Then
the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel
of the Lord. - Joshua 9:14
In preparation for
entering and living victoriously in the Promised Land God had instructed the
people to make no alliances with the
people of Canaan :
- Exodus 23:32-33 - 32 You shall make no covenant with
them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your
land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their
gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” (cf. also Num.
33:50-56; Deut. 7:1-5).
God was very clear
about not making alliances with the people of Canaan. The Canaanite people were to be displaced and removed from the
Land, not allied with. God had waited over 400 years for the people of
Canaan to repent of their sinful ways (compare Gen. 15:16). And great were
their immoral sinful ways. The depraved nature of these people is described in
Ronald K. Harrison’s Old Testament
Introduction where he notes:
The depraved nature of the pagan
deities Anat and Astarte is evident in all phases of the poetic cycles from
Ugarit. Both these mythical personages were styled “the great goddesses which
conceive but do not bear,” and the seduction of Anat by Baal was a popular
element of contemporary mythology. In one text Anat was depicted as a butcher,
slaying young and old alike in a frantic effort of destruction. Asherah, the
“creatress of the Gods,” was commonly represented to be a nude prostitute
called “Holiness,” as was also the case in Egyptian cult-worship.”63
There was a recognized homosexual guild (Cinaedus) in the Canaanite temples,
and ritual prostitution of both sexes was a commonplace occurrence.[1]
Another resource indicates the nature of pagan
worship in Canaan by stating:
The pagan
high place was usually located on a physical height, where one could feel
closer to the god. Its first essential was an altar, which might be a heap of
earth, unhewn stones, or a unit cut out of the solid rock. Second, there was a
stone pillar (Dt 12:3) or obelisk (matsebah)
representing the male deity and having phallic associations; third, a tree or
pole (asherah) representing the
female deity (a fertility goddess); and fourth, a laver for ceremonial
washings. A sanctuary with an image of the deity also required a building of
some sort to protect it (2 Kgs 17:29).
At these pagan high places sacrifices of animals
and sometimes of human beings took place, and religious prostitution or
homosexual acts were common. It is natural that such practices should develop
in a context of sympathetic magic, where promiscuity and breeding among human
beings was supposed to influence animals and crops.[2]
In Halley’s Bible Handbook[3] it
adds the following:
“In excavating at Gezer . . . ruins of a ‘High Place’ which had been a
temple in which they worshipped their god Baal and their goddess Ashtoreth (or
Astarte) . . . . an enclosure 150 by 120 feet, surrounded by a wall, open to
the sky, where the inhabitants held their religious festivals [was found].
Within the walls were 10 rude stone pillars, 5 to 11 feet high, before which
the sacrifices were offered.
Under the debris, in this “high Place” were found great numbers of jars
containing the remains of children who had been sacrificed to Baal. The whole
area proved to be a cemetery for the new-born babes.
Another horrible practice was what they called ‘foundation sacrifices.’
When a house was to be built a child would be sacrificed and its body built
into the wall to bring good luck to the rest of the family. Many of these were
found in Gezer. They have been found at Megiddo, Jericho and other places . . .
. Prophets of Baal and Ashteroth were official murderers of little children.”
When we look at
the prohibitions and warnings given by God in the Pentateuch it needs to be
understood that God was preparing His people for the atrocities they would find
in Canaan. For instance God’s prohibitions against sacrificing to demons (Lev.
17:7), drinking blood, divination or soothsaying (Lev. 17:10-12; 19:26),
incest, homosexuality, bestiality, and child sacrifice (Lev. 18), etc., were
all made in light of what Israel would find during the conquest of the Promised
Land. The Land of Canaan was filled with a sinful perverted people and it would
have to be purified before it would become truly Promised.
Righteousness and
justice are the foundation of God’s throne. Mercy and truth go before God
(Psalm 89:14). God had mercifully waited for more than 4 centuries for the
people of Canaan to repent of their perversions and turn to Him. Now that they
have failed to do so, they would be judged for their sin. And God’s instrument
of judgment would be His people.
