The Jewish roots of Christianity

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Bible teaching with an emphasis on Israel, prophecy and the Jewish roots of Christianity

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Episode: “The Gibeonites”
Because of deception, Joshua’s integrity is severely tested when he faces the decision to either break his vow or keep it under false pretenses with negative long-term consequences. We, too, face deceivers determined to trick us, and we need to pray to the Lord for discernment.
Series: “Joshua (2023)”
More than a Conqueror
In this series we examine how Joshua went from a dependable apprentice to the faithful leader of Israel during the conquering of the land of Canaan, a land promised by God to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Many valuable leadership lessons can be learned from Joshua’s story taught by Dr. Jeffrey Seif from corresponding locations in Israel. David and Kirsten Hart discuss the meaning and application with the Bearded Bible Brothers, Joshua and Caleb, as we see dramatic reenactments of some of the key moments in Joshua’s life.

Caption transcript for Joshua (2023): “The Gibeonites” (6/8)

  • 00:01 Joshua: What's done is done. I've made peace with the Gibeonites, despite the Lord's warning
  • 00:09 to not do so with any of the Canaanites.
  • 00:11 And now we're in covenant and we can't slay them.
  • 00:14 David Hart: Find out more about how we can learn from our
  • 00:16 mistakes, on today's episode of "Our Jewish Roots."
  • 00:20 ♪♪♪
  • 00:27 ♪♪♪
  • 00:37 ♪♪♪
  • 00:47 ♪♪♪
  • 00:57 David: Thank you so much for joining us.
  • 00:58 I am David Hart.
  • 01:00 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
  • 01:01 Joshua Colson: I'm Joshua.
  • 01:03 Caleb Colson: And I'm Caleb.
  • 01:04 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 01:05 David: Ah, that's good.
  • 01:07 Kirsten: The "cha," you got the "cha" in there really well.
  • 01:08 Caleb: I'm Jewish, eh.
  • 01:10 Kirsten: You're Jewish, you should.
  • 01:11 Joshua: Guys, don't you hate it when you're ready to
  • 01:12 annihilate your mortal enemies and you find out at the last
  • 01:14 second that they secretly disguised themselves and you
  • 01:15 accidentally made a peace treaty with them,
  • 01:17 like, 3 days previous?
  • 01:18 Caleb: It happens all the time.
  • 01:19 Kirsten: Just 2 days ago that happened.
  • 01:21 Caleb: Terrible. Joshua: That's the worst.
  • 01:22 Kirsten: Okay, but I've gotta ask you a question about this.
  • 01:24 If God is a God of love and peace,
  • 01:27 why wouldn't he want the Israelites to make peace with
  • 01:31 the Canaanites?
  • 01:32 Caleb: Well, that's a good-- yeah, a very good question.
  • 01:35 It's very important. God is gracious.
  • 01:37 He is loving.
  • 01:39 And to look back at that, Genesis chapter 15 is when God
  • 01:42 makes this covenant with Abram, promising him the Promised Land,
  • 01:45 the territory of Israel, and he says--
  • 01:48 he tells Abram the whole future, you know.
  • 01:50 "Abram," he tells him, "guess what?
  • 01:52 Your descendants are going to go into a foreign land where
  • 01:54 they're gonna be captive for 400 years.
  • 01:57 That 400 years is necessary because I've gotta give time for
  • 02:00 those Canaanites to repent."
  • 02:02 He gave them a 400-year time period to repent.
  • 02:04 He said, "After that, then they'll go into the land and
  • 02:07 possess it and wipe 'em out," but his grace is so amazing and
  • 02:11 so sufficient for everyone.
  • 02:12 David: That's good.
  • 02:14 Right now, we take you to our dramatic reenactment where
  • 02:15 Israel is deceived.
  • 02:20 Joshua: It all seemed so believable.
  • 02:22 I mean, I was fooled by the Gibeonites' evidence of a
  • 02:26 lengthy journey from a so-called distant city.
  • 02:29 It takes weeks for bread to look like this.
  • 02:32 I should have known better. I've been deceived.
