Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live. The princes of the congregation swore to them. At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. The children of Israel traveled and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. The children of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. All the congregation murmured against the princes. But all the princes said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them. We will do this to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them.”
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Joshua 9:15-20 sits inside this longer paragraph.
The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from Yahweh’s mouth. Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live. The princes of the congregation swore to them. At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. The children of Israel traveled and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. The children of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. All the congregation murmured against the princes. But all the princes said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them. We will do this to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them.” The princes said to them, “Let them live.” So they became wood cutters and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the princes had spoken to them.
Parallel Translations
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Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live. The princes of the congregation swore to them.
At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them.
The children of Israel traveled and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.
The children of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. All the congregation murmured against the princes.
But all the princes said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them.
We will do this to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them.”
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And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.
And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them.
And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.
And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes.
But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them.
This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them.
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And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the princes of the congregation swore unto them.
And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them.
And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.
And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the LORD, the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes.
But all the princes said unto all the congregation: 'We have sworn unto them by the LORD, the God of Israel; now therefore we may not touch them.
This we will do to them, and let them live; lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we swore unto them.'
Cross-references (36)
- 2 Samuel 21:2 (v15) The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the…
- Deuteronomy 20:10-11 (v15) When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. It shall be, if it gives you answer of peace and opens to you,…
- Joshua 11:19 (v15) There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took all in battle.
- Joshua 6:22-25 (v15) Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman and all that she has out from…
- Joshua 18:25-28 (v17) Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, Zelah, Eleph, the Jebusite (also called Jerusalem), Gibeath, and…
Show all 35 cross-references
- Ezra 2:25 (v17) The children of Kiriath Arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three.
- Psalms 15:4 (v18) in whose eyes a vile man is despised, but who honors those who fear Yahweh; he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change;
- Proverbs 20:25 (v20) It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows.
- Ecclesiastes 8:2 (v19) I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God.
- Ezekiel 17:12-21 (v20) “Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and…
- Malachi 3:5 (v20) I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the…
- Ecclesiastes 9:2 (vv18–19) All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who…
- Exodus 23:32 (v15) You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
- Joshua 2:12-19 (v15) Now therefore, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and…
- Joshua 9:20 (v19) We will do this to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them.”
- Joshua 10:2 (v17) they were very afraid, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men…
- Joshua 15:9 (v17) The border extended from the top of the mountain to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, and went out to the cities of Mount Ephron; and…
- Joshua 15:60 (v17) Kiriath Baal (also called Kiriath Jearim), and Rabbah; two cities with their villages.
- Joshua 18:14 (v17) The border extended, and turned around on the west quarter southward, from the mountain that lies before Beth Horon southward; and ended at…
- 1 Samuel 7:1 (v17) The men of Kiriath Jearim came and took Yahweh’s ark, and brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to…
- 2 Samuel 21:1-6 (v20) There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for…
- 2 Samuel 21:7 (v18) But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh’s oath that was between them, between David and…
- 1 Chronicles 13:5-6 (v17) So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor the brook of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring God’s ark from Kiriath…
- 1 Chronicles 21:29 (v17) For Yahweh’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.
- 2 Chronicles 1:3-4 (v17) So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for God’s Tent of Meeting was there, which Yahweh’s…
- 2 Chronicles 36:13 (v20) He also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against…
- Nehemiah 7:29 (v17) The men of Kiriath Jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth: seven hundred forty-three.
- Proverbs 12:19 (v16) Truth’s lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary.
- Ecclesiastes 5:2 (v18) Don’t be rash with your mouth, and don’t let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth.…
- Ecclesiastes 5:6 (v18) Don’t allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Don’t protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your…
- Jeremiah 4:2 (v19) and you will swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations will bless themselves in him, and they will…
- Jeremiah 18:7-8 (v15) At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation,…
- Zechariah 5:3-4 (v20) Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according…
- Romans 1:31 (v20) without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;
- 1 Timothy 1:10 (v20) for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound…
35 distinct cross-references across this passage (36 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv16, 20 16. And it came to pass, etc. The chastisement…
16. And it came to pass, etc. The chastisement of their levity by the discovery of the fraud, three days after, must, by the swiftness of the punishment, have made them more sensible of the shame and disgrace. For it was thus known, that through sloth and lethargy, they had very stupidly fallen into error from not having taken the trouble to inquire into a matter almost placed before their eyes. Their marching quietly through that region, entering cities without trouble, and finding free means of sustenance, was owing to the paternal indulgence of God, who not only pardons their fault, but causes that which might justly have been injurious to turn out to their good. Here it is related that the children of Israel did not act in a hostile manner in that region, because the Gibeonites had received a promise of safety confirmed by an oath.
Now two questions arise — first, Whether the children of Israel, who had no intention whatever to pledge their faith to impostors, had contracted any obligation? and, secondly, Whether it was not in the option of the people to rescind a promise which their leaders had foolishly and erroneously made? In regard to the general position, the obligation of an oath ought to be held in the greatest sacredness, so that we may not, under the pretext of error, resile from pactions, even from those in which we have been deceived, since the sacred name of God is more precious than the wealth of a whole world. Hence though a man may have sworn with little consideration, no loss or expense will free him from performance. I have no doubt, that in this sense David says, (Psalm 15:4,) that the true worshippers of God, if they have sworn to their hurt, change not, because they will bear loss sooner than expose the name of God to contempt, by retracting their promises.
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I conclude, therefore, that if a private interest only is to be affected, everything which we may have promised by oath must be performed. And it is apparent from the words, that the Israelites were afraid lest they should expose the name of their God to disgrace among the nations of Canaan. For I think there is an emphasis in the expression — because they had sworn by the God of Israel. But a special reason left the Israelites at liberty to recede from the deceitful compact; for they had not only given up their own right, but improperly departed from the command of God, with which it was not lawful to interfere in the smallest iota. It was not in their power either to spare the vanquished or enact laws of surrender, whereas they now transact as if the business had been committed to them. We see, accordingly, that they twice profaned the name of God, while, under pretence of the oath, they persevered in defending what they had foolishly promised.
