John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 9. And they said unto him, from a very far country thy servants are come , etc.] Which they magnified and expressed in stronger terms than before, but were careful not to mention any country, lest such questions should be asked about it, their answers to which would betray them, but put it off by saying they were come, because of the name of the Lord thy God ; because of what they had heard of his name, his power and goodness; or “unto the name of the Lord thy God” f148 ; that is, they were come to profess it, and to embrace the religion of the Israelites, and be proselytes to it; which they knew would be very agreeable to them, and engage them to show them favour; and so the Samaritan Chronicle represents them as promising to do this, saying, “we will believe in thy Lord, nor will we contradict him in what ye shall mark out for us, be it small or great;” which seems to be, confirmed by what follows, unless it be considered as an explanation of the preceding clause: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt ; the miracles wrought there, the plagues he inflicted on the Egyptians, and the wonderful deliverance of the children of Israel from their slavery.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 3-13 - Other people heard these tidings, and were driven thereby to make wa upon Israel; but the Gibeonites were led to make peace with them. Thu the discovery of the glory and the grace of God in the gospel, is to some a savour of life unto life, but to others a savour of death unt death, 2Co 2:16. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay. The falsehood of the Gibeonites cannot be justified. We must not do evi that good may themselves to the God of Israel, we have reason to thin Joshua would have been directed by the oracle of God to spare their lives. But when they had once said, "We are come from a far country, they were led to say it made of skins, and their clothes: one li brings on another, and that a third, and so on. The way of that sin is especially down-hill. Yet their faith and prudence are to be commended In submitting to Israel they submitted to the God of Israel, whic implied forsaking their idolatries. And how can we do better than cas ourselves upon the mercy of a God of all goodness? The way to avoi judgment is to meet it by repentance. Let us do like these Gibeonites seek peace with God in the rags of abasement, and godly sorrow; so ou sin shall not be our ruin. Let us be servants to Jesus, our blesse Joshua, and we shall live.
Original Hebrew ויאמרו559 אליו413 מארץ776 רחוקה7350 מאד3966 באו935 עבדיך5650 לשׁם8034 יהוה3068 אלהיך430 כי3588 שׁמענו8085 שׁמעו8089 ואת853 כל3605 אשׁר834 עשׂה6213 במצרים׃4714
