THE MYSTERIOUS POWER OF AN OATH

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But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us." So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, 'Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, "We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us."' At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them. But all the leaders said to all the congregation, "We have sworn to them by the Lord , the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them."
Joshua 9:3‭-‬4‭, ‬6‭, ‬11‭, ‬16‭, ‬19‭-‬20 ESV

¶What shines in this story is the strength of covenant, and the significance of an oath. Unlike Israel, our covenant-making God is not deceived as to our nature, and unlike the Gibeonites, we did not seek the Lord with our our worn and tattered lives, but He sought us. Our covenant-keeping God made great sacrifice to remain true to His Word. There remains nothing else we need swear by.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Edward More, 1834

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