It would appear that the explanation of the trick used by the Gibeonites to secure a treaty with the Israelites is to be found in the regulation recorded in Deuteronomy 20.10-18. This regulation allowed the Israelites to spare the lives of their enemies who lived a great distance away, but required that they put to death all enemies nearby, in order to eliminate any possibility of apostasy on the part of the Israelites. The trick makes sense only on the assumption that the Gibeonites knew this Israelite rule.

But the story also serves to explain the reason why these people, at the time the account was written, provided certain menial services in the Temple (verse 27).

Gibeon, some 11 kilometers southwest of Ai, was about 30 kilometers west of the Israelite camp Gilgal. Good News Translation inserts who were Hivites, which in Hebrew comes only at verse 7 (see Revised Standard Version). There is no certainty about the particular designation Hivites; commentaries and dictionaries offer a variety of definitions.The Septuagint “Horites” (ton Chorraion) may perhaps represent the Hebrew for “Hurrians,” an important non-Semitic people about whom quite a bit is known.

This verse may be made into a separate sentence: “But the people from the town of Gibeon, who belonged to the tribe of the Hivites, heard what Joshua had done to the cities of Jericho and Ai.” Verse 4 would then begin: “So they decided to deceive him.” Or one may render “So they decided to deceive Joshua and the people of Israel.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .