1And when Lord Bezek (the king of Jerusalem) heard that JoShua had taken Gai and had destroyed it as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had gone over to JoShua and Israel, 2this frightened him, for he knew that Gibeon was a large city. In fact, it was one of [the land’s] primary cities, and [it was known] for its mighty men. 3So Lord Bezek sent [messages] to Elam (the king of Hebron), Phidon (the king of JeriMuth), JephTha (the king of LachIsh), and Dabin (the king of OdolLam), saying, 4‘Come and help us! Let’s conquer Gibeon, because the Gibeonites have gone over to JoShua and the children of Israel.’ 5So the five kings of the Jebusites came to [the aid of] the king of Jerusalem, which included the kings of Hebron, JeriMuth, LachIsh, and OdolLam, then they and all their people camped around Gibeon and besieged it. 6So the Gibeonites sent [a message] to JoShua at his camp at GilGal, which said: ‘Hurry and send your servants to help us! Save us from the Amorite kings of the hill country, for they have all united against us!’ 7And at that, JoShua collected the best of his army [and marched them] from GilGal. 8And Jehovah said to JoShua, ‘Don’t be afraid, for I’m giving them into your hands. There won’t be any of them left to stand before you!’ 9And because JoShua had marched all night from GilGal, he caught them by surprise. 10Then Jehovah struck them with terror before the children of Israel… he destroyed them with a great slaughter there at Gibeon, and chased them all the way to the road to Oronin, and to Azeca and Makeda. 11And as they were fleeing the children of Israel at the descent from Oronin, Jehovah threw hailstones from the sky at them all the way to Azeca, and more died from the hailstones than were killed in battle by the children of Israel. 12Then JoShua spoke to Jehovah that day, as He was giving the Amorites into the [hands] of Israel. While they were destroying [their enemies] at Gibeon, JoShua said, ‘May the sun stand still over Gibeon and may the moon [stand still] over the valley of AiLon!’ 13Then the sun and the moon stood still as God brought vengeance on their enemies… the sun stood still in the midst of the sky and it didn’t move for a whole day! 14There hasn’t been a day like it before or since, for God listened to a man and He fought on the side of Israel. 15–– 16Well, the five kings ran away and hid themselves in a cave at MakEda. 17Then JoShua was told, ‘The five kings have been found hiding in the cave at MakEda.’ 18So JoShua said: ‘Roll stones to cover the mouth of the cave, and then appoint men to guard them. 19But don’t just stop there; keep chasing your enemies and attacking them from the rear. Don’t allow them to enter their cities, for Jehovah our God has given them into our hands!’ 20And although JoShua and Israel wiped most of them out, those who escaped took refuge in the fortified cities. 21Thereafter, all the people returned safely to JoShua at MakEda, and none of the children of Israel grumbled against him after that. 22Then JoShua said: ‘Now open the cave and bring out those five kings!’ 23So they brought the five kings out of the cave – the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of JeriMuth, the king of LachIsh, and the king of OdolLam. 24And when they brought them to JoShua, he called together all Israel and said to the chiefs of the army that went with him: ‘Come here and put your feet on their necks.’ So they came and put their feet on the necks [of the kings], 25and JoShua said, ‘Now, don’t be afraid or act cowardly… be courageous and strong! For this is what Jehovah will do to all the enemies who you will fight against.’ 26Then JoShua killed them and hung their bodies on five trees, where they stayed until the evening. 27It was about sunset when JoShua commanded them to be taken down from the trees, and their [bodies] were thrown into the cave where they had run for refuge. Then stones were rolled over the cave, and they are still there today. 28On that day, they also took MakEda and killed its inhabitants with swords… they destroyed every living thing that was there. None were left or had escaped, and then they did same thing to the king of MakEda as they had done to the king of Jericho. 29Well, after MakEda, JoShua and all Israel left and besieged Lebna, 30and Jehovah gave it into their hands. They captured it and its king, and they killed the inhabitants with swords… they killed everything that breathed there, and no one survived or escaped. Then they also did to its king as they had done to the king of Jericho. 31Thereafter, JoShua and Israel left Lebna and went on to LachIsh, where they camped around the city and besieged it. 32And Jehovah handed LachIsh over to Israel, capturing it on the second day, and then they put all the inhabitants to death with swords and destroyed [the city], as they had done to Lebna. 