Joshua 9:22

“And Joshua called for them, etc.] The Gibeonites, who came as ambassadors for their people, who were detained at Gilgal until the children of Israel returned from Gibeon; and upon their return, and having made their report to Joshua that they found it to be true that they were near neighbours, Joshua ordered them to be brought before him: and he spake unto them, saying, wherefore have ye beguiled us? what is your reason and motive for so doing? what has induced you to act such a deceitful part, to tell such lies and falsehoods, and impose upon us after this manner? saying, we [are] very far from you, when ye dwell among us: pretending to come from a very far country, when they were…”

“Were the Israelites bound to respect an oath thus procured by fraud? Were they right in doing so? Dr. Sanderson (“Works,” vol. iv. 4 pp. 269, 300, Oxford edition), determines these questions in the affirmative; and rightly, since the oath, though unlawfully taken, was not an oath taken to do an unlawful thing, i. e. a thing in itself unlawful. It was the carelessness of the Israelites themselves which betrayed them into this league. It was therefore their duty when they found themselves entrapped into this unlawful covenant, to devise means by which they might respect both their own oath and God’s purposes as intimated in His injunctions Deuteronomy 7:2 against sparing the Canaanites. This…”

“Called for them - Probably not only the messengers, but the elders of Gibeon were now present. Joshua 9:23”

“9:22 As the leader of Israel, Joshua was within his rights when he called together the Gibeonites to question them. • you live right here among us? Joshua’s use of this phrase tacitly acknowledged that he should not have accepted the word of the Gibeonites without consulting the Lord.”

“Wherefore: Gen 3:13, Gen 3:14, Gen 27:35, Gen 27:36, Gen 27:41-45, Gen 29:25; Co2 11:3 We are: Jos 9:6, Jos 9:9, Jos 9:10 ye dwell: Jos 9:16 Joshua 9:23”

“Joshua then summoned the Gibeonites, charged them with their deceit, and pronounced upon them the curse of eternal servitude: "There shall not be cut off from you a servant," i.e., ye shall never cease to be servants, ye shall remain servants for ever (vid., Sa2 3:29; Kg1 2:4), "and that as hewers of wood and drawers of waters for our God's house." This is a fuller definition of the expression "for all the congregation" in Jos 9:21. The Gibeonites were to perform for the congregation the slaves' labour of hewing wood and drawing water for the worship of the sanctuary-a duty which was performed, according to Deu 29:10, by the lowest classes of people. In this way the curse of Noah upon Canaan…”