In the deference which the common people pay to their leaders, by abstaining from all violence to the Gibeonites, we behold the integrity of the age. Elsewhere it would have readily occurred to elude the promise by asserting that a whole people were not bound by the agreement of a few individuals, as the Romans did, in repudiating the Caudine peace, to which only the consuls, legates, and tribunes had sworn without the orders of the senate and people. The more praise, therefore, is due to that rude simplicity in which the religious obligation prevailed more than the too subtle arguments which the greater part of men in the present day approve and applaud. The people are indeed indignant that their leaders had taken more upon them than they were entitled to do, but their moderation does not allow them to proceed beyond murmur and noise.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 20 From Gilgal.
From Gilgal.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–20 Jos 9:15 And Joshua made peace with them, and…
Jos 9:15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.
Ver. 15. And Joshua made peace with them.] This was not without the Lord; who, as he glorified his justice in rooting out the rest of the Amorites, so he manifested his mercy in saving these Gibeonites from that general deluge of destruction.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv15–19 To let them live, i.e. that they would not…
To let them live, i.e. that they would not destroy them. Some question whether this league was lawful and obliging, because it is contrary to a positive and precedent law of God, by which they were enjoined to make no peace with them, but utterly to destroy them, Exo 23:32; Exo 34 &c. But this law seems to admit of some exception and favourable interpretation, and that taken from the reason and soul of that law; which was this, that the Israelites might not be tainted with their idolatry and other abominations by cohabitation with them; and therefore when that reason ceased, i.e. if they were willing to relinquish their possessions and idolatry, and other wickedness, and to embrace the true religion, they might be spared. And though this law was delivered in general terms, because God foresaw that the Israelites would be most prone to err on that hand, by sparing those whom they should destroy; yet that it was to be understood with an exception of penitents and true converts might easily be gathered, both from the example of Rahab, and from the tenor of Divine threatenings, which, though absolutely delivered, allow of this exception; as appears from Jer 18:7,8; Jon 3; Jon 4, and from the great kindness and favour which God hath manifested unto all true penitents, in delivering them from evils threatened to them, and inflicted upon others; which kindness of God we also are obliged to imitate by virtue of that natural and moral law of God implanted in us, and revealed to us, to which such positive commands as this of killing the Canaanites must give place. And that this league was lawful and obliging, may seem probable,
1. Because Joshua and all the princes upon the review concluded it so to be, and spared them accordingly, Jos 9:19,20,22,23.
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2. Because God punished the violation of it long after, 2Sa 21:1.
3. Because God is said to have hardened the hearts of all other cities not to seek peace with Israel, that so he might utterly destroy them, Jos 11:19,20, which seems to imply that their utter destruction did not necessarily come upon them by virtue of any absolute and peremptory command of God to destroy them, but by their own obstinate hardness, whereby they neglected and refused to make peace with the Israelites.
Object. This league was grounded upon a deceit and error of the persons, which also they had entered a caution against, Jos 9:7.
Answ. Their supposition that they were Canaanites was indeed a part of the foregoing discourse, Jos 9:7, and the Israelites rested satisfied with their answer, and believed they were not, and so entered into the league; but that league was absolute, not suspended upon that or any other condition; and the error was not about the persons, but about the country and people to which they belonged, which was not material to this contract, no more than it is to a contract of marriage, that the one person believed the other to be of another country or family than indeed they were.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v15 Here is, I. The treaty soon concluded with the…
Here is, I. The treaty soon concluded with the Gibeonites, Jos 9:15. The thing was not done with much formality, but in short, 1. They agreed to let them live, and more the Gibeonites did not ask. In a common war this would have been but a small matter to be granted; but in the wars of Canaan, which were to make a general destruction, it was a great favour to a Canaanite to have his life given him for a prey, Jer 45:5. 2. This agreement was made not by Joshua only, but by the princes of the congregation in conjunction with him. Though Joshua had an extraordinary call to the government, and extraordinary qualifications for it, yet he would not act in an affair of this nature without the counsel and concurrence of the princes, who were neither kept in the dark nor kept under foot, but were treated by him as sharers in the government. 3. It was ratified by an oath; they swore unto them, not by any of the gods of Canaan, but by the God of Israel only, Jos 9:19. Those that mean honestly do not startle at assurances, but satisfy those with whom they treat, and glorify God by calling him to witness to the sincerity of their intentions. 4. Nothing appears to have been culpable in all this but that it was done rashly; they took of their victuals, by which they satisfied themselves that it was indeed old and dry, but did not consider that his was no proof of their bringing it fresh from home; so that, making use of their senses only, but not their reason, they received the men (as the margin reads it) because of their victuals, perceiving perhaps, upon the view and taste of their bread, not only that now it was old, but that it had been fine and very good at first, whence they inferred that they were persons of some quality, and therefore the friendship of their country was not to be despised. But they asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. They had the Urim and Thummim with them, which they might have advised with in this difficult case, and which would have told them no lie, would have led them into no error; but they relied so much on their own politics that they thought it needless to bring the matter to the oracle. Joshua himself was not altogether without blame herein. Note, We make more haste than good speed in any business when we stay not to take God along with us, and by the word and prayer to consult him. Many a time we see cause to reflect upon it with regret that such and such an affair miscarried, because we asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord; would we acknowledge him in all our ways, we should find them more safe, easy, and successful.
II. The fraud soon discovered, by which this league was procured. A lying tongue is but for a moment, and truth will be the daughter of time. Within three days they found, to their great surprise, that the cities which these ambassadors had treated for were very near them, but one night's foot-march from the camp at Gilgal, Jos 10:9. Either their own scouts or the parties that sallied out to acquaint themselves with the country, or perhaps some deserters that came over to them from the enemy, informed them of the truth in this matter. Those that suffer themselves to be deceived by the wiles of Satan will soon be undeceived to their confusion, and will find that near, even at the door, which they imagined was very far off.
