Joshua 9:20

_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._ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

20._This we will do to them, _etc. Although, according to agreement, they give the Gibeonites their lives, _they _ratify the whole covenant only in part. For while the Gibeonites were entitled to be made perfectly secure, they are deprived of liberty, which is dearer than life. From this we infer that Joshua and the others had, as in a case of doubt and perplexity, devised a kind of middle course, so as not to make the oath altogether void. The principal object of this device was to appease the multitude: at the same time, while they were indignant at having been imposed upon by the Gibeonites, they punished the fraud, and did not allow impunity to increase their derision. It was a harsh condition, in this arrangement, that the Gibeonites were not only doomed to servile labors but withdrawn from their homes, to lead a vagrant and wandering life. The _office _of scullions imposed on them...

14-21 The Israelites, having examined the provisions of the Gibeonites, hastily concluded that they confirmed their account. We make more haste than good speed, when we stay not to take God with us, and do not consult him by the word and prayer. The fraud was soon found out. A lying tongue is but for a moment. Had the oath been in itself unlawful, it would not have been binding; for no obligation can render it our duty to commit a sin. But it was not unlawful to spare the Canaanites who submitted, and left idolatry, desiring only that their lives might be spared. A citizen of Zion swears to his own hurt, and changes not, Psalms 15:4. Joshua and the princes, when they found that they had been deceived, did not apply to Eleazar the high priest to be freed from their engagement, much less did they pretend that no faith is to be kept with those to whom they had sworn. Let this convince us h...

EXPOSITION THE GIBEONITES.— JOSHUA 9:1 AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN ALL THE KINGS. According to the explanation given above (Joshua 6:5, Joshua 6:15) of the particle כwith the infinitive, this must mean immediately. We must therefore suppose that the distance at which they lived from the scene of the events had prevented them from comprehending their astounding character so clearly as those who lived in the immediate neighbourhood (see Joshua 2:11; Joshua 5:1;...

THIS WE WILL DO TO THEM,.... Either this favour we will show them, preserving their lives, next mentioned, or this punishment we will inflict on them, making them hewers of wood, and drawers of water; which though not mentioned directly, was what was upon their minds, and in their design to propose, only they were extremely desirous of sparing their lives, which they repeat: WE WILL EVEN LET THEM LIVE; this by all means must be done, their lives must not be taken away as the rest of the Canaanites: LEST WRATH COME UPON US, BECAUSE OF THE OATH WHICH WE SWARE UNTO THEM; that is, lest the wrath of God come upon us princes, and upon the whole community, for perjury, a breach of the third command, Exodus 20:7, a sin highly displeasing to God; since an oath is made not only in his presence, and before him as a witness, who is appealed unto, but in his name, and

9. THE GIBEONITES CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The confederacy of the enemies (Joshua 9:1)_ 2. The deception of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:3) 3. The failure (Joshua 9:14) 4. The deception discovered (Joshua 9:16) 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 blood; ours are not. Israel's conflict was in the land; ours is with the wicked spirits in the heavenly places. Israel was asked to drive the

JOSHUA 9. THE STRATAGEM OF THE GIBEONITES. This account, though composite, is straightforward enough if Joshua 9:17 be omitted. These verses _give_ an account by the priestly writer in which the princes of the congregation take the leading part, and make a treaty which immediately afterwards is made again by Joshua Joshua 9:22 is plainly the continuation of Joshua 9:16. That a treaty was made with the Gibeonites at an early date is a historical fact, but that treaty was very far from making them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Temple (Joshua 9:23; Joshua 9:2

The Embassy of the Gibeonites 3. _of Gibeon_ This city was the head of the four towns occupied by the Hivites, the other three being Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim (Joshua 9:17). It appears to have been a sort of independent republic, since we hear of elders there (Joshua 9:11), but not of a king, and is said to have been a great city _like_a royal city (Joshua 10:2), i.e. of the same size and importance as those which the kings of the country made their capitals. The name itself signifies "pertaining to a hill," i.e. built on a hill, and describes the site, which is, by the direct route, about 5 miles north of Jerusalem, on two of the rounded hills peculiar to this neighbourhood. Placed at the head of the pass

_VER._ 20. _THIS WE WILL DO TO THEM,_ &C.— "That we may not draw down upon us the wrath of God, by the violation of our oath, though rashly made; this is what we may now do with the Gibeonites. Let their lives be spared, but let them be reduced to the servile occupations of _hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation,_ them, and their children after them, for ever." The expression, _all the congregation,_ is explained in ver. 23 to be _the house of God._ Thus then the Gibeonites were condemned to fetch all the water and wood necessary for the sacrifices, purifications, holy feastings, and, without exception, for whatever the service of the sanctuary required; a mean and toilsome occupation, (see Deuteronomy 29:11.) which indicated a real slavery; and which, doubtless, they filled up by turns, in the same manner as the Levites discharge

_The Servitude of the Gibeonites Joshua 9:16-27_ 16 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 neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. 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 Kirjathjearim. 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. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. 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. 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. 21 And the princes said unto them, Let them l