Joshua 9

9 1 And it came to pass, when all the kings which were beyond Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof; that they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord. 3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, 4 they also did work willy, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old 5 sacks upon their asses, and wine-skins, old and rent and bound up; and old shoes and 6 clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was 7 dry and was become mouldy. And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said 8 unto him, and to the men of Israel, We are come from a far country: now therefore make ye 9 a covenant with us. And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell 8 among us; and how shall we make a covenant with you? And they said unto Joshua, We are 9 thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye? And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the 10 LORD thy God : for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, 15 and to Og king of Bashan. And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with 16 them, to let them live : and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard 18 that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the LORD, the 19 God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD, the God of Israel : now 20 therefore we may not touch them. This we will do to them, and let them live : lest wrath be 21 upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them. And the princes said, Let them live : 27 so they became hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation. And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, unto this day, in the place which he should choose.

NOTE.—Joshua had now returned from the Covenant-Service at Shechem to the camp at Gilgal, south of Shiloh. B.

1. The population was broadly distinguished into Canaanites, the inhabitants of the Canaan, or “lowlands,” and Amorites, or “Highlanders.” Canaan was originally the name of the coast on which the great trading cities of the Phœnicians stood; but long before the time of the Israelitish invasion, the name had been extended to denote the dwellers in the plain, wherever they might be. Indeed, passages like Ju. 1 : 9 show that it had been extended even farther, and had come to signify tribes which were properly Amorites. Sayce.—The Canaanites, or “Lowlanders,” properly so called, occupied the sea-coast as far south as Dor, a considerable portion of the plain of Esdraelon, and some spots in the valley of the Jordan. The Amorites, or mountaineers, occupied the central and southern hills with the Hittites and Hivites. Of these intruders, the Amorites seem to have been the most ancient and the most warlike, perhaps allied to the old gigantic race with which from time to time they appear in connection. The Hittites belong to the more peaceful occupants. The Hivites, like the Phœnicians of the north, inclined to a more regular form of political organization. Of the lesser subdivisions, the Jebusites are attached to the Amorites, the Perizzites to the Hittites, and the Girgashites to the Hivites. A. P. S.

2. A great league was now formed by all the kings west of Jordan, in the hills, the valleys, and the sea-coasts, as far north as Lebanon, against the Israelites. The people of Gibeon alone sought for peace by a curious stratagem. Gibeon (now el-Jib), “a royal city, greater than Ai,” was the chief of the four cities of the Hivites, lying immediately opposite the pass of Ai, and at the head of the pass of Beth-horon. It would therefore have been the next object of the attack of the Israelites. P. S.—Retaining its ancient name almost intact, the modern village of el-Jib stands on the top of a low, round, rocky hill, just at the place where the road to the sea parts into two branches, the one by the lower level of the Wady Suleiman, the other by the heights of the Beth-horons, to Gimzo, Lydda, and Joppa. Dic. B.

This Gibeon, only six or seven miles from Bethel, though represented by its crafty people as “a very far country,” plays a conspicuous part in the coming history. Lying about six and a half miles north-northwest from Jerusalem, it covers the sides and summit of a sugar-loaf hill, which rises out of a saucer like depression in the elevated plateau. The terraces surrounding the hill are like so many gigantic steps from bottom to top. The neighboring fields and groves indicate more fertility than is usually seen in this part of the country. N. C. B.

Gibeon is afraid to enter into the confederacy. It was the head city of a Hivite tetrapolis, to wit, Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim (verse 17), forming a republic or oligarchy in the midst of the monarchies of Palestine. On this account it was easier and more natural for Gibeon to act independently of the other principalities. Crosby.

The historical peculiarities of this transaction explain themselves. The situation and character of Gibeon at once placed it in an exceptional position. Planted at the head of the pass of Beth-horon and immediately opposite the opening of the pass of Ai, it would have been the next prey on which the Israelite host would have sprung. On the other hand, its organization, being apparently federal,—itself at the head of

N.W. VIEW OF El-Jib AND Neby Samuël.—FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY GRAHAM.—(AYRE)

El-Jib (Gibcon) is conspicuous on the hill in front: Neby Samuël (the traditional Ramah of Samuel or Ramsthain-zophim) is marked by the ruined mosque on the hill at the extreme right.

a small band of kindred cities,—separated it from the interests of the royal fortresses of the rest of Palestine. Their device is full of the quaint humor which marks its antiquity. It is observable that they represent themselves as not having yet heard of the aggression on Western Palestine, only of the by-gone conquest of the Amorite kings beyond the Jordan. Stanley.

