375: Steve McGeorge - Exhortation: The Gibeonites (2 Sam. 21)

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:03

   Welcome to Good Christophian Talks. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this. Week’s talk.

2. 0:33

   Hello and welcome back. This is Brother Chris For this week. We’re listening to an excitation that was given in August of 2025 at the Tea Tree Gully Ecclesia by Brother Steve Mcgeorge. And the title of his excitation is The Gibeonites. Now this excitation is one of the Bible classes or studies that I personally really enjoy as it explores the story of the Gibeonites and then follows the journey of those people throughout Scripture.

3. 1:00

   Now we may know the initial story of the Gibbeonites, how they were deceptive to the children of Israel and convince them to make a vow. But what happens next to the story is what kind of gets interesting and brother Steve does a great job at looking at that. God uses what starts as human deception combined with mistakes by the children of Israel in turns it into the Gibbeonites being the Nethanim and being this group of people who were key and continuing to serve and preserve the children of Israel in their time in Babylon until they return with Ezra and Nehemiah to establish Jerusalem and start to try to rebuild the Temple. Brother Steve does a fantastic job following the thread of the story of the Gibbonites from their first introduction and all the way to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, and I found it to be really interesting.

4. 1:47

   So I hope that you are encouraged and excited as you look at the story of the Gibbonites and the lessons that you can find from these people. So I will turn it over now to our brother Steve Mcgeorge for his exhortation entitled The Gibby Nights. Our readings today in Second Samuel 21 is a most intriguing chapter.

5. 2:09

   It contains some some unique and on the surface, what seems to be very strange features indeed. But this chapter, brothers and sisters, is going to bring us to these emblems on the table this morning because everything in the first half of this chapter up to verse 14 is leading us to what God has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we are the Gibeonites in this story, or should I say, we need to make the Gibeonite story our story too. Because this story, brothers and sisters, has everything to do with atonement from sin.

6. 2:49

   Sin, our greatest enemy, our most formidable foe, but not because we have the power to deliver ourselves in any way. We’re we’re just humble servants, simple workers like these Gibbon eyes, hewers of wood and drawers of water. No power or authority to do anything, but completely reliant on our Master, our King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

7. 3:12

   The greater than David in this story, who we know performed the work of atonement for us, hence we’re here this morning to remember that. So it’s very relevant to what we’re here this morning to do. So first one, we’re told that there was a famine in the land and it had been there for three years in a row. And maybe the first year you might think, well, OK, but then the second year you start to question it. By the third year, something’s going on and David makes enquiries and he finds out that it’s because of something Saul had done to the Gibeonites, a group of people called the Gibeonites.

8. 3:54

   Well, who are the Gibbeonites? Well, verse 2 gives a hint. You’ll see in verse 2. Now the Gibeonites just partway in were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn unto them. So they were not Israelites. They were not from the people of Israel. They were Amorite.

9. 4:15

   So that’s the collective name of of the Canaanites. They were the ones who were in the land before they came in to drive out the Canaanites. But they had at some point with Israel, made a covenant many years ago, and the covenant was binding and it still stood. But here Saul breaks this covenant. So I think it’s important for us to go and find out what we know about this covenant because Saul’s breaking it here in this chapter.

10. 4:48

    And he breaks it says in his zeal at the end of verse 2 to the children of he thought he was doing something good. Actually, this misguided zeal. He thought he was doing something to please the children of Israel and Judah. And he had a complete misunderstanding of what covenants were all about. So what is this covenant and who are these Gibeonites? Well, we find this covenant, brothers and sisters recorded back in Joshua Chapter 9.

11. 5:14

    So let’s go back there and just investigate a few things in in Joshua Chapter 9, because I want to show you how that what occurred here is a is a remarkable story about the Gibeonites, but it’s so relevant to our story in second of Samuel because we’re going to see a major change take place, a change that is 180° turn around. So Joshua Chapter 9, the early stages of the conquest of the land.

12. 5:49

    They’ve taken Jericho and they’ve they’ve taken AI and of course things aren’t looking good for for the Canaanites. It says in Chapter 9 and verse one. And it came to pass when all the kings which were on this side, Jordan in the hills, in the valleys on the coast by the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

13. 6:16

    So notice there’s six mentioned there that collectively go up to make all of the Amorites. The iniquity of the Amorites was now full. Abraham was told when the iniquity of the Amorites were full, that would be the time to drive them out. And here they are. They’re all mentioned here, although one group is missing.

14. 6:39

    Chapter 3, verse 10 mentions 7 of them. The Girgashites are missing. Maybe that’s the area of of Jericho and AI. We don’t know. But now there’s down to six and they have a conference. A conference was called because because they’d heard in verse 3 and when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to AI, they did work widely.

