Joshua 9:3

3 But 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 It happened, when all the kings who 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 of it;

2 that they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

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

4 they also resorted to a ruse, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and wine-skins, old and torn and bound up,

5 and old and patched shoes on their feet, and old garments on them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and was become moldy.