I ntroduction: The short version: a five-king coalition is formed and they attack Gibeon. Because of their treaty, Gibeon calls upon Joshua to defend them. Joshua defends them and defeats the alliance, partially because Joshua prays for more day light during which to do battle. From here, Joshua moves south across the land, defeating and subduing the armies of a half dozen city-strongholds.

When I first began to read Alfred Edersheim, I wasn’t certain if I liked him. However, as I progress further and further through the book of Joshua, I have really come to enjoy his summaries and rephrasing of a particular chapter or passage. He writes: The surrender of Gibeon would fill the kings of southern Canaan with dismay. It was, so to speak, treason within their own camp; it gave Israel a strong position in the heart of the country and within easy reach of Jerusalem; while the possession of the passes leading from Gibeon would throw the whole south of Canaan open to their incursion. In the circumstances it was natural that the chieftains of the south would combine, in the first place, for the retaking of Gibeon.

Joshua 10 vindicates the treaty between Israel and Gibeon. As mentioned before, some expositors speak harshly of Joshua’s decision to honor his treaty with the Gibeonites—or at least harshly concerning the treaty in the first place. However, there will be nothing in Israel’s subsequent history which will negate Joshua’s decision in that chapter or his decisions in this. Although the population of the land of Canaan had agreed upon an alliance against Israel, there is evidence only here that they acted upon this alliance. And they did not attack Israel, but they attacked Gibeon and the other three cities. Gibeon sent messengers to Israel pleading for their assistance, based upon the treaty from the previous chapter. At this point, Joshua could have backed away from the treaty, saying that he would not personally attack Gibeon, but that he was not responsible for the acts of aggression of other nations. God could have instructed Joshua not to heed the cry of the Gibeonites, but to sit back and allow them to be destroyed by the degenerate Amorites and Canaanites. However, not only did Joshua go to defend Gibeon, but God promised him the victory over the attacking alliance. During the battled which ensued between Joshua and the allied forces of Canaan, we have the incredible miracle of the sun standing still in the sky, one of the better known acts of God from the book of Joshua (the other two most memorable being the crossing of the Jordan and the falling of the walls of Jericho).

One of the things which I will do when examining this book verse-by-verse, is to give careful attention to the miracle of the long day. I will give you several viewpoints on its authenticity and its verification or lack thereof in Scripture. Furthermore, there will be a summary of same in v. 14. Another important feature of this verse-by-verse is that I will include a map so that you have a feel for the attack of Joshua on the five-king allied forces and the subsequent events. Unfortunately, most Bibles place these maps at the end of the Bible and many commentaries, due to a cost factor more than anything else, do not carry these maps. The route that Joshua followed and the fleeing of the allied troops are key in understanding the true location of Gilgal. It is often when we compare Scripture with Scripture that we come to verifiable conclusions.

The five king alliance was made by five men who were cowards. When they saw that all was lost, they deserted their men and hid in a cave in Makkedah. Joshua sent his men to that cave, which then served as a prison. Once he had captured and destroyed Makkedah and executed these kings, he continued to conquer the remaining cities in southern Palestine, a land which principally went to the tribe of Judah. The end of this chapter will be fairly repetitive, where the cities that Joshua invades and conquers are named and Joshua’s invasion and destruction of said cities is affirmed.

You may recognize the name Adoni-zedek; it means lord of righteousness. My thinking here is that this is not a reference to God but to the person who had the title. He saw himself as the lord of righteousness. This is very likely a title of a Jebusite king rather than the proper name of the king. What he had heard was that Joshua had—and here we have the Qal perfect of lâkad (ד ַכ ָל) [pronounced law-KAHD], which means to capture, to seize, to take. Strong’s #3920 BDB #539. The second thing that Joshua did to Ai was the Hiphil imperfect of châram (ם ַר ָח) [pronounced khaw-RAM], which means completely devoted to, devoted to, or completely destroyed. The connection between the meanings is that whatever is devoted to God is completely removed, either from man's use or from the planet earth. Strong's #2763 BDB #355 (& #356). A thousand years previous, there was a king of Jerusalem

named Melchizedek, which means king of righteousness or my king is righteousness. Melchizedek’s name pointed to Another; Adoni-zedek’s name (or title) pointed to himself. Thieme referred to Adoni-zedek as Satan’s counterfeit. The change in names indicated a change in dynasties and a change in the relationship of Jerusalem to God.

Jerusalem means city of the Jebusites, according to the NIV Study Bible, and foundation of peace, according to Barnes. It could mean possession of Salem or possession of peace as well. It is the noun y^erûshâlayim (ם ̣י ַל ָשר ׃י) [pronounced y’roo-shaw-LAH-im], which could very well mean founded upon peace. However, Jerusalem is not necessarily an Hebrew word, originally. Strong’s #3389 BDB #436. Joshua clearly ties Jerusalem to the Jebusites in Joshua 15:8, 63 18:28. This is its first appearance of the name Jerusalem in Scripture. This same city is also called Jebus (Judges 19:10, 11 I Chron. 11:4) or Ir-Jebusi (which means, city of the Jebusite—Judges 19:11). It is likely that the Salem of Gen. 14 is the same city. Jerusalem will be given to the tribe of Benjamin, although it is on the border between Judah and Benjamin, which is why many people, including myself, associate it with the tribe of Judah. Jerusalem was not captured in this chapter, nor in the next. It was not until Judges 1:8 that lower Jerusalem is captured, and this done by the tribe of Judah, not Benjamin. In this chapter, the army from Jerusalem will be routed and destroyed, but Jerusalem will not be touched. Furthermore, the Jebusites of upper Jerusalem, those in the better-fortified hill of Zion, were not captured until the days of David (Joshua 15:63 Judges 1:21 19:12 Ii Sam. 5:6–9 II Chron. 11:5–8). Jerusalem—or, at least, Upper Jerusalem—was also called Jebus.

In the Hebrew, this is y^ebvûç (סב ׃י) [pronounced ye^bVOOS], which probably means [place of the] Jebusites. Strong’s #2982 BDB #101. Although it is suggested that its original name is Jebus, my thinking is that, because of the occupation by the Jebusites, the Israelites called it Jebus—much like we might call an area Chinatown or Little Italy.

In the parenthetical portion of this verse, we have that adverb kên (ן ֵ) [pronounced kane] is generally rendered so. This particle is built upon the participle to stand, to be upright, to be erect; a very free translation might be so this is how the matter stands. A good short rendering would be so or thus. Strong's #3651 BDB #485.

Chapter 9 and 10 occurred pretty close together in the realm of time. We have an alliance formed against Israel at pretty much the same time the Gibeonites decided to take their chances placing themselves at the mercy of Israel. In Joshua 9:1–2, we read: Now it came to pass when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland and on the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, heard of it, that they gathered themselves together with one accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel. Most of the peoples of the land had heard of Israel’s move toward the land, of her crossing over the Jordan, of their annihilation of Jericho (Joshua 6:21) and of Ai (Joshua 8:21–28), and they began to get nervous. They were also concerned about act made between Israel and Gibeon (Joshua 9:15). These verses in Joshua 10:1 speak of the general pact which was made—and this could have occurred over a period of time. That is, there is no reason to think that there was just one meeting of the heads of the city-strongholds in the Land of Promise. There could have been several, during which several sets of alliances against Israel were established. In this chapter we will see their first act of aggression from the first alliance against Israel.

This might be more smoothly rendered: And so they intensely feared Gibeon because it was a great city, like the reigning cities; and because it was greater than Ai; and all of her men [were] mighty. The primary difference is the word placement. That the people of the land would fear Israel was recorded in the first Song of Moses, back in Ex. 15:14–16: The peoples have heard and they tremble; anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread falls upon them. By the greatness of Your arm, they are as motionless as stone, until Your people pass over, O Jehovah; until the people pass over whom You have purchased. The Israelites, in their conquering of Ai and Jericho, and by virtue of their alliance with Gibeon, have virtually cut Canaan in half, making an alliance between those in the north and those in the south virtually impossible. The city of Jerusalem appeared to be the next on the list and therefore, they were the most concerned.

Gibeon is first called a city, where we have the feminine singular of ׳îyr (רי ̣ע) [pronounced eer or geer] and this is used in the very widest sense of a group of people, from an encampment, to a village, to a city. Strong's #5892 BDB #746. Then we have the feminine singular adjective gâdôwl (לד ָ) [pronounced gaw-DOLE] means great in quantity, great in magnitude and extent, mighty, vast, unyielding, immutable. Strong’s #1419 (& 1431) BDB #147 (& 152, 153, 175).

The we have the feminine plural construct of ׳âr (ר ָע) [pronounced ģawr] again, and what follows is the definite article and the feminine singular of mam^elâkâh (ה ָכ ָל ׃מ ַמ) [pronounced mahm^e-law-kaw], which means kingdom, sovereignty, dominion, reign; it is used to refer to both the royal dignity and to the country of a king. Strong’s #4467 BDB #575.

Then we have the phrase and because she [was] and again we have the adjective gâdôwl, meaning great. What follows the adjective is the preposition min (ן ̣מ) [pronounced min], a preposition which denotes separation (away from, out from, out of from). In this context, it is used in its comparative sense: above, beyond, more than. Strong's #4480 BDB #577. It’s greatness is beyond that of Ai. Furthermore, the occupants of Gideon were not pansies. We may have gotten that impression because of the previous information, but quite to the contrary, they were some of the fiercest warriors. The men of Ai are described by the adjective gibbôwr (ר ̣) [pronounced gib-BOAR], which means strong, mighty, valiant. Strong’s #1368 BDB #150.

There is a double concern here. The people of the land are worried about the Jews in the first place. They are overrunning and destroying every city that they invade. However, one of the greatest cities of the land has made peace with them. No doubt the people of the land were thinking that perhaps the Israelites can destroy Jericho and Ai, but wait until they attack Gibeon. However, on the contrary, Gibeon fell in slavery prior to any attack. This particularly worried the people of the land. If this city falls without a shot being fired, what hope is there. The plan was simple: a five-king alliance would attack and take Gibeon. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, we do not know what exactly transpired up until this time. Did the Gibeonites meet with their neighbors several times? Did they pledge their support to their neighbors and then change their minds? Did they go directly to the Israelites and never consult their neighbors? We can only speculate. In any case, Gibeon was recognized as a great city and the men of the city were well-respected in the realm of war.

We all know that Jerusalem eventually became the holy city, the city with the ark and the tabernacle; and later the temple of Solomon. This city was then presided over by the lord of righteousness. Hoham is mentioned only by name here. According to Thieme, his name means noise of the multitude; furthermore, also according to Thieme, Hoham was probably a democrat. Hebron, a city which is occupied today, is located 25 miles south-southwest from Jerusalem at 2800 ft, located in a narrow valley between two ridges. It is a city of great antiquity, having been built seven years before the city of Zoan in Egypt (Num. 13:22). Excavation of this city seem to indicate that it has been occupied since 3300 b.c., although it has been built and rebuilt once or twice since then. According to ZPEB, it has been more or less continuously occupied since the beginning. When Abram and Lot split up, Abram first moved to Hebron (Gen. 13:18), and Mamre was known as part of Hebron. Moses built the first altar to Jehovah there and Mamre came from the name of Mamre the Amorite (Gen. 14:13), who was allied with Abram. When Abram was 99 years of age, two angels met with him at Mamre (Gen. 18:1). Hebron was also known by the name Kiriath-arba, having been named after Arba, who was famous among the Anakim (Gen. 23:2 Joshua 14:15). This is where Sarah finally died (Gen. 23:2).

Today, this city is known as el-Khalil, which means friend of God, and is so named in honor the Abraham’s stay there. The ruins of an ancient heathen temple are still to be seen there, as well as the Haram, built of colossal blocks, which contains, according to Mohammedan tradition, the burial -place of the patriarchs.

Piram is also mentioned only here. His name means wild ass (Thieme). Edersheim suggested wild and free. Jarmuth, according to Douglas, had a population of 1500–2000 at the time of the confrontation and occupied about 6–8 acres of area 18 miles from Jerusalem in the lowlands of Judah. I don’t know from whence Douglas got this information.

Jarmuth will be one of the cities belonging to Judah and Barnes and Keil and Delitzsch identify it with modern-day Yarmuk (or, Jarmuk, or Tell’armuth), which sits upon a hill with the remains of walls and cisterns built long ago.

