Joshua 9

1 in the hills, and in the valleys, etc. Both in the mountain districts, the (western) lowlands, and even the sea-coast towards Lebanon. This takes in all the rest of the country.

heard thereof. That is, of the destruction of Jericho and Ai (cp. ver. 3).

3. Gibeon. Gibeon was a large city, with villages dependent on it, about five miles north-west of Jerusalem. It is now called El-jib. Though the artifice of the Gibeonites was justly punished by their degradation, yet God inflicted a special plague on account of Saul’s violation of the treaty made with them. See 2 Sam. xxi. 1, 2. From this we gather that, had others of the Canaanites submitted, and renounced their idolatries and crimes, they might have been spared. See 1 Tim. i. 13-17.

4 went and made. Rather, according to another reading, “went and prepared food,” or “took provisions.” See R.V. marg.

wine bottles. Wine-skins, which are apt to crack with heat, and sometimes mended by being tied up.

5 shoes. Rather, “sandals.” “Clouted” means “patched.”

14 asked not counsel. In this they were culpably negligent, as they had the means of obtaining Divine direction through the high priest.

18 all the congregation murmured. Perhaps they feared they might displease God by sparing these Canaanites.

19. We have sworn. The question of conscience whether to obey God by destroying these Canaanites, or to respect the oath taken in His name to spare them, was rightly decided by “the princes.” The reason for “devoting” the Canaanites was that Israel might not be seduced into idolatry. In the case of these men of Gibeon the reason existed no longer, and the spirit of the command was respected by their being devoted in another way. See ver. 23.

21 hewers of wood and drawers of water. The Gibeonites were given to the Levites as servants to perform the most menial and laborious work of the tabernacle, and they were probably afterwards classed with the Nethinim. See Ezra viii. 20. Thus the curse was ultimately turned into a blessing, while their servitude to the Israelites was a permanent memorial of the Divine interposition on behalf of the latter, and helped to attest the authenticity of their early history.

23 cursed. i.e., “devoted,” not, like the rest of the Canaanites, to destruction, but to perpetual service in the sanctuary.

27 for the altar. This expression shows that they were not to be employed for private purposes, but for the public service in the tabernacle.