Yehoshua - Perek 9 – “The Givonite Ruse”
Part 1: The trickery of the Givonites and the Agreement (9:1-15)
Summary
· The news of the Israelites military victories terrifies many nations both near and far.
· The Givonites, a city state of the Chivite nation decide to disguise themselves and form a pact with the nation of Israel.
· They adorn themselves with old clothes and carry withered wine sacks and crumbling bread. They approach the Israelites and explain that they have travelled from a faraway land and have come to make peace.
· The elders of the nation accept this claim, and they appeal to Yehoshua to make a covenant with them. He asks them where they are from, they say that they are from a very far away land. They claim that they heard about all the miracles performed for the nation of Israel and that they came to make a covenant with them. They use their worn out clothing and old bread to support their claim.
· Yehoshua agrees to make a covenant with them, in which he agrees to keep them alive.
Points to Ponder
Why does the verse say “Vaya’asu gam heima b’armah” – they also acted in trickery?
The use of the word ‘also’ seems to indicate that somebody else had acted in trickery beforehand. However, the two city states Israel had conquered until this point, Yericho and ai, did not act in trickery. To whom does this ‘also’ refer to?
The mefarshim, including Rashi and the Radak, point out that the Givonites are the nation of the Chivite people. A previous encounter in Tanach with this nation is found in the episode with Shechem, the prince of the city of Shechem who was from the descendants of the Chivites. Israel, the children of Yaakov literally tricked the children of Shechem to create a bilateral covenant with the supposed prerequisite for Shechem’s hope to marry Dina. But ultimately it was a trick to bring the city to weakness and make them vulnerable to attack.
This seemingly extra word is showing us that there is a historical shadow to the episode in our chapter. The children of Israel tricked Shechem the Chivite, and they ultimately came back and tricked the children of Israel.
Why does this nation suddenly appear at this point?
There is a fascinating halachic discussion about whether or not Israel was required to ask for peace from every nation before they would conquer it. In other words, do they need to herald and offer them terms including paying taxes to Israel and renouncing paganism before attacking. Do these options need to be offered to every city that they look to conquer, or can they simply declare an all-out war?
The general assumption made by the Rambam is that they were obligated to actually ask every city they encountered if they were willing to agree terms of peace. In this case, what must have happened is that Yehoshua sent out a general peace herald before he entered the land and people did not seem to take advantage of it.. Since the peoples did not adopt this opportunity, the battles ensued and Yericho and ai were completely wiped out. This made the remaining nations become quite anxious that they did opt for such a path of peace, but had they done so, this whole ruse would not have been necessary.
Part 2: The Discovery of the Trick (9:16-27)
Summary
· Three days later, Israel arrive at Givon and realize their mistake and that the covenant cannot be rescinded.
· The Givonites are made into water-carriers and wood-hewers, since they cannot be harmed under the alliance.
· Yehoshua asked them why they tricked them and curses them that they will never cease to be slaves.
Points to Ponder
When one signs a contract under false premises, does one have to keep it?
In this episode, Israel made the assumption that the people they were dealing with were from a faraway land which turned not to be false. If so, why did they have to honor that agreement? The Radak explains that generally such an agreement is void. However, our case is more difficult in that was a ‘neder al das rabim’ - an agreement which was made publicly. Public commitments have a greater power and are therefore more binding, even though there may have been a mistaken assumption when forming making them. In light of this, the agreement of Israel was not akin to a regular commitment and could not simply be rescinded.
The Radak then suggests another reason they were so mindful of this agreement. According to the letter of the law, they did indeed have the rights to retract their commitment, but had they done so, it would have created a great chillul Hashem – a desecration of the name of the Almighty. Considering this in contemporary terms, if we think about what goes on in Israel today, there are so many times when the State of Israel tries its best to do what is right in extremely complex situations and yet Israel is held up to unmatched scrutiny for her actions. When a Jew performs any action, as an individual or as a State, it should be clear that their actions will be examined and questioned on the highest of standards which should give one pause before simply making rash decisions because they technically correct.