  • 02:40 Joshua: How could I have believed such a tale?
  • 02:43 male: Joshua, you weren't the only one.
  • 02:46 We all believed.
  • 02:49 This story of their long journey to make peace with us,
  • 02:52 it seemed so right.
  • 02:55 We just stumbled upon the truth.
  • 02:58 Joshua: Dry moldy bread? Tattered sandals?
  • 03:02 Evidence, they claim?
  • 03:04 All the while they've been our neighbors.
  • 03:07 What's done is done.
  • 03:10 I've made peace with the Gibeonites,
  • 03:12 despite the Lord's warning to not do so with any
  • 03:14 of the Canaanites.
  • 03:16 And now we're in covenant and we can't slay them.
  • 03:20 male: Joshua, the Gibeonites have come in peace.
  • 03:28 They've heard of Adonai and what he's done for us in slaying,
  • 03:33 destroying Jericho and the city of Ai.
  • 03:37 They were afraid they might be next.
  • 03:39 Joshua: But they deceived us.
  • 03:42 male: Our tribal leaders have met and offered a solution.
  • 03:46 Joshua: And what might that be?
  • 03:48 male: We need help at the tabernacle.
  • 03:51 They can cut wood to sustain the flames of our altar and they can
  • 03:56 carry water for us as well.
  • 04:02 Joshua: Yes, yes, a wise decision.
  • 04:06 And they can learn of a real journey of 40 years in the
  • 04:11 desert, of the Lord's might, and miracles,
  • 04:14 and of our bread which sustained us every step of the way.
  • 04:18 male: And remember, they've already agreed
  • 04:21 to be our servants.
  • 04:26 Joshua: They're a frail, broken people,
  • 04:29 but they have done well in fearing the Lord.
  • 04:32 The Gibeonites will live and they'll serve the children
  • 04:35 of Israel.
  • 04:37 United together, we will be unbreakable.
  • 04:41 ♪♪♪
  • 04:47 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Little is known of Gibeon's exact location
  • 04:51 so we came to the general location of the Gibeonites just
  • 04:54 southwest of what was the city of Ai.
  • 04:58 Sheep still graze in this valley today as they probably did 3400
  • 05:02 years ago when the city's residents used their clever
  • 05:06 schemes in seeking peace with Joshua's invading forces.
  • 05:14 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: It was a scandal,
  • 05:16 an outrage, in fact.
  • 05:20 Wasn't expecting it.
  • 05:21 You read into the book of Joshua and you see the man,
  • 05:25 the leader, is quite the strategist.
  • 05:30 This is particularly evident with the last battle at Ai where
  • 05:35 it's set up, there's a scheme at play,
  • 05:38 it's thought out, well executed, and success.
  • 05:43 The skirmish before that, the war before that at Jericho,
  • 05:46 the strategy, but it's divine strategy.
  • 05:50 In the battle of Ai, our leader is showing himself
  • 05:53 to be just that.
  • 05:56 And it's amazing, someone that smart still got duped,
  • 06:03 and it came down to something like this.
  • 06:08 Stale bread, if you can imagine that.
  • 06:14 Hard to break, crusty.
  • 06:17 Here's the real deal, well, the fresh bread,
  • 06:21 you'd think someone would know the difference,
  • 06:23 yesterday as today.
  • 06:26 Well, it wasn't just the bread in the case of Joshua,
  • 06:28 because when those from Gibeon came,
  • 06:32 they came with tattered wineskins,
  • 06:35 worn-out sandals, battered clothing,
  • 06:39 stale bread, saying, "We're from a far country and we,
  • 06:43 sir, want to make peace with you."
  • 06:49 And why is that?
  • 06:50 Well, momentum in sports and in war,
  • 06:55 it's hard to get, but once you got it,
  • 06:57 it is very eventful.
  • 07:00 When b'nei yisrael, the children of Israel,
  • 07:02 were making their way into the land of promise on the other
  • 07:04 side of the Jordan, they scored decisive victories.