15. 7:08

    So the the men of Gibeon, but all of them had heard of what had been done at the end of verse one, they, the Six Nations, they heard thereof what had been done. And so a conference was called and they gathered themselves together in verse 2 to fight with Joshua and with Israel with 1 accord. And it’s pretty risky because remember, Jericho had been straightly shut up.

16. 7:33

    No one was going out or coming in. They dare not move around too much because they were scared. And yet desperate times call for desperate measures. And so they had this conference and they come to an agreement. They came with 1 accord, you’ll see in the margin one mouth. So there’s this verbal agreement amongst them.

17. 7:53

    A pact, so to speak was made. But notice in verse three, there was one group who weren’t quite as confident as as the others, and they called the inhabitants of Gibeon. When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done onto Jericho and AI, they did work wildly and went and made as if they had been ambassadors. So if you were to map out where Gibeon is in relation to Jericho and AI, you’ll see that they are next in line. And so they weren’t quite as confident as all the others who’d come to this this conference. And so they make their own plans and they decide that they need to do something different to the pack that was made back in verse 2.

18. 8:48

    Now notice down in verse 7 that they’re also called the Hivites. They’ve got two names. They’re called the Gibeonites in verse 3 and down in verse 7. And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites in verse 7, I just want you to tuck that away. Just remember that the Hivites, OK, they’ve got two names, Gibbonites and and Hivites. It says in verse 4, they did work wily. This word wily means trickery and strategy. So, so they’re pretty crafty.

19. 9:23

    They were making up a plan, and they decided that that was their best option because force didn’t seem to be working, so they had to use something else. And they’d seen Joshua use a bit of strategy to try and take the men of AI. Remember the ambush? They drew them out, and then other men of Joshua went behind the city and set it on fire.

20. 9:48

    So there’s a bit of strategy there. So maybe that’s the method that we can use. And they decided to meet cunning with cunning. Who’s someone else that was crafty and wily? I think you’ve got an echo there of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. It was more subtle than any other creature in the garden. And the word subtle means crafty. It’s not exactly the same word, but it’s the same idea. And I think it’s important, brothers and sisters, to understand that in this story, in Joshua 9, the Gibeanites are actually a representation of sin. They are the serpent in this story. They’re the ones that are going to use the strategy and try and scheme and try and win over Joshua and, and the elders of, of Israel.

21. 10:36

    It becomes a story about how sin deceives and can catch us out. And that’s what’s going to happen to Joshua here in this story. And, and the men of Israel, they’re going to be caught out by sin.

22. 10:50

    Sin is exceedingly deceptive, brothers and sisters, it tries to create stories to get into your life at every possible moment because it’s desperate to survive. And the Gibeonites here are clearly desperate to survive. And so they come and concoct this story. And, and you’ll see in verse four that they, we get mentioned there of the things that they carried.

23. 11:15

    They took old sacks upon their asses, wine bottles old and rent and bound up. And then in verse 5, the things that they wore, all their clothes, their shoes clouted upon their feet, clouted. The word means patched. They had all these clothing to make it look like it was old and patched and clouted and old garments upon them, and all their bread of their provisions was dry and mouldy.

24. 11:40

    So they went to Joshua in verse 6 unto the camp at Gilgo, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We become from a far country now, therefore make year lead with us. So these Gibbonites had done their homework, hadn’t they? They’re done and researched out. And however, they knew, they knew Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 10 to 18, They understood principles that got it outlined through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. And they were well prepared because in January 20, we won’t turn there for the sake of time.

25. 12:13

    This morning, brothers and sisters, it was clearly instructed to the men and children of Israel that the nations within Canaan were to be utterly wiped out. But any nation that was afar off who came and wanted to make a league, and they were peaceable, they could make a league, they could make a covenant. Well, of course, these Gibeonites were as close as could be.

26. 12:40

    They were the next ones in in in tow. And so they had to try and make a speech. They had to make a story that that demonstrated that they were actually nowhere near this place. They were as far away as can be. But they had just heard about this wonderful God and the people of Israel, that they wanted to come and make a league, make a covenant, that that was their only hope of salvation, their only hope of being saved. Make ye a league with us.

27. 13:11

    Now in verse 7, the men of Israel show a bit of suspicion at first, don’t they? They sort of say, hang on a minute, maybe you do dwell among us. Peradventure you do dwell among us. How shall we make a league with you? Maybe you are close by. How do we know? Like we can see all your stuff, but how do we actually know?

28. 13:30

    Well, in verse eight, look at the strategy. It builds, doesn’t it? The story builds. They said unto Joshua, we are thy servants. Now this was a faint sense of humility, wasn’t it? And and they used it as a tactic. You know, we’re we’re so used to people putting us down and telling us off. All right, that when someone come and says, oh, you know what, you’re pretty good.

