Joshua 9:7

‘ And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps it may be that you dwell among us, and how shall we make a covenant-treaty with you?”

The elders of Israel were not fools. They were suspicious. They wanted proof that these men were what they said they were and not inhabitants of the land. But they did not know that they were Hivites. The fact is pointed out to bring out the folly of what they did. A covenant-treaty with the Hivites was forbidden (Deuteronomy 7:1). The Bible tells us that we must be as wise as serpents, and that the elders of Israel in this case were not.