33Well, Elam (the king of Gazer) had gone to help LachIsh, so JoShua cut him and his people down with swords until there were none left, and none had escaped. 34And from LachIsh, JoShua and all Israel went to OdolLam, besieged it, and took it. 35Jehovah gave it into the hands of Israel on that same day, and they killed the inhabitants and every breathing thing there with swords, as they had done at LachIsh. 36Thereafter, JoShua and all Israel went on to Hebron and camped around it. 37Then they cut down it and all the living creatures that were in it with swords… no one was left alive. Then they destroyed the [city] and everything in it, as they had done to OdolLam. 38After that, JoShua and Israel returned to Dabir and camped around it. 39Then they took it, its king, and its villages, and cut them down with swords… they destroyed everything that breathed there. No one was left alive there, and as they had done to Hebron and her king, that’s what they did to Dabir and its king. 40Then JoShua attacked all the hill country, the Negev, the plain country, AsedOth, and all their kings… they didn’t spare any of them. They destroyed everything that had the breath of life, just as Jehovah the God of Israel had commanded, 41from Cades Barne to the Gaza, and all of Goshen as far as Gibeon. 42JoShua struck down all their kings once and for all and [captured] their land, because Jehovah the God of Israel was fighting on their side.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 FIVE KINGS WAR AGAINST GIBEON. (
Josh 10:1-
Josh 10:5)
Adoni-zedek--"lord of righteousness"--nearly synonymous with Melchizedek, "king of righteousness." These names were common titles of the Jebusite kings.
Jerusalem--The original name, "Salem" (
Gen 14:18;
Ps 76:2), was superseded by that here given, which signifies "a peaceful possession," or "a vision of peace," in allusion, as some think, to the strikingly symbolic scene (
Gen 22:14) represented on the mount whereon that city was afterwards built.
inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them--that is, the Israelites; had made an alliance with that people, and acknowledging their supremacy, were living on terms of friendly intercourse with them.
2 they feared greatly--The dread inspired by the rapid conquests of the Israelites had been immensely increased by the fact of a state so populous and so strong as Gibeon having found it expedient to submit to the power and the terms of the invaders.
as one of the royal cities--Although itself a republic (
Josh 9:3), it was large and well-fortified, like those places in which the chiefs of the country usually established their residence.
3 Wherefore Adoni-zedek . . . sent, . . . saying, Come up unto me, and help me--A combined attack was meditated on Gibeon, with a view not only to punish its people for their desertion of the native cause, but by its overthrow to interpose a barrier to the farther inroads of the Israelites. This confederacy among the mountaineers of Southern Palestine was formed and headed by the king of Jerusalem, because his territory was most exposed to danger, Gibeon being only six miles distant, and because he evidently possessed some degree of pre-eminence over his royal neighbors.
5 the five kings of the Amorites--The settlement of this powerful and warlike tribe lay within the confines of Moab; but having also acquired extensive possessions on the southwest of the Jordan, their name, as the ruling power, seems to have been given to the region generally (
2Sam 21:2), although Hebron was inhabited by Hittites or Hivites (
Josh 11:19), and Jerusalem by Jebusites (
Josh 15:63).
6 JOSHUA RESCUES IT. (
Josh 10:6-
Josh 10:9)
the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua--Their appeal was urgent and their claim to protection irresistible, on the ground, not only of kindness and sympathy, but of justice. In attacking the Canaanites, Joshua had received from God a general assurance of success (
Josh 1:5). But the intelligence of so formidable a combination among the native princes seems to have depressed his mind with the anxious and dispiriting idea that it was a chastisement for the hasty and inconsiderate alliance entered into with the Gibeonites. It was evidently to be a struggle of life and death, not only to Gibeon, but to the Israelites. And in this view the divine communication that was made to him was seasonable and animating. He seems to have asked the counsel of God and received an answer, before setting out on the expedition.
9 Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly--This is explained in the following clause, where he is described as having accomplished, by a forced march of picked men, in one night, a distance of twenty-six miles, which, according to the slow pace of Eastern armies and caravans, had formerly been a three days' journey (
Josh 9:17).
