Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Obedience
- Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity. Our true identity comes only from Father.
What an interesting chapter through which we can view the lens of
obedience. First, we look to the
Canaanite people. They all have no
interest in obedience to God. Most of
them band together and come against the Hebrew people. This is the wrong tactic. They are defeated. God is victorious.
The second lens is through the Gibeonites. From a worldly perspective they seem rather
shrewd, don’t they? They make peace so
that they can live. But that’s all they
are interested in. They aren’t
interested in obeying God. They aren’t
interested in becoming Hebrew. They just
want peace so that they can live their own life. I find this despicable in the world, and we
hear it most often in the politically correct phrases of today’s culture. “Can’t we all just get along?” “Live and let live.” “Unity.”
“Coexist.” Our world is a
pluralistic culture that wants you to believe that peace is a higher goal than
obedience to God. The world wants you
believe it is best to live this life however you want and let eternity sort
itself out. That’s just not the
perspective of God, or Jesus Christ for that matter.
The third lens of obedience is the Hebrew leaders. Again we see them acting without consulting God. They make peace with the Gibeonites without
asking the Lord what is right. Sure, the
Hebrew people pick up some slaves rather than having to fight against
them. But the point is that they don’t
take the time to consult God. They’re
simply just not obedient, either.
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