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1. The desire of the Canaanite kings and peoples to unite to fight the Israeli people. 3. The Gibeonites gain an alliance with him through cunning. 16. The loyalty of the Israeli people to this oath. 23. Condemnation of the Gibeonites to eternal slavery. Joshua 9:1. When all the [Amorite] kings who were beyond the Jordan, on the mountain and on the plain, and along all the shores of the great sea, [and who] were near Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the [Girgashites,] the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, heard this, Joshua 9:2. gathered together to fight with one accord against Joshua and Israel. Joshua 9:1–2 constitutes a general introduction to the next three chapters (Joshua 9–11). They outlined a new movement that began at that time among the population of the entire land of Canaan - to unite their forces for a common struggle with the Israeli people. Depicting the universality of this movement, the biblical writer points out how all the kings who owned the most important regions of the West Jordanian country (mountains, valleys and the Mediterranean coast to Lebanon) sympathized with this aspiration and at the same time lists the strongest tribes living in it, according to Joshua 3:10. Joshua 9:3. But the people of Gibeon, when they heard what Jesus had done to Jericho and Ai, Joshua 9:4. They used a trick: they went, stocked up on bread for the road and put old sacks on their donkeys and old, torn and patched wineskins; However, the inhabitants of Gibeon did not join the general movement against the Israelites. Gibeon, currently the village of El-Jib, 7 versts north of Jerusalem; in the time of Joshua it was a large city, similar to the capitals of the Canaanite kings (Joshua 10:2), although it had no king. He was on the way from middle Canaan to the Mediterranean Sea along the Bethhoren descent and stood at the head of an alliance of 4 nearby cities. Its inhabitants from the tribe of the Hivites (Joshua 9:7,11:19) were distinguished by their courage (Joshua 10:2). Despite the significant power that Gibeon had, the elders who ruled it did not join the general movement, but chose another method in order to avoid the fate that befell the inhabitants of Jericho and Ai (Joshua 9:3). In what they knew about the Israelites, about their exit from Egypt (Joshua 9:9), about the victories over the Trans-Jordanian kings (Joshua 9:10) and the conquest of Jericho and Ai (Joshua 9:3), they, like Rahab, saw the action of the higher power of the God professed by the Israelites, who carries out His decision to give the entire land of Canaan to this people (Joshua 9:24). Therefore, “they too,” like the Israelites during the conquest of Ai, decided to use cunning to save their lives; this “and they” before the verb “used” (Joshua 9:4) is expressed in the Hebrew text through “gam gemma”, in the Greek-Slavic words καί γε αὐτοὶ – “and si”, in Russian it is left without translation. Joshua 9:7. The Israelites said to the Hivites: Perhaps you live near us? How can we form an alliance with you? “How can we conclude an alliance with you,” say the elders of Israel, meaning the positive prohibition to enter into alliances with the Canaanite peoples (Ex. 23:32,34:12; Deut. 7:2). Joshua 9:14. The Israelites took their bread, but did not question the Lord. “The Israelites took their bread, but did not question the Lord.” “Israelites”, in Hebrew here “gaanashim”, i.e. “famous men”, more clearly designated in Joshua 9:18,21 by the word “bearing” - “princes”; in this meaning the word “men” is accepted in Joshua 9:14 in LXX, who conveyed it through οἱ ἄρχοντες - “princes” according to the Slavic Bible. The acceptance by the princes of the people of Israel from the ambassadors of Gibeon of bread, i.e. in general, there were no food supplies, one must think, a simple sample of the latter to verify the duration of their journey from their place of residence, because in this case the internal connection between this action of the princes and the questioning of the Lord would remain unclear: a simple sample of the grain supplies is too insignificant an action to ask for the permission of the highest will. Therefore, if the biblical writer, having spoken about this act, immediately points out the non-questioning of the Lord, then this leads to the idea that the acceptance of bread from the Gibeonian ambassadors had a different, much more important meaning: it served as an expression on the part of the Israeli princes of disposition towards the ambassadors and their cause, i.e. consent to their proposal. Before daring to take such a step, the Israeli princes, led by Joshua, really had to question the Lord, of course, through the high priest, in accordance with the divine command (Num. 27:21). Joshua 9:17. for the children of Israel set out on their journey and came to their cities on the third day; And their cities [were] Gibeon, Kephira, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. The three cities of the Gibeonian League named here are quite well known for their position in the middle part of Palestine, generally a short distance north of Jerusalem. Kefira, now Kefr, with surviving ruins, is located 12 versts west of Gibeon. Subsequently, this city belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:26). Beeroth, now the large village of Bireh, on the high road from Jerusalem to Shechem, about 12 versts from the first. Subsequently, he also belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:25). Kiriath-Jarim, usually believed by researchers to be on the site of the current Muslim village of Kariet El-Enab, was located northwest of Jerusalem, 3 hours away on the road to Lydda. It got its name from the surrounding forest, which is so rare in southern Palestine (the Hebrew word “iyaar” means “forest”), which survived in later times, according to the testimony of travelers 83. In ancient times, it also bore the name Kiriath-Baal (Joshua 15:60) from the altar or church of Baal that was probably located in it and belonged to the tribe of Judah, after which it was also called Baal of Judah (2 Sam. 6:2). Joshua 9:18. [Jesus and] the children of Israel did not beat them, because [all] the leaders of the congregation swore to them by the Lord God of Israel. For this, the entire [Israeli] community grumbled at the leaders. When the deception of the Gibeonian ambassadors was revealed, “the children of Israel did not beat