The Inner Dimension of Tanach - Yehoshua 9 Deception, Converts and Power of Imagination

The 9th Perek of Sefer Yehoshua shares a fascinating story of the Gibeonites sneaking their way into a peace treaty with the Jewish people.
It's worth taking a careful look of the entire Perek inside, but just to point out a few central Pessukim...

A few basic questions emerge from the text...
1) Why did the Gibeonites do all of this to trick Klal Yisrael in a ruse to claim that they weren't part of the 7 nations of Canaan? According to most opinions, Yehoshua had offered peace to any nation that wanted to stay as long as they accepted a basic level of morality and subjugation to the Jewish people, and if that was the case, why the need for all of this trickery?
2) If indeed the treaty was made on false pretenses, why was it valid in the first place? They didn't ask Hashem to begin with whether they should make a treaty, but now that the false treaty was made, they are unable to break it, why?
3) If indeed the Gibeonites were so dishonest and immoral, why did Yehoshua specifically reserve for them tasks involved in the Bais Hamikdash? Wasn't that holy work designed for only the most worthy?
4) Why does it seem that this wasn't the first time (or the last time) that Klal Yisrael was having to confront the Gibeonites and their trickery?

Why was it necessary for this decree to be made against the Gibeonites in three separate generations, Moshe, Yehoshua and Dovid Hamelech, especially when our Passuk describes that the decree was an eternal one until this very day?
And in general, how does Klal Yisrael view converts... especially in light of the following Gemara in Kiddushin:

Calling somebody a scab doesn't seem like a complimentary term, but why?

Isn't a non-Jew taking on a higher spiritual calling seem noble and exemplary?

Don't we have many heroes in our history who were converts like Yisro, Ruth, Onkelos and many others that the Torah seems to praise?
And lastly, why does it seem that all of the Torah greats really come from converts at the end of the day...
Moshe was raised by Basya - a convert.
Yehoshua married a convert, Rahab.
Dovid Hamelech descended from the convert Ruth.
The first Torah commentary was a translation into Aramaic by the convert, Onkelos.
Rabbi Akiva came from converts.
And the list goes on and on...
For a religion that places so much emphasis on proper lineage, why does it seem that our entire Mesorah is almost resting on the shoulders of converts, and what does this have to do with the Gibeonites of our story?
To begin to answer all of these questions and more, let's take a closer look at the Gemara in Kiddushin which called converts scabs, or in Hebrew סַפַּחַת
The Gemara doesn't mince words. Every word our sages use is measured and precise... so if you really want to understand what they had in mind, take a look at some of the key sources in Tanach where the word is used...

You see when you spend time actually looking up the words of Chazal, a very different pattern emerges... yes, technically the word means scab, but in context, its deeper meaning reflects cleaving, joining, assigning, and having a share in.

So to read things on a simple meaning, converts deeply attach to the Jewish people, hard like stone, immovable with serious dedication and commitment.
We don't run out looking for converts, but when they arrive from a place of genuine seeking, we welcome them with open arms.
But what does this have to do with the Gibeonites in Sefer Yehoshua and their seeming trickery?
Rav Moshe David Vaali in his sefer, Mizrach Hashemesh shares a novel insight.
He connects the surreptitious Gibeonite conversion right back to the epic test between the primordial snake and humanity...

According to the Ibn Ezra and other commentaries the snake represented the power of imagination, that tried to cloud the judgement of humanity and entice them to sin.
Through the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, they in fact ingested the capacity of imagination and this made the vulnerable to temptation, ego, lust and anger.
But, says Rav Vaali, the solution, the final Tikkun that the world needs is not the abolishing of imagination, its the sanctification of it.
Imagination left unchecked can drive a person to the lowest depths. While at the same time, imagination channeled correctly can rise a person up the greatest heights.
It's this outside force, a power within our human intellect that has the ability to whisk us off to for away places in space and time can be harnessed to achieve amazing things.
Take for example the Mitzvah of Tzitzis...