Psalm 9 states:
Psalm 9:8
8 He shall judge the world in righteousness,
And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.
Psalm 9:16-20
16 The Lord is known by
the judgment He executes;
The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.
Meditation. Selah
17 The wicked shall be turned into hell,
And all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten;
The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.
19 Arise, O Lord,
Do not let man prevail;
Let the nations be judged in Your sight.
20 Put them in fear, O Lord,
That the nations may know themselves to be but
men. Selah
God was now going
to administer justice. He was going to purify the Land. This involved removing
the sinful pagans of the Land and establishing a holy nation Israel. And this
is why God prohibited making alliances with the people of Canaan. He knew that
if the pagan people of Canaan were allowed to coexist with Israel that Israel
would be tempted and brought under their influence. God’s instructions are
always made in light of His foreknowledge and love. He knows what is best and
what needs to be done.
There’s a lesson
to be learned for nations in the words of Psalm 9. Hell awaits nations that
forget God. And the nations need to know that they are “but men.” When we look
at our nation and see its practice of distancing itself from God, the
proliferation of immoral conduct and worldly unscriptural world views, we can
only hope and pray for repentance and revival. God has been merciful. But a
time will come where He will assert His justice as well.
For instance, in
April of 2013 the FCC announced intentions to drop its ban on the F-word and
nudity. [4]
We are moving further away from God. We see it in our elections, our
lifestyles, our everyday interactions. We are becoming more and more pagan. The
world and our nation are trending away from God. The world and our nation seem
to be making every effort to influence people in the same direction away from
God. Therefore the Christian needs to guard against the sinful influences of
this world. That has always been the case (cf. 1 John 2:15-17). The world is a
minefield of potential spiritual pitfalls. We have to stay close to God in
order to guard against sin and being sucked into the undertow of the world’s
sinful tide. But how, how do we stay
close to God so as to avoid enemy influences? How can we escape the perils in
the world?
In order to know
His will and plan His people must live in a spirit of constant prayerful
contact with God in Christ. As they proceed and make decisions they need to
connect with God in prayer in order to know His will and truth and follow His
plan. It is perilous to be prayerless.
And in Joshua 9 we will observe The Peril
of Prayerlessness.
Joshua 9
And it came to pass when all the kings who
were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in
all the coasts of the Great Sea toward Lebanon— the Hittite, the Amorite, the
Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—heard about it, 2
that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord.
You can count on those who reject God, His word
and His people to unite to oppose God and his people as they sense the threat
of holiness. Someone has said, “Every victory that the Christian wins in his
own personal life is an invitation for a full scale attack by the enemy of his
soul . . . . Our blessings and battles go side by side.” [5]
3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho
and Ai, 4 they worked craftily, and went and pretended to be
ambassadors.
The word “craftily” (×¢ָרְמָ×” ˓ormâh, or-maw’) means trickery,
wililey, craftiness, treachery, or with shrewdness. The phrase “pretended to be ambassadors” (tsâyar,
tsaw-yar’) means they
prepared to present themselves as something they were not. Their strategy
was to deceive.
Satan is the father of
lies (John 8:44). Those he employs will appear as angels of light in order to
deceive (cf. 2 Cor. 11:13-15). Allan Redpath gives great insight into the
strategy of Satan when he writes:
Now
let me remind you that the secret of winning a war lies in strategy. . . . Now, the trouble with so many of us
Christians is that we fail to apply divine strategy to daily living. . . Very
seldom does the Christian apply himself to daily disciplined action or to
planned war against the enemy. The result is that many of us are completely
outmaneuvered by Satan, who, if I may say so, is a master strategist. Remember,
Satan is not only a roaring lion, he is also a subtle snake, and the roar of
the lion is far less dangerous than the hiss of the snake. . . .
