Joshua 9:21

Jos 9:21 And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them.

Ver. 21. But let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water.] Lignatores et lixae: so they are freed from a natural death, because of the princes’ oath, but condemned to a civil death (slavery) by the princes’ sentence.

Unto all the congregation.] That they, in the meantime, as a royal nation might be privileged and exempted from such servile drudgery. A great mercy to the one, and, as it proved, no less to the other. See Ezr 2:43, {See Trapp on "Ezr 2:43"} These Gibeonites were afterwards called Nethinims, that is, Dedititii, or rather Deodati, men given to God, and to the public service of the sanctuary and people.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 9:21. Unto all the congregation — That is, let them be public servants, and employed in the meanest offices (one kind being put for all the rest) for the use of the congregation; doing these things partly for the sacrifices and services of the house of God, which otherwise the Israelites themselves must have done; partly for the services of the camp or body of people; and sometimes even for particular Israelites.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The princes declared again most emphatically, "They shall live." Thus the Gibeonites became hewers of wood and drawers of water to the congregation, as the princes had said to them, i.e., had resolved concerning them. This resolution they communicated to the congregation at the time, using the expression יחיוּ (let them live); but the historian has passed this over at Jos 9:21, and instead of mentioning the resolution proceeds at once to describe its execution.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Verse 21. Hewers of wood and drawers of water] Perhaps this is a sort of proverbial expression, signifying the lowest state of servitude, though it may also be understood literally. See below.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. hewers of wood and drawers of water] “trees thei kutten and watris thei beren,” Wyclif. They were devoted to the sanctuary, called at a later period Nethinims = Deo dati, donati, and were bound to discharge menial duties which usually devolved upon the lowest classes. Comp. Deu_29:10-11, “Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water” Compare also 1Ch_9:2; Ezr_2:43; Ezr_2:70; Neh_7:46; Neh_7:60.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the princes said to them, let them live,.... They were very pressing upon them, and importunate with them, to save their lives, because of the oath they had taken:

(but let them be hewers of wood, and drawers of water, unto all the congregation): which was a very low and mean employment, Deu 29:11; as well as wearisome; and this being a yoke of servitude on the Gibeonites, and a punishment of them for their fraud, and of service, profit, and advantage to the people of Israel, the princess proposed it in hopes of pacifying them, and that they would yield to spare the lives of the Gibeonites; what they proposed was, not that they should hew wood and draw water for all the Israelites for their private use, but what was necessary for the service of the sanctuary, which the congregation was obliged to furnish them with; and now these men should do that work for them, which before was incumbent on them; for Joshua afterwards imposed this upon them, to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God, Jos 9:23; though Kimchi thinks that while the people of Israel were in camp, and before the land was divided, they were hewers of wood and drawers of water to the congregation; but after the land was divided, and they were settled in their cities and inheritances, then they only hewed wood and drew water for the sanctuary at Gilgal, Shiloh, Nob, Gibeon, and the temple; the Jewish writers say (s), the Nethinim and the Gibeonites were the same, who became proselytes in the times of Joshua, see Ch1 9:2,

as the princes promised them; which is to be connected, not with their being hewers of wood and drawers of water, this the princes had said nothing of before, and which is rightly included in a parenthesis, but with their being let to live; this they had promised and sworn to, even all the princes, not only all that were now at Gibeon, and were persuading the people to let the Gibeonites live, but all the princes, even those that were not present, but in the camp at Gilgal.

(s) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 4. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Render “they shall be hewers of wood and drawers of water:” menial duties belonging to the lowest classes only (compare the marginal reference). The curse of Noah Gen 9:25 on the children of Ham was thus fulfilled to the letter in the case of these Hivites.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Multitude. The common people, only considering their own private advantage, murmured at the conduct of their leaders, as they supposed that they were thus deprived of the plunder (Calmet) of many cities, and engaged in a dangerous war, with the five confederate kings. But this war was in no degree detrimental to them, as they knew they had to subdue the whole country; and as for the Gabaonites, they eased the people of Israel of a great burden, by doing the drudgery of the tabernacle, which otherwise must have fallen upon them. (Haydock) --- These people were dispersed through the country, particularly in the cities of the priests and Levites, whose servants they were forced to be. Gabaon was allotted to the priests. In latter ages, many of these poor people being slain by Saul, &c., David was obliged to select some others, called Nathineans, or "people given," to supply their place, (Calmet) unless these were all the remnants of the Gabaonites. (Menochius) --- Josephus (Jewish Wars ii. 17,) speaks of the feast of Xylophoria, or "wood carrying," for the uses of the temple; and we read, (2 Esdras x. 34,) that lots were cast among the priests and the Levites, and the people, for the offering of wood, &c., which seems to insinuate that the ancient institution was then altered. Many authors speak of a fountain which furnished the temple with water, after the captivity, so that the service of the Gabaonites was not much wanted. We find no mention of them after that time.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i.e. Let them be public servants, and employed in the meanest offices and drudgeries, (such as this was, this one kind being put for all the rest, as it is Deu 29:11) for the use and benefit of the congregation; to do this partly for the sacrifices and services of the house of God, as it is expressed, Jos 9:23, which otherwise the Israelites themselves must have done, partly for the service of the camp or body of the people, and sometimes upon occasion even to particular Israelites; whence they are made bondmen, which is mentioned as a filing distinct from their service in the house of God, Jos 9:23. And so they are in effect stripped of all their possessions, whereby the main ground of the people’s quarrel was taken away.

