Joshua 9:1,2
IX. PREPARATIONS OF THE CANAANITES FOR WAR. (1, 2) These verses record the general preparation of the natives of Canaan for the last struggle with Joshua.... [ Continue Reading ]
IX. PREPARATIONS OF THE CANAANITES FOR WAR. (1, 2) These verses record the general preparation of the natives of Canaan for the last struggle with Joshua.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GIBEONITES MAKE PEACE WITH JOSHUA (Joshua 9:3). (3) THE INHABITANTS OF GIBEON. — Hivites, as appears by Joshua 9:7. Gibeon was one member of a tetrapolis, or community of four cities, as is seen in Joshua 9:17. Their deception of Joshua and the Israelites on this occasion is a curious compensat... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DID WORK WILILY. — Literally, _and they_ also _dealt with subtilty._ The stratagem does not seem a very profound one, or one that would have been difficult to detect. But we may remember a fact of Israel’s experience which puts it in a somewhat different light. The Israelites themselves had com... [ Continue Reading ]
CLOUTED — _i.e.,_ patched.... [ Continue Reading ]
PERADVENTURE YE DWELL AMONG US; AND HOW SHALL WE MAKE A LEAGUE WITH YOU? — Literally, _Peradventure thou art a dweller in the midst of me; and how shall I make a covenant with thee?_ The Israelites assume the ownership of Canaan as already theirs.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THAT HE DID IN EGYPT, AND... TO THE TWO KINGS OF THE AMORITES. — The Gibeonites carefully abstain from referring to more recent exploits, as the passage of Jordan, the taking of Jericho and Ai; they mention only those which might have had time to reach them in the “far country” from which they a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MEN TOOK OF THEIR VICTUALS. — _And they accepted the men from_ (the appearance of) _their provisions._ This, which is the view taken in our marginal reading, seems to be the more probable interpretation, and follows the Targum. “The men” can hardly refer to any one but the ambassadors of the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR NEIGHBOURS, AND THEY THAT DWELT AMONG THEM. — Literally, _and that they_ (the Gibeonites) _were dwellers in the midst of him_ (Israel). (So Joshua 9:7.)... [ Continue Reading ]
GIBEON, AND CHEPHIRAH, AND BEEROTH, AND KIRJATH-JEARIM. — The first three of these were assigned to Benjamin (Joshua 18:25), the last to Judah (15:60), in the division of the land. The fact that the larger portion of the territory of the Gibeonites was in the tribe of Benjamin explains how Saul was... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE SWORN UNTO THEM... THEREFORE WE MAY NOT TOUCH THEM. — Although the covenant was obtained from the Israelites by false pretences, yet, being made in the name of Jehovah, it could not be broken; it was His covenant. “He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not,” is commended in Psalms 1... [ Continue Reading ]
BONDMEN, AND HEWERS OF WOOD AND DRAWERS OF WATER FOR THE HOUSE OF MY GOD. — The precedent established in regard to the Gibeonites appears to have been followed by Solomon in his dealings with all the remnant of the doomed nations of Canaan who were not destroyed. (See 1 Kings 9:20; 2 Chronicles 8:7.... [ Continue Reading ]