Shalom,
Our teaching will be from Joshua 9.1-27.
AND THE TITLE OF OUR MESSAGE IS, YES, GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL.
And with that said, let’s read Joshua 9.1-27.
In summary, after The Children of Israel conquered, and possessed, and killed all the Canaanite people in Jericho, and in the city of Ai, all the kings of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites came together to fight Joshua and Israel.
But when the people, who were Hivites, who lived in Gibeon, a city in the land of Canaan about 5 1/2 miles northwest of Jerusalem, heard what Joshua and The Israeli army did to Jericho and Ai, they did some trickery and made themselves to appear as Ambassadors.
It’s interesting to note that the word Trickery comes from The Hebrew Word Ahr’mah, that means Trickery with Wisdom.
And the Hivites from Gibeon sent men dressed as though they were traveling from a far country with old sacks upon their donkeys, and old wine bottles that were ripped and torn, and old clothing, and old spotted shoes, and food that was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua to the camp of Gilgal. Gilgal is by the Jordan River. It was not a long walk.
And the men from Gibeon said to Joshua and the men of Israel, We come from a far country. That’s a lie. Because they didn’t want to get killed. That makes sense. And the Gibeonites said to Joshua and the men of Israel, Make a covenant with us. And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you live among us, and how shall we make a covenant with you? And the Gibeonites said to Joshua, We will be your servants.
And Joshua said to them, Who are you? And where do you come from? And they said, From a very far country. Your servants have come because of The Name of The LORD Your GOD, for we have heard the fame of Him, and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites and Bashan. Therefore all our elders and people of our country spoke to us saying, Take food for your journey and go meet them, and say to them, We are your servants. Therefore make a covenant with us.
So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them without asking counsel from The LORD. And Joshua agreed to let them live among the Children of Israel. And the leaders of Israel swore an oath to The LORD that they could live in peace with Israel as servants.
So The Children of Israel continued their march through Canaan, and on the third day The Children of Israel came to the Gibeonite cities, and three other cities of the Gibeonites. Not a far county, but a people of Canaan. Still The Children of Israel did not kill them because the leaders of Israel had vowed an oath to The LORD GOD OF ISRAEL. And The Congregation complained against the Israeli leaders. But the leaders said to all The Congregation, We have vowed a vow to The LORD GOD of Israel. Now therefore we can not touch them. NUMBERS 30.1-2
These Jewish men knew The Word of GOD.
But this is what we will do with them, they said. We will let the Gibeonites live lest wrath come upon us because of the oath we swore to The LORD. And the leaders said to The Congregation, Let them live and let them be cutters of wood and drawers of water to all The Congregation as the leaders promised them.
So Joshua called for those Gibeonites, and asked them, Why have you tricked us telling us we are very far from you when you in fact are near by and live among us? Now therefore, Joshua said, you are cursed. None of you shall be freed from being servants cutting wood and drawing water for The House of my GOD.
Wow, I can think of a lot of things I would not want to do, but to help build The House of GOD, now that is a Blessing for the Gibeonites, not a curse.
And the Gibeonites answered Joshua, and said, We have certainly heard how The LORD Your GOD Commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land of Canaan and to kill all the people of Canaan. Therefore we are scared to death for our lives because of you. That is why we have done this thing. Now we are in your hand. As it seems good and right to you, that is what you should do to us. EXODUS 23.23-33
So Joshua saw to it that they were not killed by the Children of Israel, and Joshua made them cutters of wood, and drawers of water for The Congregation, and for The Altar of The LORD to this day, The Bible says, in The Place that Joshua will choose.
Joshua said that the Gibeonites were cursed. I’m not so sure they were cursed. Working at The House of GOD is certainly not a curse. JOSHUA 9.23
Let’s do a brief Biblical history on the Gibeonites who are Hivites while they lived in Israel and see if they were cursed or blessed.
The only people of Canaan that made peace with Israel were the Hivites, the people of Gibeon. JOSHUA 11.16-20
Before Solomon built the first Temple in Jerusalem, The Tabernacle of The Congregation of GOD was in Gibeon along with a high place where Canaanite strange gods were worshiped by many of The Children of Israel. Very sinful.
Originally, The Tabernacle in the wilderness was in Shiloh that was in the territory of the Tribe of Ephraim about 19 miles north of Jerusalem. Thus The Tabernacle was moved from Shiloh to Gibeon.
2 CHRONICLES 1.1-3, JOSHUA 18.1
One of the reasons GOD exiled His Jewish People to Assyria and Babylon in 722 B.C.E. and 586 B.C.E. was because many Jewish People worshiped the strange gods of Canaan. 2 KINGS 17.6-25, JUDGES 3.1-6
JUDGES 3.1-6 GOD tested The Children of Israel among the Canaanite peoples, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and Jebusites to know if they would obey The Commandments of The LORD. And they failed because verse 6 reads, And they, The Children of Israel, took their daughters, the daughters of the Canaanite peoples, to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served other gods.
Continuing the brief history of the Hivites while they lived among The Jewish People in Israel, King David had Hivite men of war from Gibeon at his side.