Satan
is not going to like this – it will expose all his subtle ways. All that is
absolutely typical of the devil! He knows full well that a Christian, a really
committed Christian, is not going to be trapped by an open frontal attack. . .
. So what does Satan do? He speaks to us concerning possible alliances that
appear to be very trifling compared to our devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. .
. . He challenges us on the necessity for entire, thorough consecration. He
speaks to us about the danger of ‘overdoing it.’ He warns us of the danger of
becoming ‘too narrow.’ He will say, ‘Be careful that you don’t get swept off
your feet.’ He will claim at least a portion of our time and our money and our
energy in order that, now and then at least, we can be lazy, and indulgent, or
compromise. He will do everything that he can in order that, somehow or other
he may deceive us and cause us to lose the fine edge of our Christian witness.
He is out to steal our affection, to lower our standard of Christian life, to
cause us to compromise once in a while. Are you aware of his tactics? . . . .
Is he seeking to suggest to you that there is at least some part of your life over
which the sovereignty of Christ is unnecessary? . . . .
Because
he has come to you in that disguise, he may easily have tripped you up. He has
suggested to you, of course, that it is common sense which is needed in the
business of the Church. He has said to you that you must be very practical in
the conduct of your affairs, especially regarding money. He has said to you
that faith is irrational, that common sense is the thing which must always be
practiced. [6]
And they took old sacks on
their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, 5 old and patched
sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of
their provision was dry and moldy. 6 And they went to Joshua,
to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come
from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.”
With their dress of deception they approached Joshua at Gilgal.
(Remember, Gilgal was the place of throwing
off the world.). And then they outright lied
to Joshua saying they were from a distant land when they were really
geographically neighbors to Joshua. They sought to enter into covenant with
Joshua. What would he do?
7 Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you dwell among us;
so how can we make a covenant with you?” 8 But they said to Joshua,
“We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you,
and where do you come from?”
God checked them in
their spirit to help them discern the deception. There was suspicion by
Joshua and his men against these visitors. That suspicion or reservation was
very likely from the Spirit (cf. 1
John 2:27). Discernment is a gift of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:10). God was
trying to get through to Joshua and His people. But they didn’t heed this
impulse from the Lord. They did not discern the deception.
9 So they said to him: “From a very far country your servants have come,
because of the name of the Lord
your God; for we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt, 10
and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the
Jordan—to Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. 11
Therefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us,
saying, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say
to them, “We are your servants; now therefore, make a covenant with us.”
’ 12 This bread of ours we took hot for our provision from
our houses on the day we departed to come to you. But now look, it is dry and
moldy. 13 And these wineskins which we filled were new, and
see, they are torn; and these our garments and our sandals have become old
because of the very long journey.”
The deception was
detailed. They presented Joshua with evidence in support of their deception: dry
and moldy bread, torn wineskins, worn garments and sandals. The devil is often
in the details. Enemy deception can appear very credible.
14 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask
counsel of the Lord.
The peril of prayerlessness. Rather than
seek the Lord’s confirmation or will Joshua and Israel simply accepted the word
of these Gibeonite deceivers. BIG mistake! Allan Redpath comments:
But let me point out
to you, also, the stupidity of the children of God. . . . ‘They asked not
counsel at the mouth of the LORD.’ It seems to take us a long time to learn the
lesson that neglect of prayer always leads to trouble, and destroys the spirit of
discernment. . . . What is the answer? How can we ever match Satan and his
subtle ways? Listen to me. Never, never, NEVER
trust your own judgment in anything. When common sense says that a course is
right, lift your heart to God, for the path of faith and the path of blessing
may be in a direction completely opposite to that which you call common sense.