  • 07:09 Once in, across the Jordan, in the land of Canaan,
  • 07:13 then you have the story of Jericho,
  • 07:17 a decisive victory, the battle of Ai, decisive victory.
  • 07:22 The Hebrews are racking them up,
  • 07:24 and the people round about are concerned.
  • 07:28 Those from Gibeon, this place right here,
  • 07:32 Al-Jib, it's known as that in antiquity in the 10th century,
  • 07:36 David Ben Abraham Al-Fasi, a cartographer,
  • 07:40 made note of this place.
  • 07:43 Another person, an archeologist, in the 1950s,
  • 07:48 excavated and found 56 jars, the handles of which were marked
  • 07:53 with Gibeon, noting this place, these environs,
  • 07:59 a people once lived here but now it's been covered up by the
  • 08:03 sands of time, through the ages, but the story emerges in the
  • 08:08 biblical pages.
  • 08:09 We're told in chapter 9 and turn with me please,
  • 08:12 in verse 3, that the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what was
  • 08:18 happening and they were concerned.
  • 08:22 They didn't wanna get annihilated,
  • 08:23 so they concocted a scheme.
  • 08:26 We're told in the text what I just told you in my narrative
  • 08:30 that they presented themselves to the Hebrews,
  • 08:33 saying that we're from a faraway place.
  • 08:37 We're told in verse 5,
  • 08:40 "[speaking in Hebrew]
  • 08:44 THAT THEIR PROVISION WAS DRY," the bread was dry, we're told,
  • 08:49 "[speaking in Hebrew]
  • 08:51 AND IT BECAME CRUMBS."
  • 08:54 So when they said they were from a faraway place,
  • 08:57 they provided evidences thereof.
  • 09:00 And what were they after in the process of so doing?
  • 09:03 They wanted a treaty.
  • 09:06 We're told in verse 6 as we read on,
  • 09:09 what they say:
  • 09:11 "[speaking in Hebrew]
  • 09:14 WE'VE COME FROM A FARAWAY PLACE.
  • 09:17 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 09:21 MAKE A COVENANT WITH US."
  • 09:25 In antiquity, it wasn't the least bit uncommon for stronger
  • 09:31 nations to enter into treaties with smaller peoples.
  • 09:36 They're referred to as Suzerain Treaties,
  • 09:39 a smaller, weaker entity makes peace with the larger,
  • 09:43 and they carve out terms of endearment.
  • 09:46 Now, if you were involved in some kind of contract and you
  • 09:52 discovered that the other party entered into it deceitfully,
  • 09:57 it wouldn't be beyond the pale of reason for you to want that
  • 09:59 contract to be null and void.
  • 10:02 When the Hebrews found out they got duped,
  • 10:05 there was murmuring in the camp.
  • 10:06 They weren't happy campers, if you will.
  • 10:08 But still, interestingly, fascinatingly,
  • 10:12 they kept the deal.
  • 10:14 In verse 15 we're told
  • 10:17 "[speaking in Hebrew]
  • 10:21 AND JOSHUA MADE PEACE WITH THEM."
  • 10:24 And then he goes on to say that he went out and
  • 10:26 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 10:27 he cut a covenant with them, and then he kept it.
  • 10:33 He was faithful, even when he discovered that they were not.
  • 10:43 We live in a world today where there's covenant takers,
  • 10:45 covenant makers, and covenant breakers.
  • 10:48 Then, as now.
  • 10:51 How do you deal with people and circumstance when people treat
  • 10:55 you wrong?
  • 10:56 Do you break? Do you renegotiate?
  • 10:58 What do you do with all that?
  • 11:00 Well, I want to explore this further.
  • 11:03 I'm gonna tell you on the front end now that I think a secret to
  • 11:08 success in life has to do with character, keeping covenant.
  • 11:13 These people thought so as well and they made it
  • 11:16 and they wouldn't break it.
  • 11:18 And this, indeed, is a secret to success in life.
  • 11:23 I wanna tease out some applications,
  • 11:25 I want to explore the implications.
