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Joshua 9
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Chapter 9
9. SACRIFICE ON MOUNT EBAL: THE LAW READ THERE
F. THE TREATY BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE GIBEONITES
A coalition against Israel
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Hearing these things, all the kings on this side of the Jordan, in the highlands and in the lowlands, all along the coast of the Great Sea towards Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites,
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formed an alliance to fight together against Joshua and Israel.
The ruse of the Gibeonites[*a]
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When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,
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they decided to resort to trickery. They set out provided with supplies, having loaded their donkeys with old sacks and with old wineskins that had burst and been sewn up again.
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The sandals on their feet were worn out and patched, the garments they wore were threadbare. The bread they took with them to eat was all dry and crumbling.
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They came to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, and speaking to him and the men of Israel, they said, ‘We come from a distant country, so make a treaty with us’.
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The men of Israel answered these Hivites, ‘It may be that you live in our neighbourhood; how then can we make a treaty with you?’
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They answered Joshua, ‘We are your servants’. But Joshua asked them, ‘Who are you and where do you come from?’
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They answered, ‘Your servants have come from a country very far away, because of the fame of Yahweh your God; for we have heard of him and all that he has done in Egypt
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and all that he has done to the two Amorite kings whose realm was beyond the Jordan, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan who lived at Ashtaroth.
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Then our elders and all the people of our country said to us, “Take provisions with you for the journey; go to meet them and say to them: We are your servants; so make a treaty with us”.
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Here is our bread; it was warm when we took it from home for our journey the day we set out to come to you, and now you see it is dry and crumbling.
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These wineskins were new when we filled them; you see they have burst; and our clothes and sandals are all worn out from travelling such a long way.’
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The leaders partook of the provisions they offered and did not consult the oracle of Yahweh.
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Joshua granted them peace and made a treaty with them guaranteeing their lives, and the leaders of the community ratified it by oath.
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Now it so happened that three days after the treaty had been made, it became known that they were a neighbouring people whose home was in the midst of Israel.
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The Israelites set out from the camp and came to their towns, which were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim.
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The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel, but the community grumbled at the leaders.
The Gibeonites’ place in the community
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All the leaders declared in full assembly, ‘Since we have sworn an oath to them by Yahweh the God of Israel, we cannot touch them.
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This is what we will do with them: we will let them live, lest otherwise we bring the wrath on ourselves because of the oath we swore to them.’
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The leaders went on, ‘Let them live, but let them be wood-cutters and water-carriers in the service of the whole community’. The community did as the leaders had said.
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Joshua sent for the Gibeonites and asked them, ‘Why did you trick us with those words, “We live very far away”, when in fact you live right among us?
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From now you are accursed, and you shall never cease being serfs, wood-cutters and water-carriers in the house of my God.’
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They answered Joshua, ‘We did it because your servants had become convinced that Yahweh your God had ordered Moses his servant to give you this whole country and destroy all its inhabitants before you; also because, as you advanced on us, we were extremely afraid that you would kill us. That was why we did this.
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Now, see, we are in your power; do with us whatever you think right and good.
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What he did with them was this. He saved them from the hands of the Israelites, and they did not kill them.
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But from that day forward, Joshua made them wood-cutters and water-carriers for the community, and bound them, down to the present day, to wait on Yahweh’s altar wherever Yahweh might choose.
Chapters of Joshua
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3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
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