Joshua 9:4

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Joshua 9:4

They They too. made as if they had been ambassadors. Some codices, with Aramaean, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "furnished themselves with provisions", as in Joshua 9:11 and Joshua 9:12 . bottles = skins i.e. wine-skins. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Joshua 9:4

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... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Joshua 9:1-27

5. The treaty with the Gibeonites ch. 9The residents of the town of Gibeon decided that if they could not defeat the Israelites they would join them. This has been a strategy that enemies of believers have employed for centuries (cf. Numbers 25:1-2). read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Joshua 9:3-5

Gibeon stood seven miles south of Bethel. It was "one of the largest towns in the central part of Canaan," [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, p. 95.] larger than Ai (Joshua 10:2), and possibly the Hivite capital. [Note: Bush, p. 99.] It later became a Levitical town (Joshua 18:25; Joshua 21:17). The Israelites eventually pitched the tabernacle there, and it remained at that site until Solomon built his temple (1 Kings 3:4-5; 1 Chronicles 16:39; 1 Chronicles 21:29). Hivites inhabited Gibeon at the time... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 9:1-24

In Joshua 9-11 inclusive we have the account of two great campaigns, in which Joshua successively defeats a confederacy of the petty kings of southern Palestine under the king of Jerusalem, and a combination of the northern chiefs under Jabin, king of Hazor. Joshua 12 concludes the narrative of the conquest, with a summary of the successes of Moses on the E. and of Joshua on the W. of Jordan. Critics have been much exercised by the apparent contrast of this narrative of the invasion with that... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 9:1-27

The League with the GibeonitesJoshua 9 forms an introduction to the narrative of the Southern campaign (Joshua 10). The Gibeonite cities were important enough both politically and geographically (see on Joshua 9:17 and Joshua 10:2) for their defection to frighten the surrounding kinglets into concerted action against Israel.1, 2. The petty kings combine against Israel.3. Gibeon] 2 m. N. of Jerusalem. For its importance see on Joshua 10:2, Joshua 10:10. 14. Took of their victuals] thus accepting... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Joshua 9:4

(4) They did work wilily.—Literally, and they also dealt with subtilty. The stratagem does not seem a very profound one, or one that would have been difficult to detect. But we may remember a fact of Israel’s experience which puts it in a somewhat different light. The Israelites themselves had come from a far country, but their raiment had not “waxed old upon them,” nor did “their feet swell,” these forty years. Of bread they had no need, when there was manna, and God gave them water for their... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Joshua 9:1-27

CHAPTER XVIII.THE STRATAGEM OF THE GIBEONITES.Joshua 9:1-27.WE now resume the thread of the story interrupted by the narrative of the transaction at Ebal and Gerizim. We learn from the testimony of Rahab of Jericho, as uttered to the spies (Joshua 2:9), that the terror of Israel had caused the hearts of the inhabitants of the country to faint, and that the fame of all that had been done for them by Jehovah had quite paralysed them. But when the host of Israel actually entered Western Palestine,... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Joshua 9:1-27

9. The Gibeonites CHAPTER 9 1. The confederacy of the enemies (Joshua 9:1-2 ) 2. The deception of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:3-13 ) 3. The failure (Joshua 9:14-15 ) 4. The deception discovered (Joshua 9:16-27 ) Israel now comes face to face with the other inhabitants of the land. These enemies, which Israel encountered, are the types of our enemies, and the conflict of God’s earthly people is typical of our conflict. There is, however, a difference. Israel’s enemies were flesh and... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Joshua 9:4

9:4 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and {c} bound up;(c) Because they were all worn. read more

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