  • 11:28 And like Joshua, I want to show you how,
  • 11:31 with these principles, you can be more than a conqueror.
  • 11:36 ♪♪♪
  • 11:48 David: In our story today, it's all about deception,
  • 11:51 deception, deception.
  • 11:54 Not real good.
  • 11:55 A lot of that going on, rampant.
  • 11:56 Joshua: It's not real good.
  • 11:58 And when you're deceived, you don't feel good when it happens
  • 12:01 and Joshua didn't feel good either because he realizes in
  • 12:03 this situation, this is the second time he's messed up.
  • 12:05 First, at the battle of Ai because he didn't consult God.
  • 12:08 But this time, the Gibeonites come to him and they deceive him
  • 12:11 into being a different people.
  • 12:13 He signs a peace treaty with them,
  • 12:14 and then finds out he was tricked.
  • 12:17 He's frustrated, he goes to them,
  • 12:18 but what does he do?
  • 12:19 He honors his covenant.
  • 12:21 He had already given his word and he wasn't gonna go back
  • 12:23 on it.
  • 12:24 Caleb: That's right, and God brings about a great victory,
  • 12:25 even though Joshua made a mistake.
  • 12:28 You think the Israelites were mad when they were duped?
  • 12:30 Well, the Canaanites were even more angry that one of their own
  • 12:32 betrayed them and signed a peace treaty with the Israelites,
  • 12:36 so they gather together five kings of the Amorites and they
  • 12:39 go to wipe out the Gibeonites.
  • 12:40 Well, the Gibeonites send a messenger to Joshua, saying,
  • 12:42 "Please honor your vow.
  • 12:44 Come and save us. We're about to be destroyed."
  • 12:46 And Joshua doesn't give it a second thought.
  • 12:48 He gets the entire army of Israel.
  • 12:50 They march through the whole night and,
  • 12:52 as they're coming upon this vast army,
  • 12:54 God says, "Don't worry, Joshua.
  • 12:55 I'm giving them into your hands."
  • 12:58 He sends the army of the Amorites into confusion
  • 13:01 and it becomes the greatest chase scene in all of history
  • 13:04 for miles on end.
  • 13:05 God's hurling down hailstones from the sky,
  • 13:08 but there's a problem.
  • 13:09 With all of these armies running away,
  • 13:12 the sun is starting to set and they didn't have flashlights
  • 13:14 back then, and if those armies got back to their fortified
  • 13:17 cities, they'd be holed up in there forever.
  • 13:20 So, Joshua decides that he's gonna command the sun and the
  • 13:23 moon to stand still, and God listens to him.
  • 13:28 Joshua: I wanna read this Scripture to you guys.
  • 13:29 Joshua 10:14: "There has never been a day like it before or
  • 13:33 since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being.
  • 13:36 Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!"
  • 13:39 When this happened, Joshua wasn't indwelled
  • 13:41 with the Holy Spirit.
  • 13:43 Yeshua had not come, sacrificed, and left the Holy Spirit
  • 13:46 as a comforter.
  • 13:47 He stepped out in faith, knowing that God had commanded him to be
  • 13:51 there to honor his covenant.
  • 13:52 And when he spoke to the sun and moon,
  • 13:53 God said, "I'm stopping these planets," and he stopped them
  • 13:56 for 24 hours.
  • 13:58 Caleb: That's right. It was an amazing victory.
  • 14:00 They captured those five kings, and now we know,
  • 14:04 they knew, that God was fighting on their side and God backed
  • 14:07 them up.
  • 14:08 But we're gonna go back to Dr. Jeffrey Seif in Israel
  • 14:11 as he continues the story of the Gibeonites' deception.
  • 14:16 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: When I think about how important the
  • 14:19 little things are, I realize, truth be known,
  • 14:21 there really are no such thing as "little things."
  • 14:26 I mention that, you know, people talk about white lies,
  • 14:29 just a little fib, or maybe there's just little ways that
  • 14:34 people kind of drop the ball.
  • 14:37 Maybe they don't keep their word,
  • 14:39 just little things.
  • 14:42 What if those little things aren't that little?
