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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Joshua 9:16 - 9:27
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The Deception Discovered and Punished.
v. 16. And it came to pass at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them, that they, the Israelites, heard that they, the Gibeonites, were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them, almost in the center of Canaan.
v. 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 Kirjath-jearim, the location of all of which is pretty definitely known, west and northwest of Jerusalem.
v. 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, namely, to spare their lives, and they felt themselves bound in conscience, by their reverence of the oath in itself, Lev_19:12, although, strictly speaking, the condition of the ambassadors' having come from a distant country was attached to the oath and rendered it invalid. and all the congregation murmured against the princes.
v. 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.
v. 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. The punishment of God did strike Israel later, at the time of David, because Saul, not paying any attention to this oath and the subsequent provision, had tried to exterminate the Gibeonites, 2 Samuel 21.
v. 21. And the princes said unto them, Let them live, but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them. So their lives were spared, but they were given the most menial position in Israel; they were made slaves of the Sanctuary, being obliged to perform the lowest tasks there, as servants of the entire congregation. In this way the danger of their attempting to lead Israel into idolatry was also removed. Thus the matter was decided upon and adjusted.
v. 22. And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, "Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you, when ye dwell among us? It was a just rebuke of the lying craftiness of the Gibeonites.
v. 23. Now, therefore, ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, they were never to cease being slaves, that was to be their social status in Israel forever, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God, reckoned among the lowest class of the people, Deu_29:10-11. Together with captives taken in war and devoted for like purposes to the Sanctuary, they bore, at a later period, the name Nethinim, 1Ch_9:2; Neh_7:43-46.
v. 24. And they answered Joshua, in attempting to justify their action, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants how that the Lord, thy God, commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing.
v. 25. And now, behold, we are in thine hand; as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do. It was an unconditional submission, by which they left their fate entirely in the hands of Joshua.
v. 26. And so he did unto them, as had been decided upon, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not, which they, in their warlike zeal, would have been only too willing to do.
v. 27. And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord even unto this day, at the Tabernacle, in the place which He should choose, this note proving that the book was written before the building of Solomon's Temple. Yet the Gibeonites, condemned to everlasting servitude as they were, were received into the fellowship of the blessings of Jehovah. There are always some souls, even among the outcasts of the world, who hear of the mercy of the Lord and are moved to accept His invitation in the Gospel. Mark: An oath in uncertain things may be the cause of much trouble and unpleasantness, if it does not lead to severe transgressions of the will of God.