Jehoshua (i.e. Joshua) · proper noun, a man's name
made
וַיַּ֨עַשׂvai.Ya.'as
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
peace
שָׁל֔וֹםsha.Lom
H7965
safe · noun, common masculine singular absolute
made
וַיִּכְרֹ֥תvai.yikh.Rot
H3772
to cut (off · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
league
בְּרִ֖יתbe.Rit
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular absolute
live
לְחַיּוֹתָ֑םle.chai.yo.Tam
H2421
to live · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
princes
נְשִׂיאֵ֖יne.si.'Ei
H5387
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct
congregation
הָעֵדָֽהha.'e.Dah
H5712
a stated assemblage (specifically · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
sware
וַיִּשָּׁבְע֣וּvai.yi.sha.ve.'U
H7650
to seven oneself · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Samuel 21:2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Am…
Deuteronomy 20:10-11 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
Joshua 11:19 There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle.
Joshua 6:22-25 But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all tha…
Exodus 23:32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
Joshua 2:12-19 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s hou…
Jeremiah 18:7-8 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 9:15-21
Here is, I. The treaty soon concluded with the Gibeonites, Jos 9:15. The thing was not done with much formality, but in short, 1. They agreed to let them live, and more the Gibeonites did not ask. In a common war this would have been but a small matter to be granted; but in the wars of Canaan, which were to make a general destruction, it was a great favour to a Canaanite to have his life given him for a prey, Jer 45:5. 2. This agreement was made not by Joshua only, but by the princes of the congregation in conjunction with him. Though Joshua had an extraordinary call to the government, and extraordinary qualifications for it, yet he would not act in an affair of this nature without the couns…
the men took of their victuals and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord--The mouldy appearance of their bread was, after examination, accepted as guaranteeing the truth of the story. In this precipitate conclusion the Israelites were guilty of excessive credulity and culpable negligence, in not asking by the high priest's Urim and Thummim the mind of God, before entering into the alliance. It is not clear, however, that had they applied for divine direction they would have been forbidden to spare and connect themselves with any of the Canaanite tribes who renounced idolatry and embraced and worshipped the true God. At least, no fault was found with them for making a covenant with the G…
Joshua made peace with them - Joshua agreed to receive them into a friendly connection with the Israelites, and to respect their lives and properties; and the elders of Israel bound themselves to the observance of it, and confirmed it with an oath. As the same words are used here as in Jos 9:6, we may suppose that the covenant was made in the ordinary way, a sacrifice being offered on the occasion, and its blood poured out before the Lord. See on Gen 15:10 (note), etc.
John Gill
Dictionary and topics
Alliance — A treaty between nations, or between individuals, for their mutual advantage. Abraham formed an alliance with some of the Canaanitish princes (Gen. 14:13), also with Abimelech (21:22-32). Joshua and…
Alliances — On the first establishment of the Hebrews in Palestine no connections were formed between them and the surrounding nations. But with the extension of their power under the kings alliances became…
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Gibeon — Hill-city, “one of the royal cities, greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty” (Josh. 10:2). Its inhabitants were Hivites (11:19). It lay within the territory of Benjamin, and became a…
Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written…
Slave — Jer. 2:14 (A.V.), but not there found in the original. In Rev. 18:13 the word “slaves” is the rendering of a Greek word meaning “bodies.” The Hebrew and Greek words for slave are usually rendered…
Alliances · .By oaths — .By oaths
Amorites, The · The Gibeonites a tribe of, deceived Israel into a league — The Gibeonites a tribe of, deceived Israel into a league
Confidence · Joshua, by the Gibeonites — Joshua, by the Gibeonites
Contracts · By oaths — By oaths
Covenants · Designed for: Establishing peace — Designed for: Establishing peace
on Joshua 9:15
And Joshua made peace with them,.... Upon the report the princes made of having examined what they had said, and which they found to be true, particularly concerning their victuals:
and made a league with them, to let them live; and not destroy them as he did the Canaanites, and was ordered to do; they being supposed not to belong to them by the representation of things they had made:
and the princes of the congregation sware unto them; that they would keep the league and covenant they had made with them inviolable; they ratified it by an oath, which was a sacred solemn thing.
John Calvin on Joshua 9:1-15
Joshua 9:1-15
1. And it came to pass, when all the kings which 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 thereof,
1. Quum autem audissent omnes reges qui erant trans Jordanem in monte, et in planitie, et in toto tractu marls magni e regione Libani, Hitthaeus, Amorrhaeus, Chananaeus, Pherisaeus, Hivaeus, et Jebusaeus,
2. That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.
2. Congregaverunt se pariter ad pugnandum cum Josue et Israel uno consensu.
3. And when the inhabitant…
The Israelites suffered themselves to be taken in by this pretence. "The men (the elders of Israel) took of their provisions; but they did not ask the mouth of the Lord." Instead of inquiring the will of the Lord in this matter through the Urim and Thummim of the high priest (Num 27:21), they contented themselves with taking some of the bread that was shown them, and tasting it; as if the dry mouldy bread furnished a safe guarantee of the truth of the words of these foreign ambassadors. Some commentators regard their taking of their provisions as a sign of mutual friendship, or of the league which they made; but in that case their eating with them would at any rate have been mentioned. Among…
Israel entered into a peace treaty with the Gibeonites. The Israelites were God’s vassals, having entered into a suzerain-vassal treaty with God at Sinai (see study note on Exod 20:1–23:33). Israel did not have authority to enter into treaties without the approval of their own suzerain. • guaranteed their safety (literally cut with them a covenant for their lives): Nations ratified covenants by a ceremony that involved cutting sacrificial animals in half. The parties to the covenant walked between the two animal halves (cp. Gen 15:9-18) to symbolize their commitment to be cut in two like the sacrifice if one violated the terms of the covenant. Covenants also were written documents, sometimes…
And the men took of their provisions. They accepted their words. They trapped them with their mouths,10The men of Yisroel were taken in by their trick. as it is said, “But if he did not set an ambush.”11Shemos 21:13.
Diplomacy · General references — General references
Gibeonites · Israel: Made a league with — Israel: Made a league with
Joshua · .Makes a treaty with the Gibeonites — .Makes a treaty with the Gibeonites
Magnanimity · the Israelites — the Israelites
Oath · The Israelites confirm the covenant with the Hivites — The Israelites confirm the covenant with the Hivites
Oaths · Instances of rash: Joshua, &c — Instances of rash: Joshua, &c
Treaty · .Israelites and Gibeonites — .Israelites and Gibeonites
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
