The Deceiver vs. the Deceived
( Jos. 9:16~27 )
God commanded the Israelites not to make any treaty with Canaanite tribes. However, Joshua was deceived by the Gibeonites and made a treaty with them. Have you ever thought that both the deceiver and the deceived are the same sinners? Are you a deceived person? What are you going to do to the deceiver? Lets think about deception.
1. We recognize deception after three days. The Israelites recognized that they had been deceived after three days. Verses 3 through 14 describes the Gibeonites fake testimony. So it is with us. Some of us disguise our faith with a fake testimony for our own interests. How can we discern the reality? Notice that the Gibeonites elaborate and passionate fake confession tricked even Joshua, whose faith pulled down the impregnable wall of Jericho. True testimony and confession are based on the Word of redemption history.
2. We need to discern the reality objectively. The Israelites arrived at the city of Jericho after three days. We also realize that weve been deceived after a period of time in our marriage, workplace, and other fields of life. Yet the face of true deception is our own anticipation. According to a professional inspector, there are three key human emotions that frauds resort to. They are desire, trust, and anxiety. So the easiest preys of deception are those who chase promotion, those who trust others blindly, seeking for their affection, and those who have everything but tremble with fear. Since Eve was deceived by the serpent, sin came into human history, which caused man to be separated from God. No wonder that we have been constantly deceived by money, health, love, devotion, and fear.
3. The deceived need to see their sins. A believer is the one who laughs last. He always sees his sins. He considers himself blameworthy even though he was deceived. Peter, who deceived Jesus, wailed after recognizing his sin. However, Judas Iscariot failed to see his sins and committed suicide. Meditation is seeing our sins in the midst of our being deceived. Touched by the Gibeonites plausible confession, Joshua forgot to inquire of God. He swore an oath to them without asking the Lord. After defeating the cities of Jericho and Ai, he might have wanted to show himself off to the Gibeonites, who kneeled before him. Not inquiring of God is a big sin. Having lost spiritual discernment in his comfortable life, Joshua failed to discern compassion from affection because of his unconscious pride. We also need our three-day verification period. When we choose our marriage partner, we need to check if he or she has true faith in God as well as our partners property, school background, personality and occupation. Its not enough to check if our partner is a churchgoer or not. We need to check if our partner has any confession before God as a sinner. Are you a deceived person? Then seek for a good interpretation rather than solution. You need to see your sins.
4. We need to keep our oath even though we were deceived. The leaders of the Israelite tribes were taken in by the Gibeonites and made an oath to them. They misled their people. If a leader recognizes that he has been deceived, what he needs to do is repent. We need to save the deceiver first. Thats how we can be truly saved. The best remedy is to accept that we have no other choice. No matter how much we feel unjust or frustrated, we need to make up our mind to save them. No one has any right to dump his or her spouse after getting married. What really matters is to keep our family register clean. We shouldnt be deceived by love.
5. The deceived need to take the lead in salvation. Even though Joshua was deceived by the Gibeonites, he decided to save them. Thats why he scolded and cursed them. If he had meant to expel them, he would have gone into action silently. Yet he commanded them to cut wood and carry water for their community, saying that was the only way for them to be saved. It was his prescription of salvation and affection for them. Thus we can lead the one who deceived us to salvation by making a tough prescription for him out of affection. Examples of our prescription are Sell your house if you are bankrupt, Go to prison if you cant pay off your debt and Eat if you have money, fast if you have no money, and enter the heavenly kingdom if you pass away! This is the way of salvation. The greatest love that the deceived can show to the deceiver is repentance. Just as Rizpah saved Sauls family through her repentance, we can save our whole family and even mankind through our repentance. This is how we touch our Gibeonites and turn them into truthful people. To Joshuas prescription, the Gibeonites responded, 'I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.'(Ps. 84:10).' Dwelling in Gods house with trial is surely a greater blessing than living in comfort in the world.
Heres a testimony from our community. One small group leader was called 'Braggart Jeong' because he used to tell lies in order to conceal his humble background. He even deceived his wife that he was a second son instead of the 7th generation eldest son. He also concealed his loan before he married his wife. Later, after facing reality, his wife decided to divorce him. Yet she got pregnant and failed to divorce him. Then she came to our church, heard that the deceived are worse than the deceivers and repented of her sins. The deacon also came to our church, had spiritual training with daily QT, and listened to Wooridle testimonies. Then he recognized that he had deceived his wife with his lies and that his sins are heavier than any others. Even though he had made a fake oath to his wife, he thanked God for being able to keep one of his promises that he would let his wife go to church. If a believer is deceived by a non-believer, the believer is to blame. He needs to repent of not inquiring of God and keep his promise. If he is a deceiver, he should willingly become a woodcutter and water carrier for home and community.'
That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the LORD at the place the LORD would choose (Jos. 9:27a).
