THE GUILE OF THE GIBEONITES, AND THE LEAGUE WHICH THEY SECURED
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Joshua 9:1. On this side Jordan]—Lit., beyond Jordan; meaning the western side. The historian contemplates the invasion as having been made from the country east of Jordan. Hills … valleys … coasts] By “the hills” is meant the whole of the hill-country which became afterwards the territory of Judah and Ephraim; “the valleys” indicate the plain, or lowland, from Gaza to the Cape of Carmel; “the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon” include the country on the coasts of the Mediterranean from the bay of Acre to Tyre. The Hittite, etc.] “The Girgashite is left out of this list. The Jewish tradition, sustained by Procopius, is that they fled the country on Joshua’s approach, and settled in north-western Africa. Joshua 24:11, shews that if they did thus flee, they fought against Israel, with the other tribes of Canaan, before their flight” (Crosby).
Joshua 9:2. With one accord] Lit., “with one mouth,” i.e., unanimously.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Joshua 9:1-2
THE CONFEDERACY OF THE KINGS
When about four hundred years after this league was made and broken up, David wrote what we know as the second Psalm, it seems as if the history of this confederacy must have been more or less fully present to his mind. A devout lover of the word of God, he would be familiar with the incidents of the combination; and, as the scene of the battle recorded in chapter 10. was only a few miles from Jerusalem, he would be well acquainted with the very ground on which this southern half of the confederacy was defeated and destroyed. Who can say that the poet who was probably led to write the song of the thunder-storm (Psalms 29) to the movements of its own grand music, was not similarly influenced, on the human side, as he penned the prophetical lyric of the triumphs of the greater JOSHUA? We can almost think of David as just returned from Ajalon, and the remarkable pass of Beth-horon; as having read over, with a thrill of patriotism and piety, these yet exciting Chapter s of Joshua; as having his soul still moved by those exultant words from the book Jasher; and then as sitting down to write of those more glorious victories of the Son of God. Any way, the opening of this Psalm of wonderful prophecy reads almost like a song, prompted in part by this memorable history:—“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against Jehovah and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: Jehovah shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and trouble them in His sore displeasure.”
This combination of the kings of Canaan may be considered in the following aspects:—
I. The influences by which it was provoked. “When all the kings heard thereof, they gathered themselves together, to fight,” etc. The tidings which led them to plan this league may not have been the tidings of any one event in particular. They had recently “heard” of a good many things, more than a little calculated to attract attention, and to incite to some common action. Let us think of some of these things which presently brought about this combination.
1. There was the anxiety that came from the Israelites’ victories. These runaway slaves from Egypt, who had been wandering up and down the southern deserts for forty years, like so many demented people, had actually overthrown the Amorites, all the Amorites on the eastern side of Jordan. Sihon and his people had fallen. Og and his people had fallen also. The men who formerly had dispossessed the “giants,” and taken their country, were now, in their turn, overthrown and slain by these slaves. Suddenly the news is spread over the whole land that these people have crossed the river. Not even “the swellings of Jordan” had sufficed to stop them. Then came the tidings that Jericho had fallen, and soon that Ai, too, had been entirely destroyed. No wonder that the country was stirred by reports like these, from Gaza even unto Tyre, (a.) So long as they walk with God, any people may be victorious. Walking in the way of holiness, even recently liberated bondsmen soon become triumphant soldiers of Christ. “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength, because of Thine enemies.” (b.) The victories of the past make way for yet more glorious triumphs in the future. They nerve and stimulate the conqueror; they dishearten and paralyse his foes.
2. There was the dismay that arose from the supernatural element. The staying of the waters of the Jordan, and the falling of the walls of Jericho, could not be other than the work of the God of heaven. These things must have reminded the Canaanites strongly of the traditions of the working of that same Almighty hand in the flood, from which their father Ham had escaped, and in the terrible destruction of Sodom. From the language of Rahab (chap. Joshua 2:10-11), and of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:9), it is evident that there was still some knowledge of God, and faith in God, among these backsliding descendants of Noah. When the people saw and heard such evidences of the working of God as accompanied the entrance of the Israelites into their land, they might well feel overcome with dismay.
3. There was the hope which sprang from Israel’s defeat. These enemies of Canaan had been beaten at Ai; why might not the defeat which had been inflicted on them there be repeated elsewhere on a larger scale? What had been might be again. When they heard of this thing, perhaps then they took fresh courage, and resolved on this combination. Every defeat of a Christian is an encouragement to the world.
4. There was the provocation which arose from the religions service at Ebal. The Israelites were daring to behave as though already they were masters of the land. They had held a general convocation at which their laws had been proclaimed, at which their obedience had been avowed, at which an altar had been erected, and at which their God had been thanked and worshipped. And “when the kings heard thereof, they gathered themselves together.”
II. The spirit in which it was promoted.
1. The confederacy was formed in a spirit of rebellion against God. Not that the kings of Canaan wished to appear as acting against Jehovah. They would much have preferred to leave God entirely out of the question. But this could not be. In spite of themselves, they were constrained to believe that the Lord fought for Israel. It is worth while to notice that out of five instances in the book of Joshua, in which Canaanites are represented as speaking, three contain an expression of this conviction, and the remaining two are each merely the record of a command, and are so brief as not to exceed the limits of a single verse (cf. Chapter s Joshua 2:9-12; Joshua 9:9; Joshua 9:24; Joshua 2:3; Joshua 10:24). In every instance in the book in which a Canaanite speaks at any length, he confesses his belief in the God of heaven. Other grounds are furnished by the history for concluding that many of the inhabitants of the land felt that they were fighting, not merely against Israel, but against God. There is a point where opposition to men becomes rebellion against God. Where God is evidently with men, shewing that He shields and helps them as His people, to fight against them is to fight against Him.
