“And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? Joshua 9:7 KJV

I was listening to this chapter and verse on audio in a different version and stopped when I heard the word covenant. I looked up the Scripture in the KJV and it read league. So i went searching to see if they were interchangeable and turns out that the word translated there is berı̂yth, with these meanings: a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh): – confederacy, covenant, league.

Back to the context: The Gibeonites heard about the workings of God for Israel and decided to put up a deceptive act to get Israel to not destroy them by making a covenant with them. Their act was so convincing (Oscar-worthy eh? 😉) that Joshua, Israel’s leader at the time made a covenant with them. A covenant is so binding that God honours it and in like manner, expects us to do similar, so we need to be careful with whom and what we get into covenants with as it is not a light matter. An example of the importance of this can be seen many years later when during David’s reign, a famine befell Israel for three years. When David sought God about it, God revealed it was because Saul killed the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1-14), violating the covenant that was made with Joshua many years before. Again, God does not make light of covenants.

Back to the point of this post: 

And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD. KJV
…they did not ask the LORD what they should do. ERV
Joshua 9:14

Gibeon acted based on their own selfish interests, convincing enough to deceive Joshua. As believers, the Bible says Christ is our life (Colossians 3:4), so our conduct should bring glory to Him and not necessarily please our flesh. A way to do that is to involve Him in our decision-making, more so in covenant-like situations as they are binding because He honours such. Furthermore, God sees the whole picture that we don’t and knows the motives of those who want to establish such covenants with us, whether genuine or selfish. Honestly, seeking God’s counsel before making such pacts is very much enlightened self-interest, our very own authentication privilege, since we know that God is for us (Ps 56:9) and consequently our manner of life and conduct should be worthy of the gospel of Christ (Phil 1:27).

People might want to manipulate us into making decisions for their own selfish purposes. We may not have a meter to scan intentions but God sees everything plainly, in real-time, and how they would pan out in the future. Seeking His counsel is really for our own good as the Scripture says:

Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and He will lead you in every decision you make. Proverbs 3:5-6 TPT

God’s got you, for real for real!

© Lydia Ndagilaya for PneumaWord