Arrogance and Trickery

Joshua 9-10

            The citizens of Ai (Ai-ites?) had the wrong idea about Israel. They hadn’t beaten the Israelites the first time for any reason other than that the Lord was disciplining Israel over Achan’s sin at Jericho. But the Ai-ites underestimated Israel and, worse, underestimated Israel’s God. Seeing an Israelite force of about the same size approaching, the Ai-ites, in their arrogance, assumed they would thump the Israelites again. The underestimation of Israel is in thinking that Israel was dumb enough to try the same things all over again, so even on a human level, Ai’s strategy wasn’t great. But with the Lord on their side, the Israelites couldn’t fail.

            With a foothold in the promised land, Joshua renewed the covenant, just as Moses had commanded (Deuteronomy 27). Hearing the law and renewing their commitment to the One who gave it, Israel was ready to pursue the rest of the conquest.

            Unfortunately, the Gibeonites were trickier than the Ai-ites. They had seen the destruction at Jericho and Ai, and they decided trickery was a better option. Posing as distant travelers, they secured a treaty. Now the Israelites were in a pickle: they were supposed to destroy the Canaanites but they had sworn not to harm the Gibeonites. The people seem to have thought their leaders should have done more research, but the leaders wouldn’t let the people add shame to failure and insisted on honoring the treaty and subjecting the Gibeonites to perpetual slavery.

            We’ll hear from Gibeon again: in the next chapter, in 2 Samuel, where it’s the site of another no-win situation, in 2 Samuel 21, a few other places. Gibeon becomes a bit of a byword among the Israelites.