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By Yaakov, February 8, 2007 7:10 pm

In the 9th Chapter of Sefer Yehoshua, the Givonim come an offer to become servants of the Jewish people in exchange for peace. They do so under the guise of travellers who have come from an ארץ רחוקה מאוד – a “very far off land” (9) and as evidence for their long journey, they show their stale bread and dried out wine sacks (12-13). The leaders of the Jewish people immediately accept.

The RaDaK (Rav David Kimchi) explains in his commentary to verse 7 how it was even possible for peace to be made between the Jews and a Canaanite nation: If the Jews had known the true origin of these people, they would have been forbidden to make a covenant with them (because of the biblical commandment against this). Even though Bnei Yisrael would have accepted peace with any of the Canaanite nations, if it had been offered, this would have been under the condition that they destroy all of their idolatry and observe the seven Noahide laws, in addition to paying taxes and accepting some form of servitude under the Jewish nation.

Only after a few days do they find out that these people had been lying about their place of origin, and in fact lived just a few miles away. Upon becoming aware of this, the Tanach states:

יח ולא הכום, בני ישראל, כי-נשבעו להם נשיאי העדה, ביהוה אלהי ישראל; וילנו כל-העדה, על-הנשיאים. יט ויאמרו כל-הנשיאים, אל-כל-העדה, אנחנו נשבענו להם, ביהוה אלהי ישראל; ועתה, לא נוכל לנגע בהם.

“And Bnei Yisrael did not attack them because the leaders of the congregation swore to them before God, the Lod of Israel, and the people complained against the leaders. And all of the leaders said to the entire congregation: “we swore to them on God, the Lord of Israel, and no we cannot touch them!” (9:18-19).

As explained earlier, peace with any of the Canaanite nations was possible, assuming the proper conditions. Why then do the leaders cite their oath as the only thing holding them back from destroying the Givonim?

The Radak goes on to explain: Because the Givonim tricked the Jews and made a covenant with them under false pretenses, and because of this they deserved to be killed, were it not for the chillul Hashem that would be by this, because many had heard the oath that was made by the leaders of the people to the Givonim, and they had not heard anything false nor had any conditions been stated when the oath was made public. (Because of this, the Givonim were given more menial jobs than they would have had otherwise). Chazal learn (Gittin 46a) from this incident that a vow or oath made in public cannot be annulled. Others argue and say that a public oath or vow can be annulled, and in this case it was not done so in order to perform a Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God’s name), to show the world how seriously Jews take their oaths made to God.