They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land; please make a treaty with us.”
6. And they went to Joshua, etc. I have said that in strict law, a covenant of this description was null and void. For when they obtain their prayer, what is stipulated but just that they should be kept safe, provided they come from a distant and remote region of the globe?
Here, I. The Gibeonites desire to make peace with Israel, being alarmed by the tidings they heard of the destruction of Jericho, Jos 9:3. Other people heard those tidings, and were irritated thereby to make war upon Israel; but the Gibeonites heard them and were induced to make peace with them.
Commenting on Joshua 9:3-14
And they went to Joshua, unto the camp at Gilgal,.... From whence it appears, that after Jericho and Ai were destroyed, the army of Israel returned to their encampment at Gilgal, Jos 5:10; and here they were when the Gibeonites applied to them: and said unto him, and to the men of Israel; not to the whole body of the people, but either to the...