Why do the Gibeonites refer to themselves as servants?
Joshua 9:8 (ESV)
8They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?”
The self-designation by the Gibeonites as Israel’s servants implies that they accepted a relationship of a vassal nation to the people of God.1 They were thus offering to become Israel’s vassals by which they expected Israel to protect them from their enemies.2
8 They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?”