This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.”
20. This we will do to them, etc. Although, according to agreement, they give the Gibeonites their lives, they ratify the whole covenant only in part. For while the Gibeonites were entitled to be made perfectly secure, they are deprived of liberty, which is dearer than life.
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
This we will do to them,.... Either this favour we will show them, preserving their lives, next mentioned, or this punishment we will inflict on them, making them hewers of wood, and drawers of water; which though not mentioned directly, was what was upon their minds, and in their design to propose, only they were extremely desirous of sparing their lives, which they repeat: we...