9:1–27 Deception of the
Gibeonites
Moses gave Israel the rules of
warfare (Deut 7:1–2; 20:10–18). He required Israel to destroy the nations
nearby in Canaan and spare the nations living afar.
The Gibeonites conspired to trick
the Israelites into forming a peace treaty by giving the appearance of
traveling from a far country. They wore old clothes, carried mended sacks, and
had dry, moldy food (9:3–6). They acted as though they knew only of Israel’s
early wars under Moses and not their recent victories. They repeatedly
flattered Joshua and the elders by referring to themselves as “your servants”
(9:7–13). Israel failed by not consulting the Lord before entering the covenant
(9:14–15). The people grumbled when they learned that the Gibeonites had
deceived them (9:16–21). They probably feared God’s wrath as at Ai because they
were prohibited from falsely swearing an oath in the Lord’s name (Lev 19:12).
When the Gibeonites confessed
their trickery (9:22–25), Joshua punished them by conscripting the Gibeonites
and their descendants to serve the tabernacle’s altar (9:26–27). This oath was
observed until the days of Saul, when he ruthlessly broke the treaty (2 Sam
21:1–2).
Although the Israelites failed
God, the fear of the Gibeonites was another assurance that Joshua would succeed
among the nations. (Holman
Bible Handbook, ed. David S. Dockery
[Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992], 200)