6. The camp at Gilgal. This could not be the Gilgal down by Jordan, so far away from the centre to which Joshua had penetrated; but the Gilgal of 2 K. 2 : 1, which was higher than Bethel (2 K. 2 : 2). It is this second Gilgal which, we think, became so famous in Samuel’s day, and which became a centre of idolatry. (See 1 S. 7 : 16 ; 10 : 8 ; 11 : 14 ; 13 : 7, 8 ; 15 : 33.) It was the great headquarters of Israel, until the tabernacle was pitched at Shiloh, which was not far off. This second Gilgal bears still the old name (Jiljilich), and is situated on a commanding height fifteen miles due north of Jerusalem, three miles west of the high northern road, and about seven miles north and west of Ai. It is also about fourteen miles south of Mount Gerizim. “It is near the western brow of the high mountain tract, and affords an ex tensive view over the great lower plain and the sea, while at the same time the mountains of Gilead are seen in the east.” (Robinson.) It also has distant Hermon in sight. No more suitable spot could have been selected for Israel’s central post during the process of the conquest. Crosby.

Gilgal, though regarded by the great body of commentators and geographers as the same place as that in which the Israelites first encamped (ch. 4 : 19), is a different place altogether. It was no other than the Gilgal we frequently meet with in Judges and the First Book of Samuel, situated on the mountains in the vicinity of Bethel. We dare not attribute to Joshua the folly of going back after he had penetrated to the very heart of the country, and again taking up his position on the extreme eastern border of the land, thus leaving the Canaanites at perfect liberty to move unfettered amid the very cities and places that he had already conquered. It is true that we are not told that he removed the camp to Gilgal after the capture of Ai. But we find no account of his proceeding from Ai to the mountains Ebal and Gerizim. In fact the book does not give a consecutive ac count of all the marches and tactics of Joshua, but merely a cursory description of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites under Joshua. It was, no doubt, the favorable opportunities which Gilgal afforded to Joshua for the execution of his plans both in the North and South of the land, that induced him to select it as his headquarters. It was in the centre of the country, situated upon a steep hill with good table-land upon the top, and commanded a most extensive prospect of the large plain in the West, and also toward the North and East. Keil.

At Gilgal they seem to have formed a permanent camp. The mention of this place in De. 11 : 30, where it is described as “beside the oaks of Moreh,” that is, near the spot of Abram’s first altar (Gen. 12 : 7), implies a locality well known at the time, and, as we might almost conjecture from its after-history, a sort of traditional sanctuary. This alone would suffice to distinguish this Gilgal from the first encampment of Israel east of Jericho, which only obtained its name from the event which there occurred. It is impossible to suppose that Joshua marched back from Shechem to the banks of Jordan; and again, that he did so a second time after the battles in Galilee to make apportionment of the land among the people by the banks of Jordan. Further, the locating of Gilgal near the banks of Jordan would be entirely incompatible with what we know of the after-history of that place. Gilgal was one of the three cities where Samuel judged the people; here, also, he offered sacrifices, when the Ark was no longer in the tabernacle at Shiloh; and there, as in a central sanctuary, did all Israel gather to renew their allegiance to Saul. Later on, Gilgal was the great scene of Elisha’s ministry, and still later it became a centre of idolatrous worship (Hos. 4 : 15 ; 9 : 15 ; 12 : 11 ; Amos 4 : 4 ; 5 : 5). All these considerations lead to the conclusion, that the Gilgal which formed the site of Joshua’s encampment is the modern Jiljilich, a few miles from Shiloh, and about the same distance from Bethel—nearly equi-distant from Shechem and from Jerusalem.

