Joshua 9:7-18

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 9:15

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: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them ; that they would keep the league and covenant... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 9:16

And it came to pass at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them ,.... The league seems to have been made the same day they came; the Gibeonites were no doubt in haste to have it concluded, lest they should be discovered; and Joshua, and the princes of Israel, took no pains, and gave themselves no great trouble to inquire about them, but made peace with them at once; and it was but three days after, or within three days of its being made: that they heard that they ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 9:17

And the children of Israel journeyed ,.... Not the whole camp, for that still remained at Gilgal, and continued there until the Gibeonites in distress sent to them for assistance in virtue of the league, as appears from the following chapter; but a party of them, who were sent along with some of the princes, to know the truth whether the Gibeonites were their neighbours or not, as had been reported to them: and came unto their cities on the third day ; not on the third day from their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 9:18

And the children of Israel smote them not ,.... The inhabitants of the four cities, when they came to them, though they found it to be a true report that was brought them of their being neighbours, and that they were imposed upon by them: because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel ; by the Word of the Lord God of Israel, as the Targum, and therefore they restrained the people from smiting and plundering them; for it was not the oath of the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 9:7

Peradventure ye dwell among us - It is strange they should have had such a suspicion, as the Gibeonites had acted so artfully; and it is as strange that, having such a suspicion, they acted with so little caution. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 9:8

We are thy servants - This appears to have been the only answer they gave to the question of the Israelitish elders, and this they gave to Joshua, not to them, as they saw that Joshua was commander-in-chief of the host. Who are ye? and from whence come ye? - To these questions, from such an authority, they felt themselves obliged to give an explicit answer; and they do it very artfully by a mixture of truth, falsehood, and hypocrisy. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 9:9

Because of the name of the Lord thy God - They pretend that they had undertaken this journey on a religious account; and seem to intimate that they had the highest respect for Jehovah, the object of the Israelites' worship; this was hypocrisy. We have heard the fame of him - This was true: the wonders which God did in Egypt, and the discomfiture of Sihon and Og, had reached the whole land of Canaan, and it was on this account that the inhabitants of it were... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 9:11

Wherefore our elders , etc. - All this, and what follows to the end of Joshua 9:13 , was false, contrived merely for the purpose of deceiving the Israelites, and this they did to save their own lives; as they expected all the inhabitants of Canaan to be put to the sword. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 9:14

The men took of their victuals - This was done in all probability in the way of friendship; for, from time immemorial to the present day, eating together, in the Asiatic countries, is considered a token of unalterable friendship; and those who eat even salt together, feel themselves bound thereby in a perpetual covenant. But the marginal reading of this clause should not be hastily rejected. And asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord - They made the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 9:15

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 Joshua 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 on Genesis 15:10 ; (note), etc. read more

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