1. beyond the Jordan. Since all the peoples enumerated here are Canaanites living on the western side of the Jordan, this phrase would have to mean beyond the Jordan from the viewpoint of the Israelites coming from the eastern side, even though elsewhere it almost always refers to trans-Jordanian territory.

2. in united resolve. The literal sense of the Hebrew is “with one mouth.” It is historically quite unlikely that the divided city-kingdoms of Canaan could have constituted themselves as a single united force.

4. they on their part acted with cunning. In context, the “on their part” (or “too”) must refer to the immediately preceding story of the conquest of Ai. There the Israelites used the cunning of the ambush strategy to destroy the town; here, by contrast, cunning is used by the Gibeonites to save themselves.

provisioned themselves. The Masoretic Text reads wayitstayru, which might mean “they painted themselves”—that is (perhaps), “they disguised themselves.” An emendation yields wayitsdaydu (the letters resh and dalet look quite similar), which seems more plausible, especially given the prominence of the cognate noun tsayid, “provisions,” in this episode.

trussed-up. The wineskins are held together with cords or strips of leather because they are falling apart.

6. We have come from a faraway land. With the evidence of the just consummated destruction of Jericho and Ai, the Gibeonites seem aware that the Israelites are embarked on a campaign to annihilate the indigenous population of Canaan, and so they adopt the subterfuge of pretending to be from a land far from Canaan. This entire story is in fact an elaborate etiological tale that betrays the shaky historical basis of this canonical account of the conquest. Deuteronomy, with its call for a radical separation from the pagan peoples of the land, enunciated a program of genocide. Such a program was never actually carried out, and the situation of Israel among the Canaanites was by and large the opposite: the two populations frequently mingled, and the Israelites were often open to cultural and religious influences from the Canaanite peoples. The author of this episode was trying to resolve a contradiction: a particular group of Canaanites—the Gibeonites—not only were living cheek by jowl with the Israelites but were performing subservient duties at an Israelite sanctuary at Gibeon. The story comes to explain how the Gibeonites were not wiped out, as the program of total destruction dictated, and how they came to play a role in an Israelite cultic place.

9. a very faraway land. Pushed by Joshua, they add “very” to their previous words.

14. And the men took from their provisions. It may seem puzzling that Israelites should want to eat the dry and moldy bread of the Gibeonites, but Kimchi is probably right in surmising that breaking bread—even virtually inedible bread—with the strangers was a way of ritually confirming a treaty of peace with them.

they did not inquire of the LORD. This is the technical idiom for inquiring of an oracle. Without such guidance, Joshua and the Israelites are taken in by the deception.

17. on the third day. Though this is the formulaic number for relatively short journeys, it is also an implication that the Gibeonite towns are well within the borders of Canaan.

19. We have made a vow to them . . . and now we cannot touch them. Vows made in the name of the deity—compare the story of Jephthah’s daughter in Judges 11—are irrevocable and cannot be renegotiated.

20. fury. The Hebrew qetsef means divine rage, characteristically manifested in a plague.

21. hewers of wood and drawers of water. These are menial workers at the lowest point in the social hierarchy, as is clear in Deuteronomy 29:9–10: “You are stationed here today all of you before the LORD your God, your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your overseers, every man of Israel. Your little ones, your wives, and your sojourner who is in the midst of your camps, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water.”

23. for the house of my God. In verse 21, it was “for the whole community.” In historical fact, the Gibeonites could conceivably have performed these functions in both the sacred and the profane realm.

will cease to be among you. Literally, “will not be cut off from you.”

24. For it was indeed told to your servants. In this fiction, the Gibeonites somehow have been given a full report of the promise of the land and the program of genocide articulated in Deuteronomy.

26. saved them from the hand of the Israelites. This formulation may suggest that, despite the solemn vow, there was some popular sentiment among the Israelites, outraged by this deception, to destroy the Gibeonites. The quick maneuver of the chieftains implemented by Joshua to make them menial servants would be devised to fend off such an assault.

27. to this day. This is the formal marker of the etiological tale: if you wonder why the Gibeonites are hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Israelites, this story explains it.

at the place He was to choose. This phrase in Deuteronomistic texts invariably refers to Jerusalem, but it is a misplaced editorial tic here because the sanctuary in question is located at Gibeon.