When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. (Deuteronomy 7:1-5 ESV)
When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended. They wore old, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies. Their entire provision of bread was dry and crumbly. 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."
The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you?"
They said to Joshua, "We are your servants."
Then Joshua asked them, "Who are you and where do you come from?"
They replied to him, "Your servants have come from a far away land because of the reputation of the Lord your God. For we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, 'Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, "We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us."' This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as food on the day we left to come to you. But take a look, it is now dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey." Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the Lord’s counsel. So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.
Three days after making the treaty with them, they heard that the Gibeonites were their neighbors, living among them. So the Israelites set out and reached the Gibeonite cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders.
All the leaders answered them, "We have sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them." They also said, "Let them live." So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them. (Joshua 9:3-21 HCSB)
The sons of Gibeon, 95. (Nehemiah 7:25 ESV)
The men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743. (Nehemiah 7:29 ESV)
The God who is merciful to the Hivites is the same God that is merciful to me.
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