2. This confederacy was formed in a feeling of hearty unanimity. They gathered together to fight “with one accord;” or, as stated in the margin, “with one mouth.” The voice of all, excepting the Gibeonites, was unanimously for the league. Thus while the Church is sometimes divided in its defence of the truth, the enemies of the Church are united and firm in their opposition. They willingly sacrifice private differences and feuds in their resistance of truth and righteousness. When Christ is to be tried, even Herod and Pilate are straightway made friends.
III. The instrumentality by which it was anticipated and weakened. The unanimity of the inhabitants of the land was hearty as far as it went, but it was not complete.
1. The combination of the Canaanites was broken by a serious defection among themselves. The Gibeonites went over to the other side of Israel. Although not required or permitted to take any active part in the war, the Gibeonites, by their secession, placed four important cities in the hands of the enemies of their country. (a.) Christ overcomes the world by the world. In His army, those who fight for Him were once contending against Him. The world is ever going over to the Church. The foremost Christian leaders of to-day, and of every age, were once opposed to the Saviour, (b.) Christ attacks individual men from within themselves. The human conscience invariably goes over to the side of truth; then the affections, the intellect, and the man often follow.
2. For the purposes of the war, the position of these cities of the Gibeonites was among the most important in all the land. With them in his possession, Joshua was able to break up the confederacy of the kings, almost ere it was formed. As Professor Wilkins has remarked, “he was able to drive his army like a wedge into the very heart of the hostile country, and strike his blows right and left at the isolated divisions of the enemy.” The geographical position of nations has not been lost sight of by Providence in the conflicts of the cross. When England went over to Christ, Christianity obtained a stronghold in the very centre of the world’s future commerce and enterprise
3. The time of the Gibeonite secession was no less important than the fact itself. Just as the kings of Canaan had all combined to resist the Israelites, this defection of the Gibeonites severed the new union into halves. The southern confederacy hastened to wreak its vengeance on the traitorous cities; Joshua hastened to succour them, and ere the northern kings could join in the conflict, the southern half of the kingdom had fallen for ever. Thus, as events proved, no time could have been more favourable for the league of the Gibeonites with Israel. Thus, too, has it been in the history of the Church. When the faith of men in the Romish hierarchy was shaken by the corruptions of priests like Tetzel, Luther went over to Christ. The history of Christianity in England offers similar parallels. The events even now occurring in connection with central Africa, suggest similar thoughts. The results of recent missionary and geographical expeditions, and of events in Egypt and the South-east of Europe, seem as if working together and concentrating for the spiritual redemption of a long-neglected and degraded people.
IV. The ease with which it was utterly destroyed. As the after history shews, the very efforts which the Canaanites made to defend themselves only served to haste: their overthrow. Apparently the combined forces of the kings effected no more harm than was done at Jericho, and not so much as was wrought at Ai. The battle at Gibeon was a rout, and that which was subsequently fought at the waters of Merom was little better.
1. The number and power of the enemies of the Cross need offer no discouragement to the soldiers of Christ.
2. He fights safely and victoriously, who fights with God.
3. Every conflict between truth and error does but hasten the time when Christ “shall have dominion from sea to sea.” “He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.”
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Joshua 9:1-2.—THE WITNESS OF LAST HOURS.
To the Israelites, or to the Canaanites, the end of life was rapidly approaching. Things had gone too far for any retreat, or for any room to hope for much mercy. Henceforth, manifestly, as it had really been from the first, the war was unto death. One nation or the other was about to be swept from off the earth. These possibilities of the end bear witness in every man. The secret places of the heart are turned towards the light. A dying man finds concealment difficult. The crisis without makes a revelation within. The hidden things, for once, come outside. Consciousness informs demeanour, and demeanour informs every beholder.
In the light of these final struggles between the representatives of truth and of idolatry, mark:—
I. The harried excitement of the sinfal.
II. The strong confidence of be lievers.
III. The majestio calmness of God.
THE FOLLY OF THE WICKED
I. The foolish delays of the un godly. Why was not this confederacy formed earlier? The overthrow of Sihon and Og might have been a sufficient warning that Israel was not an enemy to be despised as insignificant. Why did not the combined forces of the kings of Canaan meet the Israelites at the Jordan, and dispute with them the passage of the river? The ungodly are ever behind in preparing for the dangers of their future.
II. The mistaken action of the ungodly. After the displays of God’s power at the Jordan, and at Jericho, this league was manifestly going from bad to worse. The folly of the former delay, looking at it on the human side, was now equalled by the folly of the present movement. It is not seldom God’s way to take the wicked in their own net, and to bind them fast by their own mistakes.
“The Canaanites might have seen themselves in Jericho and Ai, and have well perceived it was not an arm of flesh that they must resist; yet they gather their forces, and say, ‘Tush, we shall speed better.’ It is madness in a man not to be warned, but to run upon the point of those judgments wherewith he sees others miscarry, and not to believe till he cannot recover. Our assent is purchased too late, when we have overstayed prevention, and trust to that experience which we cannot redeem.”—Bp. Hall.]
“As once the Canaanites against Israel, so still and ever the foes of God gather themselves together to fight against Him and His Church.”—[Lange.]