Joshua 10:2
That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty. That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.
Joshua 10:2 belongs to the account of the Gibeonites' treaty with Israel, when they knew they could not resist Israel and used a stratagem to preserve their lives. Gibeon was a great city comparable in importance to a royal city, and all its men were mighty. It was greater, larger than Ai. The Gibeonites were governed by elders rather than by a king.
That so strong a city resorted to a humiliating plan of disguise and deception to save their lives shows how greatly Israel had terrified the inhabitants of Canaan, and makes their choice especially humiliating. They could have joined Israel openly and shared the privileges of the covenant, but their deception left them in servitude.