"Why did you play this trick on us?" (Josh 9:22)

In the story of the Hivites of Gibeon in Joshua 9, we see how the familiar pattern of the trickster is used successfully against the Israelites. Traditionally in the Bible, the role of the trickster was filled by a member of the Israelites, who as underdogs used their wiles to succeed. However, in this story we see how another group becomes the underdog and avoids anhialation by deceiving Joshua and the other Israelite leaders. This event was clearly related to issues contemporary to the writing of Joshua, and reflected the relationship between Israel and the groups that were part of Israelite society, but were not of the twelve tribes of Jacob.

After the destruction of Ai and the covenant with God was read from the mountain tops, the neighboring towns join in a pact to destroy Israel. However, the Gibeonites, fearing for their lives, decide to use the Israelite covenant to their benefit. They disguise themselves as weary travellers who have come to support the Israelites in their fight. After some question as to their authenticty, they accept their treaty offers and take them in as part of the group but "without seeking guidance from the Lord" (Josh 9:14). There are many common elements with other trickster stories here. For example, the name and reputation of the Lord is used to gain the trust of the Israelites when they say "we have come because of the renoun of the Lord your God" (Josh 9:9). As in many other trickster tales, the trickery turns out for the best in the end, because these new Israelites, who become the underdogs in this story, have acheived their goal of avoiding being killed by Joshua's campaign. The Israelites also come away successful because they gain new forces in their army and more prestiege by having an "inferior" group that would also have supported morale among a group of struggling marginalized revolutionaries.

This joining of forces was probably not unheard of. There is evidence that the Israelites may have gained the support of "indigenous" or non-Israelite peoples in the previous chapter where "All Israel, native-born and resident alien alike" join in the treaty ritual, implying there were clearly non-Israelite peoples among them (Josh. 8:33). The difference in this story--and the inherent problem--lies within the double-contract that has been made. The first, between God and Israel states that all those living in the kingdoms of the promised land must be destroyed, but that peoples from far off were allowed to live. However, by being permitted to join the Israelites, the local Gibeonites trick them into betraying this covenant.

Still, the Israelites are shown to be honorable people who keep their treaties in the most equitable way. They accept the Gibeonites, albeit with a curse, that they shall ever be the slaves of Israel, which is the role they claimed when they first aproached Joshua (Josh. 9:8). It seems likely that this is a direct reference to the Hivite people living much later in Jerusalem at the time of the Temple, which is why at the end of the chapter the authors are careful to point out that the Hivites' job in Israelite society is that of slave labor in the temple: "but from that day he assigned them to cut wood and draw water for the community and for the altar of the Lord. And to this day they do so at the place which the Lord chose" (Josh. 9:27).

It is interesting to note that the honor of the Israelites is maintainted, although they technically break their covenant with the Lord. This is why the trickster motif becomes central. It is made clear that the Israelites are not happy with this, and that the only way they would be induced to break their covenant with the Lord is through trickery. Additionally, the emphasis on the fact that the Israelite elders take in the Gibeonites without asking the advice of God provokes the following questions: Does this mean it was God's will that the Hivites should trick the Israelites into accepting them? Or were the ancient writers trying to illustrate the principle that says once a decision is made, one must suffer the consequences? It seems most likely that the answer is the latter.

The Hivites came to the Israelites claiming they wanted to be their slaves, which sets up a precedence of the power dynamic between the tribal Israelites and these new Israelites who become part of the culture but are not part of the original tribes. It is my theory that the writers of Joshua included this story in order to explain why there was a division within the Israelite society between the "real" Israelites and the marginalized people that were part ot the culture, but were not equal citizens. Having this precedent would have allowed people to explain that things were the way they were because they had always been that way, and that there was a very good reason for it, sanctioned by God. It is also possible that there was a change within the Israelite world at the time Joshua was written that made it important to define-- or redefine-- the relationships between the Israelites and these "aliens," which is why the great emphasis is put on their role as subordinate to the Israelites.

This in turn would serve to justify or make up for the transgression of the first break of the Israelite covenant with the Lord that demanded the death of all peoples in the promised land. It would be all the more important to uphold the second in payment for the first, or even as a punishment--a continuing effect of the curse Joshua lays upon them in Josh. 9:23 "From now there is a curse on you: for all time you shall provide us with slaves..." Perhaps this was seen as a way to re-establish their covenant with God, and to gain back any favor that may have been lost.

As we see, the most important themes taken from this passage are those of the relationships between groups within Israel, because they provide the most information about what the social and cultural atmosphere was like in ancient Israel. It also helps to recreate an image of the world they lived in and the context in which they were struggling to form a new and strong identity as a new nation. Although the trickster Hivites succeed in avoiding obliteration, the authors suggest that they are condemned to a legacy of servitude as punishment for forcing the Israelites to break their covenant with the Lord.