The name Japhia means dazzling to the eye. The meanings which I am giving you are all Hebrew meanings and the names given these men by the Israelites may not have been the names with which they were born. In any case, these were the names by which they were probably known to the Israelites. Similarly, the names given these cities are names which are likely the ones known to the Israelites. 15 miles west of Hebron, also in the lowlands of Judah, is Lachish, a city mentioned twenty times in the Bible and found in other ancient sources. This is its first mention in the Bible. This city will be given over the tribe of Judah and it will be mentioned a dozen times or more in the future in relationship to various kings of Judah, during the divided kingdom period. Since it’s Biblical significance is more prominent later in Scripture, we will examine it then.

Debir, as you might recall, means word, oracle. His city, Eglon, is mentioned only a half-dozen times in the Bible, primarily in this chapter. The Septuagint uses the name Adullam instead, but we find a several spellings of Eglon as well in the Septuagint manuscripts. Modern archeology has discovered eight distinct levels of the city of Eglon, which date back as far as the Early Bronze III era. An Egyptian mention of this city even predates this Biblical reference. There was a letter which was discovered which indicates that treason was brewing in Lachish and Jarmuth against the pharaoh of Egypt. Barnes and Keil and Delitzsch identify it as the modern Ajlân. There apparently is a modern city called Odollam (Adullam?), which is not the correct location of the ancient Eglon.

What might be moderately confusing is that there is also a city Debir and a city Lidebir. These two cities will be mentioned with regards to Joshua’s move into southern Canaan. This city Debir will be mentioned in this chapter, v. 38, as well as in Joshua 11:21 12:13 15:7, 49 (where we find out it is also called Kiriath-sanah) 21:15 Judges 1:11 (where it is also called Kiriath-sepher) I Chron. 6:58; Lidebir will be mentioned in Joshua 13:26. What might also be confusing is that there is a king of the Moabites named Eglon, who will be mentioned in Judges 3.

The peace treaty between Joshua and the city of Gibeon is covered in Joshua 9 and 10:1. One of the closest cities to Gibeon was Jerusalem, so the king of Jerusalem knew that something had to done immediately, insofar as he was concerned. It is interesting in this coalition of kings that they choose to attack Gibeon first. They were unsure about the company of Israel and chose to hone their skills on Gibeon. Although Gibeon was an impressive fortress with brave and valiant soldiers, it would be no match for a five-king alliance.

Keil and Delitzsch summarize these verses: The report that Joshua had taken Ai, and put it, like Jericho, under the ban, and that the Gibeonites had concluded a treaty with Israel, filled Adonizedek the king of Jerusalem with alarm, as Gibeon was a large town, like one of the king’s towns, even larger than Ai, and its inhabitants were brave men. He therefore joined with the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, to make a common attack upon Gibeon, and punish it for its alliance with the Israelites, and at the same time to put a check upon the further conquests of Israel.

As is often found throughout Scripture, Amorite is in the singular. This is often the general name applied to the peoples in the land of Canaan. I tend to call them Canaanites more often, as the Amorites were descended from Canaan (Gen. 10:15–16). When the first set of spies entered into the land, they were more specific. “Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.” (Num. 13:29). This is confirmed in Deut. 1:7 by Moses, who said, “Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorite, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” (Deut. 1:7).

We have all their and masculine plural of machăneh (ה ∵נ ֲח ַמ) [pronounced mah-khuh-NEH], which means camp, encampment. It can refer to the camp or to those in the camp, who are often soldiers (Ex. 14:24 Judges 4:16). In the plural, it has three meanings: ➊ encampments or camps, as we find it used above; ➋ the courts of Jehovah (i.e., where the priests were encamped); and, ➌ the heavenly hosts; i.e., angels. Strong’s #4264 BDB #334.

What they did at the end of the verse is the Niphal imperfect of lâcham (ם ַח ָל) [pronounced law-KHAHM], which means to fight to do battle, to war. The Niphal is not always the passive, but it can also refer to an action in a state of progress or development; therefore we add in the word being. It can express adjectival ideas and it can, in plural forms, stress the individual effect upon each member of the group. Occasionally, the Niphal acts as a reflexive of the Qal. With this stem, the verb appears to mean engage in battle, engage in war, to wage war. Strong’s #3898 BDB #535. This is followed by the preposition ׳al (ל ַע) [pronounced ģahl] and it means, primarily, upon, against, above. Strong's #5920, #5921 BDB #752.

These are the five kings of the major cities at that time in the southern mountains. The Amorites are to be found primarily in the hill country and the Canaanites by the Med. I don’t know exactly why Joshua mentions these kings and where they came from twice. Sometimes he is difficult to figure out. There are times when he seems quite sketchy and other times when he is repetitive.

Quite often, the differences between manuscripts is very slight. In the Massoretic text, hands is in the plural, although there are three early printed editions where it is found in the singular.

What the Gibeonites ask for (and, an interesting note, we never get a Gibeonite’s name) is for Joshua to come to them quickly and the Hiphil imperative of yâsha׳ (ע ַש ָי) [pronounced yaw-SHAHĢ], which means to deliver, to save. Joshua’s name was in part built upon this word. This verb is found only in the Hiphil and Niphal. Strong’s #3467 BDB #446. After this verb, we have the Qal imperative of ׳âzar (ר ַז ָע) [pronounced ģaw-ZAHR], which means to help. Strong’s #5826 BDB #740. There is an undeniable urgency in their request. Certainly their enemies are only days, if not hours, away from attacking Gibeon. Gibeon, on its own, could probably withstand an attack by any of the individual groups in the alliance, but could not protect herself against all five kings and their armies.

Dwellers is the Qal active participle, masculine plural of yâsha^bv (ב ַש ָי) [pronounced yaw-SHAH^BV] and it means to remain, sit, dwell. In the Qal participle, masculine plural, it should be rendered those inhabiting, those dwelling in, the inhabitants of, the ones dwelling in, dwellers of. Strong's #3427 BDB #442. Obviously, not all of these kings come from the hill country. According to Keil and Delitzsch, this is to be understood a potiori; that the strongest of the Canaanites were the Amorites, who dwelt in the mountains. What they have done is the Niphal perfect of qâbats (ץ ַב ָק) [pronounced kaw-BATS], which means to gather, to grasp with the hand, to seize, to collect. Strong’s #6908 BDB #867.

Joshua never really hid himself when entering the land (how could he?). The Gibeonites both here and in Joshua 9:6 knew right where to go to speak to him. The NIV Study Bible: An urgent appeal for deliverance to a man whose name means “The Lord saves.”

We are not unlike the Gibeonites, who were condemned by God to death, yet appealed to their savior, Joshua, for deliverance. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and you became partaker with them of prosperity and the root of the olive tree...you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree (Rom. 11:17b, 24a). If you ever doubt your salvation or the faithfulness of God, look to the Gibeonites. They recognized Joshua as their savior and they trusted in him. They went to him in an unclean state, intent on deceiving him. Because they trusted in him, he made a covenant with them, this covenant which protected them from thereon in. They were allied with Israel; they were brought into Israel, as we, the Gentiles, were grafted into the tree of Israel as a wild olive branch onto a cultivated tree. Suddenly, the Gibeonites find themselves in a desperate situation, and they turn to their savior for help. We can trust our Savior for our salvation, as well as for our daily deliverance.

We have two phrases which act almost as synonyms. The first is the masculine singular construct of ׳am (ם ַע) [pronounced ahm] and it means people. Strong’s #5971 BDB #766. This is followed by the feminine singular noun mil^echâmâh (ה ָמ ָח ׃ל ̣מ) [pronounced mil-khaw-MAW], and it means battle, war (when used in the construct with men). We might translate the words as the people of war, the people of battle, the people of the fight. How appropos that such a word would be in the feminine. Strong’s #4421 BDB #536.

This is followed by the w âw conjunction and the masculine plural construct of gibbôwr (ר ̣) [pronounced gib-BOAR], which means strong men, mighty men, soldiers. Strong’s #1368 BDB #150. This is followed by the definite article and the masculine singular noun chayil (ל ̣י ַח) [pronounced CHAH-yil ] and it means efficiency, army, strength, valour, power. Strong’s #2428 BDB #298.

Barnes: The language [of v. 6] reflects the urgency of the crisis. Accordingly, Joshua made a forced march, accompanied only by his soldiers...and accomplished in a single night the distance from Gilgal to Gibeon (about fifteen miles in a direct line), which on a former occasion had been a three days’ journey (Joshua ix. 17).

The verb for fear is yârê (א ֵר ָי) [pronounced yaw-RAY] means fear, fear-respect, reverence, to have a reverential respect. Its use in Lev. 26:2 indicates that reverence is definitely a part of its meaning. The use of this word to describe someone in the Old Testament is similar to our calling someone a Christian today. Its only use, however, is not strictly in the sense of reverential fear. In Job 5:21–22, it is found in the Qal imperfect with the particle of negation, and it simply means to fear, to be afraid. Rotherham says it means to shrink back in fear. The idea is is that reverence and fear might cause a person to assume the same position of shrinking back. Strong's #3372 BDB #431.

Again, it is unclear whether hand should be in the singular or the plural. In some manuscripts, it is written in the plural and read as a singular, in others it is written and read in the singular (in six early printed editions); and in several codices, it is written and read in the plural (the Septuagint, the Syriac and the Vulgate). My thinking here is that in some cultures, it would be a common saying to say that some has been given into your hand, whereas, such a saying would be correctly said, into your hands in another. I can’t see there as being any real difference in meaning. Although we may understand this saying, we would rarely use such a saying in our language.

When I first exegeted this verse, I half expected to find the wâw conjunction at the beginning of this second line. Apparently, that was not too unreasonable, as two early printed editions as well as the Syriac codex begin this verse with an and. The second line begins with a negative and then the verb ׳âmad (ד ַמ ָע) [pronounced ģaw-MAHD], which means to take a stand, to stand, to remain, to endure. Strong's #5975 BDB #763. Although face is in the plural (as always), it comes with a 2^nd person masculine singular suffix, referring primarily to Joshua. With the wâw conjunction, this would read either And not a man will stand before your faces or Not a man, therefore, will stand before your faces. Moses promised this to the people: “And Jehovah your God will deliver them before you, and He will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. And He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.” (Deut. 7:23–24). And God promised this to Joshua: “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5).

What this verse does is affirm the treaty which Joshua had made. He did make the treaty apart from asking God for direction. Throughout the entire process, God was never approached, yet, to the best of our knowledge from hindsight, the honoring of the pact with Gibeon was the right thing to do. Here, God tells Joshua that He will defeat the common enemies of Joshua and the Gibeonites and that Joshua need not be afraid. Considering what had occurred and the treaty which Joshua had made, this would be quite important to know. God does not amend this command with, “And once you’re done with them, destroy the Gibeonites.”

A misapplication of this verse would be to say that we need to pray for guidance and be sensitive to the Lord’s direction for our lives. Joshua had what we do not have—he had access to Urim and Thumim and could call upon them to give him the straight of it. He did not even have to contact God directly—he just would go to the High Priest and ask him. This is not guidance by prayer but guidance from a means which is no longer available to us. Joshua did have direct contact with God, although he does not reveal any specifics here (Moses only occasionally gave us specifics). However, we do not have access to Urim and Thumim; we are not told to flip a coin and ask for God to direct the falling of the coin; we do not have a direct line to God by which we may hear Him speak to us. When we go to God in prayer, we speak to Him. He has given us access in that way. However, prayer was never designed to be a method of guidance. That is, going to God in prayer is not an infallible way of determining His will for our lives. In fact, most of the time when people say that they will sit down and pray about it, they end up doing just exactly what their old sin nature wants them to do. I have leased property to many believers, some better than others, but damn few who have even a clue as to what is right and wrong and damn few who will honor the contract which they signed. One set of tenants who always paid on time and left the house in immaculate condition, they moved out early and, when it came to paying the last month’s rent, they did not, even though it was so specified in the contract. No doubt they sat down as a couple and prayed about this course of action before the embarked on it. However, clearly, as per a passage like this (not just the verse, but the passage), you honor a contract which you have signed. Joshua made a covenant with these Gibeonites and he keeps it and God honors that covenant. In this regard, Joshua did not have to go to God to determine what to do. If you sign a contract and agree to something, then you don’t need to pray not even a little when it comes to deciding what to do about that contract—you honor the contract. I once bought what I thought was my dream house and decided that I really did not need my old house which was worth about $20,000 and I owed almost $40,000 for it. At that time, I could have given the property back to the bank and possibly could have gotten away unscathed. And, I admit, I did probably pray about it. However, what caused me to make the decision which I made was the fact that I had entered into a contract with a mortgage company. They had lent me the money to purchase the home. There was no clause in the contract that I could return the home to them if it fell below the amount of the loan. There were no guarantees that the house and the area would maintain the value. What I agreed to do was to pay them the principal and interest month after month, along with reserves for taxes and insurance. Now, this is what the contract which I signed said that I should do and so I did it. That was a correct decision, even though it caused me a great deal of personal difficulty over a period of time. I will guarantee you that many was the time that, in dealing with the riff raff of tenants which I had in there; their inconsistency, their filth, and their lack of regard for honoring their contract—many a time, I thought to hell with this rental property. The bank can have it. However, I never gave it to the bank. And, furthermore, I did not need to pray over that decision—it was clear as to what God expected me to do. I had willingly and knowingly entered into a contract and it was my duty as a believer in Jesus Christ to honor my signature. This does not mean that everything that I have ever done in regards to real estate has been perfectly moral and that I made every correct decision that I should. That was an example of one correct decision. The key to divine guidance is knowing God’s Word. There are literally hundreds of decisions which we can make every day which can be determined simply by knowing and following God’s Word. In the lunch line, I don’t suddenly fall on my knees in prayer to determine whether I should have the chicken fried steak or the lasagna. Obviously, that’s stoopid. Some of the things which believers pray about are equally as stoopid. Often what the believer is doing wen he prays for guidance is that he knows what is right—he just does not want to do it and he wants some way out.

