Joshua 9:3

3 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,

Joshua 9:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 9:3

And when the inhabitants of Gibeon
A large and royal city, a metropolitan one, which had three others belonging to it, and under it, mentioned ( Joshua 9:17 ) ; see ( Joshua 10:2 ) ; no mention is made of any king over them, perhaps they were governed by elders, ( Joshua 9:11 ) . Though an Arabic writer ^F8 says, the king of Gibeon wrote to Joshua, and desired security, and sent him large gifts, whom having preserved in safety, Joshua placed on his throne: when these

heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai;
had taken the one in a miraculous way, and the other by a stratagem, and had burnt them both, destroyed the inhabitants, plundered their substance, and slew both their kings, all which struck them with terror.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Patricides, p. 30. apud Hottinger. Smegm. Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 507.

Joshua 9:3 In-Context

1 And it came to pass, when all the kings who [were] on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite heard [these things],

2 That they assembled themselves, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

3 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,

4 They did work craftily, and went and made as if they had been embassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

5 And old shoes and patched upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry [and] moldy.