And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them.
Hewers of wood and drawers of water (see the note at Deuteronomy 29:11) - the menials who performed the lowest offices and drudgery in the sanctuary; whence they were called Nethinims (1 Chronicles 9:2; Ezra 2:43; Ezra 8:20) -
i.e., given, appropriated, delivered over (to the sanctuary) - a name first given to the Levites; as hereditarily devoted to the service of the sanctuary; but afterward exclusively applied to the Gibeonites, who were separated from all others, dwelling in their own quarters (Nehemiah 7:46). [The Septuagint has: xulokopoi kai hudroforoi tou thusiasteeriou tou Theou, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the altar of God; leaving out the congregation, to whose private or personal convenience the Gibeonites were not to minister.] Their chastisement thus brought them into the possession of great religious privileges (Psalms 84:10); and their continued preservation in their special office, after the extermination of the other native tribes of Canaan, affords a remarkable confirmation of the truth of the preceding history (see the note at 2 Samuel 21:1-2).