“ That is why our elders, and all the inhabitants of our country, spoke to us saying, “Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, ‘We are your servants'. And now make yourselves a covenant-treaty with us.” '
The non-mention of a king may suggest that Gibeon were ruled by a council of elders and not a king, but alternately it may have been part of the subterfuge. When men are taken in a lie you can believe nothing that they say. They were concerned to establish that all their people were behind them, a country seeking YHWH! Again the reference to servants is Near Eastern hyperbole, but there is in the writer's mind the fact that they did indeed become slaves to Israel.
The idea that they wanted to present was that they feared that once Israel had conquered Canaan they would look for further conquests, and they wanted to prevent it by a treaty alliance.