Commentaries:
The Gibeonites misrepresented themselves to Joshua and the Israelites to procure a covenant of peace. Israel's leaders failed to do their due diligence in verifying the Gibeonites' claim, and they became a protected people in Israel. As the story unfolds, the Israelites discover the Gibeonites' deception, yet the oath they swore tied their hands.
The Israelites, fearing God's wrath if they reneged on the agreement, make the Gibeonites their slaves. The Gibeonites, consigned to cut wood and carry water, have no hope of freedom. We use a similar saying even today: If somebody "carries water" for a person of higher rank, it indicates the water carrier is a servant—his life is not his own. The agreement spared the Gibeonites' lives but also significantly constrained them.
Verse 14 is the critical point in this story: "Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the LORD" (emphasis ours). The Gibeonites' subterfuge succeeded because Israel, apparently even Joshua, did not seek God's counsel. They knew His will overall: to drive the people completely out of the land. But Israel's leaders failed to consult with God when this decision came before them, and in time, that failure cost them dearly. This error is particularly surprising regarding Joshua, who was a very faithful leader. This incident appears to be a low point in an otherwise outstanding record of following God.
The Bible contains no record of the Israelites, even after discovering the deception, either repenting of missing the mark or seeking God about what to do. Israel's hands may have been tied, but God's certainly were not. As verse 22 indicates, Joshua and the Israelites were more upset over the Gibeonites' deception than their mistake of failing to seek God. They had the means to avoid this deception, to see through the disguises, but instead, they acted on their own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Despite thinking they controlled the Gibeonites, they were still susceptible to their deceptive influence, and over time, it resulted in idolatry. The Gibeonites may have been mere water carriers, but their influence helped topple the nation.
What were the fruits—the effects—of this incident? The account in Joshua 9 records what the Gibeonites reaped. They had life but not fulfillment. Paul has good reason to link sin with slavery. A sinner is a slave of sin (Romans 6:16), a state the Gibeonites experienced literally.
In not guarding against deception with God's help, Joshua and the Israelite leaders established a precedent that unwittingly unleashed great calamity on their nation. What had been an absolute, divine imperative to wipe out the inhabitants of Canaan now included an exception, turning aside God's clear command.
The fruit, however, took time to ripen and spoil. After this lapse, Joshua faithfully destroyed every other city and nation he came against, not showing any mercy, just as God had said. The fruit ripened after Joshua died. For a time, the Israelites continued their conquest of the land, but cracks developed in their resolve. Nobody could stand against them, but after a while, they abandoned the conquest, despite God's assurance of victory.
To compound the problem, even among the peoples they did conquer, the Israelites did not finish the job God gave them. Instead, they leaned on Joshua's exception and opted to enslave the descendants of Canaan rather than drive them out. They chose mercy when, in this matter, God had said not to show mercy. Yet Israel could point to Joshua's regrettable precedent and say, "Well, he did it, and it worked out."
Except it did not work out—not over the long term. The fruit of being deceived and allowing evil to endure was horrible, but there was no going back. The very thing God had warned Israel about, time and again, came to pass:
Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods. (Judges 3:5-6)
Israel had a perpetual problem with recognizing evil and taking appropriate action. Their apostasy began with the Hivites from Gibeon, and in time, the leaven slowly spread.
There is no such thing as a little sin or, in this case, a little deception. The Gibeonites' instinct for self-preservation enslaved them, and Israel's failure to seek the truth resulted in a corrosive precedent, creating a spiritual snare that sprang on Israel exactly as God predicted.
David C. Grabbe
Joshua and the Gibeonites (Part Two)