29. 13:58

    We’re the servants in this story. You’re the ones that are good, that that we get caught off guard. We, it disarms us. It’s a very nice feeling. And so that’s what they’re doing here. They’re disarming the men of Israel with this feigned humility. Joshua’s not totally convinced. Have a look at verse 8.

30. 14:17

    Joshua said unto them, Who are you and where do you come from? He pushes a little bit more. All right, well in verse 9 to verse 13, brothers and sisters. Now the Gibeonites go into all the small details. They’re so well prepared. They give explanations for every part of their story. They repeat that they’re from a distant country.

31. 14:37

    They repeat that they are servants. They explain their motive for travelling so far. They talk about the name of Yahweh, their God and his fame. They talk about the fame of God. That was that goes all the way back to the time when they left Egypt in verse 9. We have heard of the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt, but we’ve also heard more recently of what he did to the 2 kings of the Amorite in verse 10.

32. 15:03

    Cyhon and Ogg notice they don’t mention what Joshua had done to Jericho and AI either that that would be a little bit handing your putting your cards on the table too much. They leave that bit out. And so verse 11, they say, wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, take vittles with you for the journey.

33. 15:23

    Go meet them and say we are your servants, therefore make a league with us. And so we took this new bread out of the oven in verse 12, so hot, but now it’s dry and moldy because the journey was so far. We took these bottles of wine which were new. Behold, they be rent.

34. 15:38

    Verse 13 And these are our garments, our shoes, by reason of the very long journey. And of course the children of Israel had gone all through the wilderness for 40 years and their clothes had never rented or needed patches and they had food on that journey all the way. So they would have known that it was a credible thing.

35. 15:57

    God had provided for them in a remarkable way. But if you didn’t have God on your side, then things would get pretty mouldy even after a few days, let alone the length of this journey, the very long journey. It says at the end of verse 13. So you’ll notice that verse 6 they say we’ve come from a far country, verse 9 from a very far country, Verse 13, it’s a very long journey.

36. 16:21

    So they put this story together and they explain everything. This is Sin, brothers and sisters scheming, isn’t it? Sin tries, brothers and sisters, to find a way into your life at every moment because it’s desperate to survive. So never, never give up on endeavouring to uncover Sin’s schemes. That’s what Joshua didn’t do.

37. 16:54

    In this story, Sin builds the most elaborate reasons to enter your life. He wants to disarm you, so you need to be extra vigilant. It’s extremely desperate to survive and it’s ultimate aim is to make a covenant with you, to be at peace with you, a covenant of peace. Because then the fight’s over. Sin has survived, sin has won.

38. 17:21

    Well, verse 14, it says, and the men, and that’s the men of Israel, the elders of Israel took of their vittles, took the Gibeonite’s vittles, all that food and drink and ask not counsel at the mouth of Yahweh. Now you’ll see in the margin for the phrase and the men took of their vittles, they received the men by reason of their vittles. In other words, they said there’s the evidence. That’s enough.

39. 17:51

    We’ve seen enough evidence the multi bread and the and the rent wine and the patch clothing that that’s the evidence we need. And and they sat down and had a fellowship meal with them on the basis of what they’d seen. And Joshua verse 15 made peace with them and made a lead with them and let them live.

40. 18:15

    And the congregate, the Prince of the congregate, swear unto them four times in that verse. Sins One, they’ve made this covenant. It’s incredible, brothers and sisters, what sin was able to do in this story. And, and this is the Gibeonites being representative here of sin. Well, brothers and sisters,

41. 18:41

    that’s not how to overcome sin, is it? We know that that word took of their vittles. The idea there of, of, of vittles, the Hebrew word means that which is core, that which is haunted food provision. So Joshua and the men of Israel accepted them on the basis of what they had seen and heard these gibeonites tell them.

42. 19:15

    They accepted them on the basis of this fellowship meal. OK, it’s a bit mouldy, all right. And you know, if, if we’d had this bread prepared a few days ago and left on the table and we came, it would be a bit crusty, wouldn’t it? And the wine might have had some flies try and fly around it in that in that time.

43. 19:36

    But they, they accepted their food as a premise to make a covenant. And, and they might have thought, you know, when we were in the wilderness, the Moabites came, OK, and the Ammonites came and they never met us with bread or water. Not once did they bring us bread or water. And yet here they are bringing the best they could. And so they were won over.

44. 20:02

    They accept the Gibbonites on the basis of what they heard and and what they saw. Paul says, brothers and sisters, in First Corinthians chapter 10, which is quite pertinent for what we’re doing this morning, that you cannot fellowship the table of the Lord and the table of devils. You can’t do it. And yet here they are.

45. 20:23

    Joshua and the men of Israel are doing that. This word make a league in verse 15 is actually the Greek, the Hebrew word beareth. It is the word for covenant. It’s the word to cut a covenant, a binding covenant that’s made it cannot be revoked. It cannot be destroyed. And so sins one brothers and sisters.

46. 20:54

    And it says in verse 16. And it came to pass at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors. They March up three days later and they come face to face with all those ambassadors that they’d just spoken to, with these smug smiles on their faces.

47. 21:12

    Three days later it was revealed that deception was revealed and it was seen that sin had won. We don’t meet here this morning, brothers and sisters, on the basis of victory over sin like that, that that’s not a victory over sin at all. Sin won on that occasion. We meet this morning, brothers and sisters, to remember our Lord Jesus Christ who was never deceived by sin, never disarmed. He knew what was in man.

48. 21:45

    He will not judge. Isaiah 11 says after the sight of his eyes or the hearing of his ears. He’s very different to Joshua in this story and in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we’re remembering this morning, brothers and sisters, is that after three days with him, it was revealed that sin had lost.

49. 22:06

    It looked like sin had won. Christ was on the cross. He was buried in a tomb. But after three days it was quite evident that the resurrection took place and sin had actually lost. And we meet here this morning to meet him on the basis of his vittles, his bread and wine, not the Gideonite’s bread and wine. His bread and wine are non corrupting brothers and sisters. They don’t corrupt and fellowship with him is on the basis of a binding covenant, the Abrahamic covenant. It’s quite a different story what we’re remembering this morning, but our Lord Jesus Christ to what Joshua and the elders did back here in Joshua Chapter 9. In fact, here in Joshua Chapter 9, brothers and sisters, it’s really a repeat of Genesis 3.

50. 22:57

    We’ve already hinted at that with the idea of the Gibeonites working wily, didn’t we? But in Genesis 3, the serpent clearly told lies. Eve was beguiled, and the serpent was cursed. Well, we’ve just seen how the Gibeonites told lies. The Israelites were beguiled. And now if you come across to verse 18 down to verse 20, we find that the Gibeonites are cursed and the children of Israel smote them not because the Princess of the congregation is sworn unto them by Yahweh, God of Israel.

51. 23:38

    And all the congregation murmured against the Princess. We can’t kill them. We made a binding covenant. We cannot touch them and the children of Israel were really upset by that and they sort of came to their elders. They were rankled by this and they said, well, isn’t this the case for extenuating circumstances?

52. 24:02

    I mean, it wasn’t a covenant made on the right premises in the 1st place. Surely it’s not a true covenant. Well, no, it was. It was made in Yahweh’s name.

53. 24:11

    Is, is this one of those occasions where where we can break the Constitution to keep the constitution, so to speak? And the children of Israel came to their Princess, but the Princess says no in verse 19. We can’t. We have sworn unto them by Yahweh, God of Israel. Now, therefore we may not touch them.

54. 24:29

    And you need to remember that we may not touch them because that’s exactly what Saul does in Second Samuel 21. But this is what we’ll do. We will let them live because of the oath which we swear, swear unto them. And verse 21, we’ll let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation. So they put a curse on them.

55. 24:52

    They’re going to become our servants. They’re going to get all our water and all our wood. Well, in verse 23, Joshua changes it slightly and, and, and here, brothers and sisters, there’s going to be a remarkable thing that happens because of this change. Now therefore ye are cursed. So there’s the curse on the Gibeonites, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondsman and from being hearers of wood and drawers of water for the House of my God. So here were the children of Israel thinking, oh, we’re going to have personal servants that are going to bring our water and bring our wood and come to our door and, you know, have it ready for us every morning.

56. 25:37

    And Joshua changes it. Yes, they’ll still do that, but they’re also going to be hills of wood and drawers of water for the House of my God. They’re going to come right up close to the Tabernacle. They’re going to rub shoulder to shoulder with the Levites. They’re going to be integrated into Tabernacle service. You know what happens, brothers and sisters, is that actually has a major effect on these Gibeonites because if you think about Genesis 3, it says we, we said the serpent told lies, Eve was beguiled, and so the serpent was cursed. But we also know that Adam and Eve ended up being cursed as well, don’t we?

57. 26:26

    Well, if that’s going to be a full reenactment here in Joshua Chapter 9, where the Gibeonites told lies, the Israelites were beguiled and the Gibeonites were cursed, The full enactment of Genesis 3 would have been that the whole of Israel would have end up being cursed as well because the Gibeonites would have rubbed off onto the Israelites.