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III. The disgust of the congregation at this. They did indeed submit to the restraints which this league laid upon them, and smote not the cities of the Gibeonites, neither slew the persons nor seized the prey; but it vexed them to have their hands thus tied, and they murmured against the princes (Jos 9:18) it is to be feared, more from a jealousy for their own profit than from a zeal for the fulfilling of God's command, though some of them perhaps had a regard to that. Many are forward to arraign and censure the actions of princes while they are ignorant of the springs of those actions and are incompetent judges of the reasons of state that govern them. While therefore we are satisfied in general that those who are over us aim at nothing but the public good, and sincerely seek the welfare of their people, we ought to make the best of what they do and not exercise ourselves in things above us.
IV. The prudent endeavour of the princes to pacify the discontented congregation, and to accommodate the matter; herein all the princes concurred and were unanimous, which doubtless disposed the people to acquiesce.
1. They resolved to spare the lives of the Gibeonites, for so they had expressly sworn to do (Jos 9:15), to let them live. (1.) The oath was lawful, else it had not bound them any more than Herod's oath bound him to cut off John Baptist's head; it is true God had appointed them to destroy all the Canaanites, but the law must be construed, in favorem vitae - with some tender allowance, to mean those only that stood it out and would not surrender their country to them, and not to bind them so far to put off the sense of honour and humanity as to slay those who had never lifted up a hand against them nor ever would, but before they were reduced to any extremity, or ever attempted any act of hostility, with one consent humbled themselves; the kings of Israel were certainly more merciful kings than to do so (Kg1 20:31), and the God of Israel a more merciful God than to order it so. Satis est prostrasse leoni - It is enough to have laid the lion prostrate. And besides, the reason of the law is the law; the mischief designed to be prevented by that law was the infecting of the Israelites with their idolatry, Deu 7:4. But if the Gibeonites renounce their idolatry, and become friends and servants to the house of God, the danger is effectually prevented, the reason of the law ceases, and consequently the obligation of it, especially to a thing of this nature. The conversion of sinners shall prevent their ruin. (2.) The oath being lawful, both the princes and the people for whom they transacted were bound by it, bound in conscience, bound in honour to the God of Israel, by whom they had sworn, and whose name would have been blasphemed by the Canaanites if they had violated this oath. They speak as those that feared an oath (Ecc 9:2), when they argued thus: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we swore, Jos 9:20. He that ratifies a promise with an oath imprecates the divine vengeance if he wilfully break his promise, and has reason to expect that divine justice will take him at his word. God is not mocked, and therefore oaths are not to be jested with. The princes would keep their word, [1.] Though they lost by it. A citizen of Zion swears to his own hurt and changes not, Psa 15:4. Joshua and the princes, when they found it was to their prejudice that they had thus bound themselves, did not apply to Eleazar for a dispensation, much less did they pretend that no faith is to be kept with heretics, with Canaanites; no, they were strangers to the modern artifices of the Romish church to elude the most sacred bonds, and even to sanctify perjuries [2.] Though the people were uneasy at it, and their discontent might have ended in a mutiny, yet the princes would not violate their engagement to the Gibeonites; we must never be over-awed, either by majesty or multitude, to do a sinful thing, and go against our consciences. [3.] Though they were drawn into this league by a wile, and might have had a very plausible pretence to declare it null and void, yet they adhered to it. They might have pleaded that though those were the men with whom they exchanged the ratifications, yet these were not the cities intended in the league; they had promised to spare certain cities, without names, that were very far off, and upon the express consideration of their being so; but these were very near, and therefore not the cities that they covenanted with. And many learned men have thought that they were so grossly imposed upon by the Gibeonites that it would have been lawful for them to have recalled their promise, but to preserve their reputation, and to keep up in Israel a veneration of an oath, they would stand to it; but it is plain that they thought themselves indispensably obliged by it, and were apprehensive that the wrath of God would fall upon them if they broke it. And, however their adherence to it might be displeasing to the congregation, it is plain that it was acceptable to God; for when, in pursuance of this league, they undertook the protection of the Gibeonites, God gave them the most glorious victory that ever they had in all their wars (ch. 10), and long afterwards severely avenged the wrong Saul did to the Gibeonites in violation of this league, Sa2 21:1. Let this convince us all how religiously we ought to perform our promises, and make good our bargains; and what conscience we ought to make of our words when they are once given. If a covenant obtained by so many lies and deceits might not be broken, shall we think to evade the obligation of those that have been made with all possible honesty and fairness? If the fraud of others will not justify or excuse our falsehood, certainly the honesty of others in dealing with us will aggravate and condemn our dishonesty in dealing with them.
2. Though they spared their lives, yet they seized their liberties, and sentenced them to be hewers of wood and drawers of water to the congregation, Jos 9:21. By this proposal the discontented congregation was pacified; for, (1.) Those who were angry that the Gibeonites lived might be content when they saw them condemned to that which, in the general apprehension, is worse than death, perpetual servitude. (2.) Those who were angry that they were not spoiled might be content when their serving the congregation would be more to the public advantage than their best effects could be; and, in short, the Israelites would be not losers either in honour or profit by this peace with the Gibeonites; convince them of this, and they will be satisfied.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv15–20 And Joshua made peace with them,.... Upon the report…
And Joshua made peace with them,.... Upon the report the princes made of having examined what they had said, and which they found to be true, particularly concerning their victuals:
and made a league with them, to let them live; and not destroy them as he did the Canaanites, and was ordered to do; they being supposed not to belong to them by the representation of things they had made:
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and the princes of the congregation sware unto them; that they would keep the league and covenant they had made with them inviolable; they ratified it by an oath, which was a sacred solemn thing.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv15–18 To let them live - That is, they should…
To let them live - That is, they should not destroy them. That this league was lawful and obliging, appears,
1. Because Joshua and all the princes, upon the review concluded it so to be, and spared them accordingly.
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2. Because God punished the violation of it long after, 2 Sam. xxi, 1.
