Joshua 9
Joshua 9 opens with a new threat and a new tactic. The kings west of Jordan - the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite - hear what has happened at Jericho and Ai and, for the first time in the conquest, gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord (v. 2). But before the armies meet, one city breaks ranks. The inhabitants of Gibeon, hearing the same news, do not gather for war. They work wilily. Their plan is a masterpiece of staged evidence: old sacks on their donkeys, wineskins old, and rent, and bound up, shoes patched and worn, bread dry and mouldy - the whole costume of a long journey. They come to the camp at Gilgal claiming to be from a far country, and ask Israel to make ye a league with us.3
The men of Israel are not naive at first. Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? (v. 6). So the Gibeonites tell their story - and it is a good one. They invoke the name of the LORD thy God, they recite His famous deeds in Egypt and against Sihon and Og, they hold up the crumbling bread as proof. Everything fits. And then the chapter sets down the sentence that is its whole heart, the hinge on which everything turns: the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD (v. 14). The sin is not the oath itself - oaths matter deeply in Scripture. The sin is the silence that came before it. Israel judged by what its eyes could see and bound itself by covenant without ever asking the One who could have told them the truth.
What follows is a study in consequence, in the weight of a word, and in an unexpected mercy. Three days later the deceit is exposed; the Gibeonites are neighbours, not far-off strangers. The congregation murmurs, but the princes will not break faith: we have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them (v. 19). The oath stands, even though it was gained by a lie and will cost the people. And the Gibeonites, called to account, confess plainly that they acted out of fear for their lives. Their sentence is not death but service - they become hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and, most strikingly, for the altar of the LORD. Outsiders who came in dread end the chapter with a lasting place at the house of God.2
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Joshua 9:1-13They Did Work Wilily
1And 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; 2That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord. 3And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, 4They 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; 5And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy. 6We be come from a far country. 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.
Two reactions to the same news open this chapter, and they could not be more different. Israel's victories at Jericho and Ai have rung through the whole land, and the kings west of Jordan respond as kings do: they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord (vv. 1-2). For the first time in the conquest the scattered city-states put aside their rivalries and unite against a common danger. It is the obvious move - meet a threat with massed force. But the writer sets that gathering down only to turn at once to a single city that hears the very same news and does the opposite. Gibeon will not fight. Gibeon will scheme. The contrast is the frame for everything that follows: when the power of the LORD is unmistakable, some harden into open resistance, and some go looking for a way to survive it - and the way Gibeon chooses, for all its dishonesty, will keep them alive when the armies of the others do not.
Notice the patient craft of the deception. The Gibeonites do not simply lie; they build a case. Old sacks upon their asses, wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up, shoes worn and clouted, garments aged, and bread dry and mouldy (vv. 4-5) - every object is staged to testify to a long road travelled under a hot sun. They have thought of everything. When they reach the camp at Gilgal their words match the props exactly: We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us (v. 6). The whole presentation is engineered to appeal to the eye and to the rules of ancient diplomacy, which permitted treaties with distant peoples while forbidding them with the nations of the land. It is a sobering picture of how convincing a falsehood can be made to look. Nothing here is crude. The evidence is consistent, the story is plausible, and the only way to see past it would be to ask the One who sees what the eye cannot.
7And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? 8And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye? 9And 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, 10And 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. 11Wherefore 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. 12This 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: 13And 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.
To their credit, the men of Israel are not taken in at the first glance. They voice exactly the right suspicion: Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? (v. 7). The instinct is sound. They know the command - no treaties with the inhabitants of the land - and they sense that these ragged strangers might be neighbours in disguise. This is the crucial moment, and it is worth dwelling on. The danger is not that Israel is gullible; it is that Israel is almost careful enough. The suspicion is raised and then talked away. A good question is asked and then answered by the very people who have most to gain from the answer. Right here, with doubt already on their lips, was the moment to stop and inquire of the LORD - and instead they let a smooth reply settle the matter. How often the failure to seek God comes not because we never sensed the question, but because we let a plausible explanation quiet a doubt that should have driven us to our knees.