  • 14:46 When I think of something that little,
  • 14:49 I'm reminded the fact that it factors really large in the
  • 14:54 story of Joshua where, when we're at Gibeon,
  • 14:58 or dealing with those who dwell therein,
  • 15:00 the Gibeonites, we learn that there's no such thing as a
  • 15:05 little thing when it comes to someone keeping their word.
  • 15:11 Interestingly, it's described in the Bible,
  • 15:14 a pious person is someone who keeps their word,
  • 15:17 they keep a vow, even to their own harm.
  • 15:23 The Bible's a great story. We're looking at one here.
  • 15:26 To recap it, Joshua enters into a contract with those from
  • 15:33 Gibeon and it is a contract made by deceit, by stealth.
  • 15:37 He was snookered.
  • 15:39 It's interesting, by the way, a man who showed himself to be so
  • 15:42 very strategic in his battle at Ai,
  • 15:45 is duped by strategic people here.
  • 15:48 Nevertheless, Joshua opts to keep his word.
  • 15:53 Why is that there in the biblical text?
  • 15:55 When I think of 7 years of conflict,
  • 15:58 major conflict, things big, medium,
  • 16:00 and small, why is it something that so small as this is given a
  • 16:06 considerable amount of attention in a book like this?
  • 16:09 I think it's because it's not small at all.
  • 16:12 That if Israel is gonna be successful,
  • 16:16 it's going to have something to do with a value system that
  • 16:19 resonates within Israelites.
  • 16:22 That is to say, a Judeo-- what we today refer to as a
  • 16:26 Judeo-Christian ethic.
  • 16:29 To be successful in life and, when I think of Joshua,
  • 16:32 of course, you've heard me to repeat,
  • 16:34 more than a conqueror, when I think of him,
  • 16:37 I think there are salient virtues within him that sets him
  • 16:41 apart from others, one of which is an intransigency,
  • 16:46 that is to say, will not be moved from keeping his word.
  • 16:52 Now I'm gonna look at the word in a second,
  • 16:54 but before I get there, I wanna tell you,
  • 16:56 just as a dad who raised boys, I told my sons,
  • 16:59 not that they're gonna listen, but at least I communicated to
  • 17:02 them, "You're gonna meet a girl, she's real cool,
  • 17:05 real hot, real rich, real pious, whatever it is,
  • 17:07 if she says she's gonna meet you at 5 o'clock and she's not
  • 17:10 there, dump her.
  • 17:12 You might think she's great, I think she's a Venus flytrap.
  • 17:15 You're gonna land on her and get devoured.
  • 17:18 I don't want my boys being with people that aren't good for
  • 17:21 their word, even in small things.
  • 17:24 Now, of course, I realize things come up,
  • 17:25 that's why God created cell phones: people can communicate.
  • 17:28 But with the lack thereof, if it's just someone who's not
  • 17:31 known to be good for their word,
  • 17:33 I don't want them in my family system.
  • 17:36 The extent to which I can control that as the boys grow up
  • 17:38 is open to question but at least I wanted them
  • 17:40 to hear it from me.
  • 17:43 And, you know, Yeshua said as much too.
  • 17:45 He says, "You know, let your Yes be Yes,
  • 17:47 and your No's be No.
  • 17:48 You shouldn't even need to swear,"
  • 17:50 in his, I call it Torah from the Top.
  • 17:53 Others call it the Sermon on the Mount.
  • 17:55 He is reflecting on the essence and substance,
  • 17:57 the constitution for a Christian life,
  • 18:00 a walk with the Lord, and foremost in all of that
  • 18:04 is people mean what they say and they say what they mean.
  • 18:10 When people swear, "I swear to God I'm gonna do--
  • 18:11 I swear, I swear," they're coming from a value deficit.
  • 18:15 It should be their word is sufficient.
  • 18:16 They say they're gonna do it, and they do it.
  • 18:18 But if you have to embellish it with,
  • 18:20 "I promise I'll do this and that," it means in your mind you
  • 18:23 don't think the person you're talking to is taking you
  • 18:25 seriously, thus the need to embellish.
