League With the Gibeonites
449
it was impossible to resist the Hebrews, the Gibeonites had resorted to
stratagem to preserve their lives.
Great was the indignation of the Israelites as they learned the
deception that had been practiced upon them. And this was height-
ened when, after three days’ journey, they reached the cities of the
Gibeonites, near the center of the land. “All the congregation mur-
mured against the princes;” but the latter refused to break the treaty,
though secured by fraud, because they had “sworn unto them by the
Lord God of Israel.” “And the children of Israel smote them not.” The
Gibeonites had pledged themselves to renounce idolatry, and accept
the worship of Jehovah; and the preservation of their lives was not
a violation of God’s command to destroy the idolatrous Canaanites.
Hence the Hebrews had not by their oath pledged themselves to com-
mit sin. And though the oath had been secured by deception, it was not
to be disregarded. The obligation to which one’s word is pledged—if
it do not bind him to perform a wrong act—should be held sacred. No
consideration of gain, of revenge, or of self-interest can in any way af-
fect the inviolability of an oath or pledge. “Lying lips are abomination
to the Lord.”
Proverbs 12:22
. He that “shall ascend into the hill of the
Lord,” and “stand in His holy place,” is “he that sweareth to his own
hurt, and changeth not.”
Psalm 24:3
;
15:4
.
The Gibeonites were permitted to live, but were attached as bond-
men to the sanctuary, to perform all menial services. “Joshua made
them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congrega-
tion, and for the altar of the Lord.” These conditions they gratefully
accepted, conscious that they had been at fault, and glad to purchase
life on any terms. “Behold, we are in thine hand,” they said to Joshua;
“as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.” For centuries
their descendants were connected with the service of the sanctuary.
The territory of the Gibeonites comprised four cities. The people
were not under the rule of a king, but were governed by elders, or
senators. Gibeon, the most important of their towns, “was a great city,
as one of the royal cities,” “and all the men thereof were mighty.” It is
a striking evidence of the terror with which the Israelites had inspired
the inhabitants of Canaan, that the people of such a city should have
resorted to so humiliating an expedient to save their lives.
[507]
But it would have fared better with the Gibeonites had they dealt
honestly with Israel. While their submission to Jehovah secured the