Turning the Tables

And the children of Israel did not smite them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. And all the congregation complained against the princes.  Joshua 9:18  Chabad

Complained against – “Except for Josh 9:18, a reference to Israel’s displeasure with Joshua’s handling of the Gibeonite lie, all occurrences of the verb lûn are to be found in six chapters in the Pentateuch: Ex 15, 16, 17: Num 14, 16, 17, each with the preposition ʿal ‘against.’ In each case the subject of the murmuring is all of the congregation of Israel. Numbers 16:11, however, may refer only to Korah (cf. 16:19). The object of their verbal assaults is usually Moses and Aaron (Ex 16:2: Num 14:2); occasionally, Moses is singled out (Ex 15:24; 17:3; Num 14:36) or Aaron (Num 16:11); at other times the Lord himself is the object of their abuse (Ex 16:4–7; Num 14:27, 29). In the final analysis their murmuring was always against God who commissioned the leaders of the people. The murmuring, of course was not without reason, namely, hunger or thirst in the desert, or an apparently unattainable goal. But they sinned because they doubted God and cast aspersion on his justice, goodness, and power.”^[1]

The use of lûn in this verse isn’t against God.  It’s against the leaders who made the disastrous decision to swear a covenant with the duplicitous Gibeonites.  But the choice of verb is interesting.  The people now experience the affront and outrage that God must have felt when they complained to Him.  They get a little back of what they gave.  The tables are turned—and they don’t like the result.  Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that there is no way to annul the agreement.  We would have expected that this covenant given under very false pretenses would easily qualify for withdrawal.  Any such agreement in our day would be null and void.  But for unexplained reasons, the leaders of Israel believe that renouncing the sworn covenant is impossible despite the obvious deception.  We find this unimaginably strange.  One of the rabbinic arguments mustered to justify this abnormal behavior is that voiding the covenant would tarnish the reputation of God’s character among the nations.  Perhaps that would be the case if there were any nations observing this event.  But the truth is that if Israel voided the oath, and subsequently exterminated the Gibeonites as God required, who would be there to witness the renunciation?  No one.  At least no pagan group.  And as far as Israel was concerned, the whole congregation was already up in arms against this foolhardy treaty.  Certainly their image of God’s character wouldn’t be sullied.  In fact, not voiding the agreement is more likely to besmirch God’s character because it shows that His chosen leaders are subject to gross misconduct.  One must wonder if the real lesson here isn’t the flip side of the other six occurrences of this verb.

Whatever we conclude about the justification on the part of the leadership, the result is ultimately a corporate disaster.  Paganism is allowed to exist inside the congregation of Israel.  Perhaps only as a servant culture, but nevertheless, an unassimilated opposition to God’s intention for Israel.  And over time, Israel pays the price.

Topical Index: lûn, murmur, complain, swear, covenant, Gibeonites, Joshua 9:18