Joshua 9:14 — And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.

One of my heroes (heroines), Admiral Grace Hopper, is credited with first saying “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.” It’s become a piece of conventional wisdom. It’s clever … but Biblically it’s wrong. The verse I’ve extracted from Joshua 9 is a good example of what I’m talking about.

Joshua and the Israelites were rampaging through the Promises Land wiping out the inhabitants, as the Lord had commanded.  A group of men arrived “ambassadors from a far country” — or so they claimed. In fact, they were Canaanites from the nearby city of Gibeon, pretending to be ambassadors from a far country in order to make a peace treaty with the Israelites to avoid the obliteration that would surely follow should they seek to resist them in battle. The Israelites weren’t pleased when they found out they’d been fooled, but were obliged to let the Gibeonites live, according to their agreement — although they did make them slaves, “hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation” (Josh. 9:21).

My verse of the day makes the point. The Israelites “took the victuals” of the strangers — shared bread and salt in the universal ceremony of hospitality and friendship. They did not “ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord”. So quickly they had declined into religious superficiality! They had forgotten the specific instructions given to Moses about Joshua’s commissioning:

And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. (Numbers 27:21)

It can at least be said for the Israelites that they did not break their oath, even though it might have been extracted by false pretense. They were, perhaps, fortunate that the consequences were no worse. The lesson is stated more bluntly by Solomon in one of my first “memory verses”:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Foolish oaths are dangerous. Failing to seek the Lord’s guidance — in anything — is worse. Trust me, I know!