them,” i.e. They were not put to death, since the leaders of the society swore an oath to preserve the lives of the Gibeonites. The words “[Jesus and]” are not read in the Hebrew text and in the most ancient Greek copies, which is why, probably, in the Slavic Bible they are placed in brackets; the following "[all]", also unreadable in the Hebrew text, is found in many Greek copies; it is probably transferred from Joshua 9:19. Joshua 9:19. All the rulers said to the whole congregation: We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel, and therefore we cannot touch them; Joshua 9:20. But this is what we will do with them: let us leave them alive, so that wrath does not overtake us for the oath that we swore to them. Although the oath promise of the leaders, who succumbed to the deception of the Gibeonian ambassadors, caused a murmur among the people, who obviously wanted to put both the ambassadors and their principals to death as belonging to the Canaanites, the leaders insisted on saving their lives, referring to the oath they had given, witnessed in the name of “the Lord God of Israel.” The reason for such insistence of the leaders is indicated by the biblical writer in the second half of Joshua 9:20, which is conveyed with particular closeness to the Hebrew text in the Slavic Bible, in accordance with the Greek translation: “and there will be no wrath on us because of the oath we swear by,” i.e. in preserving the oath promise given to the Gibeonites, the leaders see the only means of avoiding divine punishment, which (according to Ex. 20:7, Deut. 5:11) threatens anyone who takes the name of God in vain. If the leaders, succumbing to deception, took an oath in vain and committed a sin without asking the Lord about this matter, then by breaking the oath, they would add to what they had done a new grave sin of perjury, through which the name of God is dishonored before those to whom the oath was given. Joshua 9:21. And the leaders said to them: let them live, but they will cut wood and draw water for the whole community. [And the whole community did] as the leaders told them. Insisting on the observance of the oath, by virtue of which the life of the Gibeonites was preserved, the leaders do not forget the prohibition to enter into an alliance with the Canaanite peoples, which had the purpose of preventing the latter from leading the Israelites into idolatry. To prevent the disastrous consequences of leaving the Gibeonites in the land of Canaan, they take such a measure, which at the same time served as a punishment for their deception. They proposed that the Gibeonites be given the responsibility of chopping wood and carrying water for the entire Israeli society, and the latter, being reduced to a state of slavery (Joshua 9:23; Deut. 29:11), could not be dangerous to the dominant Israeli population. This proposal of the princes was accepted by society. The words “[And the whole community did]” are not found in the Hebrew text, nor in the Vaticanian and Alexandrian, but are read in the Ambrosian and some other copies (καὶ ἐποίησαν πᾶσα ή συναγωγή), and the flow of biblical speech receives greater clarity: without this addition the final words “as the leaders told them” would not be entirely understandable, since the leaders, making a proposal to the society - in the first half of the verse - could not refer to themselves in this form; Moreover, the proposal to make the Gibeonites woodcutters and water-carriers is made here for the first time. When, on the contrary, the words “[and the whole community did]” are introduced into biblical speech, the final words of the verse receive a completely definite meaning, expressing the society’s agreement with the proposal of the leaders. This agreement of society was not, however, the final solution to the matter, which, as the subsequent narrative shows, belonged to Joshua. That the decision made by the leaders regarding the fate of the Gibeonites was correct and in accordance with the divine will, this was shown by the victories won over the Canaanite kings soon after this event, with special divine help, and the wrath of God that subsequently befell the land of Israel and the house of Saul for violating the oath promise given to the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1). Joshua 9:23. For this you are cursed! endlessly you will be slaves, you will chop wood and draw water for [me and for] the house of my God! For deception, as degrading the dignity of a person and misleading others, Joshua pronounced a curse over the Gibeonites, by which they were doomed to eternal slavery. Thus, the curse of Noah over Ham was fulfilled over them (Gen. 9:25). The words “[me and for]” are not read in the Hebrew text or in the Latin translation, but are found in the Greek copies: according to Joshua 9:26 the Gibeonites were to cut wood and carry water “for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord.” Joshua 9:24. They answered Jesus and said, “It has come to the knowledge of your servants that the Lord your God commanded Moses his servant to give you the whole land and to destroy [us and] all the inhabitants of the land before you; Therefore, we were very afraid that you would take our lives, and we did this; From the words quoted here it is clear that only fear for their lives prompted the Gibeonites to seek an alliance with the Israeli people, that their information about the great deeds of the God of Israel led them only to confidence in the inevitable destruction of the Canaanite peoples, and did not awaken in them, like Rahab, thoughts about Him as the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time the desire to become one of his confessors. This is the internal reason that they were not included in the Israeli people. Joshua 9:26. And he did this to them: he delivered them from the hand of the children of Israel, and they did not kill them; Joshua 9:27. And Jesus appointed that day that they should cut wood and draw water for [the whole] congregation and for the altar of the Lord; [therefore the inhabitants of Gibeon became woodcutters and water-carriers for the altar of God] even to this day, in whatever place [the Lord] chose. The words “[therefore the inhabitants of Gibeon became woodcutters and water-bearers for the altar of God]” are found in the Vatican Copy and the Sistine Bible, but are absent from the Hebrew text, the Alexandrian Copy, and other Greek Copies. Tristram. Bible Places, 78. You might be interested in: