6860. 'And the Hivite and the Jebusite' means occupied by what is idolatrous but has some kind of goodness and truth in it. This is clear from the representation of 'the Hivite' as that which is idolatrous but has some kind of goodness in it; and from the representation of 'the Jebusite' as that which is idolatrous but has some kind of truth in it. The fact that those nations mean such things may be recognized from the permission granted to Joshua and the elders to make a treaty with the Gibeonites, Joshua 9:3 and following verses, and from the fact that they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God, Joshua 9:23, 27. (These people were Hivites, see Joshua 9:7; 11:19.) And the fact that 'the Jebusites' represent those who practise that which is idolatrous yet has some kind of truth in it may be recognized from the Jebusites who were allowed to remain for a long time in Jerusalem and were not driven out from there, Joshua 15:63; 18:16, 18; 2 Samuel 5:6-10.