Oh! what an honour were those Gibeonites brought to, in this best of all services. If the Reader will consult the prophecy of Isaiah, he will there discover, that the Lord hath promised to gather all nations to see his glory; and that he will make of the poor heathens, like Gibeon, priests and Levites for his sanctuary: Isaiah 66:18-21
REFLECTIONS
PAUSE, my soul, over this chapter, and in the review of the conduct of Gibeon, behold and see, what an earnest concern this people manifested for the preservation of their lives. And wilt not thou feel a more awakened concern for thine everlasting welfare? Is it not said in God's most holy word, as it was told the Gibeonites, that the Lord hath given commandment, to destroy all nations that are not his Israel? Is it not a most sure and certain truth, that the hour is hastening when the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God? And wilt not thou arise, and flee for thy life, and seek peace with thy Joshua, in the covenant promises of Israel?
Oh! thou Great and Almighty Joshua, thou sent, and sealed, and anointed of thy Father; behold I am come to thee, and am come from a far country indeed, for who so far from God as the sinner, until brought nigh by the blood of Jesus. My own garments and my own covering are old, like the Gibeonites. They were indeed once new, when my nature in my first parent was erected in God's image; but now rent and torn, and worse than nothing. Make thou a league with my soul, I desire to be thy servant forever: far better wilt it be to be thy servant in the lowest place, a door keeper in thine house, than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness, though in a royal city, like Gibeon. If I am thy servant, I shall be the Lord's freeman. And to be but a hewer of wood, or a drawer of water, for the service of thy sanctuary, will I esteem an higher honor than to enjoy all the pleasures of sin for a season. Thy reproach will be greater riches to me, than all the treasures of Egypt.