Some time ago, with respect to the worship ceremony at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, I remarked that nothing was said about their trip to or back. You will notice that throughout the book of Joshua, his travels to and fro are chronicled as a general rule, as we see here. This does give us a distance between Gilgal and Gibeon—one night’s forced march.

Gilgal was roughly 15–20 miles east of Gibeon and this was mostly an uphill march. In order to make such a march, Joshua and his men would need a full moon. You cannot make a night march in area which is mostly unfamiliar to you without some light. Now, a full moon is more than enough. I personally jog a golf course at 3 or 4 in the morning when there is a full moon and it is a marvelous sight—there is enough light by the moon to make out the pathway and most anything which I need to see. However, I cannot run on this course without the moon, even though it is familiar to me. This partially explains the latter half of v. 12: “And O moon in the valley of Aijalon, stand still.” When the Israelites were moving in that direction at a more leisurely pace (and not in a straight line), it took them a little over two full days. Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim (Joshua 9:17). It is obvious by the urgency of the message of the Gibeonites and the quick troop movements of Joshua that Gibeon was probably under siege when these men had first come to Joshua.

Now, no details will be given concerning the attack upon the Gibeonites. We don’t know much about their city, the strength of their walls, how many of their men died, etc. My guess is that there were some casualties on their side and that these were men whom God wanted destroyed. Recall that the Gibeonites were among the people who were to be removed from the land and certainly some careful culling occurred during the chaos of the battle. However, it is likely that their walls had not been breeched, as the five-king alliance was put on the run immediately when Joshua arrived.

The first verb is the 3^rd masculine singular, Qal imperfect of châmam (ם ַמ ָח) [pronounced chaw-MAHM], which means to make a noise, to move noisily, to confuse, to discomfit, to put ot flight, to put into a commotion, to destroy utterly, to make extinct (taking all of the meanings given by BDB and Gesenius). I would have to go with to put to flight, to put into a commotion. The NASB goes with the simple translation routed. The NIV Bible notes: the Hebrew for this word implies terror or panic.

This is found only a dozen times in Scripture. Strong’s #2000 BDB #243. This panic would have been because of the sudden attack of Joshua, as well as the wind, thunder and lightning which would accompany a hail storm.

From hereon out we have several verbs which are in the 3^rd person masculine singular. Although this could certainly be taken as acts of Joshua, the connection of Jehovah with the first verb would indicate that He is the subject for al the subsequent verbs until we come to a different subject or to a differently constructed verb. We twice have the verb nâkâh (ה ָכ ָנ) [pronounced naw-KAWH] which means smite, assault, hit, strike (Strong #5221 BDB #645); and we have, as well, its noun cognate, the feminine singular substantive makkâh (ה ָ ַמ) [pronounced mahk-KAW], which means a blow, a wounding, a wound, a slaughter, a beating, a scourging. Strong’s #4347 BDB #646.

What we have in v. 10 is approximately a two day summary of the battle which followed. More details will be given in subsequent verses. At least, more details will be given in v. 11, and then we will discuss the other verses. Recall that we have a five king alliance and five separate armies. Therefore, they probably, in a panic, ran in at least five different directions, if they were that organized. Their leaders were undoubtedly organized. Their leaders banded together and fled together, very likely leaving their men to fend for themselves. Given where Gibeon is, and that Joshua and his men likely lined up east and south of Gibeon, the armies of the five kings could only head north-northwest.

It is likely that this hail storm had been pre-planned as a natural event since eternity past, one which affected only the allied forces against Gibeon and Israel. There was certainly a buffer of allied soldiers between the men who got a head start and Israel, so God struck many of those soldiers down with hail stones. And Jehovah will cause His voice of authority to be heard and the descent of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, and in the flame of a consuming fire, in cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones (Isa. 30:30). One of the ways which God shows His anger and indignation of man is to hurl things from the sky, as in Rev. 16:21: And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe (see also Ex. 9:23–24 I Sam. 7:10 Isa. 32:19 Ezek. 13:13). If I recall correctly, Thieme suggested (as though Bob suggested anything) that this was a meteor shower, and not a hail storm. The first time the stones are mentioned, they are called great stones. The first words used do not necessarily refer to hail stones; however the second time, we do find the word for hail. The prepositional phrase in question begins with the bêyth preposition, which can be used to having respect to anything: in respect to, on account of, in that, about concerning. No Strong’s # BDB #88. This is followed by the construct of the word stones again, which is e^bven (ן ∵ב ∵א) [pronounced EH^B-ven] is found over 250 times in the Old Testament and is consistently translated stone. Strong's #68 BDB #6. This is followed and modified by the definite article and masculine singular of bârâd (ד ָר ָ) [pronounced baw-RAWD], which does mean hail. Strong’s #1259 BDB #135. I think that we can reasonably conclude that this was a simple hail storm. Hail the size of baseballs or grapefruit can be deadly. That so many want to call this a miracle, either stretches the meaning of the word miracle or downplays God’s great omniscience and intelligence. A miracle is something which falls outside the laws of science, e.g., the feeding of the 5000 with a five loaves and two fish (Luke 9). This completely falls outside our laws of observed science. God, when He created the universe, set certain natural laws into motion, so that, at an exact time in the future, a great hail storm would strike this area and specifically strike those who were fleeing Joshua’s army. Many of the so-called miracles throughout Scripture are of this variety. They reveal a pre-planning which goes beyond our imagination to a point where they seem miraculous. God did not even have to slip into the picture here and make certain that the hail which fell hit the enemy soldiers. By His omniscience and omnipotence, He had determined the precise trajectory of each and every hail stone in eternity past. This kind of power is mind-numbingly phenomenal.

The map that this hyperlink goes to is from The MacMillan Bible Atlas.

The five kings come from the south and the southwest, meeting at Jerusalem and proceeding north-northwest from there (this is speculative, but the geography would tend to support this). Because they struck Gibeon, five miles away, from the south and Joshua struck them from the east, they were limited as to the direction in which they could move. They would also be limited by whatever roads existed during that time, albeit however crude. Since Joshua surprised them, striking from due east, they only had one direction in which to go—toward the west, racing up a mountain road to Upper Beth-horon (roughly six or seven miles from Gibeon). Later, the primary road from Jerusalem to the seacoast went through the Beth-horon’s and Solomon secured these two cities with strong fortifications (II Chron. 8:5). Beth-horon means house of caves, and it is actually the name of two cities. We are almost certain of their location, as there are two modern cities there today. There is Beit-́Ur el-Faqa, which is at about 1800 ft. above sea level; the larger city is Beit-́Ur et-Tahta, which is at 1100 ft. Archeological evidence indicates that these cities have been occupied at least since the Late Bronze Age.

The name, Beit-́Ur, is likely a corruption of Beth-horon. Between these two cities is a steep and rocky pass, and it is at this juncture that God struck them with great hailstones. At the descent of Beth-horon, they turn, moving south-southwest, into the valley of Aijalon, another five miles. There was apparently a city of Aijalon which overlooked this valley. We do not find this name here in v. 10, but we find it in v. 12, where Joshua prays for the sun to stand still. Given a fight, a flight and a pursuit of ten miles, this would be about the time that Joshua would be concerned about being able to destroy all of God’s enemies. With the sun stayed in the sky, the pursuit continues to Azekah, which is about ten miles south-southwest of the valley of Aijalon. Azekah sits upon a plateau overlooking the Valley of Elah (not mentioned in this passage), in the hill country between the mountains and the valley. Although there are remains of great walls and towers, these probably date back to a later time, the result of Rehoboam’s fortification of the city hundred’s of years later.

Makkedah is another ten miles south of Azekah.

Apparently there is some disagreement as to the modern location of Makkedah. Knobel places it near Terkumieh or Morak, which would put it in the hill country or in the mountains. Since Makkedah is associated with the cities of the plain (Joshua 15:41), it is probably the modern day Summeil, which is a large village on the plain, with a large public well 110 feet deep and 11 feet in diameter, with strongly built walls of hewn stones, where there is also part of an old wall, which to all appearance must formerly have belonged to a large square castle built of uncemented stones.

If Joshua makes the forced march from Gilgal to Gibeon during one evening’s time, and his enemies scatter to the distances recorded here in Scripture, it is going to require more than eight hours to run most of them down.

The verse begins with the adverb âz (ז ָא) [pronounced awz], which means then, at that time, in that case (when following an if or though), now, as things are; that being so. This adverb also gives us logical progression or logical sequence, so it means in that case, now as things are, that being so, then. Strong’s #227 BDB #23. In this verse, we have what is known as an homœoteleuton [pronounced HOE-mee-oh-tay-LEW-ton], which has two separate meanings. In this instance it refers to a copyist who has written a word, looks back up to the same or a similar word, and continues writing, accidentally leaving out some text. This should read: Then Joshua spoke to Y^ehowah in a day of a giving of Y^ehowah the Amorite before faces of [the] sons of Israel, when they destroyed them in Gibeon, and they were destroyed from before faces of [the] children of Israel, “Sun in Gibeon, stand still; and moon in a valley of Aijalon.” What is in italics is the portion which has been left out. You will notice that it is bookended by the words Israel. The scribe was writing, came to the word Israel, looked back up to his place, and continued to write, focusing on the wrong word Israel. The fuller version is preserved in the Septuagint.

V. 10 takes us from beginning to the end of the battle. V. 11 covers the major killing, which occurred in the middle. When Joshua actually said this is a bit difficult. Barnes suggests that the sun is just beginning to rise behind him, towards the hills of Gibeon, and the moon is “setting” in front of him over the valley of Aijalon. This places his troops with the allied troops on the run in front of him, along the road through upper and lower Beth-horon. To have the sun beginning to rise and the moon beginning to set places us near the beginning of the battle. However, early in the morning would make such a prayer unnecessary.

Or, at least, Joshua would not know that he would need longer than a day to finish the execution of the enemy troops. The other option is that he last saw the moon set over the valley of Aijalon as he and his troops came up on Gibeon; and, as he speaks Gibeon is slightly behind him and the sun is over Gibeon, making it roughly 11:00 pm. This gives us a possible five or six hours of battle time, giving Joshua enough time to realize that he will require more time, although that could be debated.

The scenario is this: the Israelites are clearly beating the five-king alliance; however, the enemies are beginning to scatter and it will be difficult to capture and execute them all. Joshua knows that Jehovah will not give an order that cannot be obeyed, so he asks, in the sight of all Israel, for the sun to stand still in the sky until the finish the battle and completely destroy the peoples of the land. The idea that any man would pray such a prayer in a large public place where his prayer can be heard and it will be obvious whether or not it comes to pass. Joshua’s prayer is to God, although he speaks directly to the sun and the moon. What he says to the sun is the Qal imperative, 2^nd masculine singular of dâmam (ם ַמ ָ) [pronounced daw-MAHM] and it means be still, silent, cease, cut off. It also means to be astonished, to be confounded (which would result in being silent—Ex. 15:16). Strong's #1826 BDB #198. We have a minor problem here, as the word for sun is the feminine singular; however, Joshua adds, and moon, which is in the masculine singular. Joshua speaks to the sun and moon, giving them one command which is to be obeyed individually.

We do have a verse found later in Scripture which refers back to this time: For Jehovah will rise up as He did at Mount Perazim. He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon to do His task, His unusual task and to work His work—His extraordinary work (Isa. 28:21). What would be nice is for this verse to confirm more clearly the miracle contained in this passage. It does support God being stirred by a prayer. Furthermore, we have Biblical evidence that God will do this again: Sun and moon stood in their places. They went away at the light of Your arrows; at the radiance of Your gleaming spear (Hab. 3:11). The defeat of the people of the land in general is later given by Amos: “Yet it was I Who destroyed the Amorite before them, though his height was like the height of cedars and he was strong as the oaks. I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below.” (Amos 2:9).

The Septuagint version of this verse is a bit more talky. It reads: Then Joshua spoke to the Lord, in the day in which the Lord delivered the Amorite into the power of Israel, when he destroyed them in Gibeon, and they were destroyed from before the children of Israel; and Joshua said, “Let the sun stand over against Gibeon, and the moon over against the valley of Aijalon.” (I went back here to the English transliteration of the Hebrew proper nouns).

Barnes suggests that vv. 12–15 were added from another independent source sometime after the book of Joshua had been written. If such is the case, then their inspiration is in doubt. If this was added decades or even a century later from a book not written by an eyewitness, then we have reason to doubt the factuality of these verses. Vv. 12–13a are poetical and the remainder is in prose.

The verb which goes with the moon is the Qal perfect of ׳âmad (ד ַמ ָע) [pronounced ģaw-MAHD], which means to take a stand, to stand, to remain, to endure. Strong's #5975 BDB #763. The verb that we find with the sun is different; it is the Qal imperfect of dâmam (ם ַמ ָ) [pronounced daw-MAHM], which means to be still, to be silent, to cease, to cut off. It has a second set of meanings as well: to be like, to resemble. Strong's #1826 BDB #197 and #198. I would like to hook the two verbs together, but usually the second verb is an infinitive preceded by the lâmed preposition, which is not what we have here. Let’s see how others have rendered this verse:

The Emphasized Bible So the sun was still and the moon stayed until a nation should be avenged on its foes. Is not that written in the Book of the Upright? So then the sun stayed in the middle of the heavens, and hastened not to go in about a whole day.

NASB So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

NRSV And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in midheaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.

The Septuagint And the sun and the moon stood still, until God executed vengeance on their enemies; and the sun stood still in the midst of heaven; it did not proceed to set till the end of one day.

Young's Lit. Translation ...and the sun standeth still, and the moon hath stood—till the nation taketh vengeance on its enemies; is it not written on the Book of the Upright, ‘and the sun standeth in the midst of the heavens, and hath not hastened to go in—as a perfect day?’

Book is the masculine singular construct followed by the masculine singular adjective yâshâr (ר ָשָי) [pronounced yaw-SHAWR] and it means right, correct, upright, straight, uniform, even. When teaching non-Euclidian geometry to my students, I taught them the concept of internal uniformity—that is, there could be no internal contradictions. When used of God, yâshâr means no internal contradictions. When describing man, it refers to moral stability and stable, correct behavior and thinking. As is often the case with the Hebrew, an adjective can be used as a substantive when it is found by itself or following a construct. Strong’s #3477 BDB #449. In this context, it is even possible that this is a word for God—that is, not describing God, but a word for God. There must be a public historian who keeps track of the great things which God has done. There is no reason that Joshua should be the only person who writes. That would make this an eyewitness report by another soldier.

The last verb is the Qal perfect of ûts (ץא) [pronounced oots], and it meanings are given variously as to press, to urge, to press anyone on, to be pressed, to confine, to make haste. In most of the 10 times that this word is found in Scripture, it means to hasten, to cause to hasten, to hurry, to hurry along, to festinate. The only time this is a difficult translate is in Joshua 17:15. Strong’s #213 BDB #21. With this verb is the negative and the Qal infinitive construct of bôw (א) [pronounced boh], which means to come in, to come, to go in, to go. Strong’s #935 BDB #97.

This is followed by the kaph preposition, which means like, as, according to. It is also used to mean about, approximately. No Strong’s # BDB #453. Next we have the word day followed by the adjective tâmîym (םי ̣מ ָ) [pronounced taw-MEEM], which means complete, whole, entire. Strong’s #8549 BDB #1071.

This incident will be later recalled by Isaiah. For Jehovah will rise up as He did at Mount Perazim, and He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon to do His task, His unusual task, and to work His work, His extraordinary work (Isa. 28:21).

Joshua, the author, recognizes, at least in part, how tremendous of a miracle this must appear to be. Therefore, he appeals to another possible eyewitness, Jashar, who recorded the same event. It only stands to reason that men of that day would be driven by the same things which drive us today and some would be driven to writing. Jasher obviously was a warrior who wrote down the things which he observed. However, we need to be careful at this juncture because this book is also mentioned in II Sam. 1:18–27 and the topic of that portion is Saul and Jonathan. Therefore, we have several possibilities: (1) do not have an eyewitness account here, but one which recalls an eyewitness account; which would cast serious doubts upon the authorship of Joshua here; (2) we do not have an eyewitness account, but we have someone who is copying the book of Joshua and affirms this great miracle in reference to another book. There are indications that there were periods of time in Israel’s history where there was only one copy of God’s Word, meaning that such a change could be reflected in all manuscripts. (3) This was not written by an eyewitness, but by Jasher, who carefully researched and recorded the history of Israel. In this case, someone had to add this line hundreds of years later or the book of Joshua was not written by Joshua. (4) The least-likely scenario is that there are two books of Jasher. However, is jashar is not a proper noun, then it becomes more likely. If Jasher is a proper noun, then it is found only here an in II Sam. 1:18 used in that way. It is found in well over a hundred other places used as an adjective. (5) If this is the case—that is, if jashar is used as an adjective, it could refer to God, in which case we simply have someone recording the acts of God. Since Israel will go through a long period of time with very, very few miracles, it could later be used to describe acts of heroism, which would fall right in line with its use in II Sam. 1:18. The only objection to this is that most books fro the Old Testament are given the name of their author. However, this would not be the only book without a proper noun. There is also The Book of the Wars of Jehovah, The Book of Jubilees, The Book of Life, and The Book of Remembrance. (6) There is the possibility that this was written by an eyewitness and that the book remained with the family throughout several generations and these generations recorded the history of Israel. In any case, this book was lost to history. In making the determination, it is important to note that this portion of v. 13 is not found in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of Scripture made approximately 200-100 b.c. Now might be a good time to examine the Doctrine of the Books Referred to in the Old Testament and Now Are Lost—partially finished!!

The Emphasized Bible And there was no day like that—before it or after it, when Yahweh hearkened unto the voice of a man,—in that Yahweh himself fought for Israel.

NASB And there was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.

Young's Lit. Translation And there hath not been like that day before it or after it, for Jehovah’s hearkening to the voice of a man; for Jehovah is fighting for Israel.

The verse begins with the conjunction, the negative and the 2^nd person masculine singular, Qal perfect of the verb to be. Often with this verb, when found at the beginning of a verse, we have an indefinite subject. This is followed by like the day the that or like that day. What comes next is the lâmed preposition and the masculine plural noun pânîym (םי ̣נ ָ) [pronounced paw-NEEM], which means in the sight of, in the presence of, in your face, before the face of or, more literally, to or for the faces. However, this can also refer to time and simply mean before. Strong’s #6440 BDB #815. This is followed by the common wâw conjunction and the preposition achar (ר ַח ַא) [pronounced ah-KHAHR], which essentially means after. Strong’s #310 BDB #29. With it is also the 3rdperson masculine singular suffix. If we wanted to translate this word-for-word, it would be And it has not been like the day the that before his faces and after him... A rendering which might make a bit more sense would be: And there has not been like that day before or after... We might have a better grasp of it if we insert a couple words: And there has not been a day like that day, either before or after...

We then have the lâmed prefixed preposition and the Qal infinitive construct of to hear, to listen, to hearken. This is followed by the proper name for God, giving us to a listening of Y^ehowah. I would have next expected the lâmed preposition again, but instead it is the bêyth preposition, which is the preposition of proximity. Then we have a voice of a man.

The final phrase begins with the explanatory conjunction kîy (י ̣) [pronounced kee], which means when, that, for, because. Strong's #3588 BDB #471. This verse ends with Y^ehowah fought for Israel.

This miracle of the long day is amazing for several reasons. First of all, it is, if we read this correctly, perhaps the most spectacular miracle in the entire Word of God from the standpoint of physics, apart from creation. Furthermore, this miracle is a result of a prayer from Joshua concerning a battle. And, lastly, this miracle is given very little space. Joshua, in remembering this, does not say much about it other than noting his prayer to God and the spectacular answer which God gave to that prayer.

We might classify the miracles of the Bible into two groups: (1) those which defy the laws of science and (2) those which appear to defy scientific laws, but do not necessarily do so. In the first category, we have, for instance, this miracle of a long day, the feeding of the 5000 and of the 4000, and the dividing of the Sea of Reeds (see Ex. 14:22). In the second category, we have the stopping up of the Jordan River, most of the plagues placed upon Egypt, the hail stones in this chapter, the earthquake which swallowed Korah and his family, etc. Many of these miracles may be difficult to classify. Many theologians have tried to naturalize the dividing of the Sea of Reeds, but such a thing is difficult to do, given Ex. 14:22, which reads: and the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Similarly, theologians have attempted to make the dividing of the Jordan to appear to be a miracle which defies physics, but we have recent historical precedent for such an occurrence, as we covered in Joshua 3. To my way of thinking, the latter miracles are the most spectacular, as there is an element of timing which is incomprehensible to us. God planned, in eternity past, prior to Big Bang (which I believe to be the creation of the heavens and the earth by God in eternity past), that just as the priests would place their feet in the water of the Jordan, as they carried the ark, that the waters would suddenly, and miraculously stop flowing and dry up to where the Israelites could cross. The idea that God could know all of this, all of the details, the thousands (and perhaps, millions) of years of history, the incomprehensible number of decisions made by a huge population of man, and pinpoint something to happen just when it should happen—this goes beyond defying some physical law. After all, God is the Author of the Laws of Science and he can break them at any given instant without even breaking into a sweat. In other words, both kinds of miracles are tremendous acts of God.

A miracle which is this phenomenal would certainly have those who would not see it as such. Rotherham, in a footnote, writes: The terms of this narrative clearly intimate a direct Divine interposition, which, nevertheless, was local in its action, and may well have been purely phenomenal in its nature. That is how it appeared, and that is what it did. Anything more is speculation.

We should also include the note from the NIV Study Bible: Some believe that God extended the hours of daylight for the Israelites to defeat their enemies. Others suggest that the sun remained cool (perhaps as the result of an overcast sky) for an entire day, allowing the fighting to continue through the afternoon. The fact is we do not know what happened, except that it involved divine intervention.

Zodhiates sees it simply as an incredible miracle: At Joshua’s request, God caused the sun to stand still for 12 to 24 hours so that Israel could achieve a greater victory. This is one of the two times recorded in the Old Testament when God interrupted time as a favor or a sign to a man. The other occasion was the turning ack of the sundial ten points for the benefit of Hezekiah (Is. 38:7–8).

Keil and Delitzsch offer two possibilities: The address to the sun and moon implies that...both of them stood, or were visible in the heavens at the time; and inasmuch as it was spoken to the Lord, involves a prayer that the Lord and creator of the world would not suffer the sun and moon to set till Israel had taken vengeance upon its foes. They go on to point out that this must have occurred in the early morning hours prior to the hail storm. They go on: What conception are we to form of this miraculous even? It is not stated that the sun actually stood still in one spot in the heavens,—say, for instance, in the zenith. And if the expression, “the sun stood still in the midst of heaven,” ...is so pressed as to mean that the sun as miraculously stopped in its course, this is hardly reconcilable with...”And it hastened not to go down,” as these words, if taken literally, merely denote a slower motion on the part of the sun...All that is clearly affirmed in vv. 12 and 13 is, that at Joshua’s word, the sun remained standing in the sky for almost a whole day longer. “There was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man; for Jehovah fought for Israel.” This expression must not be pressed too far, as the analogous passages (“there was none like him,” etc.) In 2 Kings 18:5 and 23:25 clearly show. They merely express this thought: no other day like this, which god so miraculously lengthened, ever occurred either before or afterwards...[It] is obvious enough from the words, that the writer of the old song, and also the author of the book of Joshua, who inserted the passage in his narrative, were convinced that the day was miraculously prolonged. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that it is not stated that God lengthened the day at the request of Joshua almost an entire day, or that He made the sun stand still almost a whole day, but simply that God hearkened to the voice of Joshua, i.e., did not permit the sun to go down till Israel had avenged itself upon its enemies this distinction is not without importance: for a miraculous prolongation of the day would take place not only if the sun’s course or sun’s setting was delayed for several hours by the omnipotent power of God, and the day extended from twelve to eighteen or twenty hours, but also if the day seemed to Joshua and all Israel to be miraculously prolonged; because the work accomplished on the day was so great, that it would ave required almost two days to accomplish it without supernatural aid. It is not easy to decide between these two opposite views; in fact, it is quite impossible ..when we are not in circumstances to measure the length of the day by the clock, it is very easy to mistake its actual length, especially in the midst of the pressure of business or work. The Israelites at that time had neither sun-clocks nor any other kind of clock; and during the confusion of the battle it is hardly likely that Joshua, or any one else who was engaged in the conflict, would watch the shadow of the sun and its changes, either by a tree or any other object, so as to discover that the sun had actually stood still, from the fact that for hours the shadow had neither moved nor altered in length Under such circumstances, therefore, it was quite impossible for the Israelites to decided whether it was in reality, or only in their own imagination, that the day was longer than others. To this there must be added the poetical character of the verses before us.

Keil and Delitzsch then give us some poetical passages (Psalm 18:7–17 Judges 5:20) as examples of words which we would not take literally. To this, Edersheim adds Psalm 29:6 114:4–6 Isa. 34:3 55:12 64:2 Amos 9:13 Micah 1:4. Their conclusion is that either the sun stood still because the earth stopped revolving on its axis, or it merely appeared as though the day was longer, this being a very localized phenomenon.

The book, Hard Sayings of the Bible, devote almost two pages to this event. What is important, is that they point out that the alleged evidence of a long day in Egyptian, Chinese and Hindu literature cannot be clearly substantiated. In case you have read of two astronomers who discovered a missing day, they were Edward Charles Pickering of the Harvard Observatory and Professor Totten of Yale, but there are no records remaining of this discovery as Hard Sayings points out, the university officials preferred not to keep records of that sort in their archives.

In any case, we do not have access to their records and, such a discovery of something which occurred that many thousands of years ago is highly suspect, regardless of their evidence. The lack of this sort of confirmation does not unequivocally rule out such a miracle occurring; nor do the incredible problems inherent in physics to such an event. As Thieme rightly pointed out on many occasions, scientific laws is a misnomer, as science did not make these laws nor can science enforce them. These are actually statistical observations. The universe, as we know it, will not exist forever (Col. 1:17 II Peter 3:3–10 Rev. 21). Therefore, our conclusion should be based upon Biblical evidence.

It is difficult to read a passage like this without offering some speculation. Recall that Barnes saw vv. 12–15 as a later insert by an author other than Joshua. We have already seen that if the book of Jashar is an eyewitness account, then we have a problems with a later passage also said to have come from the book of Jashar. If Jashar does not refer to a particular person, which is very likely, then that problem is easily dismissed. However, we are still facing a miracle which is an incredible event. Barnes writes: The writer of this fragment seems to have understood the words of the ancient song literally, and believed that an astronomical miracle really took place, by which the motion of the heavenly bodies was for some hours suspended (Cp. Also Ecclus. xivi. 4) So likewise believed the older Jewish authorities generally, the Christian Fathers, and many commentators ancient and modern. It must be allowed, indeed, that some of the objections which have been urged against this view on scientific grounds are easily answered. The interference, if such there were, with the earth’s motion was not an act of blind power ab extra and nothing more. The Agent here concerned is omnipotent and omniscient, and could, of course, as well arrest the regular consequences of such a suspension of nature’s ordinary working as He could suspend that working itself. It is, however, obvious, that any such stupendous phenomenon would affect the chronological calculations of all races of men over the whole earth and do so in a similarly striking and very intelligible manner. Yet no record of any such perturbation is anywhere to be found, and no marked and unquestionable reference is made to such a miracle by any of the subsequent writers in the Old or New Testaments. For reasons like these, many commentators have explained the miracle as merely optical. The various explanations show how strongly the difficulties which arise out of the passage have been felt. Accordingly stress has been laid by recent commentators on the admitted fact that the words out of which the difficulty springs are an extract from a poetical book. They must consequently, it is argued, to be taken in a popular and poetical, and not , in a literal sense. Joshua feared lest the sun should set before the people had fully “avenged themselves on their enemies.” In his anxiety he prayed to God, and God hearkened to him. This is boldly and strikingly expressed in the words of the ancient book, which describes Joshua as praying that the day might be prolonged, or, in poetical diction, that the sun might be stayed, until the work was done. Similarly, Judg. v. 20 and Ps. xviii. 9–15 are passages which no one construes as describing actual occurrences; they set forth only internal, although most sincere and, in a spiritual sense, real and true convictions. This explanation is now adopted by theologians whose orthodoxy upon the plenary inspiration and authority of Holy Scripture is well known and undoubted.

In examining the Hebrew, I have to agree that these few verses here do not have the same style as Joshua seems to have. You will notice that for two of them, I had to resort to listing several other translations. I don’t have to do that very often with Joshua, as he is a pretty easy read in the Hebrew. I too concur with Barnes that there is no problem with God disrupting physical laws of time and space—God invented time and space and He stands outside time and space, so that he rules over time and space. He is not subject to it as we are. Whether this miracle, if it occurred, had more to do with time in a particular area than it did with the sun and the moon, I do not know. We would expect had such a thing occurred which was observable throughout the entire world, that we would have other accounts of other peoples concerning a long day or a long night. The flood is supported by ancient literature from many different nations and cultures. And event like this could not go unnoticed. What I am saying is that, on the one hand, that God could arrange for this event to happen, I have no doubt; and that it could be a localized miracle of time just as easily as a world event concerning our solar system, I believe this as well. However, I am uncomfortable with (1) this possibly being an inserted piece of information, which is what it appears to be; (2) I have questions concerning The Book of the Upright spanning several hundred years (although the Bible does set a precedent for this; still the Bible is God’s Word); and, (3) in examining the map and allowing for there to be more daylight hours than night hours, it appears possible that Joshua could make the march that he did in one night with nothing more than a full moon; and (4) it appears possible for him and his army to pursue and wipe out more of the allied armies in a day’s time, going as far a Azekah and Jarmuth, as God killed more of the soldiers with hail than Joshua did with the sword. Concerning a miracle of this magnitude, I would like to give you a dogmatic opinion, but I find myself conflicted. Having given you these reservations, my leaning is toward this being a miracle of time confined to a particular area which did actually take place.

Let me add another interpretation of this miracle. As you well know, it is not my desire to naturalize everything which I find in Scripture. However, there is nothing heretical about interpreting some events as non-miracles if the passage so indicates. What Joshua could have been praying for and all that could have happened, was there to be enough continuous light, whether it be by sun or moon, to allow them to continue their battle. Whereas this could square quite easily with vv. 12b–13a, it would be more difficult to sell this in the light of v. 13b: And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky, and did not hasten to go for about a whole day. However, keep in mind that this was spoken in the early morning, while the sun and moon were still visible, the former being in the east; and there would be roughly a day’s worth of daylight given that fact.

If this miracle did occur, then it was certainly a miracle beyond our imagination. We could not come up with a set of natural circumstances by which this could occur. However, God is the author of time and space and can do what to us is unthinkable.

Zodhiates writes: At Joshua’s request, God caused the sun to stand still for 12 or 24 hours so that Israel could achieve a greater victory. This is one of the two times recorded in the Old Testament when God interrupted time as a favor or a sign to a man. The other occasion was the turning back of the sundial ten points for the benefit of Hezekiah (Is. 38:7, 8).

What might be good at this point would be to summarize the arguments for and against this miracle occurring as we find here in Joshua 10:

The Long Day of Joshua

Arguments that a miracle occurred:

Arguments against a miracle occurring:

1. God is able to perform such a miracle, whether it be one involving the solar bodies or one involving time and space of a particular area.

2. Although somewhat vague, Isa. 28:21 appears to support an extraordinary even in Gibeon as the result of a prayer or request from man. For Jehovah will rise up as at Mount Perazim and He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon to do His task, His unusual task And to work His work, His extraordinary work (Isa. 28:21).

3. The confirmation from The Book of the Upright does not have to be a problem, even though this book is mentioned in connection with events hundreds of years in the future. This could have been a book which chronicled events over a period of several hundred years, written by several different authors. The Bible itself is precedence for this.

4. We have no manuscript evidence which indicates that this passage does not belong (unlike, say, the evidence which indicates that the book of Mark has an additional chapter which does not belong).

5. The passage in Isa. 38:7–8 of the turning back of the sun dial for Hezekiah as a sign is also a tremendous miracle of this sort.

6. Habak. 3:11, which speaks of the sun and moon standing still in the sky, supports either that this was not a one-time occurrence or Habakkuk was referring back to this incident.

7. Joshua could have prayed the prayer which he did without having to view the moon over the valley of Aijalon. That may have been the last place where he saw the moon. The moon standing still over the valley could have taken place the following evening.

8. Even though some escaped, the long day gave Joshua and his army enough time to destroy most of the forces allied against him.

9. The verses have the feel of Biblical authenticity. Not a big deal is made out of the miracle and no doctrines are introduced which are heretical.

10. It is rather dangerous and sets a bad precedent to exclude whatever portion of the Bible one feels should be excluded when there is no manuscript evidence to support such an exclusion.

11. One can view v. 10 as a summary; vv. 11–15 as a further summary; and vv. 16–43 as the details.

12. The argument that Joshua returns to camp Gilgal makes no sense at v. 15 lacks merit because this portion of Scripture is inserted from another source. The other source notes the great miracle and that Joshua later returned to camp. This is the same return to camp that we read in v. 43, except that it is spoken by a different author.

13. In order for all the events of Joshua 10:12–21 to occur in one day, that would have to be an extended day. Given that the march from Gilgal to Gibeon would be an eight hour march, then the march from Gibeon to Makkedah would require sixteen hours. This is apart from the actual battle which would ensue and the additional intrigue. Therefore, Joshua would require an additional day’s worth of sunlight.

14. Nothing in the next few verses indicates anything about nightfall. We may take that as it implies that the text through to at least v. 21, occur all during daylight.

1. The passage in Isaiah is not as clear as it could be to be taken as a confirmation of this miracle. God could have been stirred just to assist Joshua and His army apart from a prayer from Joshua. God’s great work could refer to the hailstones which He used to defeat the allied army.

2. There is no clear Old or New Testament passage which supports this particular miracle.

3. Just because God is able, it does not mean that He did.

4. The passage in vv. 12–15 appears to be added.

5. Confirmation by The Book of the Upright is suspect, as this book confirms another event which takes place hundreds of years later.

6. We do not have any outside evidence in ancient literature or tradition to support the event of an increased time period.

7. It does not appear to be necessary for such an event to occur in order for Joshua to pursue the allied forces to where he did. The distance is not much more than the forced march that he and his men did the previous night.

8. For the sun and moon to be visible to Joshua, his prayer would have had to occur too early for him to actually realize that he would need more time.

9. If the verses which carry the account of this event were added at a later date by someone other than Joshua, then it is possible that their accuracy is in doubt. There have been times in history when, insofar as we know, there has only been a single manuscript of God’s Word. If these inaccuracies were added early enough, then they would be found in all subsequent copies of Scripture.

10. At least the five leaders escaped, indicating that other men may have escaped as well. What good was the long day if it did not allow Joshua and his army to destroy all of his enemies?

11. The return of Joshua and all Israel to camp Gilgal in v. 15 seems incongruous with the remainder of Joshua 10, where he still seems to be in command of his forces involved in the final mopping up of the armies of the five-king alliance. This verse alone if perhaps the best argument that vv. 12–15 were inserted later by an author other than Joshua. This is even more troublesome when we find that Joshua and his men continue the slaughter of the five-king alliance army in v. 20. Returning to Gilgal seems out of the question.

12. Even if vv. 11–15 summarize the events, Joshua continues a conquest of the southern cities in this chapter of the Land of Promise before returning to Gilgal. Even if seen as a summary, vv. 11–15 do not seem to include the greater part of Joshua’s southern campaign.

13. There is no careful time table given of the events in Joshua 10:11–21. It is true that a prolonged day would be required for everything to occur during daylight; however, it would make sense for Joshua’s men to be reporting to Joshua around nightfall of the discovery of the five kings and for Joshua’s men to move ahead of their enemies under the cover of nightfall with a full moon overhead. My point here is that the natural explanation makes more sense than the supernatural one. This combined with the dubious authenticity of the passage in question is a strong argument against the miracle of the long day.

14. Another strong argument: if this passage is inserted, which most expositors agree on, then why the heck doesn’t Joshua mention what occurred? You would think that something this tremendous would not require an outside source to document since Joshua would have seen it with his own eyes. The only good reason for the outside source would be to back up what Joshua had himself witnessed.

Again, you will notice that the trip to and from Gilgal is noted here. I was, at first, a bit confused here. The essential battle has been finished, however the kings are still at large. Joshua, at first, does not realize that they are at large, so he and all of the people return first to their camp at Gilgal. The NASB gives us a good feel for exactly how things transpired: Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal. Now these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in the cave at Makkedah. And it was told Joshua, saying, “The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah.” (Joshua 10:14–16). This is perhaps the most troublesome verse of this passage of vv. 12–15. On the face, it seems rather innocuous, but it suggests, on the one hand, that Joshua and all of his men returned from the field to their camp at Gilgal, whereas, the remainder of this chapter does not seem to indicate that Joshua had ever left the field. If he and all his men have left the field of battle, how does he find out where the five kings are and how are his orders followed quickly enough to insure that these kings are still in the cave? You see, Joshua, in vv. 16–17, will hear about the kings and then he will order them to be locked up in the cave in v. 18. This is at least two days away from camp Gilgal. How on earth would Joshua expect these men to still be there. Furthermore, in v. 20, we have Joshua and his men finishing the slaying of the five-king alliance. Why would he return to camp if he had not finished what he was supposed to do and what God gave him an extra day of daylight to do? Even Barnes indicates that the return mentioned here is premature: Joshua’s return (cp. V. 43) to Gilgal was not until after he had, by the storm and capture of the principal cities of south Canaan, completed the conquest of which the victory at Gibeon was only the beginning. This verse is evidently the close of the extract from an older work, which connect the rescue of Gibeon immediately with the return to Gilgal, and omitted the encampment at Makkedah (v. 21), and also the details given in vv. 28–43.

Finally, what we should do is to examine the translation without vv. 12–15, to see if there seems to be a reasonable ebb and flow.

And so Y^ehowah [put them into a commotion and He] put them to flight before faces of Israel and so He struck them down a great slaughter at Gibeon and so He chased them a way of ascent of Beth-horon and He struck them down as far as Azekah and as far as Makkedah.	Joshua 10:10	And then Jehovah put them into a great commotion, putting them into flight before the face of Israel. He struck them down, an incredible slaughter at Gibeon, and then chased them along the ascent of Beth-horon, striking them down from Azekah to Makkedah.
And so it came to pass in their fleeing before faces of Israel they in ascent of Beth-horon; and Y^ehowah threw down upon them great stones from the heavens as far as Azekah and so they died; more who died in stones of the hail from who sons of Israel killed with the sword.	Joshua 10:11	And so it came to pass as they fled before the face of Israel ascending down Beth-horon that Jehovah threw great stones down upon them from the heavens as far as Azekah, and they died. In fact, more died from the hailstones than from being slaughtered with the sword in the hands of the sons of Israel.
And so fled five of the kings the these and so they hid themselves in the cave in Makkedah.	Joshua 10:16	Now the five kings had escaped and they had hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah.
And so they were told to Joshua, to say, “The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah.”	Joshua 10:17	And later Joshua was told, “The five kings have been discovered hidden in a cave at Makkedah.”
And so Joshua said, “Roll great stones into [the] mouth of the cave and set by her men to guard them.	Joshua 10:18	Then Joshua said to them, “Roll large stones over the mouth of the cave and place men there to guard them.
“And you [yourselves] do not remain [there]. Pursue after your enemies and cut off their tail and do not grant them to go into their cities, for Y^ehowah your God has given them into your hand.”	Joshua 10:19	“However, I do not want you to remain there. Pursue after your enemies and attack them from the rear and do not allow them to enter into their cities, for Jehovah your God has given them into your hand.”
And so it came to pass as a finishing of Joshua and the sons of Israel to strike them, a very great striking, until their finishing. And so the remnant remained from them and so they entered into their fortified cities.	Joshua 10:20	And it finally came to pass that Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished slaughtering the enemy forces. A remnant returned to their fortified cities.
And so all of the people returned unto the camp to Joshua—Makkedah in safe no sharpening with reference to sons of Israel to a man his tongue.	Joshua 10:21	And so all of the people returned to the camp, to Joshua in Makkedah in safety. No man of the sons of Israel sharpened his tongue [against Joshua].

My personal desire is to preserve the Scripture which we have and call as little into question as possible. However, the more that I examine vv. 12–15, the more it appears to be inserted by an author other than Joshua. For that reason, and that reason alone, I question its authenticity and accuracy.

The first verb is the Qal imperfect of nûwç (סנ) [pronounced noose], which means to flee. Strong's #5127 BDB #630. The site of Makkedah is unknown. Most geographers place it below Jerusalem by several miles. To determine its exact site by the order in which the cities were conquered would be futile, as Joshua did not go the Makkedah next because it was next on the list, but because the five kings were hiding there. However, where Joshua goes next and after that will be more indicative of its location.

All we will ever hear about Makkedah is in this chapter, and then again when it is mentioned as on the list of captured cities in Joshua 15. About all that we know is that this was located in the lowland or in the Shephelah of Palestine (Joshua 15:33, 41).

We learn a great deal about the leaders of those countries in this verse. They do not stay with their men to guide them out of trouble. They do not die with their men. They do not give their men any sort of direction. When they realize the chips are down, they make a run for it. No doubt they ordered their men to provide them cover, while they quietly slipped out the back. If you will refer to the map at the end of this chapter, you will see that Makkedah is a bit south of where the Israelites had chased their enemies to, indicating that the five kings were in the lead when it came to escaping the Israelites’ attack. Notice more importantly, they do not return to their cities to warn their people or to evacuate them or to develop another plan. They band together and hide out in Makkedah.

we have three choices here. One is that Joshua is still back in Gilgal, having gone back there for some unknown reason while his men are still out in the field; or, he is back there, and he has a tremendous G-2 force combing the countryside. However, what is most likely is that he is still in the field with his men; his men are scattered in several different directions chasing down the allied troops and the whereabouts of the kings are suddenly known. Joshua is easy to find and his men report this information to him immediately.

After the verb roll, we have the preposition el (ל ∵א) [pronounced el], which denotes direction and means in, into, toward, unto, to, regarding. Strong's #413 BDB #39.

The second to the last verb is the Hiphil imperative of pâqad (ד ַק ָ) [pronounced paw-KAHD], which means, in the Hiphil causative stem, appoint, set, make, committed, laid up. Strong's #6485 BDB #823.

Joshua may or may not know what he is going to do with these men. In either case, he sees that they are incarcerated until he determines what he will do, or until he is ready to have the victory ceremony which will follow.

The Amplified Bible But do not stay; pursue your enemies, and fall upon their rear; do not alow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand.

The Emphasized Bible ...out do not ye stay, chase after your enemies, so shall ye attack them in the rear,—do not suffer them to enter into their cities, for Yahweh your God hath delivered them into your hand.

NASB “...but do not stay there yourselves; pursue your enemies and attack them in the rear. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has deliverd them into your hand.”

Young's Lit. Translation ‘...and ye, stand not, pursue after your enemies, and ye have smitten the hindermost of them; suffer them not to go in unto their cities, for Jehovah your God hath given them into your hand.’

This verse continues Joshua’s orders to his men. We don’t know who these men are, exactly, except what is implied is that they are the leaders of a much larger army. They do not appear to be simply a G-2 force, but instead the ones leading their army in pursuit of the remainder of the men who ran when Joshua came to defend Gibeon.

Joshua begins with a conjunction, the unnecessary personal pronoun you (plural), the negative and the Qal imperfect of ׳âmad (ד ַמ ָע) [pronounced ģaw-MAHD], which means to take a stand, to stand, to remain, to endure. Strong's #5975 BDB #763. There apparently was a small detachment of men which were pursuing those who had escaped the slaughter at Gibeon in defense of Gibeon and the other three cities. These small groups pursued scatterings of men in several directions, although Joshua and the bulk of the troops returned to camp. Since there were groups of others who had scattered, Joshua had his own men performing somewhat of a mopping up operation. When they discovered the heads of this five-king coalition, this information was immediately brought back to Joshua.

They are told to pursue and this is followed by the preposition achar (ר ַח ַא) [pronounced ah-KHAHR], which means after. Strong’s #310 BDB #29. Enemies is the Qal active participle of âya^bv (ב ַי ָא) [pronounced aw-YA^BV] and it means to be at enmity, to be hostile. As a participle, it can be reasonably rendered enemy, but it is more literally, the one being at enmity with you. Strong’s #340 BDB #33.

We then have a conjunction and the Piel perfect of zâna^bv (ב ַנ ָז) [pronounced zaw-NAHB^V], which means to cut off a tail; it is used figuratively to striking the back of the enemy (while they are running away). Strong’s #2179 BDB #275. So far, this gives us: “And you [yourselves] do not remain [there]. Pursue after your enemies and cut off their tail...

The next verb is the Qal imperfect of nâthan (ן ַת ָנ) [pronounced naw-THAHN], which means give, grant, place, put, set. Strong's #5414 BDB #678. With this is the 3rdperson masculine plural suffix, the negative, and it is followed by to enter, to go in. What they are not to be allowed to go into is their cities. This indicates that there are a lot more men out there of the five-king coalition who never were killed. This fact further calls into question Joshua’s long day (unless these verses are an extension of it). Joshua tells his men to kill them before they go back into their own cities, where they will be well-fortififed and difficult to attack. The men of the five-king coalition will be the soldiers of their city. Joshua’s strategy here is to make their cities easier to conquer. If all their soldiers and protectors have been executed outside of their towns, then it will be much easier to invade and to take their cities.

What Joshua is specifically directing his troops to do is to move further south than the enemy and then to come up and envelop the enemy, standing between them and their cities. Joshua could only execute a maneuver like this with a huge army. Now, if all of this occurred in one day—the defense of Gibeon, the chasing down of the enemy soldiers, the discovering of the hiding place of the allied kings, and then the envelopment of the enemy troops—this would all doubtless require more than 12–16 hours of sunlight. If Joshua’s troops required eight hours to simply march from Gilgal to Gibeon, then a simple march from Gilgal in pursuit of the enemy soldiers to Makkedah would require no less than 16 hours. When one includes the actual fighting, the discovery of the five kings, the quick report to Joshua, Joshua’s orders to imprison the kings but to continue the fight—if this were to be done in one entire contiguous operation, then more than 16 hours of sunlight would have been required. I would think that 24 hours of sunlight would be the minimum along with some night of a full moon (which would not have to be supernatural). If all of this occurred in one day, then Joshua would have required a miracle in order to take care of all of this. However—and this is a big however—if Joshua has a full moon and a clear night sky, his 16 hours of daylight can segue neatly into eight hours of good moonlight. The cover of night, but the good moonlight would be ideal conditions for his men to overtake their enemies and strike them from behind (actually, from the front, as they would be running in that direction).

This verse has also got a few difficult words and turns of phrases, so we will consult the experts:

The Emphasized Bible And it came to pass when Joshua and the sons of Israel had made an end of smiting them with a very great slaughter until they were spent then did the remainder that were left of them enter into the fortified cities.

NASB And it came about when Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished slauyig them with a very great sluaghter, until they were destroyed, and the survivors who remained of them had entered the fortified cities.

Owen's Translation When had fnished, Joshua and the men of Israel, slaying them with a very great slaughter until they were wiped out; and when the remnant which remained of them had entered into the fortified cities...

Young's Lit. Translation And it cometherh to pass, when Joshua and the sons of Israel finsih to smite them—a very great smiting, till they are consumed and the remnant who have remained of them go in unto the fenced cities,...

