1And it will be when all the kings hear which are on the other side Jordan, in the mountain and in the plain, and in all the coast of the great sea, and in front of Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite; 2And they will gather together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one mouth. 3And the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and to Ai. 4And they will do in guile, and will go and will lay snares, and will take sacking worn out, for their asses, and leather sacks of wine worn out, and being rent and bound up; 5And shoes worn out and mended, upon their feet, and garments worn out upon them; and all the bread of their food dry; it was crumbs. 6And they will come to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and will say to him and to the men of Israel, From a land far off we came: and now cut out to us a covenant. 7And the men of Israel will say to the Hivite, Perhaps thou shalt dwell in the midst of me, and I shall not make a covenant to thee. 8And they will say to Joshua, We thy servants. And Joshua will say to them, Who are ye? and from whence will ye come? 9And they will say to him, From a land very far off thy servants came, for the name of Jehovah thy God; for we heard his fame and all that he did in Egypt 10And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of Jordan, to Sihon, king of Heshbon, and to Og, king of Bashan, in Ashtaroth. 11And our old men and all the inhabitants of our land will say to us, saying, Take in your hand food for the way, and go to meet them, and say to them, We your servants: and now cut out to us a covenant: 12This the hot bread we took it for food from our houses in the day we came forth to come to you; and now, behold, it dry, and it was crumbs 13And these leather sacks of wine which we filled, new, and behold, they were rent; and these our garments and our shoes worn out from the exceeding greatness of the way. 14And the men will take of their food, and they asked not the mouth of Jehovah. 15And Joshua will make peace to them, and will cut out to them a covenant to preserve them alive: and the chiefs of the assembly sware to them. 16And it will be from the end of three days after they cut out a covenant to them, and they will hear that they are near to him, and they dwell in the midst of him. 17And the sons of Israel will remove and will come to their cities in the third day. And their cities, Gibe-on and Chephirah and Barith, and Kirjath-Jearim. 18And the sons of Israel smote them not, for the chiefs of the assembly sware to them by Jehovah the God of Israel. And all the assembly will murmur against the chiefs. 19And all the chiefs will say to all the assembly, We sware to them by Jehovah the God of Israel: and now we shall not be able to touch upon them. 20This we will do to them, and preserve them alive; and anger shall not be upon us for the oath that we sware to them. 21And the chiefs will say to them, They shall live; and shall be cutting wood and drawing water to all the assembly as the chiefs spake to them. 22And Joshua will call to them and will speak to them, saying, For what did ye deceive us, saying, We are very far from you?. and ye dwell in the midst of us. 23And now ye are cursed, and there shall not be cut off from you to serve, and hewing wood and drawing water for the house of my God. 24And they will answer Joshua, and will say, Because being announced, it was announced to thy servants that Jehovah thy God commanded Moses his servant to give to you all the land, and to destroy all inhabiting the land from before you, and we shall be greatly afraid for our souls from your face; and we shall do this word. 25And now, behold us in thy hand: as is good and as is right in your eyes to do to us, do. 26And he will do so to them, and he will deliver them from the hand of the sons of Israel, and they slew them not 27And Joshua will give them in that day hewing wood and drawing water for the assembly and for the altar of Jehovah till this day, to the place which he shall choose.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE KINGS COMBINE AGAINST ISRAEL. (Jos. 9:1-27)
all the kings which were on this side--that is, the western side of Jordan.
in the hills, and in ther valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea--This threefold distinction marks out very clearly a large portion of Canaan. The first designates the hill country, which belonged afterwards to the tribes of Judah and Ephraim: the second, all the low country from Carmel to Gaza; and the third, the shores of the Mediterranean, from the Isthmus of Tyre to the plain of Joppa. (As for the tribes mentioned, see on
Num 13:29).
heard thereof--that is, of the sacking of Jericho and Ai, as well as the rapid advance of the Israelites into the interior of the country.
2 they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord--Although divided by separate interests and often at war with each other, a sense of common danger prompted them to suspend their mutual animosities, that by their united forces they might prevent the land from falling into the hands of foreign masters.
3 THE GIBEONITES OBTAIN A LEAGUE BY CRAFT. (
Josh 9:3-
Josh 9:15)
when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard--This town, as its name imports, was situated on a rocky eminence, about six miles northwest from Jerusalem, where the modern village of El Jib now stands. It was the capital of the Hivites, and a large important city (
Josh 10:2). It seems to have formed, in union with a few other towns in the neighborhood, a free independent state (
Josh 9:17) and to have enjoyed a republican government (
Josh 9:11).
4 They did work wilily--They acted with dexterous policy, seeking the means of self-preservation, not by force, which they were convinced would be unavailing, but by artful diplomacy.
took old sacks upon their asses--Travellers in the East transport their luggage on beasts of burden; the poorer sort stow all their necessaries, food, clothes, utensils together, in a woollen or hair-cloth sack, laid across the shoulders of the beast they ride upon.
wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up--Goat-skins, which are better adapted for carrying liquor of any kind fresh and good, than either earthenware, which is porous, or metallic vessels, which are soon heated by the sun. These skin bottles are liable to be rent when old and much used; and there are various ways of mending them--by inserting a new piece of leather, or by gathering together the edges of the rent and sewing them in the form of a purse, or by putting a round flat splinter of wood into the hole.
5 old shoes and clouted--Those who have but one ass or mule for themselves and baggage frequently dismount and walk--a circumstance which may account for the worn shoes of the pretended travellers.
bread . . . dry and mouldy--This must have been that commonly used by travellers--a sort of biscuit made in the form of large rings, about an inch thick, and four or five inches in diameter. Not being so well baked as our biscuits, it becomes hard and mouldy from the moisture left in the dough. It is usually soaked in water previous to being used.
6 they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal--Arrived at the Israelitish headquarters, the strangers obtained an interview with Joshua and the elders, to whom they opened their business.
7 the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us--The answer of the Israelites implied that they had no discretion, that their orders were imperative, and that if the strangers belonged to any of the native tribes, the idea of an alliance with them was unlawful since God had forbidden it (
Exod 23:32;
Exod 34:12;
Deut 7:2).
9 From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God--They pretended to be actuated by religious motives in seeking to be allied with His people. But their studied address is worthy of notice in appealing to instances of God's miraculous doings at a distance, while they pass by those done in Canaan, as if the report of these had not yet reached their ears.
14 the men took of their victuals and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord--The mouldy appearance of their bread was, after examination, accepted as guaranteeing the truth of the story. In this precipitate conclusion the Israelites were guilty of excessive credulity and culpable negligence, in not asking by the high priest's Urim and Thummim the mind of God, before entering into the alliance. It is not clear, however, that had they applied for divine direction they would have been forbidden to spare and connect themselves with any of the Canaanite tribes who renounced idolatry and embraced and worshipped the true God. At least, no fault was found with them for making a covenant with the Gibeonites; while, on the other hand, the violation of it was severely punished (
2Sam 21:1; and
Josh 11:19-
Josh 11:20).
16 at the end of three days . . . they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them--This information was obtained in their further progress through the country; for as
Josh 9:17 should be rendered, "when the children of Israel journeyed, they came to their cities." Gibeon was about eighteen or twenty miles from Gilgal.
17 Chephirah-- (
Josh 18:26;
Ezra 2:25;
Neh 7:29).
Beeroth-- (
2Sam 4:2), now El Berich, about twenty minutes' distance from El Jib (Gibeon).
Kirjath-jearim--"the city of forests," now Kuryet-el-Enab [ROBINSON].
18 the children of Israel smote them not--The moral character of the Gibeonites' stratagem was bad. The princes of the congregation did not vindicate either the expediency or the lawfulness of the connection they had formed; but they felt the solemn obligations of their oath; and, although the popular clamor was loud against them, caused either by disappointment at losing the spoils of Gibeon, or by displeasure at the apparent breach of the divine commandment, they determined to adhere to their pledge, "because they had sworn by the Lord God of Israel." The Israelitish princes acted conscientiously; they felt themselves bound by their solemn promise; but to prevent the disastrous consequences of their imprudent haste, they resolved to degrade the Gibeonites to a servile condition as a means of preventing their people from being ensnared into idolatry, and thus acted up, as they thought, to the true spirit and end of the law.
27 hewers of wood and drawers of water--The menials who performed the lowest offices and drudgery in the sanctuary; whence they were called Nethinims (
1Chr 9:2;
Ezra 2:43;
Ezra 8:20); that is, given, appropriated. Their chastisement thus brought them into the possession of great religious privileges (
Ps 84:10).