And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side the Jordan, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and along all the coast of the great sea as far as opposite to Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard [of it],
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Joshua 9:1 — The Canaanite Confederacy
After Jericho fell and Ai was overthrown, and the law of Jehovah was set up at Ebal in the centre of the land, the kings west of the Jordan — in the hills, the lowlands, and along the coast — heard of it and joined forces against Joshua and Israel. The verse opens a new phase: the enemy, no longer fighting city by city, combines into one accord against God's people, while Israel must learn that walking in confidence apart from God leaves them exposed not only to open war but to subtle deceit.
The Effect of Victory: A Combined Enemy
Israel's blessing provokes the world to band together. What individual cities could not do, a confederacy attempts.
J. N. DarbyThe effect of this victory and of these blessings is to stir up the rest of the Canaanites against them. Here they are now leagued together. Here again there is a snare: namely, that when one has resisted a confederacy, one is tempted also to form a confederacy. This is in one sense the place which the Gibeonites took here.
H. Forbes WitherbyA great combination of the people of Canaan followed upon the overthrow of Jericho and Ai, and the establishment of the law of Jehovah in the centre of the land. The nations, whether of hills, valleys, or the seaboard, gathered themselves together with one accord, or "one mouth," to fight against Joshua and Israel. They recognized the necessity of sinking all differences, and of uniting together to gain their great end — the overthrow of Jehovah's army.
God's Calm Wisdom Above Human Strategy
The Lord did not hurry. He let the kings unite so that one stroke would overthrow them together.
Leslie M. GrantThe calm deliberation with which the Lord was acting gave time for the forces of the enemy to be marshaled against Israel. Six nations, the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perezites, Hivites and Jebusites, on hearing of Israel's invasion across the Jordan, gathered together to join forces in opposition to this alarming threat (vs.1-2). Human military strategy would have urged Israel to attack quickly, so as to prevent any united resistance against them, but God is wiser than men. He allowed time for the nations to unite against His people, so that He might show His superior power by defeating them together in a very short time.
The Sins of the Land Differ from the Sins of the Wilderness
The danger now is not despair but vain confidence — confidence in strength as at Ai, in wisdom as with the Gibeonites.
MagazinesIt is the same flesh, and the sin in the land is the complement of the sin in the wilderness. There, the main feature is distrust of God, in the land it is rather vain confidence in man in his strength as at Ai, in his wisdom as in the matter of the Gibeonites... whether the despondency that would make a king and return to Egypt, or the confidence apart from God that would meet the power and the wiles of the enemy, it is the same old nature that never learns, never submits, never seeks the wisdom and grace of God.
MagazinesA believer who has in any way known the power of God in believing, or in service, may forget the source whence victory came, and take glory to himself; forgetting that not his ram's horn, but God made the walls to fall... Our true place is where we put the sentence of death upon ourselves, and have full confidence in God.
The Snare of a Counter-Confederacy
When the world unites against the saints, the temptation is to answer by uniting with elements of the world. Believers do not meet a confederacy with a confederacy; they sanctify the Lord in their hearts.
J. G. BellettWe read throughout the Scriptures of confederacies against Israel. (Isa. 7, 8; Ezek. 38; Joel 3; Micah 4:11; Zech. 14:2-3) The destruction of them will be complete, like the driving away of the chaff from the summer threshing-floor. And the Israel of God behave themselves here as Isaiah instructs them. They do not trust in a counter-confederacy, but sanctify the Lord in their hearts, and make Him their object.
A Picture for the Church
The history is recorded for our admonition. The professing church's failure has not been Israel's open war so much as her unholy alliance.
MagazinesIsrael attempted no compromise with Ai. The mistake was in not seeking counsel from God, and in attempting to fight Jehovah's battles in their own strength; they did not try to enlist the enemy, and swell their ranks with aliens. But this is what the church did... It was an unholy alliance between the church and the world, and was deliberately entered into. Distinctive grace and truth were lost.
Summary
- Victory provokes union. When God's people overcome, the scattered powers of the world combine "with one mouth" against them.
- God's timing is wiser. He allowed the kings to gather so one stroke could overthrow them all — human urgency would have prevented the greater display of His power.
- Two sins, one flesh. The wilderness sin is distrust; the land sin is self-confidence in strength (Ai) and in wisdom (Gibeon). Both spring from the same old nature.
- No counter-confederacy. The right response is not an alliance against alliance, but to sanctify the Lord and make Him the object of trust.
- Warning for the church. Israel's later snare was an unwitting league with Gibeon; Christendom's deliberate league with the world has destroyed corporate testimony — a warning recorded for our admonition.