If I was Joshua I would have said deal, what deal? You lied to me. But it seems that is not the Joshua way. No he keeps his end of the bargain. Interestingly enough, the other leaders didn’t get away with lying. No they still had to deal with the consequences of their actions. Joshua may have kept the peace with them, but they had to cut wood and fetch water for Joshua’s people. How do you feel, when you get lied to? If someone tells you they are your mate, and then they go off and talk about you behind your back? What do you want to do, when you find out that someone has been lying to you? I know my first thought is to get my revenge. There are consequences to our actions and there should be consequences to them lying to me. Just like there were consequences for these guys in the passage. Not only that, I am the one who can deliver those consequences. The problem with that, is the fact that I’m not the right one to judge those guys who lie to me. No, all through our instruction book The Bible, we are told to leave the judgment up to God. There are consequences to our actions and we all must face them, but there are also consequences to judging people when we are not perfect ourselves.
