Mistakes at Gilgal

Introduction

Good morning. It’s great to see everyone out here today. Want to welcome all of our visitors and members, everyone here today. It’s great to see you all here. This morning I was practicing my lesson, and I have it recorded here, so give me a minute and I’ll click play and go ahead and take my seat. I really look forward to what we have to talk about this morning. This is something that we discussed in one class in the high school class, we’ve been studying the minor prophets. And so one of the things that we found difficult was finding something more to talk about other than doom and destruction in the minor prophets. And so you kind of had to look and find some little passages, like we found this one in Hosea that talked about the mistakes at Gilgal in Hosea 9 and verse 15.

If you want to start turning over there, that’d be fine. I want to give you a quick overview, just in case you can’t remember Hosea.

And that’s usually about all we remember of that, because it’s pretty significant in the book. But the question always arises, why would God do this? Why would God have him do something so difficult, so challenging? I can’t imagine asking anyone to do such a thing.

God wanted Hosea when he wrote those words to be able to put the feeling in there, the emotion, what he really felt, what he really saw. And so that when people saw him around the city, when people talked about Hosea, they could say, look at the pain that man is going through. And then they could say, we’ve done the same to God. Because just as Hosea’s wife left him, and he is actually commanded to go back and find her again and purchase her back, the people of Israel left God time and again. And so it connected two things, I think, for them. It connected the intellect with the emotion and produced a real understanding for what they had done to God. Now, throughout the book of Hosea, he talks about Egypt and how God had brought them out of Egypt, and even at one point says, and I’m going to take you back to Egypt.

And so I want us to remember that as we talk about these things, all these things that happened to Gilgal, and it’s actually not just the mistakes that happened at Gilgal. We’re actually going to talk about the good and the bad of Gilgal. Hosea 9 in verse 15 says this.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more. All their princes are rebels. Now I see two options for this verse right here. One is that God is actually saying, you know, look at all the good that happened right at the start in this place called Gilgal. And then I look at you now, and as you see at the start of this verse, every evil of theirs is there. This place that had so much good now has so much evil. And the second option I see is he’s pointing out just how quickly they went from good to evil in this one place, and we’ll see just how fast that happened. Now, if you know your places in the Old Testament, Gilgal is one that actually, there’s probably two or three different Gilgals.

1. This Is Where God Got Us

And so the one that I’m talking about is the one that Strong’s dictionary groups all of them together. I don’t want to give the full definition right now because it would pretty much take the fire out of the whole lesson. But all of these occurred, at least as far as I can understand, at the same place. So what happened in Gilgal? Well, the first thing that we have happens in Joshua 4 in verse 19, if you want to turn over there. Joshua 4 in verse 19. The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.

And he said to the people of Israel, When your children ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean? Then you shall let your children know. Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over. As the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over. So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. So here we have the first instance of Gilgal. We know the location of it now, just on the eastern border of Jericho. And this is where they made their stand.

They put their faith in God. And they said, This is where God got us. The twelve tribes of Israel, this is where we’re at, because of God. Because he dried up the Jordan River and got us through it. What an incredible thing to have gone back to that and been able to show their families and their children years later. This is where God got them. But we keep going. And just the next chapter, in Joshua, the fifth chapter, verses eight and nine. It says, When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.

And so now we find how it got its name. It got its name because it sounds like the Hebrew word, as my footnote says, the Hebrew word for rolled away. This place was named Gilgal because this was where God took away the reproach of Egypt. But we keep going. Things continue to get good for them at Gilgal. In the fifth chapter, starting in verse 10.

And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel. But they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. So here we have the people yet again professing their faith in God. They professed their faith here and having this Passover to remember what God had done for them in Egypt. The circumcision that took place there, and God said, I have taken away the reproach of Egypt, and placing those twelve stones in Gilgal, to show their sign that God had gotten them there through the Jordan.

2. They Failed to Seek the Counsel of God

Now, this place that is Gilgal right now, this is where Joshua essentially made this his home base. You see, throughout the book of Joshua, he goes out, he comes back, he goes off to battle, he comes back to Gilgal, people go to meet him. Where do they go? They go to Gilgal. And so some people then came to meet him there. In Joshua chapter 9, starting in verse 3. But the inhabitants of Gibeon. I don’t know what happened there. Verse 3. But the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai. They on their part acted with cunning. So we find out here that the Hivites, as they’re also described, were very deceptive in the stunt that they pulled. What they tried to do, they made themselves look like they had come from a far-off nation.

They gave themselves old clothes, worn shoes, bread that was dried and crumbly. And they tried to make it look like, hey, we’re not a threat.

And it says, They said to him, We’re from a very distant country, your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard a report of him and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, and to Ag, king of Bashan, who lived in the Ashtaroth. Now, this great proclamation of faith almost, and the one true God that they give here, is followed very quickly by yet another lie about where they came from, that they came from a far-off land. And we pick up in verse 14 now. So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.

3. The People Rejecting God as Their King

And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. And the leaders of the congregation swore to them. And so we have their first stumble in this place called Gilgal. They failed to seek the counsel of God. Now I’m not trying to fault Joshua too much for this here. Everyone had their mistakes. We’ll see certainly many more mistakes. But in this one, they messed up. They failed to seek the counsel of God. But we keep going. Because also in this Gilgal, in 1 Samuel, we see the rather drawn out story of Saul becoming king. And I call it a drawn out story because in chapter 8, we have the people demanding a king from Samuel. In chapter 9, Saul is chosen by God to be king, and he meets with the prophet Samuel.

In chapter 10, he’s anointed king, and again is chosen, this time from among the people, to be king. And then in chapter 11, he defeats the Ammonites, and then is made king before the Lord. So we pick up in 1 Samuel 11 and verse 14. Then Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal, and there renew the kingdom. So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. Now this almost sounds like a good thing. I could call this a positive. But it’s not. Because if we remember what happened in 1 Samuel chapter 8, starting in verse 7, Samuel is very angry. He says, God, they’ve rejected me as their judge. What am I supposed to do about this?

And so God replies, they haven’t rejected you. This is in verse 7. They haven’t rejected you. They have rejected me from being king over them, according to all the deeds that they have done. From the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods. So they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice, only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them. So we see the people now rejecting God as their king. They want a man who can lead them into battle. And we’ll see exactly what this king would do. Because this king, Saul, would soon offer unlawful sacrifices to the Lord in Gilgal. In 1 Samuel, the 13th chapter.

4. Saul Failed the Commandment of the Lord

Now the Israelites won the battle quickly, but the Philistines regrouped and they came back, and it says in 1 Samuel 13 and verse 5 that there were so many of them that the troops were like the sand of the seashore. And the people were so terrified that in verses 6 and 7 it says that they hid themselves in pretty much anything they could find. They were in caves, holes, tombs, cisterns. Some even crossed the Jordan to the other side to get away from their enemies. Now, Saul, for his part, he was waiting on Samuel. He was supposed to show up in seven days, but he didn’t. He was delayed for some reason. So what does Saul do? We pick up the story in 1 Samuel 13 and verse 8.

He, that is Saul, waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal. And the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, Bring the burnt offering here to me and the peace offerings. And he offered the burn offering. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, What have you done? Now when Samuel questions them, Saul tries to come up with excuses, saying that he was worried about the Philistines. He’s saying, Oh, well, they were going to attack, and I wasn’t going to have time then to offer sacrifices and go before the Lord. They probably would have just overrun us then. And so he says, you know, I just, I just, I forced myself.

I had to do it. And so I offered the sacrifices. To me, it actually almost reads like he’s trying to kind of blame Samuel and kind of saying, Look, if you’d just shown up in the seven days, I wouldn’t have done this. So we pick up the story now in verse in verse 13. And Samuel says to Saul, You’ve done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom of Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. Now, Saul’s troubles continue, as we know, and they continue in Gilgal. This was where Agag, king of the Amalekites, and the best of the livestock, that should have been, as he said, as was said, devoted to destruction for the commandment of the Lord.

This was where he kept those things. In 1 Samuel 15 in verse 13. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. So I think Saul is learning from his last mistakes, right? And he’s saying, I’m going to get out in front of this one. I’m going to go ahead and tell Samuel when he shows up, hey, I did everything you commanded. I did the Lord’s will. Samuel, of course, doesn’t agree with this. And Samuel says in verse 14, what then is this bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear? Saul said, they, referring to the people, have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God.

