When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily and pretended to be ambassadors. They took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. They went to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us." The men of Israel questioned whether they dwelt among them, but the Gibeonites insisted they were servants from a distant land, citing the fame of the LORD their God and His deeds in Egypt and against the Amorite kings. They presented their worn provisions as evidence of a long journey, and though the Israelites took some of their supplies, they did not seek counsel from the LORD. Consequently, Joshua made peace with them, forming a covenant to let them live, and the rulers of the congregation swore to them. Gibeon was a significant city in the area later allotted to Benjamin, near Jebus, and its people, the Hivites, descendants of Canaan, resorted to deception to save themselves, unlike other Canaanites who chose to fight. Their masterful disguises and cunning answers convinced the Israelites, who judged by appearances, leading to the success of their subterfuge.

The Gibeonites, identified as Hivites and a remnant of the Amorites, entered Israel's history when their inhabitants craftily deceived Joshua and the leaders at Gilgal into making a covenant of protection shortly after the conquest of Jericho and Ai. Israel failed to seek God's counsel before swearing the oath, and although the deception was discovered three days later, Joshua upheld the agreement by sparing their lives and assigning them the role of woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and the altar. This covenant remained binding across generations. Centuries later, during Saul's reign, he and his bloodthirsty house violated the oath by seeking to exterminate the Gibeonites in misplaced zeal for Israel and Judah, committing a massacre for which no atonement was made at the time. The unresolved guilt produced consequences that surfaced in David's day when a three-year famine afflicted the land. David eventually inquired of the Lord and learned the cause was Saul's crime against the Gibeonites. When the surviving Gibeonites demanded seven descendants of Saul to be hanged before the Lord in Gibeah as retribution, David acquiesced without negotiation, without consulting the law, and without seeking divine direction. He delivered the men, including grandsons who could not have participated in the earlier massacre, allowing their bodies to remain exposed for months in a manner that further defiled the land. Only after Rizpah's vigil and the proper burial of Saul's and Jonathan's bones did the famine end through the normal return of the latter rains. This episode illustrates how an ancient covenant with the Gibeonites exposed David's spiritual distraction and failure to apply God's standards of justice, underscoring the text's larger point that even heroes of faith like David could compromise with the people of the land when distracted by the cares of life.