Like most of Joshua’s sentences, this verb begins with the wâw consecutive and the 3rdperson masculine singular, Qal imperfect of to be, followed by the kaph preposition (as, like) and the Piel infinitive construct of kâlâh (ה ָל ָ) [pronounced kaw-LAWH], which means to complete, to bring an end to, to finish (Piel meanings). Strong's #3615 BDB #477. This gives us: And so it came to pass as a finishing of...

This is followed by Joshua and sons of Israel to slaughter them—a very great slaughter... In that phrase we have both the verb nâkâh (ה ָכ ָנ) [pronounced naw-KAWH] which means smite, assault, hit, strike. (Strong #5221 BDB #645), and its noun cognate.

Then we have the preposition ׳ad (ד ַע) [pronounced ģad ] which means as far as, even to, up to, until, while. Strong’s #5704 BDB #723.

I must admit to being somewhat confused by the next word. It is given as a masculine singular noun with a 3rdperson masculine plural suffix by Owen. Zodhiates lists it as a noun with a suffix, but gives it the Strong’s number for the verb. In the New Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance, it is listed as the Qal infinitive. Given all of this means that this is probably the Qal infinitive construct of tam (ם ַ) [pronounced tahm], and it means to be complete, to be finished, to complete, to come to an end, to cease. Strong’s #8552 BDB #1070. This would give us: And so it came to pass as a finishing of Joshua and the sons of Israel to strike them, a very great striking, until their completion. The completion here is the end of their mission, which was not 100% successful, as we see next.

What follows is: And so the remnant remained from them and so had gone into the cities of the fortification. The last word is the masculine singular noun mî^bv^etsâr (ר ָצ ׃ב ̣מ) [pronounced miv^e-TZAWR], which means strongholds, fenced, fortress. It refers to a city where there have been precautions taken in order to preserve its integrity from attack from without. Strong's #4013 BDB #131. What has happened is that the kings in hiding have been discovered, and Joshua has seen to their temporary imprisonment while a mopping up operation continues. Joshua’s men killed a great many of these soldiers, but apparently there was a remnant of them who did manage to return to their fortified cities.

This is odd that with this particular chapter we have a more difficult sentence structure and more unusual words from Joshua that is normal. Again, we will need to turn to the experts:

The Amplified Bible All the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace; none movedhis tongue against any of the Israelites.

The Emphasized Bible And all the people returned unto the camp, unto Joshua at Makkedah in peace,—none sharpened his tongue at any man of the sons of Israel.

NASB ...that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace. No one uttered a word against any of the sons of Israel.

Owen's Translation And returned all the people in the camp to Joshua at Makkedah safe; not against any of the people of Israel a man his tongue.

The Septuagint And all the people returned safe to Joshua to Makeda; and no one of the children of Israel murmured with his tongue.

Young's Lit. Translation ...that all the people turn back to the camp, unto Joshua, at Makkedah, in peace; none moved sharply his tongue against the sons of Israel.

This literally begins with: And so returned all of the people unto the camp unto Joshua Makkedah in safety. This would indicate that while his men combed the countryside for survivors of the recent attack on Gibeon, that Joshua left his camp at Gilgal and journeyed to Makkedah, where the five kings were being held in prison in the cave. The last word in that phrase is the masculine singular noun shâlôwm (םל ָש) [pronounced shaw-LOHM], which means completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safe, secure. This is not the only noun cognate for the verb, by the way. Strong’s #7965 BDB #1022. The implication here is that they suffered no losses. They returned not only safe but complete.

The next portion of the verse is difficult to determine who the subject is. My personal preference is that no man moves his tongue against Joshua. This is because when the Israelites found that they had been entered into coalition with the Gibeonites, they murmured against Joshua. Here they are defending the Gibeonites and I would like to read that they did not speak against Joshua. We begin with the negative particle lô (אֹל or אל) [pronounced low], which means not, no. This generally negates the word immediately following it. What we do not have is this word used as a substantive, meaning none. Strong’s #3808 BDB #518. The verb which is negated is the 3rdperson Qal perfect of chârats (ץ ַר ָח) [pronounced khaw-RATS], which means to cut, to cut into, to sharpen. Strong’s #2782 BDB #358. This is followed by the lâmed prefixed preposition, which means to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to. No Strong's # BDB #510. This is followed by sons of Israel, another lamed preposition, the word a man and the untranslated indication of a direct object and the words his tongue (it is actually a word in the Hebrew with a masculine singular suffix). This gives us, literally: no sharpening with reference to sons of Israel with reference to a man his tongue. The main problem is that the noun one would expect to be the subject, a man, is preceded by a lâmed preposition. I am not the only person who has struggled with this lâmed. Keil and Delitzsch point it out as well and that two others, Houbigant and Mauer,

regard the lâmed as a copyist’s error, making man the subject of the verb. Tongue cannot be the subject of the verb, as it is a feminine singular (what a surprise!) and it is preceded by the mark of a direct object. In the looser translation, I belied my preference; however, keep in mind that this is not written in stone, and you see how other translators have disagreed here. However, this makes less sense to say that no man referring to any person in the Land of Promise, spoke against the sons of Israel. However, inasmuch as they had leveled verbal sins in the direction of Joshua and his cabinet, it would make sense for Joshua to point this out here, and my guess is that he does it in a more subtle, less direct way, unusual for him as a man of action. What is key to this is that back in Joshua 9:18, we read: And the sons of Israel did not strike the Gibeonites because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by Jehovah the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. The situation with the Gibeonite alliance was a problem to the people of Israel. However, the upshot of this alliance is that they met and defeated a majority of their opposition in southern Canaan and this was a ll a part of God’s plan. They saw this manifested with the hail, which took out more of their enemies than they did. This was enough to indicate to them that the treaty with Gibeon was ratified by God and therefore, should not be opposed.

The people would return to Makkedah because they had pursued their enemies as far as they could. Most of their enemies had been executed and Joshua had set up camp in Makkedah, where the five kings were trapped in the cave. Since there is nothing more that can be done concerning the enemy forces and since the kings are securely locked up, it is likely that we are now at night fall. The public ceremony of the kings will follow the next day.

This verse is further evidence which indicates that Joshua is in Makkedah. It would make sense for him to camp there and have the five kings brought a short distance to him, as opposed to bringing them all the way from Makkedah to Gilgal. Regardless of your position on vv. 12–15, it is incongruous for Joshua to have returned to Gilgal prior to the defeat of his enemies; and then to come back out here and set up camp again. Other than v. 15, there is no indication that Joshua ever has left the field of battle.

What will follow may not be for the squeamish. God had ordered Joshua to execute all of the inhabitants of the land, and that included their leaders. Joshua will do so in a public ceremony. God did not tell Joshua to take these men as prisoners of war or even as slaves. They are taken and held until execution, which is what we are about to witness.

We are again back to a simple sentence structure. Joshua gives a command and his men carry out the command. He chooses to deal with these kings after the military operation has been completed. Recall what Moses said to the people: “But Jehovah your God will deliver them before you, and He will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. And He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven. No man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.” (Deut. 7:23–24).

If you will recall, the murmuring which was done was by the people—generally speaking, the soldiers—and therefore those who were over them. There are some people who are in authority who are still closer to the workers than they are to management. The chiefs in general were closer to their men than they were to Joshua. Therefore, they would have been somewhat involved in the murmuring. Joshua called upon them to come out and place their feet over the necks of the kings—the highest authority in the other armies. This obviously signified great victory and showed that they, moderately high ranking soldiers, had authority over the highest ranking persons of the opposing army. NIVVV Study Bible: Public humiliation of defeated enemy chieftains was the usual climax of warfare in the ancient Near East.

He [God] pours contempt upon nobles and makes them wander in a pathless waste (Psalm 107:40). “And you will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says Jehovah of the armies (Mal. 4:3). “You have girded me with the strength for battle and You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.” (II Sam. 22:40). Jehovah said to my Lord, “Set at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The Lord is at Your right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. (Psalm 110:1, 5). To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the judgment written—this is an honor for all His godly ones. Praise Jehovah! (Psalm 149:8–9). In reading these verses, it makes me think that I do not want to be an enemy of God.

Some, apparently, cite this passage as being rather barbaric. It was simply a ritual. It was ...a symbolical representation of complete subjection.

Roberts, in his book Oriental Illustrations, writes of the East Indians: When people are disputing, should one be a little pressed, and the other begins to triumph, the former will say, “I will tread upon thy neck, and after that beat thee.

In Freeman’s book, he has the picture of an Assyrian king placing his foot on the neck of an enemy on p. 119.

Certainly this is much less barbaric than Judges 1:7a: And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings which their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God as repaid me.”

When Joshua speaks to these men, the first two verbs he uses are in the 2ndperson masculine plural, Qal imperfect. This combined with a negative can be taken as a command. The second verb in question is châthath (ת ַת ָח) [pronounced khaw-THAHTH], which means dismay, discourage and, on occasion, broken in pieces and even to be afraid. Strong’s #2865 BDB #369.

The third verb in Joshua’s quote is the Qal imperative of châzaq (ק ַז ָח) [pronounced khaw-ZAHK], which means to be strong, firm, to strengthen. It has been used in the Qal imperative to mean be of good courage, be strong (Deut. 31:6 II Sam. 10:12). Strong’s #2388 BDB #304. And the fourth is the Qal imperative of âmêtz (ץ ֵמ ָא) [pronounced aw-MATES], which means to be strong, firm, stout, bold, alert. Strong’s #553 BDB #54. I do not have a clue as to how these two words differ.

We first have the phrase for thus Y^ehowah will do to all of your enemies; and we’ve already looked at the word enemies in this chapter. This is followed by a relative pronoun, the 2ndperson masculine pronoun, and the masculine plural Niphal participle of lâcham (ם ַח ָל) [pronounced law-KHAHM], which means to fight to do battle, to war. The Niphal is not always the passive, but it can also refer to an action in a state of progress or development; therefore we add in the word being. It can express adjectival ideas and it can, in plural forms, stress the individual effect upon each member of the group. Occasionally, the Niphal acts as a reflexive of the Qal. With this stem, the verb appears to mean engage in battle, engage in war, to wage war. Strong’s #3898 BDB #535. This is followed by a direct object and the 3rdperson masculine plural suffix. Literally, this is: ...for thus Y^ehowah will do [to] all of your enemies who you are fighting them. Young renders this: for thus doth Jehovah do to all your enemies with whom ye are fighting (you will notice that he, as do most translators, places the direct object and the relative pronoun together to give a better English sense). Rotherham: ...for thus and thus will Yahweh do unto all your enemies, against whom ye do fight. NASB: “...for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you right.” Much of what Joshua says sounds lke it came from a page of Moses: “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ You will not be afraid of them. You will recall what Jehovah your God did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt and the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which Jehovah your God brought you out. So will Jehovah your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.” (Deut. 7:17–19). Paul indicates that we have similar promises for us today: But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, in order that through me, the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might have and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and He will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him, glory forever and ever, Amen. (II Tim. 4:17–18).

After Joshua strikes these men, we have the compound preposition achar (ר ַח ַא) [pronounced ah-KHAHR] (Strong’s #310 BDB #29), which means after and the adverb kên (ן ֵ) [pronounced kane] (Strong's #3651 BDB #467 & BDB #485), which is generally rendered so. Together, they mean after so (literally) or afterward, afterwards in more plain language. The second verb is the 3^rd person masculine singular, Hiphil imperfect with a 3rdperson masculine plural suffix of mûwth (תמ) [pronounced mooth], the simple word for die. In the Hiphil, this means to kill, to destroy, to put to death, to execute. Strong's #4191 BDB #559. Striking down is in the imperfect, meaning that Joshua spent some time hacking them up with a sword, resulting in their execution. Afterwards, their bodies were places on public display to indicate what would happen to those who opposed Israel. You will notice that the Israelites did not execute by hanging, but their victims were so displayed. This was what Joshua had done to the king of Ai as well. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset, Joshua gave the command and they took his body down from the tree and they threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over it a great heap of stones—to this day (Joshua 8:29). This is in response to a law of Moses: “If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death, and his body is hung on a tree. You must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be certain to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance.” (Deut. 21:22–23).

McGee tells a story with regards to this passage: There was a whimsical story that came out of World War I when a certain hero who had captured more German prisoners than any other, was being feted by some society folk in Nashville, Tennessee. One dear talkative dowager asked the hero, “How did you feel when you brought all of those soldiers in?” He replied, “I was scared to death!” This is how the Israelites felt. God wants to encourage them. Then Joshua slew the kings and hanged them on five trees.

