In one battle where Joshua was helping the
Gibeonites (an ally) fight the forces of the kings of the Amorites, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: "O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon." (Joshua 10:12) "So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies as it is written in the book of Jashar.
In Joshua 9: 3 - 27, the
Gibeonites deceived Joshua and God not only allowed the fruit of the deceit to stand, but also punished Israel when King Saul violated it (11 Samuel 21: 1- 9).
Famine was unleashed (Samuel 2, 21:1) for King Saul slaughtering the
Gibeonites.
David put to death seven sons and grandsons of Saul to expiate the bloodguilt caused by an otherwise unmentioned massacre of the
Gibeonites at the hands of Saul (2 Samuel 21:8; Joshua 9).
Years before, David's predecessor and father-in-law Saul had massacred the
Gibeonites. David needs to avenge them, but runs into a moral conflict.
But, apart from the sparing of the
Gibeonites (Hurrians) in Jos.
Another example of the number seven's association with rainfall in the Bible was the unforgivable sacrifice of the sons of King Saul, whom King David handed over to the
Gibeonites. The seven victims were brutally impaled at the beginning of the barley harvest, which coincided with the onset of the dry season.
8) The
Gibeonites, Amorites and Moabites met the same fate as previous peoples and cities did too.
The strong
Gibeonites are antagonists, invading the inept Israelites.
After Saul's death, his successor, David, seeks to settle an unresovled dispute by offering up seven of Saul's sons to be hanged by the neighbouring
Gibeonites. The
Gibeonites are happy with this resolution, but Ritzpah, who is the mother of two of the sons, is not.
Edelman ("Gibeon and the
Gibeonites Revisited") views the anti-Gibeonite polemic pervading the Deuteronomistic History as a response (by the pro-David, pro-Jerusalemite returnees from the exile) to an attempt by the pro-Saulide
Gibeonites to make Gibeon the cult center in the sixth century.