Joshua 9:5

5 They put old sandals on their feet and wore old clothes, and they took some dry, moldy bread.

Joshua 9:5 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 9:5

And old shoes and clouted upon their feet
Which being worn out, were patched with various pieces of leather:

and old garments upon them;
full of holes and rents, ragged and patched:

and the bread of their provision was dry [and] mouldy;
having been kept a long time, and unfit for use; or like cakes over baked and burnt, as the Targum and Jarchi: the word for "mouldy" signifies pricked, pointed, spotted, as mouldy bread has in it spots of different colours, as white, red, green, and black, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; or it signifies bread so dry, as Ben Gersom notes, that it crumbles into pieces easily, with which the Vulgate Latin version agrees; or rather through being long kept, it was become dry and hard like crusts, so Noldius F9; or very hard, like bread twice baked, as Castell F11.


FOOTNOTES:

F9 P. 379. No. 1218.
F11 Lex. col. 2395.

Joshua 9:5 In-Context

3 When the people of Gibeon heard how Joshua had defeated Jericho and Ai,
4 they decided to trick the Israelites. They gathered old sacks and old leather wine bags that were cracked and mended, and they put them on the backs of their donkeys.
5 They put old sandals on their feet and wore old clothes, and they took some dry, moldy bread.
6 Then they went to Joshua in the camp near Gilgal. The men said to Joshua and the Israelites, "We have traveled from a faraway country. Make a peace agreement with us."
7 The Israelites said to these Hivites, "Maybe you live near us. How can we make a peace agreement with you?"
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.