Joshua 10:4

4 "Come, help me destroy Gibeon because it has made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel."

Joshua 10:4 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 10:4

Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon
For which he thought himself not a match, not only because it was a great city, and full of mighty men, and had other cities subject to it, but because he might reasonably judge that Joshua would come to their assistance if possible, being in league with him; he sends to these kings in an authoritative manner, as if they were in some respects subject to him; and he proposes Jerusalem as the place of their rendezvous, and which it seems lay higher than their cities, though they were in the mountainous part of the country:

for it hath made peace with Joshua, and with the children of Israel;
their avowed enemies, and so had separated themselves from their countrymen, and from their common interest; and therefore it was thought proper to make an example of them, that others might fear to do the same.

Joshua 10:4 In-Context

2 He and his people were terribly afraid because Gibeon was a large city. It was like one of the royal cities, larger than Ai. All its men were warriors.

3 So King Adoni Zedek of Jerusalem sent [this message] to King Hoham of Hebron, King Piram of Jarmuth, King Japhia of Lachish, and King Debir of Eglon:

4 "Come, help me destroy Gibeon because it has made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel."

5 So the five Amorite kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon combined their armies. They marched to Gibeon, camped there, and attacked it.

6 The men of Gibeon sent this message to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal: "Don't abandon us! Come quickly, and save us. Help us because all the Amorite kings who live in the mountains have united against us."