Matthew Poole and continuators on Joshua 9:23

23 Now therefore ye are cursed , and there shall † none of you be freed from being bondmen , and hewers of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my God .

You shall not escape the Curse of God which by Divine Sentence belongs to all the Canaanites, who are a People Devoted by God to ruine; but only change the quality of it, you shall feel that Curse of Bondage and Servitude, which is proper to your race, by vertue of that ancient Decree, Gen. 9. 25. you shall live indeed, but in a poor, vile and miserable condition.

The Slavery which is upon you shall be entailed to your posterity.

This only Service they mention here, because it was their principal and most durable servitude, being first in the Tabernacle, and then in the Temple, whence they were called Nethinims, 1 Chron. 9. 2. Ezra 2. 43. whereas their servitude to the whole Congregation would in a great measure cease when the Israelites were dispersed to their several habitations.

Marginal references: ‡ Heb. not be cut off from you.