Joshua 9:22 - Meaning and Application

The matter is now settled between Joshua and the Gibeonites, and the agreement is explained. We may suppose that the original messengers were not the ones present now, but the elders of Gibeon and the towns under its rule. In that way, the whole matter could be fully worked out.

Joshua first rebukes them for their trickery (Joshua 9:22). They then give the best defense they can (Joshua 9:24). Joshua’s rebuke is very mild: “Why have you tricked us?” He does not heap insults on them or speak with harsh anger. He does not call them what they deserved, lying deceivers, but only asks why they acted that way. Even when we are deeply provoked, it is wise and right to keep calm and hold back anger. A good cause does not need rage to support it, and a bad cause is not improved by it.

The Gibeonites make the best excuse they can (Joshua 9:24). They had learned from God’s word that death had been declared against them, since Israel was commanded to destroy all the people of the land without exception. They also saw from God’s works that no one could resist carrying out that judgment. So they recognized God’s power, justice, and rule over all things, and they decided to try his mercy. They found that they had not trusted him in vain.

They do not try to defend their lie. Instead, they are really asking for pardon for it. They say, in effect, that they lied only to save their lives. People naturally value self-preservation, and others should make some allowance for that, especially in a case like this. Their fear was not only of human power, against which they might have fled to God for protection. They feared the power of God himself, which they saw was against them.

Joshua then condemns them to servitude as punishment for their fraud (Joshua 9:23), and they accept the sentence (Joshua 9:25). For all that appears, both sides are content with the outcome. Joshua declares them to be lifelong bondmen. They had bought their lives with a lie, but since that was no proper basis, he makes them hold their lives under the burden of continual labor, cutting wood and carrying water, the lowest and hardest kinds of work. Their lie is punished. If they had dealt openly and honestly with Israel, they might have received more honorable terms. But since they came with ragged clothes and patched sandals, signs of slavery, they are sentenced to wear that mark of shame forever.

In this way, the price of their lives is paid. Dominion is gained by preserving a life that lies at another’s mercy, and a servant is, in a sense, one whose life has been saved. They owe their service to the ones to whom they owe their lives. Notice how the judgment is spoken against them. Their service is made a curse, the old curse of Canaan, from whom these Hivites were descended, that “a servant of servants” would he be (Genesis 9:25). What should be done to a false tongue but this, that it be cursed?

Yet even this curse is turned into a blessing. They must be servants, but it will be for the house of God. The leaders had said they would be slaves to all the congregation (Joshua 9:21), or at least they spoke that way to calm the people who were unhappy. Joshua softens the sentence, both to honor God and to show kindness to the Gibeonites. It would have been too harsh to make them the slaves of every household. If they must cut wood and carry water, which is a very low and tiring task, especially for people who were citizens of a royal city and “mighty men” (Joshua 10:2), then let them do it for the house of God. There is no greater honor than to serve there. David himself could wish to be only a doorkeeper there. Even humble work becomes honorable when it is done for God’s house and its service.

This also shut them out from the full rights and privileges of true-born Israelites, and the mark of distinction remained on their descendants through all generations. At the same time, it assigned them to tasks that required them to serve personally at the altar of God in the place he would choose (Joshua 9:27). That would bring them to know God’s law, keep them closely tied to the holy religion they had adopted, and keep them from returning to the idol worship of their fathers. It was also a great help to the priests and Levites to have so many strong men always ready to serve them and do the drudgery of the tabernacle. Much wood had to be cut for the fire on God’s altar and for boiling the meat of the peace offerings. Much water had to be drawn for the many washings the law required. These and other menial tasks, such as washing vessels, carrying out ashes, and sweeping the courts, were now assigned to the Gibeonites instead of the Levites.

They also served the whole congregation, because whatever supports the worship of God is truly a service to the community. It is in every Israelite’s interest that the altar of God be properly cared for. This arrangement also freed the congregation from much of the hard labor that might otherwise have fallen on some of them. God had commanded that Israelites must never make their fellow Israelites slaves. If they had servants, they were to come from the surrounding nations (Leviticus 25:44). In honor of that law, and of Israel’s special standing under it, God would not have even the drudgery of the tabernacle done by Israelites, but by Gibeonites, who were later called Nethinim, meaning men given to the Levites, as the Levites were given to the priests (Numbers 3:9), to help them in God’s service.

This also points ahead to the way Gentiles would later be received into the gospel church. At first they were taken in only as lower servants after they submitted, but later God promises that he will take some of them as priests and Levites (Isaiah 66:21).

The Gibeonites accept this condition (Joshua 9:25). They know they have done wrong in making a lie to deceive the Israelites. They also know how narrowly they escaped death, and how great a kindness it was to have their lives spared. So they agree to the proposal: “Do what seems right to you.” Better to live in servitude, especially in such service, than not to live at all. The lowest and most despised condition is described as cutting wood and carrying water (Deuteronomy 29:11). But a person will give everything, even liberty and labor, to save his life, and that is no bad bargain. So the matter was settled.

Joshua protected them from being killed by the Israelites (Joshua 9:26). It seems some of the soldiers would have attacked them with the sword if Joshua had not stepped in with his authority. Wise commanders know when to put the sword back in its place, as well as when to use it.

He then gave them over to the Israelites again, but this time as servants (Joshua 9:27). They were not allowed to keep their cities, because we later find that three of those cities were given to Benjamin and one to Judah. Nor were they left to live entirely on their own. As Bishop Patrick thinks, they were scattered among the cities of the priests and Levites, and they went with them in their turns to serve at the altar. They were likely supported from the offerings connected with that work.

In this way, Israel’s slaves became the Lord’s free servants. Service to God, even in the lowest task, is true freedom, and his work brings its own reward. They gained this by humbling themselves early. In the same way, we should submit ourselves to our Lord Jesus and place our lives in his hands, saying, “We are in your hand. Do with us as seems good and right to you. Only save our souls, and we will not regret it.” If he assigns us to bear his cross, wear his yoke, and serve at his altar, that will bring us no shame and no sorrow in the end. Even the humblest place in God’s service will give us a home in the house of the Lord all our days.