3. Because God is said to have hardened the hearts of all other cities, not to seek peace with Israel, that so he might utterly destroy them, chap. xi, 19, 20, which seems to imply that their utter destruction did not necessarily come upon them by virtue of any peremptory command of God, but by their own obstinate hardness, whereby they refused to make peace with the Israelites.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv15–19 Verse 15. Joshua made peace with them] Joshua agreed…
Verse 15. Joshua made peace with them] Joshua agreed to receive them into a friendly connection with the Israelites, and to respect their lives and properties; and the elders of Israel bound themselves to the observance of it, and confirmed it with an oath. As the same words are used here as in Jos 9:6, we may suppose that the covenant was made in the ordinary way, a sacrifice being offered on the occasion, and its blood poured out before the Lord. See Clarke on Ge 15:10, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv15, 18 Jos 9:15. Joshua made a league with them to…
Jos 9:15. Joshua made a league with them to let them live — Not merely, it seems, to spare their lives, which, supposing them to belong to a far country, they had no warrant to take away, but to let them continue in the enjoyment of their effects; the word life in Scripture being frequently of equal signification with prosperity. That this league was lawful and obliging, appears, 1st, Because Joshua and all the princes, upon the review, concluded it so to be, and spared them accordingly. 2d, Because God punished the violation of it long after, 2Sa 21:1. 3d, Because God is said to have hardened the hearts of all other cities, not to seek peace with Israel, that so he might utterly destroy them, (Jos 11:19-20,) which seems to imply that their utter destruction did not necessarily come upon them by virtue of any peremptory command of God, but by their own obstinate hardness, whereby they refused to make peace with the Israelites.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v17 Chephirah (Kefir) is situated eight or nine miles west…
Chephirah (Kefir) is situated eight or nine miles west of Gibeon, and was an inhabited city in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah Ezr 2:25; Neh 7:29.
Beeroth (Birch), about eight miles north of Jerusalem. Kirjath-jearim, i. e. “city of woods,” is identified by Robinson with the modern Kuriet el Enab, nine miles from Jerusalem on the road to Jaffa (and by Conder with Soba). The town was numbered among those belonging to Judah, and was in the northern boundary of that tribe. Beyond this city the six hundred Danites encamped on their famous expedition to Laish Jdg 18:12. Kirjath-jearim was also, and probably before the Israelite conquests exclusively, called Baalah and Kirjath-baal Jos 15:9, Jos 15:60, names which seem to point to its early sanctity as a special seat of Baal-worship. To this place also the ark was brought from Beth-shemesh after it was sent back by the Philistines, and here it remained for twenty years 1Sa 6:20-21; 1Sa 7:2. It was fetched thence by David and deposited in the house of Obed-edom 2Sa 6:2. Hence, the allusion, Psa 132:6, where David is said to have found the ark “in the fields of the wood.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv16, 18 Now. The five kings coming to attack the Gabaonites,…
Now. The five kings coming to attack the Gabaonites, these were forced to confess the truth, and to implore the assistance of the Israelites; (Calmet) or perhaps Rahab had given information who they really were. (Menochius) --- Josue flew to their assistance in the night, and arrived the day following, chap. x. 9.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv16–18 at the end of three days . . .…
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 Jos 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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv15–20 15. Peace — He solemnly pledged the faith of…
15. Peace — He solemnly pledged the faith of his people to abstain from war against their commonwealth.
A league — This is a step beyond peace; an alliance, binding the two parties to mutual assistance in defensive, if not offensive, war.
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Princes of the congregation — Called, in Jos_9:6-7, men of Israel, that is, representative men, consisting of heads of families and elders of the people.
Sware — The Hebrew princes appealed to God in their oaths in such phrase as, “The God of Abraham judge;” “As Jehovah liveth:” “God do so to me and more also;” “God knoweth,” and similar formulas.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv17–18 17. on the third day] A three days’ journey…
17. on the third day] A three days’ journey it might well be “according to the slow pace of eastern armies and caravans.” Stanley’s S. & P. p. 209.
Chephirah] “a village,” afterwards allotted to Benjamin (Jos_18:26). It was an inhabited city in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezr_2:25; Neh_7:29). On the western declivity of the mountain range, 11 miles from Jerusalem, and 4 from Kirjath-jearim, is a ruined village called Kefîr, which doubtless marks the site of the old city of Chephirah. After remaining unknown, or at least unnoticed, for more than 2000 years, its site was discovered by Dr Robinson in 1852. See Robinson, Bible Res. III. 146.
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Beeroth] Mentioned afterwards along with other Benjamite cities among the places whose inhabitants returned with Zerubbabel (Ezr_2:25; Neh_7:29). It is commonly identified with the large village of El-Birch between Jerusalem and Bethel.
Kirjath-jearim i.e. “the city of woods,” or “groves,” written Kirjath-arim in Ezr_2:25, and Kiriathiarius in 1Es_5:19. It derived its name from its olive, fig, and other plantations, as its modern representative, Kuriet-el-Enab, “the city of grapes,” does from its vineyards. It was afterwards allotted to Judah, and here the Ark remained from the time of its return from the Philistines to the reign of David (1Sa_7:2; 2Sa_6:2; 1Ch_13:5-6; Psa_132:6), where David is said to have found the Ark in “the fields of the wood.” Before the Israelitish conquest it was known as Baalah and Kirjath-baal (Jos_15:9; Jos_15:60), names which point to its early sanctity as one of the special seats of the worship of Baal.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19 (16) Their neighbours, and they that dwelt among them.—Literally,…
(16) Their neighbours, and they that dwelt among them.—Literally, and that they (the Gibeonites) were dwellers in the midst of him (Israel). (So Jos_9:7.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 18, 20 The princes of the congregation. Literally, the exalted ones,…
The princes of the congregation. Literally, the exalted ones, yaeycin of the congregation, "Die obersten der gemeine" (Luther); that is, the heads of the various tribes. (see Num_1:44; and note on Jos_7:14)
HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE Vers. 15-23. The Gibeonites.