58. 26:44

    And that was the reason in in January 20 why you were to kill all the inhabitants of the land in in case their lifestyle rubbed off unto you. And there was a very great threat of that happening. So what Joshua does is he brings them right up close to the teachers of the nation, to the Levites in order to try and see if the Levites lifestyle could rub off onto the Gibbeanites rather than the Gibbeanites lifestyle rub off onto the Levites.

59. 27:13

    And it worked, It was amazing, it worked. Now remember I told you to keep the word Hivites in your mind. I’ve just mentioned Levites and here are these Gibbeanites or Hivites. They’re working shoulder to shoulder right alongside each other. Do you know the first time where Levites and Hivites came together, brothers and sisters? It’s remarkable.

60. 27:36

    Come back to Genesis 34. We’re not going to spend any time in Genesis 34. I just want you to show you this. Genesis 34 is the first story in the Bible that has anything to do with Levi and anything to do with Hivites doing stuff. Obviously, Levi’s been mentioned before and the Hivites were mentioned.

61. 27:54

    Hivite was the son of Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah, and Levi was the son of Leah from Jacob. But here’s the first time they’re actually engaged in a story and they’re on opposite sides. They hate each other. You’ll see that verse one says. And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bear unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

62. 28:17

    And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, Prince of the country. So here’s the Hivites, and we know what happens in this story. Come over to verse 25. And it came to pass on the third day when they were saw that two of the sons of Jacob, particularly Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man a sword and came upon the city and slew all the males. So they didn’t have a very good start, did they? The Levites and the Hivites, they were on opposite sides. They hated each other.

63. 28:58

    Haymore and Shechem thought that they liked each other, but found out that Simeon and Levi had no plans of binding together and making a covenant. They put them to the sword. Well, now brothers and sisters, these Levites who’ve now changed Levi’s family change and they’re now the teachers of the nation and the Gibeonites, brothers and sisters come together and they rub shoulder to shoulder and the effect is amazing.

64. 29:27

    Come over to second Samuel now and 21 now. Now you can see why it was such a big thing, why God brought this famine. Because Saul has touched the Gibbonites, he’s killed the Gibbonites, and these Gibbonites were seen as as second class citizens.

65. 29:56

    And, and this, this famine is clearly a punishment from Yahweh because of what Saul is doing. He’s breaking the covenant. And, and such was the sin in the eyes of Yahweh that the entire nation is being held accountable. Everyone is under this curse, under this punishment. It was a national sin. And so according to Deuteronomy 11, he had shut up heaven, closed the windows of heaven.

66. 30:23

    Now, why did Saul think he could get away with this? Well, we don’t really know. Maybe he thought the covenant was so old it was no longer binding. You know, you know, Saul, Saul, the one who didn’t kill all the Amalekites God had commanded him to do that, suddenly doesn’t goes and kills the Gibeonites, which which always said you can’t do. So Saul was always getting it wrong. Saul never got it right, and this misguided zeal, may, you know, maybe he’s a little bit like Simeon and Levi here, this misguided zeal, maybe he’s trying to finish what Joshua had started.

67. 31:00

    He got so far through Joshua and thought, ah, I’ve got to get rid of the gibbonites in the same way that he tried to get rid of all the sorcerers and all the witches, etcetera, all those of the land, all the Canaanites. Maybe that’s what he was thinking. Remember he had all the priests killed at Nob and it seems that from then he moved the Tabernacle from Nob and he moved it to Gibeon where the Gibeonites are. So to make a pathway to clear the pathway to let the Tabernacle go there, maybe he cleared out the Gibeonites on that occasion.

68. 31:36

    He, he purged them to clear the way. He, he was sole of Gibeah. He, he was in that location. Maybe he just got rid of them because they were too close for his liking, we don’t know. But as I read by 1 commentator, he was a psychotic, paranoid, self-serving narcissist. Was so you could never. He was unpredictable, you didn’t know what he was thinking. It doesn’t matter the reason.

69. 32:06

    The fact is a covenant had been broken and that covenant had been sworn in Yahweh’s name. And for Yahweh the passage of time does not weaken a covenant. He’s a covenant keeper.

70. 32:21

    So So what happens? Well these Gibeonites are mentioned by Yahweh in verse one. It’s because of what Saul and his the, the idea of bloody house is actually blood guilt. OK, It’s it, it actually should be for the House of blood guilt, Saul and his house. There was a guilt because of the blood that was shed hanging on the House of Saul. And how do you remove that guilt? How do you remove that to make atonement? Well, well, that’s what’s going to come out in this story. And so Yahweh says it’s because Saul slew the Gibbyonites. And so the king gets the Gibbyonites in verse 2, and he says to them in verse 3, What shall I do for you and where? Where shall I make the atonement? Remove this guilt, that ye may bless the inheritance of Yahweh. Now, I want you to notice that the Gibeonites in verse 4 come up with a solution.

