Ver. 18. And the children of Israel smote them not, &c.— Even though they had not thought themselves bound by their oath, (as some think they were not, since it had been obtained upon a false pretence;) yet it was for the honour of religion that they should shew themselves scrupulous not to violate an engagement which had been entered into in the name of Jehovah. Nothing could be more proper than this prudent delicacy, to give the Gibeonites great ideas of the majesty of the true God, a majesty which would have been degraded in the sight of the Canaanites by a different conduct. Such was the respect of the ancient Hebrews for oaths, that even when they might have found plausible pretences for breaking them, they made it an indispensable duty to keep them faithfully. "Then," to use the words of a celebrated Roman historian, "men were not arrived at that pitch of indifference and contempt for religion, which is now grown so common: instead of giving themselves the liberty to interpret laws and oaths according to their own interest, each, on the contrary, submitted his conduct to the laws." Liv. l. iii. c. 20.
All the congregation murmured against the princes— It is the disposition of almost all nations to be ever ready to cavil at the conduct of those who govern them. In the present case, the Israelites could not justly reproach their leaders with being actuated by levity, and exposing the nation to fail in its duty, however it might be conducted; but what they most repined at was, evidently, because they could not pillage the cities of the Gibeonites, and enrich themselves with their spoils.