Joshua 9: When Israel Was Fooled Twice! Series

Introduction: Israel was on the move! Jericho had fallen to them, Ai was gone, and the peoples of central Canaan were probably wondering who would be next. There was a group of four cities which decided to make peace with Israel—even if they had to use trickery to do it!

Text, Joshua 9:1-2, KJV: 1 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; 2 That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

Israel’s first conquest in Canaan was Jericho, documented in Joshua chapter 6. Then, after a setback (chapter 7), Ai, to the northeast of Jericho, fell to Israel as well (see chapter 8). Israel was now likely seeking the will of God as to which direction to go next, when two things happened. First, a large group of Canaanites (combining all the tribes listed above) decided to attack Israel! Second, and very important, a second group of other Canaanites decided to try and make peace. The next section details what they did.

1 The Deception by the Gibeonites

Text, Joshua 9:3-15, KJV: 3 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, 4 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; 5 And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy. 6 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. 7 And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? 8 And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye? 9 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, 10 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. 11 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. 12 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: 13 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. 14 And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD. 15 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.

Someone once remarked that if you can’t win the war, then make the peace, and that’s exactly what this group of four Canaanite cities decided to do. Oddly, the men of these cities were described as “mighty men (from Joshua 10:2)” so they may, in military terms, could have put up a good fight against Israel.

These Canaanites didn’t do that, though, and instead of putting up a good fight, they put on a good performance! If there had been a talent show in those days, these men of Gibeon and the other three cities would have won the prize for best performing actor or something similar.

All this started because the Gibeonites heard about Jericho and Ai. Oddly enough, Israel had been marching and taking a north-easterly direction; Gibeon and the other three cities were about a dozen miles or so to the southwest of Ai’s ruins. Even so, they guessed, “We’re next” and prepared some drastic actions!

The text says they “did work wilily” or craftily or with prudence, according to the on-line helps at https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6195.htm. In a word, they knew the situation, and they acted, we could say, shrewdly, in order to deceive Israel.