9:1,2
We read here of the kings of various people coming together to wage war against Joshua and Israel. Hess argues that what we are seeing here is the consequences of Israel’s sin. He contrasts 9:1,2 with Joshua 5:1. In 5:1 the nations’ hearts melt with fear, now they join together for war, and Hess cites the defeat at Ai as giving the nations hope. I have to say that I do not find this argument convincing. My two main reasons for this are (i) in 8:1 the Lord tells Joshua not to be afraid or discouraged; and (ii) Achan’s sin had been dealt with. Moreover, the heart of the nation had not changed. Israel is indeed dealing with the consequences of its sin, as it has done from the very beginning, and indeed has the whole human race. The passage itself does not suggest that we are seeing the consequences of Israel’s sin, whereas in the case of the defeat at Ai it made it very clear why this was happening. The focus of the passage is the response of the Gibeonites, and Israel’s reaction to that.
9:3-6
Not all the kings were agreed on going to war with Israel. The Gibeonites took a different tack. They wanted to get on the right side of Israel and avoid going to war, so they resorted to a ruse. The ruse was carefully thought out. They wanted to make the Israelites think they were from a distant land, and so would not be a people that Israel wanted to conquer. So they sent a delegation on donkeys (so no threat to Israel) and made it look as though they had been travelling for a long time. They sought to make a treaty with Israel.
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