and they work, even they, with subtilty, and go, and feign to be ambassadors, and take old sacks for their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up,Joshua 9:4 Additional Translations
Clarke's Commentary on the BibleThey did work wilily - Finesse of this kind is allowed by the conduct of all nations; and stratagems in war are all considered as legal. Nine tenths of the victories gained are attributable to stratagem; all sides practice them, and therefore none can condemn them. Much time and labor have been lost in the inquiry, "Did not the Gibeonites tell lies?" Certainly they did, and what is that to us? Does the word of God commend them for it? It does not. Are they held up to us as examples! Surely no. They did what any other nation would have done in their circumstances, and we have nothing to do with their example. Had they come to the Israelites, and simply submitted themselves without opposition and without fraud, they had certainly fared much better. Lying and hypocrisy always defeat their own purpose, and at best can succeed only for a short season. Truth and honesty never wear out.
Old sacks - and wine bottles, old, etc. - They pretended to have come from a very distant country, and that their sacks and the goat-skins that served them for carrying their wine and water in, were worn out by the length of the journey.
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
work wilily
Genesis 34:13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
1 Kings 20:31-33 And his servants said to him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray you...
Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the middle of wolves: be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Luke 16:8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely...
ambassadors the word tzier, an ambassador, properly denotes a hinge; because an ambassador is a person upon whom the business turns as upon a hinge. So the Latin Cardinalis, from cardo, a hinge, was the title of the prime minister of the emperor Theodosius, though now applied only to the Pope's electors and counsellors.
wine bottles These bottle being made of skin, were consequently liable to be rent, and capable of being mended; which is done, according to Chardin, by putting in a piece, or by gathering up the wounded piece in the manner of a purse; and sometimes by inserting a flat piece of wood.
Psalm 119:83 For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget your statutes.
Matthew 9:17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runs out, and the bottles perish...
Mark 2:22 And no man puts new wine into old bottles: else the new wine does burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled...
Luke 5:37,38 And no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish...
Joshua 9:4 Parallel Commentaries
Acted Acting Ambassadors Asses Bottles Bound Cord Craftily Deceit Delegation Donkeys Embassadors Envoys Journey Kept Loaded Patched Prepared Ready Rent Resorted Sacks Skins Together Torn Wine Wine-Bottles Wineskins Work Worn Worn-OutActed Acting Ambassadors Asses Bottles Bound Cord Craftily Deceit Delegation Donkeys Embassadors Envoys Journey Kept Loaded Patched Prepared Ready Rent Resorted Sacks Skins Together Torn Wine Wine-Bottles Wineskins Work Worn Worn-OutTHE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica®.Joshua 9:4 Mobile Bible
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