71. 33:28

    Remember, they’d done their homework back in Joshua and I. They knew all the insurance and outs of how to win over Joshua. They’d done their research, OK, and they presented this concocted story. Well, here, brothers and sisters, they’ve also done their research, but it’s in a completely different vein. They’ve done their research about how atonement works. And it’s quite remarkable, brothers and sisters, because in this story I’m going to suggest they no longer represent sin. In this story, the Gideonites represent those who understand the basis by which sin is atoned for. They understood and recognised what sin was. They understood atonement.

72. 34:18

    They are the ones who share in the victory over sin. In this story, they don’t represent sin. In this story, who represents sin in this? It’s Saul. King Saul is king sin in this story. If you were to go down to verse 5, we’ll go back to verse four in a moment. And they answered the king, the man that consumed us and that devised against us, that schemed against us to remove us, to destroy us. That man is the one that’s caused all this guilt. And that’s what sin does, doesn’t it? It seeks to consume us, brothers and sisters. It seeks to find out a way to destroy us. And Saul did exactly that with the Gibbonites. The Gibbonites by this stage of the story, brothers and sisters, are faithful men and women who work diligently in the Tabernacle service.

73. 35:19

    They’d rubbed up shoulder to shoulder of the Levites. They loved and worshipped Yahweh. They’d come to known him and they loved his representative in David, King David. And they understood all the principles of sacrifice, all the principles of atonement. They saw it every day. They saw the animals come up, the offerer would bring that animal.

74. 35:40

    And they saw how the Levites taught all the the the offers, the lessons behind each of those offerings. And they were listening to that every day. And it made its mark. And they were changed, men and women from the story of Joshua, Chapter 9. And so note what they asked for in verse four.

75. 36:02

    And the Gibbey Nights said unto David, we will have no silver nor gold of soul. It’s not about money, all right. In those days, you could pay off blood guiltiness through money. But it’s not about money. The principles of the atonement cannot be worked out using money. All right. You can’t bribe your way.

76. 36:24

    You can’t pay your penance in monetary terms. No, it’s not about money. We will have no money, nor of of salt, nor of his house. Neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. Now the margin, I think makes it easier to understand. I think this is how it should be. You’ll see against the the number six, it is not silver nor gold that we have to do with Seoul or his house. We don’t want his money.

77. 37:01

    Neither pertain it to us to kill. It’s, it’s not our authority or power to kill anyone over this, but that’s what is needed. A death is needed. We, we, we see that in verse verse 5 or, or verse 6-7, men be killed of the House of Seoul. So, so death’s involved. So it’s not saying it’s not for us to kill any man.

78. 37:22

    What it’s saying is that it’s not within our power to do that. We don’t have the authority. We’re just giving eyes. We’re just humble servants. We don’t have that authority in power. So David says, well, what will I do for you? You tell me what to do and I will do that. I have the authority, I have the power to do that. And the Gibeonites understood this. We don’t.

79. 37:49

    You do Now on the on the surface that that might seem that they’ve got this bloodthirsty revenge, but but clearly David isn’t of that ilk at all, is he, Brothers and sisters, we know that. Remember when men came to him and said, oh look, I killed Saul. What did David do to the man that took revenge on Saul?

80. 38:19

    Thrust him through or, or or the ones who killed Ishbosheth. We’ve killed Ishbosheth look favourably to us. No, you’ve, you’ve touched Yahweh’s anointed You’ve you’ve put your hand in in a, in a place it shouldn’t be. He killed those perpetrators. David would have no time for just bloodthirsty revenge. And he can see that the Gibeonites knew the law. Just come back to Numbers 35 brothers and sisters. So the points that they make in verse 4 come out of Numbers 35. They’ve done their homework.

81. 38:48

    They understand these principles. Back here in Numbers 35, we are told what happens when when someone is murdered, verse 16. And if he smites him with an instrument of iron so that he die, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. And Saul has murdered the Gibbonites. He’s broken a a covenant as well, and he’s murdered these Gibbonites. Well, how do you deal with that?

82. 39:22

    We’ll come down to verse 19. The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer when he meteth him. He shall slay him. But if he thrust him of hatred or hurled him by lying of weight, that he’d die, or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he’d die. He that smote him shall surely be put to death.

83. 39:43

    So you can’t do it for revenge, OK? For he, for personal revenge, for he is a murderer. The revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meteth him, but if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him anything without lying of weight, or with any stone, etcetera, etcetera, then there’s got to be a judgement made.

84. 40:03

    Come down to verse 31. There’s lots of conditions put here, but look at this one here. Moreover, you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death. And you shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land until the death of the priest.

