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When the wicked nations of Canaan
heard of what the Israelites were doing, of all their conquests, and their
great power, they came together to fight against Joshua and his men.
It was wicked, and foolish too, to try to fight with God's people.
God had promised to give Canaan to the Israelites, and to help them to
conquer their enemies; and those wicked Canaanites had no power to resist
His will. But there were some of these people who did not wish to
fight with Israel, because they felt it would do no good, and they were in
great fear that Joshua would kill them. These people were the
Gibeonites. It was right of them to feel their own weakness, and
God's strength, and to wish to be at peace with His people; but they did
not seek for peace in the right way. They knew that Joshua was not
commanded to fight with the people who lived far off, but only with those
who lived in Canaan; so they determined to deceive him; and to pretend to
have come from a country very far off, and to ask him to make peace with
them. So the Gibeonites
took their asses, and put sacks upon them, and in the sacks they put dry
mouldy bread; the skin wine bottles which they carried were broken, and
their shoes and clothes old and torn. The Gibeonites soon came to
the camp of the Israelites at Gilgal, for it was not far from them, and
asked to speak to Joshua. They said, "We wish to make peace
with you; we are come a long way to see you." The Israelites
answered, "Perhaps you are Canaanites, and we must not make peace
with them." The Gibeonites said, "No, we are not
Canaanites; we come from a country very far off; we have been traveling
many days, and are tired with our long journey; you see our dry bread, and
our broken bottles, and our old shoes and garments; all were new when we
began our journey; but now they are worn out, because we have been so long
a time on the road. When we were in our own country, we heard about you,
and about all that you did to the kings of Heshbon and Bashan, and we were
afraid you would destroy us also; so we are come now to ask you to be at
peace with us, and we will serve and obey you." This
story was not true; but Joshua believed it; so he did not ask God to tell
him what he ought to do, but he made peace with the Gibeonites, and
promised not to destroy them. Then the Gibeonites were much pleased,
and went home again. But two or three days after, the Israelites
heard that these people, with whom they had made peace, were Canaanites,
and lived very near to them. Then the Israelites were vexed, and
angry too, and they said, "What shall we do? These Gibeonites
are Canaanites, and we ought to kill them; but we cannot, because we have
promised not to hurt them, and we must keep our promise." So
Joshua called for the Gibeonites, and said to them, "Why have you
deceived us? Why did you say you came from a very distant country,
when you knew you lived close by us? You have done very wrong to
deceive us so wickedly. We promised not to kill you, and we will
keep our promise; but we will punish you for your deceit; you shall be our
servants, and do all our hard work for us: you shall cut our wood,
and draw our water, and help us in the work we have to do for the house
and altar of God." The Gibeonites said, "We were so very
much afraid that you would kill us; fear made us deceive you; we are
willing to be your servants; do not kill us, and we will do all you
say." Then Joshua promised again not to hurt them; but he made
them servants to the Israelites, hewers of wood, and drawers of water, for
all the people, and for the altar of God.
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