Joshua
9:1-15 KJV And it came to pass, when all the kings which were
on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the
coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the
Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,
heard thereof; (2) That they gathered themselves
together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one
accord. (3) And when the inhabitants of Gibeon
heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,
(4) They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had
been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine
bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; (5) And old
shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all
the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. (6)
And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and
to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make
ye a league with us. (7) And the men of Israel said
unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make
a league with you? (8) And they said unto Joshua,
We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from
whence come ye? (9) And they said unto him, From a
very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD
thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in
Egypt, (10) And all that he did to the two kings of
the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to
Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth. (11)
Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to
us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet
them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a
league with us. (12) This our bread we took hot for
our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto
you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is moldy:
(13) And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new;
and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are
become old by reason of the very long journey. (14)
And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth
of the LORD. (15) And Joshua made peace with them,
and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the
congregation sware unto them.
The HIVITE people were divided into lesser groups.
GIBEON was a major city with three lesser cities belonging to it:
Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim
Joshua 10:2
KJV That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great
city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai,
and all the men thereof were mighty.
Though many people are listed in verse 1 like the Hittite,
and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the
Jebusite, the HIVITE people were the major of the peoples and
Gibeonites were categorized as HIVITE people in verse 7 where Joshua is
said to speak to the Hivites, though he did not know they were Hivites
at the time.
HIVITE is derived from Hhivia, a serpent: the root of which
is Eph or Ev--one of the variations of the original Aub. EPHITES or
EVITES, being aspirated, would become HEVITES or HIVITES.
- As Eve was
beguiled by the serpent these Hivites fooled Israel.
The men of Gibeon knew Israel would defeat them as they did Jericho and
Ai.
- So they went
to Joshua with moldy bread and old wine bottles that were torn and sort
of taped together or bound up with cloths and pretended they journeyed
from far away.
- Those far away
were outside the Canaan land and would not be destroyed by Israel.
- But Israel was
going into the promised land that Abraham was given and actually lived.
These men were actually from the VERY NEXT CITY that Israel was going
to conquer and defeat.
Joshua 9:17
KJV And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their
cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah,
and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim.
Israel was fooled by these people and made a league of peace with them
and swore they would live.
- And when
Israel came to their cities, they finally realized these people were
from there, and had fooled Israel to survive, Israel could not break
their vow and destroy them.
- They obtained
an alliance with Israel.
Enemies that were supposed to be destroyed were able to survive.
Giants were said to be in the land.
Look at what they did to fool the Israelites.
Josh 9:
(4) They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had
been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine
bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; (5) And old
shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all
the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.
Two very significant things here were the MOULDY DRY BREAD AND BROKEN
BOTTLES OF WINE.
Bread and wine are very significant things that the NT places as
emblems of the WORK OF THE CROSS.
Matthew
26:26-28 KJV And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and
blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take,
eat; this is my body. (27) And he took the cup, and
gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
(28) For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed
for many for the remission of sins.
John 6:53-56
KJV Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye
have no life in you. (54) Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at
the last day. (55) For my flesh is meat indeed, and
my blood is drink indeed. (56) He that eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
True BREAD AND WINE is the BODY AND BLOOD of Jesus.
When we are told to eat the bread and drink the wine, this is
indicative of RECEIVING and BELIEVING the TRUTH OF THE CROSS.
- So MOULDY DRY
BREAD and BROKEN WINE BOTTLES speak of a FALSE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS.
- Imagine eating
moldy bread.
- It would make
you sick.
- Not give life.
- It is a form
of DEATH.
The bible speaks of broken wineskins.
Putting new wine in old wine bottles represents taking the OLD
TRADITIONS OF PHARISEES and trying to PUT NEW WINE OF GOD'S LIFE into
it cannot work and is actually destructive.
So these men had OLD WINE BOTTLES that could not work with THE WINE OF
CHRIST'S BLOOD.
False bread and false wine.
A false message of the cross.
This is so significant when we think of CANAAN as KINGDOM LIVING and
how God originally created Adam and Eve to rule the world in His
KINGDOM from the Garden.
- The devil was
in the earth and God desired Adam and Eve to get filled with FRUIT OF
LIFE and be empowered by LIFE to overcome and drive the devil out of
the earth.
- BUT INSTEAD OF
BEING DESTROYED, THE DEVIL SOUGHT TO SURVIVE.
- JUST LIKE THE
HIVITES in Joshua's day.