85. 40:29

    So there was to be no satisfaction. In other words, no money taken, no monetary reward. You, you can’t do that. And that’s what the Gibeonites say. We, we don’t want any money involved in this. There’s no personal satisfaction in monetary terms. And in verse 33. So you shall not pollute the land wherein you wherein you are. For blood it defileth the land.

86. 40:52

    And the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that he shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. The land cannot be cleansed but by the blood of him that shed it. And who shed it? It was Saul and his sons. They were the ones that shed it. So they are the ones that must be put to death.

87. 41:18

    Now what do I say? Saul and his sons? Well, look at verse 6. Come back to Second Samuel 21. The Gibby Knights have done their homework. They tell Saul they understand. Numbers 35. This is how it has to happen. It’s not for us to do it. You have to do it. And so David says, what is it that I have to do? Verse 6, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, seven men of his son, so seven sons of Saul. Saul of course is already dead, so they can’t use Saul, but seven sons.

88. 41:53

    Saul did the killing. Well this is clearly telling us brothers and sisters that Saul’s sons were involved. Deuteronomy 24, which the Gibeonites would have known, it says in verse 16, the fathers shall not be put to death for the children’s sin, and the children would not be put to death for the fathers sin. So clearly these sons were involved. Saul had made them officers and judges in his, in his army and such like.

89. 42:20

    And, and clearly they were the executioners as well. And so these Gibeonites asked for seven of those sons. And you say 7. Well, that that seems quite a lot, 7, The number 7 comes up, brothers and sisters. The Gibeonites asked for seven. Why 7? Seven brothers and sisters, quite clearly is the covenant number, the number of the Abrahamic covenant, and that’s what’s being implored here. The Abrahamic covenant.

90. 42:55

    There’s an additional feature that tells us that it is the Abrahamic covenant. We’re not going to talk about Rispar in verse 10, but there’s something that she does that takes your mind straight back to Genesis 15 and the Abrahamic covenant. Notice what she does in verse 10. After these seven sons are killed, they’re hung. It says in verse 10, Rizpa, the daughter of Aya, took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the fields by night.

91. 43:32

    She kept the wild animals away. That’s exactly what Abraham does back in Genesis 15 when making that covenant. And seven times between Genesis 12 and 22, seven times God makes a covenant with Abraham. 7 is the covenant number. Atonement can only be ratified on the basis of the Abrahamic covenant. Brothers and sisters, you’ll also notice at the end of verse 9 that it says that it was done in the beginning of barley harvest.

92. 44:07

    That’s Passover time. That’s an appropriate time. Passover, you got the number seven, you got the keeping of the birds and the beasts away. You got Passover time and then you’ve got hanging, these men hanging, hanging. Whether it was on the cross or whether it was hanging off a piece of wood, we, we don’t particularly know, but they were hung, hanging on a piece of wood. 4 things telling you that this is the Abrahamic covenant. The Gibeonites understood the principles of atonement and these seven were were were taken and in verse 9 they were hanged before Yahweh right in front of Yahweh. It was done as a declaration of what has to happen to atone for sin.

93. 45:07

    And that’s what we’ve come to remember this morning, brothers and sisters. We’ve come to remember the one who on Golgotha was hung on a cross to ratify the Abrahamic covenant that was made to Abraham all those years ago. But God saw that as binding. It doesn’t change. Our first two hymns talk about God never changing.

94. 45:35

    Great is thy faithfulness, thou who never changes. God has a covenant, brothers and sisters, that we can be a part of. I think it’s the most incredible, wonderful story, this story of the Gibeonites and how they changed. It’s never too late to change, is it? I just want to finish, Brothers and Sisters, by just showing you where these Gibeonites end up, just just to show you that they stayed faithful for hundreds of years. You come across to Ezra chapter 8, but we’ll leave the story in Second Samuel 21.

95. 46:17

    I think we’ve got enough to know what the Gibby Nights were about in that story and how faithful they were and how they understood the principles of atonement and how they transformed from being sin schemers to being the ones who understood how to overcome sin. And so many years pass by brothers and sisters, and they go into captivity and they come back. They come back under the rubber ball, first of all, and then they’re going to come back under Ezra. But Ezra has a problem in Ezra chapter 8 because he gets in verse 15 of Ezra chapter 8 to a place called Ahava. And it says in verse 15 I gather them together to the river that runneth to a harbor and their abode wee intense 3 days. And I viewed the people and I found none of the sons of Levi. Remember those Levites, the teachers of the nation, the ones who were instrumental in making sure people understood what temple service was all about.

