Sunday, October 11, 2015

Joshua, Chapter 9, Verse 22-24

²² Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, “Why did you deceive us and say, ‘We live far off from you’?—You live among us! ²³ Now are you accursed: every one of you shall always be a slave, hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God.” ²⁴ They answered Joshua, “Your servants were fully informed of how the LORD, your God, commanded Moses his servant that you be given the entire land and that all its inhabitants be destroyed before you. Since, therefore, at your advance, we were in great fear for our lives, we acted as we did.

If only our nation returned to wisdom and prayed and sought the Lord’s instruction before we entered into any treaties with other nations; sadly we too are like Joshua.

I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep. Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands. (Wis. 7:7-11)