Chapter 47—League With the Gibeonites
This chapter is based on
Joshua 9
and
10
.
From Shechem the Israelites returned to their encampment at Gil-
gal. Here they were soon after visited by a strange deputation, who
desired to enter into treaty with them. The ambassadors represented
that they had come from a distant country, and this seemed to be con-
firmed by their appearance. Their clothing was old and worn, their
sandals were patched, their provisions moldy, and the skins that served
them for wine bottles were rent and bound up, as if hastily repaired on
the journey.
In their far-off home—professedly beyond the limits of Palestine—
their fellow countrymen, they said, had heard of the wonders which
God had wrought for His people, and had sent them to make a league
with Israel. The Hebrews had been specially warned against entering
into any league with the idolaters of Canaan, and a doubt as to the truth
of the strangers’ words arose in the minds of the leaders. “Peradventure
ye dwell among us,” they said. To this the ambassadors only replied,
“We are thy servants.” But when Joshua directly demanded of them,
“Who are ye? and from whence come ye?” they reiterated their former
statement, and added, in proof of their sincerity, “This our bread we
took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth
to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is moldy: and these
bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent:
and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the
very long journey.”
These representations prevailed. The Hebrews “asked not counsel
at the mouth of the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them, and
made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the
congregation sware unto them.” Thus the treaty was entered into.
Three days afterward the truth was discovered. “They heard that they
were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them.” Knowing that
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