Commentary on Joshua by Gregory T. K. Wong

Author:Gregory T. K. Wong [Burge, Gary M. and Andrew E. Hill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bible Commentary/Old Testament, REL006050, REL006060
ISBN: 9781493424443
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2019-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

The Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III here places his foot on the neck of a captured enemy, as the Israelites do in Joshua 10:24. [Copyright © Baker Photo Archive. Courtesy of the British Museum.]

The five enemy kings are among those who manage to flee south to Makkedah, and once there, they hide themselves in a cave (10:16). When Joshua is told where the kings are hiding, he gives orders for large stones to be rolled over the mouth of the cave and for guards to be stationed to prevent them from escaping. The Israelites then pursue the rest of the enemy troops. After annihilating most of them, they return to their interim camp in Makkedah, where Joshua has the captured kings brought before them. Telling his commanders to put their feet on the kings’ necks to force them into a submissive pose, and using this to visually symbolize the kind of victory the Lord will continue to give, Joshua then executes the kings and has their corpses hung on trees until evening, just as he did with the king of Ai (cf. Josh. 8:29). After the corpses are taken down, Joshua has them thrown into the cave where they were hiding and turns the cave into a memorial for Israel’s victory by having large stones piled over its mouth.

Now that they have come all the way down to Makkedah, Joshua and the Israelites take the opportunity to strike a number of Canaanite city-states located in the vicinity, beginning with Makkedah itself and moving on to Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir (10:28–43). Of these city-states, Lachish, Eglon, and Hebron belong to the coalition that originally launched the attack against Gibeon to start this war. Although Makkedah, Libnah, and Debir are not specially included as part of the main coalition (cf. 10:3), they must have also played supportive roles. As the Israelites move from city to city in this southern campaign, and as the Lord gives these cities into their hands, they apply the principle of herem (see commentary on 6:1–27) and totally destroy each city, leaving no survivor behind. Note, however, that when the king of Gezer and his troops come to Lachish’s aid, only those who come are destroyed. As Gezer is located some distance north of this cluster of southern cities, Joshua apparently does not take a detour to attack Gezer. That is why, according to 16:10 and Judges 1:29, Gezer remains among the cities to be dispossessed.

With the Lord fighting for them, Joshua and the Israelites thus succeed in taking control of the entire region south of Gibeon by decimating its major cities (10:40–42). They then return to their base camp in Gilgal.

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