Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 8-9.

Following their victory over Jericho the Israelites became cocky.  As described in yesterday’s passage, they scouted out the city of Ai and initially sent a small force to conquer it.  Then in today’s passage, emissaries from the Gibeonites came to them to make a treaty. The Israelites interrogated the emissaries and carefully examined their equipment and supplies.  They reached the conclusion that the Gibeonites were from a distant land and swore oaths with them.  While their failure in the first assault against Ai was complicated by the sin of Achan, in both cases the leaders made the same mistake.  They acted upon their own judgement without first consulting God.  They felt that the circumstances were such that they did not need to consult God.  They knew His will and thought they knew the facts that applied.  In both cases they had done their due diligence and thought that was sufficient.  Consulting God is not a substitute for doing our due diligence, but we should ask God for His guidance as we do our due diligence.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.