Summary
· The news of the Israelites military victories terrifies many nations both near and far.
· The Givonites, a city state of the Chivite nation decide to disguise themselves and form a pact with the nation of Israel.
· They adorn themselves with old clothes and carry withered wine sacks and crumbling bread. They approach the Israelites and explain that they have travelled from a faraway land and have come to make peace.
· The elders of the nation accept this claim, and they appeal to Yehoshua to make a covenant with them. He asks them where they are from, they say that they are from a very far away land. They claim that they heard about all the miracles performed for the nation of Israel and that they came to make a covenant with them. They use their worn out clothing and old bread to support their claim.
· Yehoshua agrees to make a covenant with them, in which he agrees to keep them alive.
Points to Ponder
Why does the verse say “Vaya’asu gam heima b’armah” – they also acted in trickery?
The use of the word ‘also’ seems to indicate that somebody else had acted in trickery beforehand. However, the two city states Israel had conquered until this point, Yericho and ai, did not act in trickery. To whom does this ‘also’ refer to?
The mefarshim, including Rashi and the Radak, point out that the Givonites are the nation of the Chivite people. A previous encounter in Tanach with this nation is found in the episode with Shechem, the prince of the city of Shechem who was from the descendants of the Chivites. Israel, the children of Yaakov literally tricked the children of Shechem to create a bilateral covenant with the supposed prerequisite for Shechem’s hope to marry Dina. But ultimately it was a trick to bring the city to weakness and make them vulnerable to attack.
This seemingly extra word is showing us that there is a historical shadow to the episode in our chapter. The children of Israel tricked Shechem the Chivite, and they ultimately came back and tricked the children of Israel.
Why does this nation suddenly appear at this point?
There is a fascinating halachic discussion about whether or not Israel was required to ask for peace from every nation before they would conquer it. In other words, do they need to herald and offer them terms including paying taxes to Israel and renouncing paganism before attacking. Do these options need to be offered to every city that they look to conquer, or can they simply declare an all-out war?
The general assumption made by the Rambam is that they were obligated to actually ask every city they encountered if they were willing to agree terms of peace. In this case, what must have happened is that Yehoshua sent out a general peace herald before he entered the land and people did not seem to take advantage of it.. Since the peoples did not adopt this opportunity, the battles ensued and Yericho and ai were completely wiped out. This made the remaining nations become quite anxious that they did opt for such a path of peace, but had they done so, this whole ruse would not have been necessary.
Part 2: The Discovery of the Trick (9:16-27)
Summary
· Three days later, Israel arrive at Givon and realize their mistake and that the covenant cannot be rescinded.
· The Givonites are made into water-carriers and wood-hewers, since they cannot be harmed under the alliance.
· Yehoshua asked them why they tricked them and curses them that they will never cease to be slaves.
Points to Ponder
When one signs a contract under false premises, does one have to keep it?
In this episode, Israel made the assumption that the people they were dealing with were from a faraway land which turned not to be false. If so, why did they have to honor that agreement? The Radak explains that generally such an agreement is void. However, our case is more difficult in that was a ‘neder al das rabim’ - an agreement which was made publicly. Public commitments have a greater power and are therefore more binding, even though there may have been a mistaken assumption when forming making them. In light of this, the agreement of Israel was not akin to a regular commitment and could not simply be rescinded.
The Radak then suggests another reason they were so mindful of this agreement. According to the letter of the law, they did indeed have the rights to retract their commitment, but had they done so, it would have created a great chillul Hashem – a desecration of the name of the Almighty. Considering this in contemporary terms, if we think about what goes on in Israel today, there are so many times when the State of Israel tries its best to do what is right in extremely complex situations and yet Israel is held up to unmatched scrutiny for her actions. When a Jew performs any action, as an individual or as a State, it should be clear that their actions will be examined and questioned on the highest of standards which should give one pause before simply making rash decisions because they technically correct.