Joshua 9:14

14. The men The chiefs in Joshua’s camp with whom the Gibeonites conferred.

Took of their victuals But it is not said that the men of Israel ate of these victuals. Yet, as it is a custom among the Arabs to eat the victuals of a guest, as a sign of peace and friendship, this may have been the purpose of their taking the provision of these Gibeonites. This passage has puzzled all the interpreters. The marginal reading in our English Bible is ingenious, but it is not sustained by the Hebrew, “they received the men by reason of their victuals.” Nor did they make a treaty with them by eating their food, for this was not customary. More plausible is the theory that they took their bread into their hands to examine it. But we would suggest that the real meaning may be, they presumed the truth of the story from their victuals. The original word for took is sometimes used for mental acts.

And asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord A momentous question was settled with no reference to the Divine will, and that, too, on a point in regard to which Jehovah’s commands were very explicit alliance with aliens. Compare note and references on Joshua 9:7. Jehovah, who had made special arrangements for communicating with his people through the urim and thummim, was slighted and ignored. These Israelitish princes have had many imitators in the senates and cabinets of Christian lands. How rarely is God consulted by statesmen, even in affairs in which the destiny of a nation is involved!