Joshua 9: The Gibeonites deceive Israel.

After Israel conquered Jericho and then Ai, the news about the strength of the Children of Israel - and their mighty God, Jehovah - spread quickly among the people of Canaan. In this chapter, the people of Gibeon came up with a plan to trick Joshua and the Israelites into granting them safety.

To preserve themselves, the Gibeonites cooked up a story that they had come from far away. They dressed in old clothing and worn-out sandals, and brought shabby wine-skins and moldy bread as proof of their long journey. After questioning these travelers, Joshua agreed to guarantee their safety, and the Israelites made a covenant to let them live. Note that the Israelites did not consult the Lord.

In the end, the Gibeonites admitted that they lived close by and were neighbors of Israel, just as the Hivites (the Gibeonites' ancestors) had been with Abraham. Joshua, unable to revoke his promise to them, made them wood-cutters and water-carriers for the altars of the Lord.

This chapter offers us several spiritual lessons. The main one is that there is a place for simple, well-intentioned goodness in our spiritual life, along with our love of God and our love for other people (See Swedenborg's exegetical work, Arcana Caelestia 3436, for details). This is what the Gibeonites stand for; they were not warlike but peaceful, content to live usefully day after day. This is an illustration of natural good, which is an important part of life in this world and in heaven (Arcana Caelestia 3167).

On a spiritual level, their story about living in a country far-away means that when we live good, well-intentioned lives, we are ‘far away’ from the evils of the Canaanites. Although the Gibeonites lived among the Canaanites, their higher values were entirely different. So while the Gibeonites deceived Israel to save themselves, they spoke truthfully when they said: “we come from a place a very long way away” (See Swedenborg's work, Heaven and Hell 481).

Their tattered and torn appearance is meant to illustrate the hard work of doing good. It can be quite wearing to continue doing good things, especially when we feel it is all up to us. Acknowledging that all good is from the Lord renews us, and keeps us from the burden of merit.

In the same vein, their worn-out appearance is also about our relationship with the Word. Little children love and delight in the stories of the Word, but as they grow up, this love dwindles (Arcana Caelestia 3690). But as adults, we have the choice to find those guiding principles from the Word, helping us to keep leading good lives.

The fact that Joshua commanded the Gibeonites to cut wood and draw water also holds spiritual significance. The beauty of wood is that it comes from living trees, and can be turned into many, many useful things. It stands for the steady, humble wish to do good each day (See Swedenborg's work, True Christian Religion 374). This must be present in our worship at the altars of the Lord.

Drawing water provides essential, life-giving refreshment for others. Water stands for truth, and our better actions draw the water of life for the sake of others. Truly, acknowledging the goodness in other people is part of our faith in God. This story shows us that we must allow others to live and to serve everything of God, just as Joshua showed mercy toward the Gibeonites.

374. (i) Charity is having good will, and good deeds are doing good from a good will.

Charity and deeds are distinct from each other, just as are the will and the action, and as are the affection on the part of the mind and the functioning of the body. This is the same distinction as between the internal and the external man; these are respectively like cause and effect, since the causes of everything take form in the internal man, and all the effects arise from this source in the external. Therefore charity, being a quality of the internal man, is having a good will; and deeds, which belong to the external man, are doing good from a good will.

[2] Still there is infinite diversity between one person's good will and another's. For everything which anyone does to favour another is believed or appears to flow from good will or benevolence, but still it remains unknown whether the good deeds arise from charity, not to mention whether the charity is genuine or spurious. That infinite diversity between one person's good will and another's arises from his end in view, intention and so objective. These are hidden within his will to do good, and this is the source of the quality of each person's will. The will seeks means and ways of achieving its ends, which are the effects, in the understanding; and there it exposes itself to light, in order to see not only the methods, but also the opportunities when and how it can realise itself in actions, and thus produce its effects, which are deeds. At the same time in the understanding the will puts itself in a position to act. From this it follows that deeds in essence belong to the will, in form to the understanding, and in performance to the body. That is how charity comes down to become good deeds.

[3] This can be illustrated by a comparison with a tree. A person in all his particulars can be likened to a tree. In its seed lies hidden as it were an end in view, an intention and objective - to produce fruit. Here the seed corresponds to the will in a person, which, as has been said, contains these three factors. Next the seed is impelled by what it contains to sprout from the earth, and clothe itself with branches, boughs and leaves, thus acquiring for itself the means to its ends, the fruit. Here the tree corresponds to the understanding in a person, Finally when its time has come and it is ready to realise itself, it blossoms and produces fruit. Here the tree corresponds to the person's good deeds. It is obvious that these are in essence the work of the seed, in form the work of the boughs and leaves, and in performance the work of the wood of the tree.

[4] This can also be illustrated by a comparison with a temple. As Paul says, man is a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21-22). A person's end in view, intention and objective as a temple of God are salvation and everlasting life; here there is a correspondence with the will, to which these three belong. Then he absorbs doctrinal teachings concerning faith and charity from his parents and teachers and from preachers, and when he comes to years of discretion from the Word and religious books, all of which are means to the end. Here the correspondence is with the understanding. Finally the end is realised in the form of uses in accordance with the teachings which serve as means; this happens by bodily actions, which are known as good deeds. So the end produces effects by mediating causes; these effects are in essence the product of the end, in form that of the teachings of the church, and in performance of uses. That is how a person becomes God's temple.