But before we think that the imagination is the root of all evil, the Passuk right before it clues us in to how to channel our imagination correctly...

The Passukim by Tzitzis are highlighting this fact that imagination channeled correctly can bring one to the holiest places of Hashem's Throne of Glory, but unchecked it can bring it person to lowly acts of hedonism and debauchery.
The tikkun of sin of the Tree of Knowledge was to take that imagination, that outside force within our own consciousness and raise it up in Avodas Hashem.
This power is exemplified by converts. They are born non-Jews but they imagine themselves to be different. They imagine themselves dressing and acting different, eating kosher, keeping Shabbos and taking on a whole new name, even though right now they are sitting eating a cheeseburger in McDonalds and there is nothing wrong with them doing so!
They encapsulate the power of imagination so well that when they do convert, they bring a special passion, fervor and attachment to the Jewish people.
And this is why it's not accident that Torah She'Baal Peh, the Oral Torah is so influenced by the hearts and minds of converts themselves.
The Oral Torah takes a tremendous amount of creativity and abstraction, harnessing the power of imagination for the holy purpose of bringing Hashem's Torah down to this world.
They have power to dream big and this combination makes for the fact that converts became the backbone of our holy Mesorah.
Very nice... but what does this have to do with the Gibeonites?

According to this approach, the Gibeonite ruse was not a random occurrence. They were the power of imagination personified through this nation. Their desire to create a covenant with the Jewish people was coming more that from fear of destruction.

If they wanted to, they could have made peace the simple, straight forward way.

But that wasn't their real purpose at all. It was to bring the power of imagination into Klal Yisrael themselves.

And this explains the debate between the Jewish people and the leadership at that time. It was a risky proposition. On one hand more imagination can lead to sinking to the depths of this world. On the other hand, Yehoshua recognized that this was an essential ingredient for spiritual growth and ultimately with the Final Redemption. The Jewish people could not truly inherit the Land forever without this infusion of passionate imagination.
And this is why they couldn't just ask Hashem, He wouldn't have told them!
Just like the decision to eat from the Tree of Knowledge was left to the free will of humanity, so to if they were going to rectify that sin, it had to come through their own volition!
And perhaps this is why Yehoshua relegated them to the service of cutting wood and drawing water for the service in the Bais Hamikdash. They couldn't be part of the Jewish people proper. The intellect of Klal Yisrael needed a healthy boundary between itself and the creative element of imagination.

But imagination, when channeled correctly, was integral in preparing for Avodas Hashem, as many of the Chassidim Rishonim suggested spending time in a meditative state using imagery and transcendent focus to enter prayer properly... this was the spiritual lesson of the water drawers, opening the hearts and minds of Klal Yisrael.
And this is why their conversion had to come through ruse and trickery, this is part of parcel of who they truly are. Yehoshua saw the depth of this, he wasn't tricked, he willingly let the power of imagination enter his ranks.
And, as we mentioned, this wasn't the first time or last time this treaty needed to take place. Klal Yisrael existed in three eras of history, our early childhood led through the desert by Moshe Rabbeinu, our spiritual adolescence, led by Yehoshua entering into Eretz Yisrael... and ultimately our spiritual maturity, begun by Dovid Hamelech and will be finally culminated in the Melech Moshiach.
Each of those eras needed their own covenant with the Gibeonites, realigning their expansive world view with the power of imagination. A child's imagination is very different to an adults, and at each stage in life one needs to adjust and upgrade their cognitive balance and faculties, but making sure never to lose touch with the power of imagination as an essential tool for spiritual growth.
As everything in Sefer Yehoshua, more than just telling history, it describes the metaphysical root of the dynamic that Klal Yisrael would have with Eretz Yisrael forever. And how true this is today, we need to connect with the challenging reality in front of us, but we should never lose touch with the towering power of imagination that can dream for ultimate redemption and yearn for the full revelation of Hashem Echad U'Shmo Echad!

Sincerely,
Doron Lazarus
Ramat Bet Shemesh