  • 18:27 And why is that?
  • 18:28 'Cause you've calculated the fact that your word doesn't have
  • 18:31 equity in their mind and there's a reason for that.
  • 18:34 You probably broke it down.
  • 18:36 Well, I wanna look here in the text.
  • 18:37 I'll read it in Hebrew first.
  • 18:38 I'm in chapter 9 and verse 19,
  • 18:42 and the word is out to keep the word.
  • 18:44 And the people don't like it, but the prince's way in,
  • 18:47 that is to say, Joshua sets the tone as the principal leader,
  • 18:52 and then his lieutenants carry out his word.
  • 18:55 You'll see people are murmuring in verse 18,
  • 18:58 but in verse 19:
  • 18:59 "[speaking in Hebrew]
  • 19:03 ALL THE PRINCES OF THE CONGREGATION SAID TO THE PEOPLE:
  • 19:08 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 19:12 WE HAVE SWORN TO THE LORD,
  • 19:14 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 19:16 THE GOD OF ISRAEL," but we promise, we gave our word,
  • 19:19 to the God of Israel, they say.
  • 19:21 It's very, very interesting.
  • 19:22 "[speaking in Hebrew]
  • 19:26 NOW THEREFORE WE MAY NOT TOUCH THEM."
  • 19:30 That is to say we cannot go back on our word.
  • 19:35 It reminds me of the Lord.
  • 19:36 He says if others are faithless, nevertheless he is faithful.
  • 19:41 And to that end, let me just share a comment,
  • 19:45 a pivot to a principle.
  • 19:47 What it means to be Christian, essentially.
  • 19:50 You know, you hear in the text, Rabbi Paul talks about
  • 19:53 confessing with your lips that Jesus is Lord.
  • 19:55 We talk about the sinner's prayer today.
  • 19:58 I like it more as a commitment to a ligeance, to a sovereign.
  • 20:03 That is, we call him Lord.
  • 20:05 There's a social contract there that we,
  • 20:07 as a subject, there's inherent commitments with that and,
  • 20:11 by the way, there's reciprocity, there's commitments that come
  • 20:14 from the sovereign by virtue of that.
  • 20:18 Would that we learn to make sure there's no daylight.
  • 20:21 Would that we kept it tight where there's integrity,
  • 20:24 where there's correlation between what we say and what we
  • 20:27 do, that is extremely important and if we learn that like
  • 20:31 Joshua, we will be more than a conqueror.
  • 20:39 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Was a windy day in Israel,
  • 20:42 I had an opportunity to sit down and talk to Chaim Malespin.
  • 20:45 We discussed integrity and how it plays out in the Israeli
  • 20:49 Defense Forces.
  • 20:52 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Chaim, I wanna speak to you
  • 20:54 about those from Gibeon.
  • 20:55 They deceived Joshua and the Israelis, didn't they?
  • 20:58 Chaim Malespin: They did.
  • 21:00 They tricked him with those tattered clothes.
  • 21:01 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: They surely did.
  • 21:03 And you know, even after they learned they were tricked,
  • 21:06 the Israelis kept the commitment they made to them,
  • 21:11 a commitment that was made through treachery, yes?
  • 21:14 Chaim: Yes, but a commitment's a commitment,
  • 21:15 and our word is our bond.
  • 21:17 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: And with that,
  • 21:19 I wanna talk to you, not just about strength, and certainly
  • 21:23 the Israeli Army is known about that.
  • 21:25 I wanna talk about strength of character,
  • 21:28 that is to say, speaking and keeping what it is you say.
  • 21:32 Can you talk to us about that
  • 21:34 and how that works in the Israeli Army?
  • 21:36 Chaim: So, I see that the strength of character
  • 21:38 is this loyalty.
  • 21:40 We talked about tenacity for the mission,
  • 21:44 but this loyalty to our friends and to our land and to God,
  • 21:48 essentially, is something that perseveres and drives through.
  • 21:51 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: To that, I think there needs to be
  • 21:53 congruity between what we say and what we do.
