But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.
The princes joined Joshua in this treaty, treating them as partners in government, not underlings. An oath by the God of Israel sealed it, but the whole mischief lay in haste: they examined the bread by taste and sight alone, never reasoning whether stale provisions proved a distant home. Sense without understanding made fools of them.
AI summary
Commenting on Joshua 9:15-21
But all the princes said to all the congregation,.... That is, all the princes that went to Gibeon addressed all the Israelites that were there: we have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel; by the Word of the Lord God, as the Targum; an oath is a solemn sacred thing, and not to be broken, and a good man will make conscience...
We have sworn unto them - Although the Israelites were deceived in this business, and the covenant was made on a certain supposition which was afterwards proved to have had no foundation in truth, and consequently the whole engagement on the part of the deceived was hereby vitiated and rendered null and void; yet, because the elders had eaten with them, offered a covenant sacrifice...