And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,
When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard. This town, as its name imports, was situated on a rocky eminence about six miles northwest from Jerusalem, where the modern village of El-Jib now stands. It was the capital of the Hivites, and a large, important city (Joshua 10:2). It seems to have formed, in union with three other towns in the neighbourhood, a free, independent tetrapolis (Joshua 9:17), and to have enjoyed a republican government (Joshua 9:11). 'The situation and character of Gibeon placed it in an exceptional position. Planted at the head of the pass of Beth-heron, and immediately opposite the opening of the pass of Ai, it would have been the next prey on which the Israelite host would have sprung' (Stanley, 'Lectures on the Jewish Church,'
p. 236).