They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?”
The Gibeonites heard of Israel's victories and chose peace instead of war, whereas other peoples were hardened by the same tidings. The same report that softens one heart hardens another; it becomes life to the wise and death to the proud.
AI summary
Commenting on Joshua 9:3-14
They said 'servants' to flatter him into lowliness, not meaning to be his subjects truly, but proposing themselves to him alone as their head. Joshua asked their names and country, suspicious they were Canaanites; he was cautious, yet not cautious enough to escape the deception.
AI summary
Gibeon was no small settlement but the capital of the Hivites, a large independent city six miles northwest of Jerusalem, commanding a rocky height where El Jib now stands. It led a confederacy of neighboring towns in what amounted to a republican state, which is why its treaty with Joshua carried such weight.
AI summary
Commenting on Joshua 9:3-15