In this camp at Gilgal a strange deputation had arrived (verses 3-6). Professedly and apparently the travellers had come a long distance. For their garments were worn, their sandals clouted, their provisions dry and mouldy, and the skins in which their wine had been were rent and “bound up” (like purses), as in the East wine-bottles of goat’s skin are temporarily repaired on a long journey. According to their own account, they lived far beyond the boundaries of Palestine, where their fellow-townsmen had heard what the Lord had done in Egypt, and again to Sihon and to Og, wisely omitting from the catalogue the miraculous passage of Jordan and the fall of Jericho, as of too recent date for their theory. Attracted by the name of Jehovah, Israel’s God, who had done such wonders, they had been sent to make “a league” with Israel. It must have been felt that the story did not sound probable—at least, to any who had learned to realize the essential enmity of heathenism against the kingdom of God, and who understood that so great a change as the report of these men implied could not be brought about by “the hearing of the ear.” Besides, what they proposed was not to make submission to, but a league with, Israel; by which not merely life, but their land and liberty, would be secured to them. But against any league with the inhabitants of Canaan, Israel had been specially warned (Ex. 23 : 32 ; Nu. 33 : 55 ; De. 7 : 2). What if, after all, they were neighbors? The suspicion seems to have crossed the minds of Joshua and of the elders, and even to have been expressed by them, only to be set aside by the protestations of the pretended ambassadors. It was certainly a mark of religious superficiality and self-confidence on the part of the elders of Israel to have consented on such grounds to “a league.” The sacred text significantly puts it: “And the men (the elders of Israel) took of their victuals (according to the common Eastern fashion of eating bread and salt with a guest who is received as a friend), but they asked not counsel at the mouth of Jehovah.” Their mistake soon became apparent. Three days later, and Israel found that the pretended foreigners were in reality neighbors! A. E.

I commend their wisdom in seeking peace; I do not commend their falsehood in the manner of seeking it. But as the faith of Rahab is so rewarded that her lie is not punished, so the fraud of these Gibeonites is not an equal match of their belief, since the name of the Lord God of Israel brought them to this suit of peace. Ep. II.

4. Wine-skins.** Passing a bottle-making establishment, we were entertained by the sight of a lot of goat-skins in process of curing. All the apertures of the skins, neck and legs, having been closed, and the bodies filled with water, they stood in rows upon a platform—a headless, legless, swollen army of hairy goats. When thoroughly cured these skins become the leather bottles of Bible days and of the present day alike. In the Psalmist’s expression: “I am become like a bottle in the smoke,” it is to the leather bottle that he likens himself—dry, shrivelled and useless. Such were the “wine-bottles, old and rent,” of the Gibeonites. Dulles.

14. God’s Israel have often been deceived and imposed upon with a show of antiquity. But “errors are never the older for being patched,” and so seeming old; but they that will be caught with this Gibeonitish stratagem prove they have not consulted with God. H.—Asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. In this consisted the fault of the Israelites on this occasion, that they depended on their own judgment and did not consult the Divine oracle, which was at hand. It is no wonder that God should suffer them to be deluded by the Gibeonites when they had an infallible Director so near to them, and yet, in a matter of such moment as that of entering on a national treaty, never once thought of consulting him. Sta-khouse.—It is by no means certain, if they had sought the divine direction, that they would have been commanded to reject the suit of the Gibeonites and show them no mercy. The probability is that upon any of the devoted nations voluntarily coming forward, professing repentance, renouncing idolatry, and embracing the true religion, the Israelites would have been authorized by God to spare their lives. But the circumstance is mentioned here as a severe reflection upon the princes of Israel for neglect of duty, for rashness, credulity, and impolicy. They rushed precipitately into an alliance which they had no right to form without the express sanction of Jehovah, and their “lips became a snare to their souls.” Bush.

18-23. The main reason of the destruction of the Canaanites was their essential hostility to the kingdom of God. The danger to Israel, accruing from this, could be avoided in a solitary instance. With a view to this, the Gibeonites were indeed spared, but attached as “bondmen” to the sanctuary, where they and their descendants performed all menial services (Josh. 9: 23). Nor, as the event proved, did they ever betray their trust, or lead Israel into idolatry. Still the rashness of Israel’s princes, and the conduct of the Gibeonites, convey to the church at all times solemn warning against the devices and the deceit of the world, which, when outward advantage offers, seeks a friendly alliance with, or even reception into, the visible kingdom of God. A. E.

If any Israelite had but pulled down one stone from their walls, or shed one drop of Gibeonitish blood, he had no less plagued all Israel for perjury, than Achan had before plagued them for sacrilege. The sequel shows how God would have taken it: for when three hundred years after Saul slew some of these Gibeonites, all Israel smarted for the fact with a three years’ famine, and that in David’s reign who received this oracle from God, “It is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.” Neither could this wrong be expiated, but by the blood of Saul’s seven sons, hanged up at the very court-gates of their father. Joshua and the princes had promised them life; they promised them not liberty: no covenant was past against their servitude. Bp. H.