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The manner in which Joshua dealt with the Gibeonites shows how inflexible is the respect God requires for truth. That respect is exemplified in two ways in tiffs narrative. First, in the fulfilment of the oath made to the Gibeonites, that their lives should be saved; and second, in the punishment with which they are visited for their falsehood. They deceived Joshua by their miserable subterfuge of mouldy bread and way-worn garments, and thus passed themselves off as the inhabitants of some distant region instead of a neighbouring city. Therefore, while their lives were spared, they were reduced to a state of slavery (ver. 23).
I. NOTHING IS MORE HATEFUL TO THE HOLY GOD THAN A LIE. He is in His very essence light. (1Jn_1:5) Falsehood and cunning pervert all the relationships of life. Lying breaks the social bond, since a man"s word is the only medium of moral exchange between men; and when mutual confidence is lost, the foundations of the social edifice are undermined. Therefore St. Paul says, "Lie not one to another... for ye are members one of another." In the direct education which God gave to His people Israel, He has given unmistakable demonstration of His horror of all deceit. Hence the punishment of the Gibeonites.
II THE PUNISHMENT which these unhappy men brought upon themselves rested not only upon them as individuals, but upon their whole nation. God thus showed that evil is not transformed into good by being made to subserve a public cause. There are not two codes of morality one for private and another for national life. Polities ought to be as scrupulously governed by the law of God as the life of the individual. Although since the abolition of the theocracy, the sphere of religion and of the civil power ought to be kept altogether distinct, it is no less incumbent on the State to adhere to the plain principles of morality. In spite of all that may seem to argue the contrary, every violation of these principles brings its own punishment. History is in its essence one long judgment of God.
III By not allowing the Israelites to break their oath to the Gibeonites, even though they had been deceived by them, GOD TEACHES US THAT WRONG DONE BY OUR NEIGHBOUR DOES NOT AT ALL VINDICATE US IN BEING GUILTY OF A LIKE WRONG. One sin never justifies another. We are to "overcome evil with good," and it is this which distinguishes the people of God from all other people. It is by not being conformed to this world we triumph over it. If the people of God were to act in the same way as the Canaanites, there would be no reason for giving them the ascendancy. When the Church becomes worldly it falls under the condemnation of the world. Let us be, then, everywhere and always men the rule of whose life is the law of God. The only retaliation we must ever allow ourselves is rendering good for evil. "Be not overcome of evil," says St. Paul, "but overcome evil with good". (Rom_12:21) E. DE P.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v16 Jos_9:17. On the third day] That is the same…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Jos_9:17. On the third day] That is the same as “at the end of three days” in Jos_9:16. “The armed men would move from Gilgal to Gibeon (about twelve miles) in the same day on which the news was heard” (Crosby). Keil, with more apparent accuracy, reckons Gibeon as eighteen or twenty miles from Gilgal, and supposes the phrase, “the third day,” to mean on the third day after the discovery of the stratagem. He adds: the third day “is not to be interpreted as meaning that their journey occupied three days,” a statement which Fay conveniently overlooks while criticising Keil’s opinion.
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Jos_9:23. Ye are cursed] “Heb. =‘arar,’ and not ‘charam,’ whence cherem” (Crosby). Thus, although the Gibeonites were not devoted in the fullest manner, they were devoted in the sense of being set apart exclusively for the menial service of the tabernacle. They were the slaves of the tabernacle, and afterwards of the temple. Like the metal of the devoted cities, which, for another reason could not be destroyed, and which was dedicated to the service of the tabernacle, so these Gibeonites were still held to be forfeited to God. No one might employ them for his own private service. In these Hivites was begun the literal fulfilment of Noah’s curse upon Canaan (Gen_9:25).
Jos_9:27. In the place which He should choose] Shewing that this book was written before the building of the temple; or, if the words refer to an assigned place for the tabernacle, as seems most probable, Fay’s view, that they indicate the appointment of the Gibeonites “at once to the lowest service of the sanctuary,” must be held to be correct.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_9:16-27
THE TREATY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Soon after Joshua and the princes had sworn to preserve the lives of the Gibeonites, they discovered the imposition of which they had been made the victims. The treaty was concluded without asking counsel of the Lord, and it took only three days ere it began to bring shame and work confusion. This paragraph shews us:—
I. The sacredness which should ever attach to promises. Jos_9:18. The oath which had been solemnly sworn before the Lord might or might not have been binding. The league was obtained by entirely fraudulent representations. It might be urged that when the conditions under which it was granted were proved to be feigned and false throughout, the league itself would have no more foundation in fact than the conditions had. Whether the conditions were expressly named in the terms of the covenant or not, this could make no difference whatever to the moral obligation of the Israelites in respect to keeping the covenant. By implication, if not expressly, the treaty was made with the Gibeonites on the ground that their story was true; and none knew this better than the Gibeonites themselves. If we proceed on the assumption that Joshua was not morally obliged to keep this treaty, the history makes the sacredness of promises in general still more emphatic. He kept his word when he was not bound to keep it, because the word of one man to another is a holy thing. Whether the treaty be considered binding or not, God solemnly approved the course eventually taken.
1. A promise, once really made, should be held to be as sacred as an oath. When Christ said, “Swear not at all,” He did not mean to prevent men from giving the utmost possible assurance of fidelity to their fellows. The “yea, yea,” and the “nay, nay,” were to be felt to be as obligatory as the most solemn oath.
2. Promises should be kept, even when they have to be kept at considerable sacrifice. When David asked, “Lord, who shall abide in Thy Tabernacle?” he also answered, “He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” He who breaks his promise in order to spare his own capital robs the estate of human trustfulness, and thus pays a personal debt with public property. Such a man steals from the faith and rest and peace of mankind generally, that he may protect himself and the comparatively small circle associated with him.
