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…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 9:16
at the end of three days . . . they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them--This information was obtained in their further progress through the country; for as Jos 9:17 should be rendered, "when the children of Israel journeyed, they came to their cities." Gibeon was about eighteen or twenty miles from Gilgal.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 9:16
At the end of three days - Gibeon is reputed to be only about eight leagues distant from Gilgal, and on this account the fraud might be easily discovered in the time mentioned above.
John Gill on Joshua 9:16
And it came to pass at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them,.... The league seems to have been made the same day they came; the Gibeonites were no doubt in haste to have it concluded, lest they should be discovered; and Joshua, and the princes of Israel, took no pains, and gave themselves no great trouble to inquire about them, but made peace with them at once; and it was but three days after, or within three days of its being made:
that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them; that is, in their neighbourhood, as the Arabic version; and so Noldius (r) renders the words, "and that they dwelt near them"; for the Gibeonites did not dw…
