Rashi on TanakhJoshua 9

And they too¹Our verse indicates that others had also practiced deception but does not tell us who it was. Rashi proceeds to tell us who else had deceived them. proceded with deception just as the sons of Yaakov dealt with trickery with Chamor, the father of Shechem, who was a Chivite.²The Givonim were a branch of Chivites, who were related Shechem who had raped Dinah the daughter of Yaakov. They remembered how their relatives were tricked by the sons of Yaakov and were subsequently killed by the two son of Yaakov. Thus the Gevonim felt justified in perpetrating their deception. (See Bereishis 34:1-26). The people of Givon were descendents of the Chivites, as it is said in this context.

They presented themselves as envoys. They made themselves look like messengers. The word יִצְטַיָרוּ messenger, is from, צִיר “וְצִיר בַּגוֹיִם שְׁלַח” (Ovadiah 1:1) [and a messenger was sent among the nations.] Every word whose root begins with a “צ” (צַדִי ), when used as a reflexive either in the form of מִתְפַּעֵל or נִתְפַּעֵל, is constructed with a “ט” (טֶית) in the middle and separates the root letters of the word,³Rashi thus explains why the letter “ט” was inserted in the word יִצְטַיָרוּ. like מַה נִצְטַדָק, (how can we justify ourselves).⁴See Bereishis 44:16. the root of נִצְטַדָק is צֶדֶק (justice) which he says as נִצְטַדָק. Similarly, וּמִטַל שְׁמַיָא גִשְׁמֵה יִצְטַבַע [His body was wet from the dew of Heaven)⁵Daniel 6:21. The root of יִצְטַבַע is צֶבַע.

Worn-out sacks. To give the appearance that they were coming from a distant land.

And tied together. מְצרָרִים is another expression of מְבוּקָעִים (split), which is an Aramaic expression, “The cleft of the wheat.”⁶See Pesachim 40A. Rabbi Yoseph said: A man must not scald two grains of wheat together, lest one becomes wedged in the cleft of the other, so that the water does not cover it on all sides and it will cause fermentation. “Which makes the wine-skin burst.”⁷See Avodah Zara 30A. There is a type of wine which is considered “strong wine,” and it is known to make the wine-skin burst. According to most commentaries however, the word מְצרָרִים is translated tied up.

Moldy. “Arson” in old French is an expression of מוֹקֵד, fire or heat.⁸Rashi explains that נִקֻדִים indicates that the bread was not merely dry but burned as toast which would preserve it over a long period. He therefore would reject the translation of נְקֻדִים as moldy. Targum Yonasan also translates נִקֻדִים as כִּסְנִין.

Maybe you really live in our midst. Perhaps you are of those who dwell in the land.⁹The Torah explicitly states that the inhabitants of the land of Canaan were to be totally destroyed. It was forbidden to make any sort of treaty with them, as it is said “Do not make a treaty with them or with their gods.” (Shemos 23:32). The men of Givon therefore attempted to portray themselves as people who were not of Canaan and therefore not included in the destruction that was to befall all those who were inhabitants of the land. The verse states וַיאמְרוּ אִישׁ, and they said, but it is read וַיאמַר אִישׁ “the man of Yisroel said.” They all spoke together as a single person who had doubts about the truth of their presentation.

We prepared. The word הִצְטַיַדְנוּ is from צֵדָה provision. When we took [the bread] as provisions for our journey.

And the men took of their provisions. They accepted their words. They trapped them with their mouths,¹⁰The men of Yisroel were taken in by their trick. as it is said, “But if he did not set an ambush.”¹¹Shemos 21:13.