96. 47:17

    Here’s Ezra coming back to a temple that’s just been built. I need Levites. It won’t work unless I have Levites with me. We have to stop. We need some Levites. How does he find these Levites? Brothers and sisters? Who’s the man that he chooses to find out? Levites who would understand this principle more than anyone else.

97. 47:38

    We’ll have a look at verse 16. It says that I sent for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shamaya, for El Nathan. There’s seven men here, 7 very important men. OK, They’re men of understanding. At the end of verse 16, These seven men. And he sent them to one particular man. I need you to go and see this man, and ask him to find Levites. Who was this man?

98. 48:02

    Verse 17 And I sent them with commandment unto Ito the chief, at the palace, at the Place Casa fire. And I told them what they should say unto Ito. So this is this man Ito, and to his brethren the Nethanim. Now I haven’t mentioned it up until now, but the Gibeonites had two names. The Gibeonites were also called the Nethanim and back in Joshua Chapter 9, the word nethanim is used at the end of that chapter because the word nethanim means to give comes from Nathan Natan to give.

99. 48:41

    So nethanim is the given ones and they were given to the House of God. Do you know what? They stayed faithful all through Israel’s history, even in captivity. Go and speak to Ito the Gibeonite. He’ll know what to do. He’ll find you some Levites. Do you know brothers and sisters, Ito does find Gibeonites.

100. 49:04

     He does Levites. I should say he does. He finds 38. You’ll see at the end of verse 18, he finds 18 Levites from the family of Mali. And then in verse 19 he finds 20 more Levites from the family of of of Mararai from the family, the Levitical family of Mararai.

101. 49:30

     But you know that in addition to those 38 Levites, brothers and sisters, it says in verse 20 also of the Nethanim, the Gibeonites, whom David and the Princess had appointed for the service of the Levites. He also found 220 gibbonites Nethanim. That’s remarkable. The Gibeonites ended up being more faithful than the Levites, and more came back of the Nethanim than what came back of the Levites. Isn’t that just remarkable, brothers and sisters? How that story so so so so disastrous back in Genesis 34 has this wonderful turn around so that by the time of the end of the story we find these faithful nethanim going back to help in temple service.

102. 50:23

     But of course we now brothers and sisters, come to remember our Lord Jesus Christ. We’re told in Mark’s Gospel that the disciples were told to prepare an upper room. They were told that they would know where to go because they would find a man bearing a pitcher of water. That’s quite a remarkable thing. Normally the women did that.

103. 50:49

     So this man must have been one of these. Nathanim, you wouldn’t find men carrying a pitcher of water necessarily unless he was a descendant of these gibeonite. She was of wood and drawers of water, remember? But the important thing to note is that what did Christ do with that water? He drew it out and washed the disciples feet. The Lord Jesus Christ is acting as a Gideon. He’s acting as the nethanim.

104. 51:19

     He drew out that water and washed the disciples feet. And then just a few hours later he was going to carry a lump of wood. He was going to carry his cross, this large piece of wood, to put it in the ground to be hung on that, so that by his blood sacrifice, brothers and sisters, we all could share in the atonement for sin.

105. 51:45

     His offering can only affect us if we accept him, if we accept him as the one who can make atonement. The greater than David, we can’t do anything, can we? Brothers and sisters? Here’s the nephanim seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. And brothers and sisters, we can’t be Levites. Literally, we are not of the family of the Levites, but we can be spiritual Levites and follow in the footsteps of the Gibbon.

106. 52:13

     They were the spiritual Levites from the Gentiles, Brothers and sisters. And our greatest example, the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest nethanim, is the one that we should leave this place desiring to follow, because He’s the one that can help us overcome sin. Hello, this is brother Chris again. Before we finish, I wanted to clarify something that was mentioned near the end of brother Steve’s talk regarding Joshua Chapter 9 verse 27 that he mentioned when he was looking at Ezra.

107. 52:43

     But Steve had asked that we clarify in there. He mentions the idea that the word nothing him is mentioned in Joshua Chapter 9 verse 27, and you might have caught it if you were following along with the class. But if not, the idea behind it is the word in Joshua Chapter 9 verse 27 where it talks about he made them or gave them.

108. 53:02

     That’s the same Hebrew word as nethadim if you’re looking at the King James Version. So the key point in the idea behind the Nethadim still stands and becomes an interesting little idea that the casual phrase used to mention as the Gibeonites were being that they were given to the Levites instead turned into the name that they were actually given and what they were referred to as and was shaping their identity. So I just wanted to make that point. Brother Steve had asked when I asked his permission to share this class that we highlight that just because it was some feedback that he got when he gave this expectation live and it helped to clarify some things, what he was referring to when he talked about Joshua Chapter 9, verse 27. So with that, I’ll turn it back over to myself for our usual closing.

109. 53:59

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110. 54:28

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111. 54:44

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