The Gibeonites' speech is shrewd in the extreme, because it is mostly true. 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 (v. 9), and all He did to Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan (v. 10). The lie is the distance; everything else is fact. They really had heard of the LORD's deeds - the same report that melted the heart of Rahab and terrified the kings now serves the Gibeonites' scheme. They even frame their coming as a response to the name of the LORD, wrapping the deception in pious language. And they end by holding up the props one more time: the bread that is dry, and it is mouldy, the wineskins rent, the garments and shoes worn by reason of the very long journey (vv. 12-13). It is a flawless performance - true history, real fear of God's power, tangible evidence, all bent to a single false conclusion. And it works, precisely because Israel weighs it with eyes and ears alone.
Joshua 9:14-21They Asked Not Counsel at the Mouth of the LORD
14And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD. 15And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. 16And 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. 17And 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.
Here is the verse the whole chapter has been moving toward, and it lands with deliberate quietness: And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD (v. 14). There is no thunder, no dramatic sin - only an omission. They examined the bread, they tasted the provisions, they found the evidence convincing, and they simply never asked. The phrase is almost tender in its restraint, and that is what makes it so piercing. The failure of God's people here is not rebellion; it is self-reliance. They had every means of knowing the truth - the LORD was in their midst, He had spoken to Joshua again and again, the way of inquiry was open - and they leaned instead on their own assessment of crumbling bread and worn shoes. The men took of their victuals: they busied themselves with the physical proof and forgot the spiritual question. Notice too that this is a corporate failure. It is not only Joshua but the men, the leaders together, who let the moment pass. Wisdom was as near as a prayer, and they did not pray.
On the strength of that unexamined evidence, the covenant is made: Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them (v. 15). The word is given; the oath is sworn in the most solemn way Israel knew. And the consequence arrives with almost comic speed: at the end of three days… they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them (v. 16). Three days. The “far country” turns out to be just over the next ridge - Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim, a cluster of towns close enough to reach in a short march (v. 17). The brevity is the rebuke. Had Israel paused even briefly to inquire before swearing, the truth that surfaced in three days would have surfaced in time. This is the bitter arithmetic of acting in haste without God: the answer we needed was never far off; we simply bound ourselves before we sought it. The deceit was the Gibeonites' sin, but the speed of the unraveling exposes Israel's.
18And 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. 19But 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. 20This 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. 21And 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.
Now the integrity of the leaders shines exactly where it would have been easiest to abandon it. The deception is plain, the people are furious - all the congregation murmured against the princes (v. 18) - and the simplest course would be to declare a treaty built on lies null and void. But the princes will not. Their reasoning is striking: We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them (v. 19). The oath was gained by fraud, yet it was sworn in God's name, and that name cannot be treated lightly even when it was invoked over a deceit. They will keep their word lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them (v. 20). So they find a middle path that honours the oath while answering the offense: the Gibeonites shall live, but they shall become hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation (v. 21). The deceit has a cost - a lasting servitude - but the promise of life is kept. The leaders who failed to seek God before swearing now refuse to dishonour Him after.
Joshua 9:22-27Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water for the Altar of the LORD
22And 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? 23Now 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. 24And 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. 25And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do. 26And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not. 27And 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.
Joshua summons the Gibeonites and names their sin without flinching: Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us? (v. 22). The deceit is not glossed over; it is called what it is. And a sentence falls: 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 (v. 23). It is real judgment - a perpetual servitude, the lowliest labour, the lot of the bondman. The lie did not go unpunished. Yet even as Joshua pronounces it, notice where the curse leads: not to death, not to exile, but to the house of my God. The very sentence that humbles them also draws them in. Joshua keeps the oath that spares their lives while assigning a cost that fits their crime. The honesty of the moment matters: the chapter does not pretend the deception was harmless or clever-and-therefore-fine. It names the wrong, it imposes a cost - and then, almost without comment, it sets the deceivers down inside the orbit of the living God.
