History

An Ancient Choice

by Terry Barlow
03/27/14
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We have just passed the anniversary of our forefather Patrick Henry’s famous speech in which he declared, “Give me liberty or give me death!” It is appropriate then to examine another opposing attitude or mindset in the pages of Scripture in the 10th chapter of the Old Testament book of Joshua. It is striking how that the Gibeonites had such a different approach from Patrick’s. Knowing of the fierce reputation of the Israelites and their God who had so mightily delivered them from Pharoah and the Egyptians, they pretended to be a far distant nation who sought to make covenant with Israel. When Israel realized later what close neighbors they were, it was too late, the pact between the two peoples had already been sealed. The Gibeonites had acted in the interest of preserving their own lives, and they were successful in that objective, though dishonest in the process of achieving it. Precisely the opposite of Patrick Henry and his compatriots, their fearful heart cry had been, “We do not want to die, give us slavery instead!” The Gibeonites preferred to be enslaved as woodcutters and water-bearers for the congregation of Israel rather than to die defending their own liberty. It is not pleasant but it is timely to be thinking how it might come down to the same Y in the road and the same kind of choice for us again, if we in the USA  are to continue as a free and sovereign people with religious liberty (and not merely freedom of worship which is considerably smaller in scope-within the walls of chuch or synagogue, mosque or temple on certain days) and freedom of conscience.