Those Moldy Bread People Again

Reading Through the Bible in 2010 (II Sam. 21-22)

“Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” II Sam. 21:1

My daughter-in-love Denise has a great system for remembering things. When she thinks of things she needs to do, she immediately writes a sticky note and adheres it to her kitchen counter. Then when she goes out the door, she just checks her sticky notes to see if she has everything.

Our family joke is – if it gets on one of Denise’s sticky notes, it will happen!

We all have little ways that we use to help us retain information. Today’s reading reminds us again that we have an omniscient God who remembers everything. He never forgets. He invented sticky notes for us, but He doesn’t need them.

King David had a problem. There had been a famine in Israel for three years. So, he inquired of God and asked Him why this was happening. God said it was because of the Gibeonites and what King Saul had done to them.

Remember the Gibeonites? They were those “moldy bread people.” When Joshua was taking the land of Israel, they dressed up in old clothes and brought moldy bread to Joshua. They claimed to be from another country and deceived Israel into making a covenant of protection with them. Later, Joshua discovered that they actually lived nearby but now he couldn’t destroy their city because he had made this covenant.

Four hundred years have gone by. However, during those years, Saul had broken the covenant with the Gibeonites and killed some of them. Wouldn’t you think God would have forgotten about it all by then? I mean the USA isn’t even four hundred years old…that’s a long time. But not to our God.

He is the God who remembers! He told David that he needed to honor the covenant by asking the Gibeonites how to atone for this infraction. David inquired and they replied that they would be satisfied if David gave them seven descendants of Saul and they would take their lives. David complied and delivered seven of Saul’s sons into their hands to be hanged.

What a sad story. Can anything good come out of the deception of the Gibeonites and the disobedience of Saul that resulted in the deaths of seven of his sons? I see one great thing. God takes covenants and oaths very seriously. If He honored the deceitful Gibeonites because of their covenant, how much more will he honor His covenant with us? How much more will he stand by His promises that are lavishly scattered through out the Bible, His Word? If he didn’t forget the Gibeonite covenant for four hundred years, how much more will He not forget our descendants and us? When we entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we entered into a covenant with God himself. Hebrews 6:17-18 tells us: “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.”

He won’t forget us. We have His strong consolation that He doesn’t need sticky notes. He remembered his covenant with the descendants of the heathen moldy bread people. How much more will He be faithful to us - His own covenant children?

The next time you find mold on your bread, remember the Gibeonites. God didn’t forget them, He won’t forget you! Maybe we all need a sticky note on our counter that says "God remembers!"