10 GOD FIGHTS AGAINST THEM WITH HAILSTONES. (
Josh 10:10-
Josh 10:11)
the Lord discomfited them--Hebrew, "terrified," confounded the Amorite allies, probably by a fearful storm of lightning and thunder. So the word is usually employed (
1Sam 7:10;
Ps 18:13;
Ps 144:6).
and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon--This refers to the attack of the Israelites upon the besiegers. It is evident that there had been much hard fighting around the heights of Gibeon, for the day was far spent before the enemy took to flight.
chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon--that is, "the House of Caves," of which there are still traces existing. There were two contiguous villages of that name, upper and nether. Upper Beth-horon was nearest Gibeon--about ten miles distant, and approached by a gradual ascent through a long and precipitous ravine. This was the first stage of the flight. The fugitives had crossed the high ridge of Upper Beth-horon, and were in full flight down the descent to Beth-horon the Nether. The road between the two places is so rocky and rugged that there is a path made by means of steps cut in the rock [ROBINSON]. Down this pass Joshua continued his victorious rout. Here it was that the Lord interposed, assisting His people by means of a storm, which, having been probably gathering all day, burst with such irresistible fury, that "they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword." The Oriental hailstorm is a terrific agent; the hailstones are masses of ice, large as walnuts, and sometimes as two fists; their prodigious size, and the violence with which they fall, make them always very injurious to property, and often fatal to life. The miraculous feature of this tempest, which fell on the Amorite army, was the entire preservation of the Israelites from its destructive ravages.
12 THE SUN AND MOON STAND STILL AT THE WORD OF JOSHUA. (
Josh 10:12-
Josh 10:15)
Then spake Joshua to the Lord . . . and . . . he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still . . . and thou, Moon--The inspired author here breaks off the thread of his history of this miraculous victory to introduce a quotation from an ancient poem, in which the mighty acts of that day were commemorated. The passage, which is parenthetical, contains a poetical description of the victory which was miraculously gained by the help of God, and forms an extract from "the book of Jasher," that is, "the upright"--an anthology, or collection of national songs, in honor of renowned and eminently pious heroes. The language of a poem is not to be literally interpreted; and therefore, when the sun and moon are personified, addressed as intelligent beings, and represented as standing still, the explanation is that the light of the sun and moon was supernaturally prolonged by the same laws of refraction and reflection that ordinarily cause the sun to appear above the horizon, when it is in reality below it [KEIL, BUSH]. Gibeon ("a hill") was now at the back of the Israelites, and the height would soon have intercepted the rays of the setting sun. The valley of Ajalon ("stags") was before them, and so near that it was sometimes called "the valley of Gibeon" (
Isa 28:21). It would seem, from
Josh 10:14, that the command of Joshua was in reality a prayer to God for the performance of this miracle; and that, although the prayers of eminently good men like Moses often prevailed with God, never was there on any other occasion so astonishing a display of divine power made in behalf of His people, as in answer to the prayer of Joshua.
Josh 10:15 is the end of the quotation from Jasher; and it is necessary to notice this, as the fact described in it is recorded in due course, and the same words, by the sacred historian (
Josh 10:43).
16 THE FIVE KINGS HANGED. (
Josh 10:16-
Josh 10:27)
these five kings . . . hid themselves in a cave--Hebrew, "the cave."
at Makkedah--The pursuit was continued, without interruption, to Makkedah at the foot of the western mountains, where Joshua seems to have halted with the main body of his troops while a detachment was sent forward to scour the country in pursuit of the remaining stragglers, a few of whom succeeded in reaching the neighboring cities. The last act, probably the next day, was the disposal of the prisoners, among whom the five kings were consigned to the infamous doom of being slain (
Deut 20:16-
Deut 20:17); and then their corpses were suspended on five trees till the evening.
24 put your feet upon the necks of these kings--not as a barbarous insult, but a symbolical action, expressive of a complete victory (
Deut 33:29;
Ps 110:5;
Mal 4:3).
28 SEVEN MORE KINGS CONQUERED. (
Josh 10:28-
Josh 10:42)
that day Joshua took Makkedah--In this and the following verses is described the rapid succession of victory and extermination which swept the whole of southern Palestine into the hands of Israel. "All these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal."