Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 10:4
Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.
4. for it hath made peace ] The enterprise was directed primarily not against Joshua, but against Gibeon which had made peace with him. Comp. Jos 9:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4. When in describing the assault on Lachish the writer of the Book of Joshua tells us it was the second day before it succeeded, he undesignedly leads us to suspect that Lachish was a stronghold; and on consulting other portions of the history of the Jews we discover that suspicion to be confirmed; and on the whole a coincidence results very characteristic of truth and accuracy, and this in a narrative full of the miraculous. Blunt’s Undesigned Coincidences, pp. 107, 108.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon,…. For which he thought himself not a match, not only because it was a great city, and full of mighty men, and had other cities subject to it, but because he might reasonably judge that Joshua would come to their assistance if possible, being in league with him; he sends to these kings in an authoritative manner, as if they were in some respects subject to him; and he proposes Jerusalem as the place of their rendezvous, and which it seems lay higher than their cities, though they were in the mountainous part of the country:
for it hath made peace with Joshua, and with the children of Israel; their avowed enemies, and so had separated themselves from their countrymen, and from their common interest; and therefore it was thought proper to make an example of them, that others might fear to do the same.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) Come up . . . that we may smite Gibeon.It is remarkable that we do not read of one direct attack upon Joshua and his army in all the wars of Canaan. The Canaanites seem to have acted strictly upon the defensive: and this fact tallies with what we read of the alarm and depression that spread among them at the passage of Jordan by Israel. And the armies which did take the field were attacked by Joshua in each instance before they had ventured to attack him. In the present instance it was thought necessary to smite Gibeon, not only to make an example of the inhabitants, but also because of its importance as a stronghold in the hands of Israel. The position of the Hivite tetrapolis was strong enough to command the country. The fact that a man of Gibeon was afterwards selected to reign over Israel, and that the tabernacle was stationed there, so that Gibeon became a sort of metropolis during the latter portion of Sauls reign, is a significant comment upon this.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“ Come up to me, and help me, and let us smite Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua, and with the children of Israel.”
The first plan was to smite Gibeon. In their view what Gibeon had done had been an act of treachery against them, and their aim was to weaken the new alliance (as they saw it. They would not know the full story) and would be a warning to other cities not to ally themselves with Israel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jos 10:4 Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.
Ver. 4. That we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua.] This was the quarrel: and to be revenged upon the Gibeonites, these kings would not care to weaken themselves by wasting their forces upon them: as the bee, for like cause, loseth her sting and becometh a drone, if not her life.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
children = sons.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
and help: Isa 8:9, Isa 8:10, Isa 41:5-7, Act 9:24-27, Act 21:28, Rev 16:14, Rev 20:8-10
we may: Jos 10:1, Jos 9:15, Mat 16:24, Joh 15:19, Joh 16:2, Joh 16:3, Act 9:23, 2Ti 3:12, Jam 4:4, 1Pe 4:4
Reciprocal: Jos 11:1 – he sent 2Sa 2:12 – Gibeon Psa 119:94 – I am thine