covenant and makes them slaves.
● Don’t feel bad for them; they had asked to be servants earlier.
At least they weren’t going to be killed!
● Gibeon is almost immediately attacked by the Amorites for
making peace with Israel, and Israel comes to their defense.
(10:3-4)
● This time, though, Joshua specifically seeks God’s will before
acting (10:8)

8. ● Joshua had just reviewed God’s commands for the
land with the nation, so they were fresh in his mind.
● Satan is subtle, and attacked right there.
● Lying is one of Satan’s common tactics, and one of
his most deceptive tricks is to use God’s Word as
part of his lie.
● Remember, Satan quoted the Bible when he tempted
Jesus in Matthew 4:6
1. Christians can be led astray by making
superficial judgments based on the Bible.

9. ● It’s possible to make the Bible teach almost anything
if you ignore basic principles of literary interpretation.
● 1. Determine what the words, phrases, and
sentences of Scripture actually mean in context.
● 2. Discover what insights you can gain from the
historical and cultural setting in which Scripture was
written. (what was the original meaning?)
● 3. Discern what grammatical, historical, cultural, and
literary reasons there may be for taking an approach
other than that which is literal.
2. We can be deceived if we read and study the Bible
subjectively and without good principles of interpretation.

10. ● Circumstances can be deceptive, as they were here.
● As humans, we are accustomed to evaluating events
in light of our circumstances.
● God wants us to evaluate events in light of Scripture.
● Satan wants to keep you thinking in the flesh, and
out of your Bible.
3. We can be deceived if we bring circumstances to bear on Scripture
rather than evaluating circumstances in the light of Scripture.