Joshua 9:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 9:17
And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim.
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
journeyed
וַיִּסְע֣וּvai.yis.'U
H5265
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
came
וַיָּבֹ֛אוּvai.ya.Vo.'u
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
cities
עָרֵיהֶ֖ם'a.rei.Hem
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
third
הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֑יha.she.li.Shi
H7992
third · definite article + ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
day
בַּיּ֣וֹםbai.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
cities
וְעָרֵיהֶם֙ve.'a.rei.Hem
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Gibeon
גִּבְע֣וֹןgiv.'on
H1391
Gibon · proper noun, a place name
Chephirah
וְהַכְּפִירָ֔הve.ha.ke.fi.Rah
H3716
Kephirah · conjunction + definite article + proper noun, a place name
Beeroth
וּבְאֵר֖וֹתu.ve.'e.Rot
H881
Beeroth · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
Kirjath-jearim
וְקִרְיַ֥תve.kir.Yat
H7157
Kirjath-Jearim or Kirjath-Arim · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
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).
Ezra 2:25 The children of Kirjath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty and three.
Joshua 10:2 That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men t…
Joshua 15:9 And the border was drawn from the top of the hill unto the fountain of the water of Nephtoah, and went out to the cities of mount Ephron; an…
Joshua 15:60 Kirjath-baal, which is Kirjath-jearim, and Rabbah; two cities with their villages:
Joshua 18:14 And the border was drawn thence, and compassed the corner of the sea southward, from the hill that lieth before Beth-horon southward; and th…
1 Samuel 7:1 And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctifie…
1 Chronicles 13:5-6 So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim.
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…
Chephirah-- (Jos 18:26; Ezr 2:25; Neh 7:29).
Beeroth-- (Sa2 4:2), now El Berich, about twenty minutes' distance from El Jib (Gibeon).
Kirjath-jearim--"the city of forests," now Kuryet-el-Enab [ROBINSON].
Adam Clarke on Joshua 9:17
The children of Israel - came unto their cities - Probably when the fraud was discovered, Joshua sent out a detachment to examine their country, and to see what use could be made of it in the prosecution of their war with the Canaanites. Some of the cities mentioned here were afterwards in great repute among the Israelites: and God chose to make one of them, Kirjath-jearim, the residence of the ark of the covenant for twenty years, in the reigns of Saul and David. There is no evidence that the preservation of the Gibeonites was displeasing to Jehovah.
John Gill on Joshua 9:17
And the children of Israel journeyed,.... Not the whole camp, for that still remained at Gilgal, and continued there until the Gibeonites in distress sent to them for assistance in virtue of the league, as appears from the following chapter; but a party of them, who were sent along with some of the princes, to know the truth whether the Gibeonites were their neighbours or not, as had been reported to them:
and came unto their cities on the third day; not on the third day from their setting out on their journey, for it was but one night's march from Gilgal to them, Joshua 10:9; but on the third day from the making of the league; it is very probable it was early on the third day they heard of…
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…
Beeroth — Wells, one of the four cities of the Hivites which entered by fraud into a league with Joshua. It belonged to Benjamin (Josh. 18:25). It has by some been identified with el-Bireh on the way to…
Chephirah — Village, one of the four cities of the Gibeonitish Hivites with whom Joshua made a league (9:17). It belonged to Benjamin. It has been identified with the modern Kefireh, on the west confines of…
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…
Gibeonites, The — the people of Gibeon, and perhaps also of the three cities associated with Gibeon, (Joshua 9:17)—Hivites; and who, on the discover of the stratagem by which they had obtained the protection of the…
Kirjath-jearim — City of jaars; i.e., of woods or forests, a Gibeonite town (Josh. 9:17) on the border of Benjamin, to which tribe it was assigned (18:15, 28). The ark was brought to this place (1 Sam. 7:1, 2) from…
Kirjathjearim — (the city of forests), first mentioned as one of the four cities of the Gibeonites, (Joshua 9:17) it next occurs as one of the landmarks of the northern boundary of Judah, ch (Joshua 15:9) and as the…
Rimmon — Pomegranate. (1.) A man of Beeroth (2 Sam. 4:2), one of the four Gibeonite cities. (See Josh. 9:17.) (2.) A Syrian idol, mentioned only in 2 Kings 5:18. (3.) One of the “uttermost cities” of Judah,…
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…
Joshua 9:16-27
16. And it came to pass, at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them.
16. Post tres autem dies a foedere cum illis inito audierunt, quod pro-pinqui essent ipsis, et in medio ipso-rum habitarent.
17. And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim.
17. Profectique sunt filii Israel, et venerunt ad urbes ipsorum die tertio. Urbes autem eorum erant Gibeon, Chephirat, Beeroth, Ciriatjearlm.
18. And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congr…
Three days after the treaty had been concluded, the Israelites discovered that they had been deceived, and that their allies dwelt among them (see Jos 9:7). They set out therefore to deal with the deceivers, and reached their towns Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim on the third day. "Chephirah, which was afterwards allotted to the tribe of Benjamin along with Gibeon and Beeroth, and was still inhabited after the captivity (Jos 18:25-26; Ezr 2:25; Neh 7:29), is to be seen in the ruins of Kefir, an hour's journey to the east of Yalo, in the mountains, and three hours to the west of Gibeon (see Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 146, and Van de Velde, Memoir, pp. 303-4). Beeroth, Βηρώθ, according…
Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim were on the plateau northwest of Jerusalem and southwest of Bethel and Ai (see study note on 7:2).
Rashi on Joshua 9:14
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.
Beeroth · 2. A city of the Hivites — 2. A city of the Hivites
Chephirah · A city of the Hivites — A city of the Hivites
Covenants · The Jews: Regarded, as sacred — The Jews: Regarded, as sacred
Gibeon · 1. A city of the Hivites — 1. A city of the Hivites
Gibeonites · Cities of — Cities of
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
Treaty · Sacredness of — Sacredness of
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).
