to tantalize starvation’s self.  But to the question.  What was the condition of the Gibeonites under the Israelites? (1.) It was voluntary.  Their own proposition to Joshua was to become servants.  Josh. ix. 8, 11.  It was accepted, but the kind of service which they should perform, was not specified until their gross imposition came to light; they were then assigned to menial offices in the Tabernacle. (2.) They were not domestic servants in the families of the Israelites.  They still resided in their own cities, cultivated their own fields, tended their flocks and herds, and exercised the functions of a distinct, though not independent community.  They were subject to the Jewish nation as tributaries.  So far from being distributed among the Israelites, and their internal organization as a distinct people abolished, they remained a separate, and, in some respects, an independent community for many centuries.  When attacked by the Amorites, they applied to the Israelites as confederates for aid—­it was rendered, their enemies routed, and themselves left unmolested in their cities.  Josh. x. 6-18.  Long afterwards, Saul slew some of them, and God sent upon Israel a three years’ famine for it.  David inquired of the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you, and wherewith shall I make the atonement?” At their demand, he delivered up to them, seven of Saul’s descendants. 2 Sam. xxi. 1-9.  The whole transaction was a formal recognition of the Gibeonites as a distinct people.  There is no intimation that they served families, or individuals of the Israelites, but only the “house of God,” or the Tabernacle.  This was established first at Gilgal, a day’s journey from their cities; and then at Shiloh, nearly two day’s journey from them; where it continued about 350 years.  During this period, the Gibeonites inhabited their ancient cities and territory.  Only a few, comparatively, could have been absent at any one time in attendance on the Tabernacle.  Wherever allusion is made to them in the history, the main body are spoken of as at home.  It is preposterous to suppose that all the inhabitants of these four cities could find employment at the Tabernacle.  One of them “was a great city, as one of the royal cities;” so large, that a confederacy of five kings, apparently the most powerful in the land, was deemed necessary for its destruction.  It is probable that the men were divided into classes, ministering in rotation—­each class a few days or weeks at a time.  This service was their national tribute to the Israelites, for the privilege of residence and protection under their government.  No service seems to have been required of the females.  As these Gibeonites were Canaanites, and as they had greatly exasperated the Israelites by impudent imposition, and lying, we might assuredly expect that they would reduce them to the condition of chattels if there was any case in which God permitted them to do so.