“And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing.”
The Gibeonites confess the covenant oath — The Gibeonites answered Joshua, 'Because it was told to your servants that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you.' The Gibeonites' confession acknowledges the sworn covenant that Moses had proclaimed (דִּבַּר יְהוָה)—they knew Israel's assignment was extermination, and they acted to escape it. Their knowledge of the divine mandate, ironically, becomes their justification for deception.
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