But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,
Gibeon was an important city some "six miles northwest of Jerusalem."[8]  This city was the leader of a group of four cities, and, "The Four Cities Alliance led by the Gibeonites lay within a ten-mile radius of Jerusalem."[9]  The importance of this union of the Gibeonites and their allies with the Israelites was pointed out by Boling: "Israel then controlled the entire northwest quadrant of the approaches to Jerusalem."[10]