3. If possible, promises should be kept even when they have been fraudulently obtained. Herein lies the chief emphasis of this story. Seeing that the treaty had been made, it was best that it should be kept. When once the Gibeonites had been punished for their lie, it was absolutely imperative that the treaty should be respected. Hence the chastisement which God inflicted, four centuries later, for Saul’s breach of his promise (2Sa_21:1-14). God would have us keep our word at all times, unless the thing promised be in itself sinful.
4. If we hope that God will keep His promises to us, we must keep ours to each other. The Divine promises are only sure to us in Christ, and to break our promises to our fellows is, in this matter, to ignore Christ. The Saviour uses the same argument on the question of forgiveness: “If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
II. The opposition which is continually found in the way of truth. “All the congregation murmured against the princes.” It is not necessary to suspect the congregation of selfish motives, touching the question of spoil, because of this opposition. Probably the people feared the wrath of the Lord, because a league had been made which He had forbidden. The Israelites had recently suffered shame and anxiety and loss because of Achan’s sin, and it is reasonable to suppose that they were mainly actuated to this murmuring against their leaders by their fear of the anger of Jehovah.
1. He who contends for truth and uprightness must not expect to escape opposition.
2. Opposition to those who are faithful to truth is offered from various motives.
3. Such opposition should be firmly met (Jos_9:19). He who contends for integrity may well stand firmly. He who strives for fidelity need not fear to be faithful.
III. The penalties which ultimately attend fraud. The Gibeonites and their children were made slaves of the tabernacle for ever. Possibly if they had come openly, and pleaded for mercy, they would have been spared, as Rahab and her family had been. Israel had no right to conclude a covenant of peace with an entire city or people; for their general guidance they were forbidden to do so; it was not safe to trust them with powers to make peace with even single cities, lest repentance had been simulated by the Canaanites, and this deception had spread to city after city, and tribe after tribe, till Israel had entered into covenant with many of the inhabitants of the land who remained in heart as idolatrous as ever (cf., Deu_20:16-18). But had the leaders of Israel asked counsel of the Lord, He might have given them the right to make peace in this or any other particular instance. This is implied in chap. Jos_11:19. Judging by what we know of the character of God, He would certainly have commanded the Gibeonites to be spared, had they been penitent. There can be no doubt whatever about this. When God could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself: “As I live, saith the LORD GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way, and live.” The whole spirit of the Scriptures assures us that had all the Canaanites sincerely repented of idolatry, and sought Divine mercy, God would have pardoned them as readily as He afterwards spared Nineveh. This being so:
1. The bondage of the Gibeonites must be regarded as a punishment. Lying thought it could do better than candour and penitence; it set out to find life, and life was granted, but it was a life of perpetual slavery; confession would have found not only life, but liberty also. The bondage was the outcome of sin, and was meant also to be remedial.
2. This bondage of the Gibeonites was expedient, because of the Israelites. The social status of the Gibeonites was lowered, till the poorest Israelite would think little of the men, and less of their gods. Men do not learn of their slaves. The gods of Canaan, moreover, would be ignored daily by the very service which the spared Gibeonites rendered in the worship of the God of Israel. Thus God shews us that when we cannot remove a temptation, we are to disarm it. He shews us not less, how He makes all things work together for good to them that love Him. The habits of a lifetime could hardly be changed throughout an entire community by the penitence of a week. God suffers the prowess of His people to work prayer in the idolaters; He also suffers the prayer to go hand in hand with the deception. Then the slavery follows naturally as a punishment for sin—the sin of lying, and the half-repented sin of idolatry; and thus is the danger of a great temptation taken from the Israelites, and a purifying discipline, to continue through many generations, reserved for the idolaters themselves. Surely one of the most gladdening studies of heaven will be that in which the redeemed of the Lord search out the wonderful interworkings of the providence and grace by which, personally, each has been brought to his city of habitation, the New Jerusalem.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_9:16-17.—FROM GUILT TO JUDGMENT.
Consider:—
I. Guilt in its relation to exposure. Sooner or later it must be revealed. The Gibeonites well knew, in their case, that it could not long remain hidden. Their feeling is very much the normal condition of guilty hearts generally. Guilt is like the moth of the summer evening; it will make for the light. The guilty heart feels that the tendency of things is ever in the direction of exposure, but hopes for concealment notwithstanding.
II. Guilt in its connection with fear. The state of mind in which the Gibeonites found themselves after the success of their ruse must have been most unenviable. The blow would come: when would it come? how would it come? Fear ever waits on sin. The guilty no sooner become guilty than they are delivered over to the keeping of fear. Even when God had brought the sin of Cain to the light, and sent him from the Divine presence, Cain was overwhelmed with a vision in which discovery was perpetually repeating itself, and death continually waiting on discovery: he cried, “It shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” The murderer’s vision of life was made up of two things: a state of chronic exposure, and a time of incessant judgment. Joseph’s brethren succeeded for a long while in concealing their wickedness, but not even the years which intervened between their sin and their trial could keep down the consciousness that their old act of iniquity was approaching the light. More than twenty years after their sin, they saw in the rough usage of the Egyptian lord the coming judgment of their crime: “And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother.” A guilty heart continually goes in fear of coming exposure. It often feels about its wickedness, as one says of guilt, in a fragment by Landor:—
“It wakes me many mornings, many nights,
And fields of poppies could not quiet it,”
Owen has told us that “One lie must be thatched with another, or it will soon rain through;” and the thatching is miserable work indeed when the thatcher is driven to feel that, labour ingeniously and perseveringly as he may, the rain will come through after all.