When voices tell you that action is urgent, that something must be done
immediately, refer everything to the tribunal of heaven. Then if you are still
in doubt, dare to stand still. If you are called on to act and you have not
time to pray, don’t act. If you are called on to move in a certain direction
and cannot wait until you have peace with God about it, don’t move. Be strong
enough and brave enough to dare to stand and wait on God, for none of them that
wait on Him shall ever be ashamed. That is the only way to outmatch the devil. [7]
That
great missionary and prayer warrior John Bunyan once said, “Pray often, for prayer is a
shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, a scourge for Satan.” Without prayer we
are vulnerable to enemy deception and attacks. E.M Bounds said the prayerless
church was headed for defeat:
“Defeat awaits a non-praying church. Success is sure to follow a church
given to much prayer. The supernatural element in the church, without which it
must fail, comes only through prayer . . . . As often as God manifested His
power in Scriptural times in working wonders through prayer, He has not left
Himself without witness in modern times. Prayer brings the Holy Spirit upon men
today in answer to importunate, continued prayer just as it did before
Pentecost. The wonders of prayer have not ceased.” [8]
In the New Testament the apostle Paul goes into greater detail about
how to guard against the wiles or deception of the devil when it states:
- Ephesians 6:10-18- 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in
the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the
breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with
the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking
the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being
watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the
saints—
God gives us
spiritual armor to guard against the tricks or wiles of the devil. And we would
be wise to put on the armor God supplies each and every day. The Holy Spirit
helps us to discern truth from falsehood, deception and the wiles of the devil.
He does this through spiritual armor as well as through spiritual gifting such
as the spiritual gift of discernment (e.g. 1 Cor. 12:10).
What happens when
we fail to pray, or fail to put on our spiritual armor, or fail to seek the
Lord? It leads to being duped and deceived when that need not happen. Sons of
God are supposed to be led by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14). If you’re led by
the Spirit you won’t be duped or deceived; the Spirit will protect you.
Because Joshua and the people did not seek the Lord in prayer, they
were deceived. NOTE: There is no chance
of avoiding deception without prayerfully seeking the Lord. Because they
did not seek the Lord, they definitely would be deceived. Instead of seeking
the Lord, they relied on their own observation skills.
15 So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them
live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them.
As we saw in the introduction God clearly instructed not to make covenants with any of the people
in Canaan. Now you might think Joshua was not at fault due to the deception
used by the Gibeonites to secure a covenant with him. But because of his prayerlessness, HE IS CULPABLE FOR HAVING
DISREGARDED GOD’S DIRECT COMMAND. Whenever we disregard God’s word, for
whatever reason, no matter how credible and justified we think it to be, we set
ourselves up for disappointment, trouble, peril and pain.
What happened here? Joshua and Israel fell prey to deception. They were
drawn into an improper and entangling alliance that would be a ball and chain
around their spiritual necks for a long time to come.
16 And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant
with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near
them. 17 Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their
cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah,
Beeroth, and Kirjath Jearim. 18 But the children of Israel did not
attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the
congregation complained against the rulers.
The price of
prayerlessness. Because they didn’t seek the Lord in prayer they
were deceived. And the consequence of the covenant they had made resulted in
thorns in their flesh from this point on. In Joshua 10 we will see the web of
entanglement in conflict that presents itself because of the covenant with the
Gibeonites. The price of prayerlessness
is entanglement in the things of the world. It is a drag to be deterred with
entanglements with the things of the world.
It’s sad to see how Joshua and Israel were deceived. Why were they
deceived? What was at the root of their being duped? What causes us to be
duped? Looking at Joshua and Israel we see:
First, they were moldy
and spiritually dry like the bread of the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites were
showing them moldy bread and the Israelites accepted it. They weren’t nourished
on the bread of God’s word. Therefore, they were spiritually malnourished and
not up to strength spiritually to see the moldy offering of the Gibeonites.
Second, they were
spiritually hole-y like the torn wineskins of the Gibeonites. They let their
guard down. They drifted from the Lord, not a lot, but just enough to be swayed
by deception. This is what happens when we aren’t drinking the water of the
word to refresh us. The Gibeonites were showing them dried out wineskins and
the Israelites accepted it.
