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Joshua 9

Joshua book home•Chapter 9 of 24•27 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Joshua 9 Overview

The kings of Canaan begin organizing against Israel, but the Gibeonites choose deception instead of battle. Wearing worn clothes and carrying old provisions, they pretend to come from a distant country. Israel examines their food but does not ask counsel of the LORD, and the leaders swear a league with them. Three days later the deception is discovered, yet Israel keeps the oath and assigns the Gibeonites service connected with the congregation and altar.

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Before you read Joshua 9

Coming from

Chapter 8 ended with victory at Ai and a full covenant reading at Ebal and Gerizim.

In this chapter

Immediately after publicly hearing the law, Israel is tested by a plausible story and makes a binding decision without seeking the LORD’s counsel.

Leads into

Chapter 10 shows the consequences: Jerusalem’s king attacks Gibeon because of its treaty with Israel, and Joshua is drawn into the southern campaign.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Gibeon belonged to the peoples Israel was commanded to dispossess, so the treaty creates a real covenant complication. The narrator identifies the leaders’ failure plainly: they 'asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.' Once the princes swear by the LORD, however, Israel treats the oath as binding rather than solving one error by committing another. The Gibeonites’ servitude preserves their lives while acknowledging the deceptive circumstances.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Religious knowledge does not eliminate the need to seek God’s wisdom in concrete decisions.

Truth 2

Plausible evidence can mislead when leaders act without proper counsel.

Truth 3

A rash oath can create lasting obligations; integrity may require bearing the cost of an unwise promise.

Truth 4

The Gibeonites survive judgment through a covenant arrangement, though not on the terms they falsely presented.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Deuteronomy 7:1–2 gives the conquest setting that makes the Gibeonite treaty so consequential.

Connection 2

2 Samuel 21:1–2 shows that centuries later Saul’s attempt to kill Gibeonites is treated as a violation of Israel’s sworn commitment.

Connection 3

Psalm 15:4 praises the person who swears to his own hurt and does not change, a principle that helps explain why Israel preserves the oath.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not praise the Gibeonites’ deception as if falsehood itself were the model; the text emphasizes Israel’s failure to seek counsel and the binding nature of the oath.

Keep this clear 2

Do not assume every oath must be kept when the oath itself requires sin; this chapter concerns an oath whose fulfillment preserved life rather than commanded evil.

Keep this clear 3

The Gibeonites’ later place in Israel should not be read as proof that ethnic Canaanite identity made mercy impossible.

Read Joshua 9 watching for…

The details the Gibeonites use to make their story believable.

The sentence explaining Israel’s central mistake.

How quickly the deception is discovered.

Why the congregation does not attack the Gibeonites after discovery.

The work assigned to Gibeon under the treaty.

Chapter outline4 sections

1-2The kings of Canaan gather to fight Israel 3-14The Gibeonites deceive Israel into making a league 15-21Israel discovers the deception but keeps the oath 22-27The Gibeonites are made servants for the congregation and the altar

And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;

That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.

And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us.

And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you?

And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye?

And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,

And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth.

Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us.

This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy:

And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.

And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.

And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.

And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them.

And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim.

And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes.

But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them.

This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them.

And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them.

And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us?

Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.

And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing.

And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.

And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not.

And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose.

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Joshua 9:8

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