That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.
The Canaanite peoples gathered themselves together with one accord to fight Joshua and with Israel. This united resistance forms the setting for the unwise treaty with the Gibeonites, which was made at Gilgal on the plain of Israel's first encampment in the promised land. Israel had been forbidden to make any league with the idolaters of Canaan.
The Gibeonites had heard of the wonders God had wrought for His people and knew it was impossible to resist the Hebrews in open battle, so instead of remaining in that united resistance they resorted to stratagem to preserve their lives, pretending to have come from a distant country beyond Palestine in order to obtain peace and a league with Israel. A knowledge of the mighty workings of the God of the Hebrews had gone before the advancing hosts of Israel, so that some among the heathen were learning that He alone was the true God. The Gibeonites, a numerous people in the midst of the land, renounced their heathenism and united with Israel and shared in the blessings of the covenant. They prove that God's mercy reaches idolaters who acknowledge His divine authority, and that such conversion was not an isolated case. The treaty punished Israel's neglect to ask counsel of God.
The Canaanite peoples gathered themselves together with one accord to fight Joshua and with Israel. This united resistance forms the setting for the unwise treaty with the Gibeonites, which was made at Gilgal on the plain of Israel's first encampment in the promised land. Israel had been forbidden to make any league with the idolaters of Canaan.
The Gibeonites had heard of the wonders God had wrought for His people and knew it was impossible to resist the Hebrews in open battle, so instead of remaining in that united resistance they resorted to stratagem to preserve their lives, pretending to have come from a distant country beyond Palestine in order to obtain peace and a league with Israel. A knowledge of the mighty workings of the God of the Hebrews had gone before the advancing hosts of Israel, so that some among the heathen were learning that He alone was the true God. The Gibeonites, a numerous people in the midst of the land, renounced their heathenism and united with Israel and shared in the blessings of the covenant. They prove that God's mercy reaches idolaters who acknowledge His divine authority, and that such conversion was not an isolated case. The treaty punished Israel's neglect to ask counsel of God.