English: “from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water” — these are the Gibeonites who converted in the days of Yehoshua and became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of Hashem. This teaches that they accepted upon themselves servitude forever.
The lowest ranks listed in the covenant are identified with the Gibeonites, turning a social description into a historical referent with lasting legal consequence.
Type of Learning
Custom (phrase-by-phrase or midrashic expansion of the verse).
What Is Learned
The midrash extracts concrete legal, historical or theological referents from the wording of the passuk, giving the brief biblical language a fuller operational meaning.