Joshua 9:22-27 meaning

Joshua 9:22-27 describes in greater detail the fallout of the Gibeonites' deception and the role Israel assigned to them after sparing their lives.

In the previous sections, the Israelites learned about the Gibeonites' plan to deceive them into making a covenant/treaty with them. Since God required Israel to destroy the nations in Canaan, the Promised Land, the Gibeonites pretended to come from afar and asked for a peace treaty to escape the eradication of the LORD's judgment. Without consulting God, the Israelite leaders established a treaty with them but soon learned they were Canaanites who were supposed to be destroyed.

The whole assembly grumbled against the presence of this pagan nation in their midst. However, out of respect of God’s command to keep their oaths (Numbers 30:1-2, Deuteronomy 23:21-23), their leaders remained obedient to their treaty and decided to spare the lives of the Gibeonites because they had already entered a covenant/treaty. Nevertheless, they allowed the foreigners to live in Israel as servants (Joshua 9:21, 23).

Here in Joshua 9:22-27, Joshua summons the Gibeonites. He called for them and spoke to them about their lies. He asked them: Why have you deceived us, saying, 'We are very far from you when you are living within our land'? (v. 22). The Israelite leader rebuked the Gibeonites for their dishonesty. He and the Israelites were innocent. They had no intention of violating God’s command to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan. It so happened because the enemy did not tell the truth. More importantly, it was so because the Israelites failed to bring the matter before the LORD in prayer.

Nevertheless, Joshua confronted the Gibeonites and pronounced judgment on them: Now, therefore, you are cursed, and you shall never cease being slaves. The verb curse means to bring misfortune or disaster on someone as a punishment for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:20; Malachi 3:9). In our passage, the Gibeonites deceived Israel and received a permanently lower class status, serving as both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.

Their menial work would help maintain the sacrificial fires and constantly replenish the purifying waters for the LORD’s house. It would also aid in keeping their idolatry at bay as they performed activities connected with the Tabernacle. When Solomon would later build the first Temple, he would also have the Gentiles of Tyre in Lebanon furnish the cedar wood for its elaborate design (1 Kings 5:5-6). Many think this pattern will continue with the third temple with Gentile nations funding its building.

Having heard Joshua's question regarding why they deceived Israel, the Gibeonites answered, "Because it was certainly told your servants that the LORD your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you."

The Gibeonites show insight and understanding into the LORD's commands. They knew He would give His people all the land as He had promised their fathers (Deuteronomy 11:25, 19:8). They rightly understood that they were some of the inhabitants whom the Israelites were called to destroy.

Although they lied to Israel, they used their knowledge of God to confess the true God and place themselves under His authority, out of fear and the desire to live. That is why they said, We feared greatly for our lives because of you and have done this thing. They saved their lives by avoiding battle with the chosen people.

Having recognized their fault, the Gibeonites humbled themselves before Joshua and said, Now therefore, we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us. The enemy threw themselves at Joshua's mercy, waiting to see what would happen next. They allowed him to decide on the proper manner to treat them. But Joshua dealt with them righteously. Thus, he did to them and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel and did not kill them.

The name Joshua means "salvation" or "deliverance," and is the same root as Jesus' Hebrew name "Yeshua." As his name indicates, Joshua rescued (saved) the Gibeonites from the angry Israelites, who wanted to revoke the peace treaty and destroy the enemy. Joshua served as a mediator to spare the Gibeonites' lives because Israel's leadership had already established a treaty with them. Both men served as deliverers who stood between condemned people and the judgment coming toward them. The Gibeonites received physical rescue through Joshua's mercy. The New Testament announces that all people—including foreigners and enemies of God — can receive a deeper rescue through faith in Jesus. The Gibeonites are possibly a faint outline of something much greater.

Nevertheless, although the Israelite leader saved the foes, he made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this day, in the place He would choose.

Joshua story is a foreshadowing of Jesus’s. Besides bearing the same name, both caused or will cause Israel to inherit the "rest" (Hebrews 4). For Joshua, this rest was entering and conquering the Promised Land. But for Jesus, the rest will be the Messianic Era. A one-thousand-year period where Jesus rules the nations with a rod of iron from Jerusalem, and Satan is bound in prison, unable to deceive the nations (Revelation 2:26-27, 20:2-4) .

The altar of the LORD refers to the structure upon which the Israelites burned sacrifices to Him. It was a raised platform and represented a place of consecration. After the flood, "Noah built an altar to the LORD" (Genesis 8:20). In Joshua, the altar was a worship center, a place God had designated for His people to worship Him (Joshua 18:1, 1 Chronicles 16:39).

The Israelites could not simply worship God at the location of their choice. As vassals, they had to approach their Suzerain God where He chose to dwell (Deuteronomy 12:5). Now that the Gibeonites became Israel’s servants, they were to follow the same principles. As they served the altar, they joined the covenant community in their worship of God, which may have persuaded some of them to forsake their pagan practices. That they did so to this day shows that they continued to perform their duties for some time, up until the day or time period the author of Joshua wrote this chronicle.