Charles Ellicott Commentary Joshua 9
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Joshua 9
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Joshua 9
"And it came to pass, when all the kings that were beyond the 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." — Joshua 9:1-2 (ASV)
PREPARATIONS OF THE CANAANITES FOR WAR.
These verses record the general preparation of the natives of Canaan for the last struggle with Joshua.
"But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai," — Joshua 9:3 (ASV)
THE GIBEONITES MAKE PEACE WITH JOSHUA (Joshua 9:3–27).
The inhabitants of Gibeon. —Hivites, as appears in 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 compensation for what was done by Simeon and Levi to the Hivites long before, when Jacob first came to Shechem from Padan-Aram (see Genesis 34). On that occasion, the inhabitants of a single city of the Hivites were put to the sword by Israel, by means of a stratagem; on this occasion, a stratagem saved four Hivite cities from destruction by Israel’s sword.
"they also did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-skins, old and rent and bound up," — Joshua 9:4 (ASV)
They did work wilily. —Literally, and they also dealt with subtlety. The stratagem does not seem very profound, or one that would have been difficult to detect.
But we may remember a fact of Israel’s experience that puts it in a somewhat different light. The Israelites themselves had come from a far country, but their raiment had not waxed old upon them, nor did their feet swell, these forty years. They had no need of bread when there was manna, and God gave them water for their thirst.
Consequently, they had no experience of worn clothing and stale provisions. Therefore, when the Gibeonites presented themselves in this extraordinary garb and guise, it is not surprising that they were not detected by the eyes of Israel.
They ... made as if they had been ambassadors. —The verb thus translated does not occur elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. By the alteration of a letter, the Targum, Septuagint, and some other versions make it mean, “they gat them provision.”
"and old and patched shoes upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and was become mouldy." — Joshua 9:5 (ASV)
Clouted — that is, patched.
"And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a covenant with you?" — Joshua 9:7 (ASV)
Perhaps you dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? —Literally, Perhaps you are a dweller in my midst; and how shall I make a covenant with you? The Israelites assume the ownership of Canaan as already theirs.
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