  • 21:57 And in the military, there's the term
  • 21:59 "band of brothers."
  • 22:00 That's bantered around beyond the Israeli Defense Forces.
  • 22:03 But there's a commitment to defend,
  • 22:05 to protect, to work together, till death do we part.
  • 22:08 And it really has to be us keeping our word, yes?
  • 22:11 Last word's yours.
  • 22:12 Chaim: Entebbe, '76.
  • 22:14 Think how crazy and scary it was for our own prime minister's
  • 22:16 brother, Yoni, to have died there,
  • 22:19 to rescue those hostages, but they did it,
  • 22:21 and we must continue to do our part in God's unfolding of his
  • 22:24 prophetic plan for today.
  • 22:27 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Thank you.
  • 22:30 Caleb: Jeff and Chaim were absolutely right
  • 22:31 about deception.
  • 22:33 It is no fun and though the Gibeonites started their
  • 22:36 relationship with the Israelites on bad terms,
  • 22:39 God ends up honoring their covenant for all time.
  • 22:42 And you see later on, during the history of the Israelites when
  • 22:46 they were falling into the sin, the Gibeonites stayed true to
  • 22:49 the Lord.
  • 22:50 Saul tried to even break that covenant,
  • 22:52 King Saul, and wipe out the Gibeonites.
  • 22:54 But then God placed a curse on him saying,
  • 22:55 "No, you can't do that.
  • 22:57 I'm gonna keep the word that Joshua
  • 22:58 spoke all those years ago."
  • 22:59 It's absolutely amazing.
  • 23:01 Kirsten: Gibeonites stayed true to their word and God
  • 23:04 stayed true to his word that he would go with them and before
  • 23:09 them, and I know Dr. Seif has taught,
  • 23:12 Chaim has taught, for some reason I am stuck in my head
  • 23:16 of what you guys talked about with the planet stopping
  • 23:21 for 24 hours.
  • 23:22 I mean, I've looked up a little bit of it and--
  • 23:26 in the past, 'cause it fascinates me, that throughout
  • 23:29 the world don't people put that it's in the record books?
  • 23:31 Joshua: Well, once again, a lot of people will look at
  • 23:34 miracles that have happened in the Bible and say that "this is
  • 23:36 blown out of proportion.
  • 23:38 It's folklore."
  • 23:39 But Caleb has studied this a lot and there's actual proof that's
  • 23:42 written down and other civilizations of this time
  • 23:44 period stated it.
  • 23:46 Caleb: The Orient, in China, the Emperor was saying,
  • 23:47 "There was that day when the sun stood still that lasted
  • 23:50 a whole extra 24 hours."
  • 23:52 Throughout history, you see those accounts.
  • 23:55 History verifies the Bible.
  • 23:58 The Bible should be enough for us but,
  • 24:00 time and time again, archeology and all this stuff ends up
  • 24:03 proving what we already know to be true as believers in Messiah.
  • 24:06 Kirsten: And that he will guard and protect
  • 24:09 and do miraculous.
  • 24:11 And the voice of the miraculous will go around the world and
  • 24:14 everyone will notice.
  • 24:15 They might not know what happened,
  • 24:17 that was for Joshua, but it's documented.
  • 24:19 I love that.
  • 24:20 Joshua: Well, and as cool as it is,
  • 24:21 the entire point of what he did wasn't to make the sun and the
  • 24:25 moon stand still.
  • 24:26 It was to give them an opportunity.
  • 24:28 Everything that God does is for our better,
  • 24:30 to save us.
  • 24:31 He was trying to save us to bring about change,
  • 24:34 and that whole situation with the Gibeonites when they had
  • 24:37 fought this war and everything like that,
  • 24:39 everything he did was for that purpose.
  • 24:41 Caleb: And when they captured these five Amorite kings,
  • 24:43 a very important lesson, they pulled them out of a cave.
  • 24:45 They were hiding in the cave.
  • 24:47 And Joshua commanded that they be stuck on the ground,
  • 24:50 lay face first, and all the commanders of the Israelites
  • 24:53 put their feet on the necks of these five Amorite kings.