The Gibeonites' answer is one of the most revealing speeches in the chapter, because it tells us why they lied: Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land… therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing (v. 24). Underneath the costume and the con was simple terror. They had heard what the LORD had done and what He had commanded, and they were sore afraid. Then they place themselves entirely at Israel's mercy: And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do (v. 25). This is not the language of defiance but of surrender. There is something here that runs deeper than their dishonesty. The same fear that drove them to deceive also drove them toward the people of God rather than against them - while the kings of verse 1 gathered to fight what they feared, the Gibeonites threw themselves on its mercy. Their fear was crooked in its method but right in its instinct: better to be a bondman in the hand of this God than to stand against Him in the open field.
Further study
- The Hebrew text of Joshua 9 with Rashi, Radak, and other classical commentators side by side - useful for the phrase the KJV renders “asked not counsel” in verse 14 (lo sha'alu, “they inquired not”), for the verb behind “work wilily” in verse 4 (ormah, calculated cunning), and for the standing phrase “hewers of wood and drawers of water” that recurs through verses 21, 23, and 27.
- Joshua 9 ↔ 2 Samuel 21 · Psalm 15 · Proverbs 3 · Ephesians 2Intertextual BibleTraces the threads tying Joshua 9 to the rest of Scripture - the oath sworn by the LORD's name (v. 19) honoured even when broken centuries later (2 Sam. 21:1-2), the failure to inquire (v. 14) set beside lean not unto thine own understanding (Prov. 3:5), and the lowly outsiders given a place at the altar (v. 27) read alongside those once far off made nigh by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13).
- Joshua 9 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Joshua 9 - the staged props of the Gibeonite deception in verses 4-5, the geography behind their claim of a “far country,” the legal weight of an oath sworn “by the LORD God of Israel” (v. 18), and the role of the Gibeonites as temple servants implied by verse 27.
Where this echoes in Scripture
They Did Work Wilily
- Deuteronomy 7:1-2thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them.The command the Gibeonites maneuver around - why the men of Israel rightly suspect a league with neighbours (v. 7).
- Proverbs 3:5-6Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.The remedy Israel skipped - acknowledging God before deciding, rather than leaning on the evidence of the eyes (v. 14).
- 1 Samuel 16:7man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Exactly the gap the Gibeonites exploit - appearances convince the eye while the truth lies hidden (vv. 4-5).
- Joshua 2:9-11I know that the LORD hath given you the land... for we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea.The same fame of the LORD’s deeds the Gibeonites cite in verses 9-10 - here moving Rahab to faith.
- John 7:24Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.The warning that answers the failure of this section - not to be ruled by the surface of things (vv. 4-6).
They Asked Not Counsel at the Mouth of the LORD
- 1 Samuel 23:2David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines?The very step Israel skipped in verse 14 - inquiring of the LORD before acting, and being answered.
- Psalm 15:4He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.The character the princes show in verse 19 - keeping an oath even when it costs.
- 2 Samuel 21:1-2It is for Saul... because he slew the Gibeonites... the children of Israel had sworn unto them.The oath of verses 15-19 still binding generations later - God honouring a covenant sworn in His name.
- Numbers 23:19God is not a man, that he should lie... hath he said, and shall he not do it?The deeper ground of the kept oath (v. 19) - the faithfulness of a God who does not retract His word.
- Ecclesiastes 5:4-5When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it... Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.The weight of a vow that frames this whole scene - why the oath, once sworn, may not be broken (vv. 18-20).
Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water for the Altar of the LORD
- Deuteronomy 29:11your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger... from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water.The same phrase as verses 21, 23, 27 - the lowliest labour within the covenant community.
- Psalm 84:10I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.The worth of the Gibeonites’ lowly place at the altar (v. 27) - nearness to God prized above ease elsewhere.
- Ephesians 2:13, 19ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ... fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.The wider picture of verse 27 - the once-distant stranger brought near to the house of God.
- John 6:37him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.The welcome the Gibeonites find (vv. 26-27) - the One who turns away none who come to Him.
- Ezra 8:20the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites.The later temple servants set apart for menial sacred labour - an echo of the place given the Gibeonites in verse 27.