And the rest we have devoted to destruction. Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop. I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night. And he said to him, Speak. So Samuel and Saul, they kind of go back and forth for a while, disagreeing about what the command actually was and what it meant, and whether or not Saul had really fulfilled it. In the end, I think Samuel wins out. Because unfortunately for Saul, he couldn’t, he couldn’t blame the former administration as our leaders typically try to do. So he falls back on another good one, and he just blames the people. He says, They did this. Now Samuel responds to him that the important thing is not sacrifices, it’s not burnt offerings. The important thing is obeying the voice of the Lord.

And the story ends with Samuel doing just that in verse 32. Then Samuel said, Bring here to me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. And so as we consider these things, what I’ve done is then kind of taken all the ones, the negatives, essentially, and put these up here for us. And these are what will try to gather some final points for us before we finish this lesson. And we’ll try to determine what we can learn. What can we do differently so that we don’t make these same mistakes that the Israelites made in Gilgal.

5. Seek the Counsel of God and Remember God's Place

And so the first one is simple. They failed to seek the counsel of God. It’s rather easy to find that we need to seek the counsel of God at all times in our lives. Let’s turn over to 2 Timothy 3, 16. You probably know this one by heart. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. There’s only one way that we are complete and equipped for every good work. And that’s through the Word of God. That’s through the counsel of God. And there’s only one way we get it. And that’s his word. We also, we keep looking and we see that the people rejected God as their king.

We need to remember God’s place at all times. And remember that God should be first in our lives. He turning to Colossians, the first chapter. And we’ll start reading in verse 15. Colossians 1 in verse 15. He that is Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church.

6. Remember Our Place and Take Responsibility

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. I don’t know how many ways you can say Christ is first, but I think this passage sums them all up. It calls him preeminent. He’s the head of the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Everything about this passage says that Christ, that God, should be first in our lives. We have to remember God’s place in everything. But then we go back to the story that we talked about. Saul unlawfully offered sacrifices to the Lord. Something that should have been for the priests to do. What did Saul do? Saul forgot his place, and we have to remember ours.

I have to remember my place. Let’s keep reading in Colossians, the first chapter, verse 21. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. So, just in contrast now to what we saw of Christ was first, literally in everything. We see that we were once alienated. We were once hostile. We once did evil deeds. And the only reason we can be reconciled to God is because of what he did through his son.

We have to remember that it wasn’t us that did anything. It was Christ. Certainly we have to follow his word and do the things that he has asked of us. But it’s because of Christ that we are here today.

The last thing we looked at was that Saul failed the commandment of the Lord. And then, on top of that, he blamed others. We have to be able to admit wrongdoing and take responsibility for our actions. I always think about what’s different about Saul. What’s different between him and say, David? Well, the difference between the two of them is quite simple, isn’t it? David, when someone brought his sin before him, admitted his wrongdoing. Turn over to 2 Samuel, the 12th chapter. We’ll look at verse 13. This is just after Nathan the prophet has come to him and said to him, You are the man, David. It’s your sin. You’re the one who did this. And David doesn’t try to blame Bathsheba. He doesn’t try to say, Well, if Uriah the Hittite had just been a better soldier, this wouldn’t have happened.

Or he could have even said, he was a soldier. This is kind of what you expect, right? But he doesn’t do any of that. In 2 Samuel 12, verse 13, it says, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. He took responsibility for his actions. Didn’t try to set them on anyone else. Or what about Peter? In Luke 22nd chapter. We’ll turn over and read that. Christ prophesied that before the rooster crowed, Peter would deny him three times. Luke 22 and verse 61. And the Lord, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.

Conclusion

We don’t see here Peter making excuses, saying, Well, if no one had asked me if I was with Christ, I wouldn’t have denied him. No. He takes responsibility. And what does it do? It produces in him an emotional reaction. Because, and he connected that. He understood that not only had he sinned against God, but it pains God when we do that. And it pained Peter when he did that. And so I encourage you today to do these things, to remember God’s place in your life, to remember your place.

You haven’t admitted your wrongdoing and taken responsibility for your actions. You haven’t placed Christ first in your life. I encourage you to do that today. If you are a Christian, and you’ve gone back on that, you’ve tried to put yourself first, you’ve not sought the counsel of God.