  • 24:56 And you may think that's sadistic,
  • 24:58 but that was God trying to give them that mentality that the
  • 25:01 enemy is under their feet.
  • 25:03 Satan is under our feet, and we should walk like more than
  • 25:07 conquerors, act like that every day,
  • 25:08 have that confidence in who our Messiah is.
  • 25:12 Kirsten: That's good, that's good.
  • 25:14 David: Yeah, word that's been coming to my mind in this
  • 25:15 program today is a lot of mistakes happened back then.
  • 25:19 We make mistakes in our lifetime,
  • 25:21 but God seems to turn it around for good.
  • 25:23 Joshua: He always does.
  • 25:25 That's the investment of the Father.
  • 25:26 And that's again, we forget that God is our Father.
  • 25:28 He's not just a person with a list of rules,
  • 25:31 he is committed for you to grow to your full potential and
  • 25:34 that's why he continued to do this throughout history
  • 25:35 for mankind.
  • 25:37 Even when he made a mistake, he was there to say,
  • 25:38 "Okay, let's pick up that mistake and get better."
  • 25:41 Kirsten: And we want this program to grow
  • 25:43 to its full potential.
  • 25:45 We have so many more stories to tell.
  • 25:49 We have so many more series to film.
  • 25:51 We need to go to Israel.
  • 25:53 The Bible Bea--you guys, it's the Bearded Bible Brothers.
  • 25:58 You guys have new insight to bring to us that will be
  • 26:02 happening in the land of Israel.
  • 26:05 This takes a lot of money. It just does.
  • 26:09 And so, for our voice and your voice and your voice to continue
  • 26:13 on, we need your above-and-beyond help and we
  • 26:18 know that you're faithful and you will make sure that this
  • 26:22 voice goes on for generations.
  • 26:24 David: And I hate to change the subject here 'cause it's
  • 26:26 been so good today, but we're excited about our fall tour
  • 26:29 coming up.
  • 26:30 We have friends who are returning,
  • 26:32 actually, a whole church group of about 30 people are returning
  • 26:36 to our fall tour.
  • 26:38 We had such an amazing time with these folks.
  • 26:40 They even--we even went to see them at the pastor's home
  • 26:44 in Sacramento a couple of years ago.
  • 26:47 Please join us on a tour to Israel.
  • 26:49 It will change your life.
  • 26:51 If you feel like there's no way that you can go,
  • 26:54 I ask you to pray about it and see that the Lord can maybe do a
  • 26:58 miracle in your life to have you join us on a tour to Israel.
  • 27:02 We go both in the fall and the spring.
  • 27:04 All the information is right here.
  • 27:06 Kirsten: Okay, more next week, right?
  • 27:07 Here we go.
  • 27:09 Joshua: Yeah, more next week, and as we say
  • 27:10 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 27:12 Kirsten: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
  • 27:17 David: Join us right now for additional content that is only
  • 27:20 available on our social media sites.
  • 27:23 Visit our website, levitt.com, for the current and past
  • 27:26 programs, the television schedule,
  • 27:29 tour information, and our free monthly newsletter which is full
  • 27:33 of insightful articles and news commentary.
  • 27:36 View it online or we can ship it directly
  • 27:38 to your mailbox every month.
  • 27:40 Also on our website is the online store.
  • 27:43 There, you can order this week's resource or you can always give
  • 27:47 us a call at 1-800-WONDERS.
  • 27:49 Your donations to Zola Levitt Ministries helps us to support
  • 27:53 these organizations as they bless Israel.
  • 27:56 Please remember we depend on tax-deductible donations
  • 27:59 from viewers like you.
  • 28:04 ♪♪♪
  • 28:09 ♪♪♪
  • 28:19 ♪♪♪

Episodes in this series

  1. At Sinai
  2. The Spy
  3. At the Jordan
  4. At Jericho
  5. At Ai
  6. The Gibeonites
  7. At Shiloh
  8. At the End

Guest organizations and links