1. Joshua 9:3 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why does the text not mention the king of the Gibeonites?

Joshua 9:3 (ESV)

3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,

The use of the expression the inhabitants of Gibeon rather than the king of Gibeon suggests that these four cities had a different form of government. No king of Gibeon is ever mentioned in the Bible.1