What Happened At Gilgal?

The LORD says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels. [Hosea 9.15] 

What happened at Gilgal? Keeping in mind that the entire book of Hosea is a warning against idolatry, we can conclude that whatever took place at Gilgal must have at least some connection to idolatry. So, let's see...

Now all the kings west of the Jordan River heard about what had happened. These were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who lived in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far north as the Lebanon mountains. These kings combined their armies to fight as one against Joshua and the Israelites. But when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to deception to save themselves. They sent ambassadors to Joshua, loading their donkeys with weathered saddlebags and old, patched wineskins. They put on worn-out, patched sandals and ragged clothes. And the bread they took with them was dry and moldy. When they arrived at the camp of Israel at Gilgal, they told Joshua and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land to ask you to make a peace treaty with us.” The Israelites replied to these Hivites, “How do we know you don’t live nearby? For if you do, we cannot make a treaty with you.” They replied, “We are your servants.” “But who are you?” Joshua demanded. “Where do you come from?” They answered, “Your servants have come from a very distant country. We have heard of the might of the LORD your God and of all he did in Egypt. We have also heard what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River—King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan (who lived in Ashtaroth). So our elders and all our people instructed us, ‘Take supplies for a long journey. Go meet with the people of Israel and tell them, “We are your servants; please make a treaty with us.”’ “This bread was hot from the ovens when we left our homes. But now, as you can see, it is dry and moldy. These wineskins were new when we filled them, but now they are old and split open. And our clothing and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.” So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the LORD. Then Joshua made a peace treaty with them and guaranteed their safety, and the leaders of the community ratified their agreement with a binding oath. [Joshua 9.1-15] 

It should be understood that Israel had previously been commanded to destroy ALL the nations west of the Jordan River. 

While they were camped near the Jordan River on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho, the LORD said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: When you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines. Take possession of the land and settle in it, because I have given it to you to occupy. You must distribute the land among the clans by sacred lot and in proportion to their size. A larger portion of land will be allotted to each of the larger clans, and a smaller portion will be allotted to each of the smaller clans. The decision of the sacred lot is final. In this way, the portions of land will be divided among your ancestral tribes. But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.” [Numbers 33.50-56]

Why would God say, I will do to you what I had planned to do to them? Because if they (ALL the Canaanites) were not driven out, their sinful idolatrous ways would become the way of Israel and deserve the same punishment! This is explained further in Deuteronomy:

“When the LORD your God goes ahead of you and destroys the nations and you drive them out and live in their land, do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.’ You must not worship the LORD your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods. [Deuteronomy 12.29-31]

So, because Israel was careless in investigating the claims of those who turned out to be Canaanites -Hivites from Gibeon (a nation God said should be driven out and destroyed), they indeed became trapped eventually following their customs and worshiping their gods. This was previously addressed in Idolatry Prevents Pure Faith:

Here's a fact about idolatry, it becomes a trap that prevents people from returning to God. Idolatry prevents pure faith. It accomplishes this by so overwhelming idolaters with their idols (through and through) that they can no longer see the way of pure unadulterated faith in God alone. They see no way to return to God because they are blinded by their idols.

Just as the Hivites deceived Joshua and Israel, so debt, insurance, medicine and technology have deceived God's people today. They claim they will serve (Joshua 9.8), but their masked and deceptive intention is promotion of their idolatrous ways. Once their idolatrous ways are adopted, they effectively trap those who adopt them.

Hosea 9.15 proves that God was very aware where His people made a serious turn away from Him; even though they had previous idol experiences in their wilderness journey, they had now allowed idolatry in their new homeland at Gilgal.

The condemnation brought on God's people through their inadvertent entrapment to idolatry by their own binding treaty (covenant) could only be partially remediated by another covenant to allow the Hivites to live - which only further entrapped Israel to idolatry by allowing idolatrous people to remain in their presence! What a mess! 

Not dissimilar to the aforementioned mess is the mess God's people are in today in their idolatrous entanglement with debt, insurance, medicine and technology. HOWEVER! God's people today have a much better covenant that altogether frees them from the condemnation of idolatry: Jesus Christ, Who suffered the full penalty for our sin so that we might live unto God's glory as we, in faith, abide only in Him and He in us! Faith in Jesus alone will free us from the costly bondage to idols, but it comes at the price of complete submission to Him:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]

We must be aware where our idolatry originates from if we are to effectively identify it so that we might repent of it - turn from it and turn to Jesus.

Father, open our eyes to see where we have become entrapped to idols thus securing wrath upon our lives and circumstances. As we effectively identify these idols (as they have only begun to be identified here), may our repentance be real as we turn from them and follow only Jesus. So be it.