The cunning Gibeonites
9
📚Then it came about when all the kings 📖 who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the valleys and on all the coasts of the Great Sea 📖 toward Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite heard about this, 2 📚that they gathered together with one accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel. 3 📚And when the inhabitants of Gibeon 📖 heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4 📚they acted cleverly and went and behaved as if they were ambassadors and took old sacks on their donkeys, and old, torn and patched wineskins, 5 📚and put old mended sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. And all the bread they took for their provisions was dry and mouldy. 6 📚And they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; so now make a treaty with us”.
9:4-6 They were sure they faced certain defeat at the hands of Israel and sought a way to preserve themselves (v 24).⚜
7 📚And the men of Israel said to those Hivites, “Perhaps you are living among us, and so how shall we make a treaty 📖 with you?”
8 📚And they said to Joshua, “We are your servants 📖”. And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?”
9 📚And they said to him, “Your servants have come from a very distant country, because of the name of the LORD your God; for we have heard 📖 of his fame, and all that he did in Egypt, 10 📚and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. 11 📚Therefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, “Take provisions with you for the journey and go to meet them, and say to them, ‘We are your servants’.” Therefore now make a treaty with us. 12 📚This is our bread which we brought for our provisions hot from our houses on the day we set out to come to you. But now, look, it is dry and mouldy. 13 And these wineskins were new when we filled them, and, look, they are torn. And these clothes and sandals of ours have worn out because of the very long journey”.
14 📚And the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask counsel from the mouth of the LORD. 15 📚And Joshua made peace with them and made a treaty with them to let them live. And the leaders of the congregation swore to them.
9:14-15 The defeat at Ai had taught Israel the need to obey God, but they still had not learned the need for God’s guidance at every step. Joshua was an experienced man and a spiritual one, but he made the error of using his own judgment and trusting in outward appearances. Every believer should learn to live under the constant guidance of God. If we do not seek God’s guidance about our activities we are certain to make many mistakes.⚜
16 📚And it so happened that at the end of three days after they had made a treaty with them, they heard that they were their neighbours and that they lived among them.
9:16 When men use their own judgment without reference to God, they should not be surprised if men deceive them.⚜
17 📚And the children of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kirjath-Jearim. 18 📚And the children of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD of Israel. And all the congregation grumbled 📖 against the leaders.
19 📚But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD God of Israel; so now we must not touch them.
9:18-19 A promise once made must be honored (Ps 15:4; Eccl 5:4-5; Matt 5:37; Jam 5:12). The Israelites had been deceived, but this was no reason for them to break their word. When someone else does wrong, that does not give us also the right to do wrong. Speaking the truth must be an essential part of the believer’s life and witness in an untruthful world – Ps 15:2; 51:6; Phil 2:15.⚜
20 📚This is what we will do to them: we will let them live so that wrath does not come on us, because of the oath which we swore to them”. 21 📚And the leaders said to them, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and drawers of water for the whole congregation”. They did as the leaders told them.
22 📚And Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We live very far from you’, when you were living among us? 23 📚Therefore now you are accursed 📖, and none of you will be freed from being slaves and woodcutters and drawers of water 📖 for the house of my God”.
24 📚And they answered Joshua and said, “Because your servants were plainly told that the LORD your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore we had great fear for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 📚And now, see, we are in your hands. Do to us what seems good and right to you to do”.
26 And so he did to them and delivered them from the hands of the children of Israel, so that they did not kill them. 27 📚And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this very day, in the place which he chose.