Third, their spiritual
armor was tattered and hole-y like the Gibeonites tattered clothes. Because they
hadn’t put on their spiritual armor, they
were inattentive to the seriousness of sin. Even though God had clearly and
repeatedly instructed and warned them not
to make a covenant with the Canaanites, they allowed themselves to slip
into an inattentive spiritual state that was conducive to be deceived.
Bible teacher Jon Courson applies the spiritually perilous condition in
the following way:
Three days after signing the
treaty, the men of Israel discovered that the men of Gibeon lived only a
stone’s throw away. Why was Israel deceived? For the same reason we are.
“Don’t be so uptight about this
sin or that compromise. Don’t worry about who we are,” the hellish ambassadors
whisper in our ears. “We’ll give you space. We’re no threat to you. We want to
be friends. Don’t worry about being grouchy. Don’t worry about losing your
temper. Don’t worry about seeing that movie. Just be at peace.” And whenever I
fail to partake of the wine of the blood of Christ and the bread of His broken
body, I am deceived by the empty wineskin and the moldy bread of the world.
When I don’t go to the Lord’s
Table—when the wineskin is empty and the bread moldy—I lose sight of the
reality of what sin does. But when I come and eat of the fresh bread of the
broken body and the shed blood of my Savior, I realize once again that sin
slaughters and destroys, that there’s no such thing as a small one, a friendly
one, an allowable one.
Concerning the sin we think is no
big deal, Jesus says, “Eat of My body and drink of My blood. This is what that
sin did to Me.” . . . . When I come to the Lord’s Table, I see through the
deception and treachery of the enemy. Unlike the wine of the world, the wine of
the Lord’s blood has a sobering effect.[9]
It is at the cross, at the Lord’s Table that we remember the
consequence and costliness of sin. It is at the cross and at the Lords Table
that our wineskins are kept new and fresh with God’s deeper truth and where we
are nourished with the spiritually fulfilling bread of God’s word.
But if we stray from the cross and neglect the Lord’s Table, if we miss
meals in His nourishing word, then we definitely will be deceived; we will fail
to see how serious sin is and will let our guard down and suffer the
consequences.
19 Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them
by the Lord God of Israel; now
therefore, we may not touch them. 20 This we will do to them: We
will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to
them.” 21 And the rulers said to them, “Let them live, but let them
be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had
promised them.”
Bound by a higher
standard. A pagan people probably would have simply have killed the Gibeonites.
But God’s people live by a higher standard. Even though the covenant that was
made was based on a deception, they were honor bound to keep it. Because of
their prayerlessness the honor that was a blessing was made a curse.
Even if you have entered into an improper alliance, you are honor bound
to follow through on it. The Christian is (or should be) a person of integrity
and principle. Yes, we are not to be bound together or unequally yoked with
unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14), but once a covenant commitment has been made (as
long as it does not cause you to commit a crime or sin) you are honor bound to
keep it. If a person in a homosexual marriage gets saved, they are not honor
bound to keep that “marriage” because to do so would be to perpetuate a sinful
lifestyle. But the Christian who finds themself married to an unbeliever is not to initiate a divorce or dissolution
of that marriage covenant (1 Cor. 7:12, 16). God can bring good from even
this by using the Gibeonite in your life to drive you to the Lord in prayer. [10]
22 Then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, “Why have you
deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you dwell near us?
23 Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be
freed from being slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my
God.” 24 So they answered Joshua and said, “Because your servants
were clearly told that the Lord
your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy
all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were very much
afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25
And now, here we are, in your hands; do with us as it seems good and right to
do to us.” 26 So he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand
of the children of Israel, so that they did not kill them. 27 And
that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation
and for the altar of the Lord, in
the place which He would choose, even to this day.