1 CHRONICLES 12.1-4
And David had great respect for The Gibeonites. 2 SAMUEL 21.1-9
The Gibeonites were among The People of Judah whom GOD sent into captivity in 586 B.C.E. to Babylon. And when the seventy years of captivity were complete, the Gibeonites returned with The Jewish People to Israel, and they worked at the second Temple. NEHEMIAH 7.5, 25, NEHEMIAH 3.6-7
So from what I read in The Scriptures, Gibeonites, not all, blended in well with The Jewish People, and therefore I believe that GOD Blessed those Gibeonites who did not lead Jewish People to serve their strange gods.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME OF GOD’S BLESSINGS THAT GENTILES CAN EXPECT WHEN THEY BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL.
WHEN GENTILES BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE, AND DO NOT TEACH THE LIE TO JEWISH PEOPLE THAT TORAH, THE LAW OF MOSES IS ABOLISHED OR OPTIONAL, AND DO NOT TEACH THE LIE THAT THERE IS A TRINITY OF THREE DIFFERENT GODS, GOD WILL BLESS YOU. SEE JUDGES 3.1-6
BECAUSE TEACHING JEWISH PEOPLE, OR FOR THAT MATTER, TEACHING ANY PEOPLE THAT THE LAW OF MOSES THAT IS THE SPOKEN WORD OF GOD IS ABOLISHED IS CURSING JEWISH PEOPLE WITH A BLASPHEMOUS LIE. THE SAME APPLIES FOR TEACHING THE TRINITY TO JEWISH PEOPLE OF THREE DIFFERENT GODS, THAT JESUS IS THE SECOND GOD, DISTINCT AND DIFFERENT FROM THE FATHER. THAT TOO IS A LIE, AND THAT TOO IS CURSING JEWISH PEOPLE.
DEUTERONOMY 8.3, HEBREW BIBLE ISAIAH 9.5, CHRISTIAN BIBLE ISAIAH 9.6, ISAIAH 40.8, MATTHEW 4.4, LUKE 4.4, JOHN 12.44-45, JOHN 14.9
GENESIS 12.3 GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO BLESS ABRAHAM, THE JEWISH PEOPLE, AND ISRAEL. ABRAHAM IS THE FATHER OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE, AND ISRAEL IS THE EVERLASTING HOMELAND OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. GENESIS 17.8
MESSIAH YESHUA WAS TOLD THAT A SERVANT OF A CERTAIN MAN, NOT JEWISH, WHO LOVES ISRAEL AND BUILT A SYNAGOGUE FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN THE LAND, NEEDED HEALING. AND MESSIAH HEALED THE SERVANT. LUKE 7.1-10
THEREFORE GOD WILL BLESS YOU WITH GOOD HEALTH FOR BLESSING THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL.
GOD WILL BLESS THOSE WHO BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE WITH PROTECTION, AND CHILDREN, IF THEY WANT CHILDREN, OR MORE CHILDREN. GENESIS 26.24
AND THE LORD WILL BLESS YOUR FAMILY FOR YOUR SAKE WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL. GENESIS 30.27
GOD WILL BLESS YOU WITH HEALTH, AND TAKE SICKNESS AWAY FROM YOU, AND BLESS YOUR FOOD AND YOUR WATER WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL. EXODUS 23.24-25
THE LORD WILL BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU, AND MAKE HIS FACE SHINE UPON YOU, AND BE GRACIOUS TO YOU. THE LORD WILL LIFT UP HIS COUNTENANCE UPON YOU, AND GIVE YOU PEACE WHEN YOU BLESS ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE. NUMBERS 6.22-27
THE LORD WILL BLESS ALL THAT YOU DO. HE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU, AND PROTECT YOU. AND YOU WILL LACK NOTHING WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL. DEUTERONOMY 2.7
WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL, GOD WILL KEEP HIS COVENANT OF MERCY WITH YOU, AND HE WILL LOVE YOU, AND BLESS YOU, AND BLESS YOUR CHILDREN, AND YOUR WORK.
DEUTERONOMY 7.12-13
GOD WILL BLESS YOU IN SO MANY WAYS WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL. DEUTERONOMY 28.1-14
WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL, GOD WILL BLESS YOU, BECAUSE GOD SEES YOU AS RIGHTEOUS, AND WITH FAVOR GOD WILL SURROUND YOU AS A SHIELD OF PROTECTION. PSALM 5.12
AND GOD WILL GIVE YOU GODLY COUNSEL, AND YOUR MIND WILL INSTRUCT YOU IN THE NIGHT. PERHAPS IN DREAMS. PSALM 16.7
WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL, THE LORD WILL BLESS YOU OUT OF ZION, AND YOU WILL SEE THE GOOD OF JERUSALEM ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE. PSALM 128.1-6
WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL, YOURS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. YOU WILL BE COMFORTED, AND INHERIT THE EARTH WHICH IS ETERNAL LIFE IN THE 1,000 YEAR MESSIANIC KINGDOM ON EARTH IN ISRAEL AND IN HEAVEN FOREVER. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FILLED WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM GOD. YOU WILL OBTAIN MERCY, AND YOU WILL SEE GOD. YOU ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD, AND YOU ARE BLESSED BY GOD WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL. MATTHEW 5.1-12
YOU ARE IN THE FAMILY OF GOD WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL. LUKE 8.21
AND GOD SEES YOU AS RIGHTEOUS, AND YOU WILL INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN, AND NOT EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT IN HELL, WHEN YOU BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL. MATTHEW 25.46
SO YES, GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO BLESS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL. GENESIS 12.3, MATTHEW 25.31-46
Shalom,
Ira Weinstein
www.bethelohenu.org
www.bethelohenu@gmail.com