Joshua 9:22

"The princes said to them, “Let them live.” So they became wood cutters and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the princes had spoken to them."

Key Reflection

The original audience would have recognized Joshua 9:22 as a testament to the wise and just leadership of Joshua, who ensured that defeated enemies were not summarily executed but given productive roles within the community. This decision reflected the principle of covenant keeping and demonstrated how adhering to divine commands could bring unexpected blessings, as these former adversaries became valuable servants for the entire congregation, fulfilling their new status under Israelite rule through tasks like wood cutting and water drawing.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Were the Israelites bound to respect an oath thus procured by fraud? Were they right in doing so? Dr. Sanderson (“Works,” vol. iv. 4 pp. 269, 300, Oxford edition), determines these questions in the affirmative; and rightly, since the oath, though unlawfully taken, was not an oath taken to do an unlawful thing, i. e. a thing in itself unlawful. It was the carelessness of the Israelites themselves which betrayed them into this league. It was therefore their duty when they found themselves entrapped into this unlawful covenant, to devise means by which they might respect both their own oath and God’s purposes as intimated in His injunctionsDeuteronomy 7:2against sparing the Canaanites.

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