The Gibeonites' Deception

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News spread across the land of Canaan that the Israelites had conquered Jericho and Ai. The kings of many cities joined together to fight against them. But the people of Gibeon had a different idea—they used tricks to save themselves. The Gibeonite messengers wore old torn clothes and mended sandals, and they carried hard, moldy bread and old patched leather wine bags. They pretended to have traveled a very long way from a distant land. They found Joshua and said they had heard about the mighty name of the Lord, and they wanted to become servants of the Israelites, asking to make a treaty with them. Joshua and the leaders of Israel looked at their food and supplies, but they did not ask the Lord for guidance, and they made a treaty with them. Three days later, the Israelites discovered that the Gibeonites actually lived nearby, but because they had already made a promise and sworn an oath, they could not break it. Joshua made the Gibeonites become servants who chopped wood and carried water.