Joshua 9:14

14 And the men took of their victuals, but they did not inquire at the mouth of Jehovah.

Joshua 9:14 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 9:14

And the men took of their victuals
That is, the princes of Israel took thereof; not to eat of them, for it cannot be thought that such personages would eat of such dry and mouldy bread, and especially as they were now in a plentiful country, and possessed of the fruits of it; but to see whether it was in such a plight and condition as they said, whereby they might judge of the truth of what they said; and they learned and knew, as R. Jonah observes, from the dryness of their food, that it was truth they said; and so the Targum, the men hearkened to their words; and so Jarchi, they believed what they said on sight of their provisions; but, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, they ate with them, to confirm the covenant they made with them; but had this been the case, as it sometimes was a custom to eat together at making covenants, see ( Genesis 26:30 ) ; the princes would doubtless have provided a better entertainment for such a purpose: the "margin" of our Bibles leads to the other sense,

``they received the men by reason of their victuals:''

and asked not [counsel] at the mouth of the Lord;
as they might and should have done, by desiring the high priest to inquire of the Lord by Urim and Thummim; but this they neglected, which, had they attended to, the fraud would have been discovered; or however, they would have had the mind of God about making peace with the Gibeonites, which in all likelihood he would not have disapproved of, they becoming proselytes, and giving up their possessions to Israel; but this did not excuse their neglect.

Joshua 9:14 In-Context

12 This our bread we took warm for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; and now, behold, it is dry, and is become mouldy.

13 And these flasks of wine which we filled new, behold, they are rent; and these our garments and our sandals are become old by reason of the very long journey.

14 And the men took of their victuals, but they did not inquire at the mouth of Jehovah.

15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the princes of the assembly swore unto them.

16 And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt in their midst.