As the princes had promised them; or, because or seeing that (as the Hebrew word sometimes signifies) the princes (i.e. we ourselves; they speak of themselves in the third person, which is very frequent in the Hebrew language) had promised it to them, to wit, that they should live, and confirmed their promise by an oath. So the princes speaking here to the people allege the promise or oath of the princes when they met among themselves, and apart from the people. And this change of persons may possibly arise from hence, because some of the princes who were present in the assembly of the princes might now be absent upon some occasion. And this clause relates not to the next words, which are fitly enclosed within a parenthesis, but to the foregoing clause,

let them live, because the princes have promised them their lives.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. Hewers of wood and drawers of water — We will keep our oath to the letter: they shall live, but live as slaves. Upon the “great high place” of Gibeon the tabernacle was set up at a later period, (1Ch_16:39,) and there it remained till it was removed to Jerusalem by Solomon. From beneath this eminence water and wood for the service of the tabernacle were constantly carried up, requiring the labour of a large number of people. Stanley says: “They hewed the wood of the adjacent valley and drew the water from the springs and tanks which in its immediate neighbourhood abound, and carried them up to the Sacred Tent, and there attended the altar of the Lord.” Respecting the drudgery of this menial service, Dr. Thomson, while passing through this very region of the Gibeonites, says: “I was forcibly reminded of one item in the sentence of condemnation pronounced upon them for their cunning deception — that they should be hewers of wood — by long files of women and children carrying on their heads heavy bundles of wood. It is the severest drudgery, and my compassion has often been enlisted in behalf of the poor women and children who daily bring loads of wood to Jerusalem from these very mountains of the Gibeonites. To carry water, also, is very laborious. The fountains are far off, in deep wadies with steep banks; and a thousand times have I seen the feeble and the young staggering up long and weary ways, with large jars of water on their heads. It is the work of slaves.”

As the princes had promised them — They had promised life not servitude. This promise was kept by successive generations, till Saul rashly killed some and planned the general massacre of the rest. Seven of Saul’s descendants atoned for this breach of the covenant with their lives. 2Sa_21:1-9. At the time of Saul’s massacre they were so identified with Israel that the historian was obliged to insert a note explaining their origin.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Said unto them, i.e., to the Israelites. But let them be. Rather, and they were, with Rosenmuller and Keil. See Keil in loc. for the force of the Vau conversive. The LXX and Vulgate render as our version. Hewers of wood and drawers of water. Some amount of casuistry has been displayed upon this passage. But the fairness of the proceeding seems clear enough. The Gibeonites had escaped death by a fraud. For that fraud they deserved punishment. Their lives were spared by virtue of a solemn oath. But equality of rights had never been promised them. They might think themselves well off if they escaped destruction, even though they might be condemned permanently to occupy a servile condition. They appear to have assisted at the tabernacle worship, since they were condemned to serve, not individual Israelites, but the congregation. Such was the office of the (Nethinhim i.e., the given or devoted) in the later history of Judah. (see 1Ch_9:2 Ezr_2:43-54, Ezr_2:58, 70 8:20. See also Drusius and Masius in loc. ) The latter discusses the question whether the Nethinim were really the Gibeonites, or whether David, as stated in Ezr_8:20, instituted a new order of persons to take their place. If the latter were the case, then we have a proof that the Book of Joshua was written anterior to the time of David. It seems quite possible that Saul (2Sa_21:6) had all but exterminated the Gibeonites, and that David was compelled to institute a new order in their stead. If this suggestion be correct, and it is far from improbable, we have here an undesigned coincidence strongly supporting the credit of the narrative, in the place of Knobel"s insinuation, contained in the words, that "the Elohist in Saul"s time gives no hint of this, although he took the greatest interest in the persons engaged in God"s service." As the princes had promised them. These words as they stand are unintelligible. No such promise had been given. The literal rendering is "as the princes" (see note on ver. 15) "said to them," by the mouth of Joshua, as recorded in ver. 23. The Syriac Version supplies some words here to make up for a supposed deficiency in the text. But this is not necessary. The repetition in vers. 23 and 27 is quite in the manner of the historian. Nor are the words "as the princes said to them" explicable on the supposition that the words after, "let them live," are the words of the princes (see note above).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Unto all the congregation - That is, Let them be public servants, and employed in the meanest offices, (one kind being put for all the rest) for the use of the congregation; to do this partly for the sacrifices and services of the house of God, which otherwise the Israelites themselves must have done; partly for the service of the camp or body of the people; and sometimes, even to particular Israelites.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.