III. Guilt finding its worst fears realised. The Gibeonites could not hope to conceal their fraud for long; they could not but be anxious as to whether their trick would be resented. Their anxiety was not without cause. In less than a week the armed hosts of the Israelites, indignant at the treatment they had received, were seen marching hastily into the territory of the Gibeonites to demand an explanation, and, it might be, to take vengeance on the deceivers. The fear of the wicked is not vain. It has its counterpart in reality. It is the shadow cast on the heart by an actual cloud. It often precedes solemn judgment. About food and raiment, Christ says to His disciples, “Take no thought for the morrow. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” No such word is ever spoken to the unrepentant man concerning the judgment that follows sin.
Jos_9:18-20.—THE OPPOSITION OF THE PEOPLE TO THEIR LEADERS.
I. The murmuring of the congregation. Probably the people were concerned lest God should be angry. Possibly some murmured in view of lost spoil.
II. The faithfulness of the princes. They were faithful to their promise:
1. Because of the solemnity of an oath (cf. Eze_17:13-19).
2. Because of the sacred name by which the oath had been sworn (Jos_9:19).
3. Although they had previously erred in not asking counsel of God.
“The obligation of an oath should be so far held sacred by us, as to prevent our departing on pretence of an error, even from engagements into which we may have been led by mistake; the sacred name of God being of more importance than all the wealth in the world. Therefore, although a man may have taken an oath without sufficient consideration, no loss or injury can release him from his engagement.… My decision therefore would be, that whenever it is only our advantage that is in question, we are bound to perform whatever we have promised on oath.”—[Calvin.]
Jos_9:22-25.—THE BEARING OF TRUE MEN AND FALSE.
I. The dignity that belongs to truthfulness. Truth is greater in its defeats than lying is in its triumphs.
1. It has a nobler demeanour.
2. It can discuss calmly even the details of the plan by which it has been overthrown.
3. To it, eventually, belongs the right of passing sentence.
II. The servility which, accompanies falsehood. Falsehood foreshadows its bondage in the spirit which it manifests.
1. It can argue only from motives of self-interest.
2. It pleads its very fears as excuses.
3. It accepts its sentence without remonstrance.
4. It endeavours to the last to take advantage of that sense of right in others which has been wanting in itself. “As it seemeth good and right to thee to do unto us, do.”
Jos_9:26-27.—The Nethinim.
These hewers of wood and drawers of water were probably appointed not merely to the work indicated in these words, but to the general drudgery of the tabernacle, and subsequently of the temple. In Ezr_8:20 they are called “the Nethinim,” that is, the “given” or “dedicated” ones. Henceforth these Gibeonites, then, were not their own; they belonged unto God in a perpetual servitude. Their history, and the name by which they were afterwards known in Israel, suggest to us the following thoughts:—
I. Life forfeited by sin, but preserved by grace. The Gibeonites appear to have owed their lives to the princes; really, they owed them to God, who had so diligently taught His servants the sacredness of every promise.
1. The lives of these men had been forfeited by their own iniquity. They had become “devoted” by reason of the idolatry for which the rest of the Canaanites were actually slain. They might see their own deserts in the fate of their fellows.
2. Their lives were preserved by Divine grace. (a) By the grace of God in the leaders of the Israelites. (b) By the grace in which God afterwards shielded them from their enemies (2 Samuel 21).
II. Life preserved by grace, but preserved for work. The Gibeonites were not to be useless. They were not to be mere pensioners in the land. They were to be the servants of the temple of the Lord. God’s dedicated ones are not redeemed to idleness. They are called to arduous work, to constant work, to the humblest work. Christ washed His disciples’ feet, to shew us in what lowliness we ought to serve one another. The Psalmist sang, “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” He who owes life to undeserved mercy may well serve in continual gratitude. Secker said, “God has three sorts of servants in the world: some are slaves, and serve Him from fear; others are hirelings, and serve Him for the sake of wages; and the last are sons, and serve Him under the influence of love.”
III. Life preserved for work, and this work entirely for God. The Nethinim might not be pressed into the service of the Israelites. They were not only the servants of God, but of God only. They were dedicated, or devoted, perpetually unto Him. Those whom grace saves
(1) are not their own;
(2) they belong not unto men;
(3) they are the servants of Christ. They sing in the gladness of one who felt it no mean thing to belong unto Jehovah: “O Lord, truly I am Thy servant.” One of our modern hymns, by far too little known, breathes, through six verses, the same spirit. The last four are these:—
“No longer would my soul be known
As self-sustained and free;
O not mine own, O not mine own!
Lord, I belong to Thee.
“In each aspiring burst of prayer,
Sweet leave my soul would ask
Thine every burden, Lord, to bear,
To do Thine every task.
“For ever, Lord, Thy servant choose,
Nought of Thy claim abate;
The glorious name I would not lose,
Nor change the sweet estate.
“In life, in death, on earth, in heaven,
No other name for me;
The same sweet style and title given
Through all eternity.”
Thus should every pardoned and saved man and woman, not simply submit to, but delight in, the rank and dignity and labour of a servant of Jesus Christ.
IV. Life entirely devoted to God, and thus in the highest manner given to men.
1. No man serves his fellows, who does not serve God. That which he does for them with one hand, he more than undoes with the other. He teaches men to live “without God in the world,” and nothing can compensate for that.
2. He serves his fellows most diligently, who also serves God. It is “the zeal of His house” that leads men to consume themselves as willing sacrifices for others. Some of the most earnest of the apostles loved to begin their Epistles by calling themselves “servants (δουλοι) of Jesus Christ.” As they felt how entirely they belonged to the Saviour, they saw in the utmost which they could do for men only “a reasonable service.”
3. He who is devoted to God is anxious to serve men in the highest possible manner. He strives to serve them, not merely in things connected with the body and with time, but in priceless things touching the soul and belonging to eternity.