The motive in the Gibeonites for using deception was fear. As pawns of the enemy, fear was
their motivation. While we are to fear and reverence God in a healthy way, His
perfect love casts out fear (cf. 1 John 4:17-19). God draws us and relates to
us in His perfect love. The gospel is one of love; His love for us (John 3:16;
Rom. 5:8); and His love poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5;
2 Cor. 5:14ff.). When fear is the primary motivation, the enemy is likely
involved.
Fear along with guilt are the motivating factors in religious
systems. God wants us to relate to Him
in love not fear and guilt. He came to remove our condemnation (Rom. 8:1). He
came that we might relate to Him as a warm, caring and loving Heavenly Father
who has adopted us and made us co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:14-17). That’s an
incredible blessing of God’s grace.
Joshua’s and Israel’s careless prayerlessness would have an ongoing
detrimental consequence throughout their history. Whenever we disregard God’s
clear teaching, no matter what, we
will always end up in trouble.
Pastor Chuck Smith makes the following comments on Joshua 9:
Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. You know, there are
some things that just look so good that there’s no need to pray about them:
it’s obvious what is right - you can just ‘look for yourself:’ and, “See,
the bread is moldy, and it’s dry.”
“--No doubt these guys have come on a long journey: look at those old
torn, mended wineskins. Poor fellows! I wonder how far they have been
journeying.” And you look at the
evidence, and you think, “Well, I don’t need to pray about this. It’s quite obvious here: I can see; I have
eyes. And I can smell the old moldy
bread. I don’t need to ask God about this. You know, it’s very obvious.” And it’s unfortunate that we oftentimes
become involved in alliances without, first of all, praying about it, and
seeking the mind of God.
And these alliances, so often, turn out to be just as was this alliance
with the Gibeonites, a detriment to us for the rest of our lives. In the New Testament we are warned not to be unequally yoked together with an
unbeliever: God warns us against
ungodly alliances. You can hinder your
walk, you can cripple yourself by an ungodly alliance; plus bring a lot of
pain, and sorrow, and suffering.
I wish that sometimes we could just record some of the counseling
sessions: I wouldn’t think of it, but sometimes I wish that they could be
recorded so that when a young girl comes in starry eyed, and is in love with
this young man, and “she knows that their love is so great, --as soon as
[they’re] married, he will surely accept the Lord, and she is going to live happily
ever after.” I wish you could hear the
testimony of some of the young girls who were starry eyed at one time that
married these fellows that weren’t saved, and hear - now: the misery, and the
pain, and the suffering that they are experiencing as their husbands have not
the same set of moral values, as their husbands do not hold the marriage bond
sacred, as their husbands are out drinking and chasing other women. And they were sure that their love was great
enough that it would bring a conversion; and they became involved in an unequal
yoke with an unbeliever, much to their own chagrin, and sorrow, and pain, and
suffering.
If you don’t hear anything else tonight, hear this: God’s
Word is true. And the warnings of God
are faithful. And when God warns you
about these kind of alliances with unbelievers, you better listen to the Word
of God. [Emphasis added.]
--And I don’t care what the evidence may show contrary wise: “Oh, he’s
so sweet; he’s so kind; he’s so generous; he’s so attentive; he’s so loving;
he’s so this, he’s so that.” And you take a look at the victuals, the provisions, and you don’t inquire of the LORD: you really don’t seek the godly
counsel.
And, oh, how many, many have been destroyed by going against the clear
teaching of the Word of God. This
ungodly alliance was formed because they did not pray. Had they prayed, and sought the wisdom of
God, surely, God would have shown them. [11]
It’s always
perilous to be prayerless. It’s always folly to foolishly disregard God’s word.
[1]
Harrison, R. K. (1969).
Introduction to
the Old Testament (119). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company.
[2]
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001).
Tyndale
Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (604). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale
House Publishers.
[9]Courson,
Jon:
Jon Courson's Application Commentary: Volume One: Genesis-Job.
Nashville, TN : Thomas Nelson, 2005, S. 667
