Joshua 9:1-6

The Gibeonite Deception

1 Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things—the kings in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites)—

2 they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.

3 However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

4 they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded^[a] with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

5 They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy.

6 Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”

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Joshua 9:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 9

This chapter gives an account of the combination of the several kings of Canaan against Israel, Jos 9:1,2; and of the craftiness of the Gibeonites, pretending they were ambassadors from a far country, and desired to enter into a league with Israel, which they obtained, Jos 9:3-15; but when it was discovered who they were, it occasioned a murmuring among the people, Jos 9:16-18; which the princes quelled by proposing to make them hewers of wood, and drawers of water, Jos 9:19-21; in order to which Joshua summoned them before him, and chided them for beguiling them; and after they had made their excuse, he ordered them to the service the princes proposed, and so peace in the congregation of Israel was preserved, Jos 9:21-27.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 11

1. S Numbers 13:17
2. S Numbers 34:6
3. S Deuteronomy 3:25
4. Genesis 13:7; S Joshua 3:10
5. ver 7; Joshua 11:19
6. Exodus 3:17; S Joshua 3:10
7. ver 17; Joshua 10:2; Joshua 10:10; Joshua 11:19; Joshua 18:25; Joshua 21:17; 2 Samuel 2:12; 2 Samuel 5:25; 2 Samuel 20:8; 1 Kings 3:4; 1 Kings 9:2; 1 Chronicles 8:29; 1 Chronicles 14:16; 1 Chronicles 16:39; 1 Chronicles 21:29; 2 Chronicles 1:3; Nehemiah 3:7; Isaiah 28:21; Jeremiah 28:1; Jeremiah 41:12
8. Genesis 12:8; S Joshua 8:1
9. S Deuteronomy 11:30; Joshua 5:10
10. ver 22
11. S Genesis 26:28

Footnotes 1

[a]. Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint) "They prepared provisions and loaded their donkeys"