NEBY-SAMWIL, OR GIBEON
“The chief fame of Gibeon in later times was not derived from the city itself, but from the ‘great high place’ hard by (1Ki_3:4; 1Ki_9:2; 2Ch_1:3; 2Ch_1:13); whither, after the destruction of its seat at Nob or Olivet, the tabernacle was brought, and where it remained till it was thence removed to Jerusalem by Solomon. It can hardly be doubted that to this great sanctuary the lofty height of Neby-Samwîl, towering immediately over the town of El-Jib, exactly corresponds. The tabernacle would be appropriately transferred to this eminence, when it could no longer remain at Nob on the opposite ridge of Olivet; and, if this peak were thus the ‘great high place’ of Solomon’s worship, a significance is given to what otherwise would be a blank and nameless feature in a region where all the less conspicuous hills are distinguished by some historical name. This would then be a ground for the sanctity with which the Mussulman and Christian traditions have invested it, as the Ramah and the Shiloh of Samuel, even though those traditions themselves are without foundation. In Epiphanius’ time it still bore the name of the Mountain of Gibeon; and from its conspicuous height the name of ‘Gibeon’ (‘belonging to a hill’) was naturally derived to the city itself, which lay always where its modern representative lies now, on the lower eminence. From thence the Gibeonites ‘hewed the wood’ of the adjacent valley, and ‘drew the water’ from the springs and tanks with which its immediate neighbourhood abounds, and carried them up to the Sacred Tent; and there attended the ‘altar of the Lord,’ which, from its proud elevation, overlooked the wide domain of Israel.”—[Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine.]
HEWERS OF WOOD AND DRAWERS OF WATER
“I was forcibly reminded of one item in the sentence of condemnation pronounced upon the Gibeonites—that they should be hewers of wood—by long files of women and children carrying on their heads heavy bundles of wood. It seemed to be hard work, especially to the young girls. It is the severest kind of drudgery; and my compassion has often been enlisted in behalf of the poor women and children, who daily bring loads of wood to Jerusalem from these very mountains of the Gibeonites. To carry water, also, is very laborious and fatiguing. The fountains are far off, in deep wadies with steep banks; and a thousand times have I seen the feeble and the young staggering up long and weary ways with large jars of water on their heads. It is the work of slaves, and of the very poor, whose condition is still worse. Among the pathetic lamentations of Jeremiah there is nothing more affecting than this: ‘They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.’ ”—[The Land and the Book.]
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v16 The Deception Discovered and Punished.
The Deception Discovered and Punished.
v. 16. And it came to pass at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them, that they, the Israelites, heard that they, the Gibeonites, were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them, almost in the center of Canaan.
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v. 17. And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now, their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim, the location of all of which is pretty definitely known, west and northwest of Jerusalem.
v. 18. And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel, namely, to spare their lives, and they felt themselves bound in conscience, by their reverence of the oath in itself, Lev 19:12, although, strictly speaking, the condition of the ambassadors’ having come from a distant country was attached to the oath and rendered it invalid. and all the congregation murmured against the princes.
v. 19. But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel; now, therefore, we may not touch them.
v. 20. This we will do to them: we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them. The punishment of God did strike Israel later, at the time of David, because Saul, not paying any attention to this oath and the subsequent provision, had tried to exterminate the Gibeonites, 2 Samuel 21.
v. 21. And the princes said unto them, Let them live, but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them. So their lives were spared, but they were given the most menial position in Israel; they were made slaves of the Sanctuary, being obliged to perform the lowest tasks there, as servants of the entire congregation. In this way the danger of their attempting to lead Israel into idolatry was also removed. Thus the matter was decided upon and adjusted.
v. 22. And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, "Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you, when ye dwell among us? It was a just rebuke of the lying craftiness of the Gibeonites.
v. 23. Now, therefore, ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, they were never to cease being slaves, that was to be their social status in Israel forever, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God, reckoned among the lowest class of the people, Deu 29:10-11. Together with captives taken in war and devoted for like purposes to the Sanctuary, they bore, at a later period, the name Nethinim, 1Ch 9:2; Neh 7:43-46.
v. 24. And they answered Joshua, in attempting to justify their action, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants how that the Lord, thy 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 were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing.
v. 25. And now, behold, we are in thine hand; as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do. It was an unconditional submission, by which they left their fate entirely in the hands of Joshua.
v. 26. And so he did unto them, as had been decided upon, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not, which they, in their warlike zeal, would have been only too willing to do.
v. 27. And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord even unto this day, at the Tabernacle, in the place which He should choose, this note proving that the book was written before the building of Solomon’s Temple. Yet the Gibeonites, condemned to everlasting servitude as they were, were received into the fellowship of the blessings of Jehovah. There are always some souls, even among the outcasts of the world, who hear of the mercy of the Lord and are moved to accept His invitation in the Gospel. Mark: An oath in uncertain things may be the cause of much trouble and unpleasantness, if it does not lead to severe transgressions of the will of God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 18, 20 third day
third day
This refers to number three in order. (See: Numbers)
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Kephirah
This is one of the cities of the Gibeonites. (See: How to Translate Names)
Beeroth
This is the name of a place. (See: How to Translate Names)
Kiriath Jearim
This is the name of a place. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
Israel
neighbor
Gibeon
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv15–18 9:15 Israel entered into a peace treaty with the…
9:15 Israel entered into a peace treaty with the Gibeonites. The Israelites were God’s vassals, having entered into a suzerain-vassal treaty with God at Sinai (see study note on Exod 20:1–23:33). Israel did not have authority to enter into treaties without the approval of their own suzerain. • guaranteed their safety (literally cut with them a covenant for their lives): Nations ratified covenants by a ceremony that involved cutting sacrificial animals in half. The parties to the covenant walked between the two animal halves (cp. Gen 15:9-18) to symbolize their commitment to be cut in two like the sacrifice if one violated the terms of the covenant. Covenants also were written documents, sometimes chiseled in stone and set up in a public area for all to see and remember (see study note on Josh 8:32). • In Israel, a binding oath was sworn in the name of the Lord. Violating the oath invited the Lord’s judgment for swearing falsely (Exod 20:7).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.