McGee adds to this: The Israelites could have left the kings in the cave and starved them to death. It was more humane to slay them, and they did. They could not turn them loose, and they had no prison in which to put them. Do you think we live in a more civilized day? What do you think about the lawlessness on every hand in our country? We are not in a position to criticize what the Israelites did. They did not have lawlessness and they settled their problem in the only way the could with a sinful, wicked race. If these kings had been turned loose, they would have led a rebellion against Joshua that would have caused literally thousands of people to die.

This begins with: And so it came to pass, which is followed by the lâmed preposition and the feminine singular noun ׳êth (ת ֵע) [pronounced ģayth], which means time, the right time, the proper time. Strong’s #6256 BDB #773. The lâmed preposition wears many hats. When associated with time, it refers to the point of time at which or in which anything is done; or it can refer to the space of time during which something is done (or occurs). In this verse, Owen, Rotherham and Young render this at the time of; the NASB renders this phrase simply as at sunset.

Recall that Deut. 21:22–23 reads: “And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his corpse will not hang all night on the tree, but you will surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile the land which Jehovah your God gives you as an inheritance.” Gal. 3:13 updates this for us: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it stands written: “Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree.” McGee: Christ was crucified, but they took Him down from the cross because it is written that cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. He bore the curse of sin for you and me.

The last phrase is a bit difficult. We have the preposition ׳ad (ד ַע) [pronounced ģad ] which means as far as, even to, up to, until, while. Strong’s #5704 BDB #723. What follows is the difficult word, the feminine singular construct of ׳etsem (ם ∵צ ∵ע) [pronounced eh-TSEM], which is translated several ways, officially as bone, substance, self; however, with the word day, it means self-same or in that very same day. Strong’s #6106 BDB #782. This is followed by the day the this.

This was the fifth or sixth monument for the Israelites as they conquered the Land of Canaan. Because of the problems inherent with the end of Joshua 8, we do not know whether the monument of the plastered stones and the Law is up yet or not. However, in Joshua 8:29, the king of Ai had been buried under a large pile of rocks outside the entrance to their city gate; Achan, the Israelite who had taken from the spoil of Jericho, was also placed under a pile of rocks (Joshua 7:26); and two monuments were erected as they crossed the Jordan—one which would be under the water and one outside the water on the west side of the Jordan (Joshua 4:9, 20).

I am thinking that it would be cool if these monuments together make a cross in the land.

Even though the relationship between these kings and Makkedah is undefined, apparently they felt that they could hide out in that area, although they did not parade into town, but hid back in a cave. While they were there, Joshua and his men destroyed this city as well.

In striking down the city of Makkedah with the mouth of the sword, lâmed is used to indicate the dative of cause and author; so the use of the word by is apropos here.

We have the verb for to devote, to comletely destroy; which is affixed to the 3rdperson masculine singular suffix and then followed by the wâw conjunction, the sign of the direct object, the construct of kôl (לֹ) [pronounced kole], (the whole, all of, the entirety of, all, every), the definite article and finally the feminine singular noun nephesh (ש ∵פ ∵נ) [pronounced NEH-fesh], a word which occurs around 800 times in the Old Testament. This means soul, life, living being, desire;. Strong’s #5315 BDB #659. Nephesh is preceded by a definite article, which is difficult to add into the translation as it messes it up. We basically have our choice between all of the soul(s), every soul, every the soul, all of the soul (the most literal, I would suppose). Recall what Moses said: “And you will consume all of the peoples whom Jehovah your God delivers to you; your eye will not pity them, neither will you serve their gods, for that is a snare to you.” (Deut. 7:16).

The first verb is the Qal imperfect of ׳â^bvar (ר ַ ָע) [pronounced aw^b-VAHR], which means to pass over, to pass through, to pass, to go over. Strong’s #5674 BDB #716. Joshua has a command to take all of the land and to remove all of the peoples who live in this land.

Libnah means whiteness and it is not to be confused with one of the encampments of Moses from Num. 33:20–21. The names which we read here are not necessarily the same names given to these cities by their inhabitants. Barnes: The word...undoubtedly points to some natural feature of the spot, perhaps the “Garde Blanche” of the Crusades, a castle which stood on or near the white cliffs which bound the plain of Philistia to the east opposite to Ascalon.

The location of Libnah in this passage is a source of debate. The map that I see places it almost due west of Jerusalem, closer to the Med than to Jerusalem. Another map places it southwest of Jersalem, equidistant from Jerusalem and the Med. Keil and Delitzsch are fairly emphatic that it is northwest of Lachish, calling Knobel’s placement decidedly wrong (I don’t know where Knobel placed it). It will become one of the cities assigned to the priests as a part of the portion allotted to Judah (Joshua 15:42 21:13). We will read about Libnah again in the future when we come to the divided kingdom (II Kings 8:22 19:8).

You will notice that the sentence structure and vocabulary is almost identical to v. 28. We are going to see that throughout the remainder of this chapter. As to the subject of the verbs here; that would be debatable. In v. 28, Joshua is the closest masculine singular subject, but here, God is the closest masculine singular subject. Because of the similarity of the two verses, we would expect the subject to be the same, but that does not have to be the case.. First of all, it is unlikely that Joshua took a sword himself and went into the city and began to strike down his enemies himself. He was older and not as involved in the actual physical combat as were his men. He directed their exploits and guided their strategy and tactics. Similarly, God was not there in a physical being either; i.e., He did not take upon Himself the body of an angel and walk among His people and strike down opposing soldiers either. However, God saw to it that Israel could conquer this land.

To give you an outline of what Joshua has done and is about to do: Joshua and his men have just penetrated southern Palestine. They have moved south to Makkedah, wherein were hidden the five kings. Makkedah is midway between Lachish and Hebron, midway between the Med and the Dead Sea, half way down and across from the Dead Sea. Joshua camped against Makkedah and then conquered it (v. 28). Joshua then moves 7 miles north-northwest to attack Libnah (vv. 29–30) and then south-southwest 3 miles and conquers Lachish (vv. 31–32). Troops from allied Gezer heard of Joshua’s movement and were dispatched to help Lachish. Gezer was not in immediate danger and Horam, her king, and his men, marched almost 20 miles due south to come to assist Lachish. Joshua defeated him and all of his men (v. 33). Then Joshua and his men moved south-southeast 6–7 miles to attack and defeat Eglon (vv. 34–35). From Eglon, Joshua will move due west over 10 miles to subdue and destroy Hebron (vv. 36–37). In v. 38, we have that Joshua returned (or, turned back) to Debir. Either the geography is messed up here in the MacMillan Bible Atlas, or Joshua’s troops had gone down as far as Debir in pursuit of their enemies. Debir was not given as a part of the five-king alliance and it is about four miles south of Hebron. In any case, Joshua moved against Debir and destroyed her inhabitants (vv. 38–39). This is the last city given by name. A general summary of where he made inroads is given in vv. 40–42. He will return to camp Gilgal in v. 43. Most of what is listed in vv. 28–40 is the southern Shephelah and the central hill country; Joshua is 3/4^ths down the Dead Sea at the edge of the Negev. In v. 41, it says that Joshua struck them as far as Kadesh-barnea even to Gaza. Kadesh-barnea takes us far south into the Negev, considerably south-southwest of the southern tip of the Dead Sea. Gaza is on the coast of the Med. Joshua then mentions Goshen and Gibeon in v. 41; the former city is unknown to us and only mentioned a couple times in Scripture. These boundaries give us a general area in which Joshua conquered the land. He did not conquer every city and every stronghold. His men moved in and hit key cities, destroying all of the inhabitants and probably taking the spoil pertaining thereto (this is not mentioned in this chapter). In v. 12, kings of cities not named will be mentioned, indicating that we do not have a definitive list of all the kings and cities which Israel conquered in southern Palestine this chapter.

There are some anomalies of sentence structure and vocabulary. What Joshua does is the Qal imperfect of chânah (ה ָנ ָח) [pronounced khaw-NAW] properly means to incline; it is used primarily to pitch a tent, to encamp. When followed by the preposition ׳al (ל ַע) [pronounced al], it means to encamp against someone else. That is, when Israel bivowacked right there outside the town, this was clearly an act of aggression. They were not just passing through as was Moses and the children of Israel when they moved into the land. Strong's #2583 BDB #333.

The second verb is the Niphal imperfect of lâcham (ם ַח ָל) [pronounced law-KHAHM], which we have already seen at least twice in this chapter, and it means to fight to do battle, to war. Strong’s #3898 BDB #535.

Now Lachish is somewhat south-southwest of Jerusalem and is mentioned throughout the Bible (20 times). We have several extra-Biblical references to Lachish as well and the excavation on the site believed to be Lachish has been quite fruitful. This general area was occupied prior to 3000 b.c., as pottery, stone mortars (bowls made out of stone in which grain is ground), stone querns (a small, hand-operated mills for grinding grain) and implements made from flint and bone were found in caves scattered over a larger area. We have an early settlement dating to circa 2800 b.c. confined to that particular mound (this is the early Bronze Age II).

We do not have particulars concerning the occupation of Lachish until the Hyksos reign, circa 1720-1550 b.c. During that time, Lachish was a fortified city, surrounded by a brick wall, which overlooked a pasture-covered gentle slope which dropped about 100 ft., and this was surrounded by a deep ditch (called a fosse). Coterminous with, or possibly as a result of the Hyksos dynasty being pushed out of Egypt, these defenses fell into disuse around 1550 b.c. During this time, as Egypt expanded her control as far as portions of Western Asia, there was a temple built upon the debris which had collected in the fosse, hence the archeological designation, the Fosse Temple. During this time period, there seems to be considerable Egyptian influence, as Egyptian scarabs (things made to resemble beetles) are among the artifacts found in this time period. Keller: In the thirties at Tell ed-Duweir a British expedition under James Lesley Starkey measured out an area of twenty-four acres which had at one time been built up and surrounded by a strong wall. This city also fell a victim to a conflagration which destroyed everything. A bowl which was salvaged from the ruins bears an inscription giving its date as the fourth year of Pharaoh Merenptah.

There appears to be a waning of Egyptian influence with the destruction of the Fosse Temple around 1220-1200 b.c., possibly by Joshua and his men during this time period that we are studying. Lachish will remain deserted for the next two centuries, after which there will be built a great palace there circa 1000 b.c., which takes us to the time of David and Solomon.

And his people probably refers to Israelites who were under the command of Joshua. The word order is, literally: Then came up Horam, king of Gezer, to help Lachish. And so struck him [down] Joshua and his people until not he had remaining to him a remnant. To strike down is in the masculine singular, but this is often the case when Joshua is seen as the subject of the verb, although his people certainly participated in the action.

Gezer was located almost due west of Jerusalem (just slightly north), midway between Kiriath Jearim and the Great Sea. This would have been a trip of approximately 30 miles due south to get to Lachish. Horam was aware of the Joshua’s troop movement and began to move his own men into the area before Joshua laid siege upon Lachish. However, it sounds as though they arrived after Joshua had already defeated Lachish. I don’t believe that we will find a mention of Joshua marching through Gezer and conquering it, although it will be one of the cities allotted to one of the tribes of Joseph. In fact, there will be mention of Israel’s failure to expel all of the Canaanites (Joshua 16:10 Judges 1:29). Apparently, they either did not assign all of their troops to this attack upon Gezer or some escaped. What is clear is that Joshua did not take any prisoners. Joshua 16:10 and Judges 1:29 will affirm that Joshua never did fully conquer Gezer and that they will remain a thorn in the side of the Jewish people for some time to come. According to NIV, is that Gezer was the most powerful city in this area and Joshua had just defeated his king and the men who were with him. Joshua apparently did not go to Gezer itself and conquer it (Joshua 16:10 Judges 1:29). Barnes explains: Gezer lies on the southern border of the tribe of Ephraim (xvi. 3). It was considerably to the northward of Joshua’s present line of operations, and does not appear to have been captured at this time. He contented himself for the present with repulsing the attack made upon him, slew Horam (cp. xii. 12), inflicting a severe defeat upon his people, and then continued to pursue his conquests over the confederated kings and their allies in south Canaan. The city was eventually taken over by the Egyptians, who later gave it to King Solomon as a wedding gift (I Kings 9:15–16; Solomon married the pharaoh’s daughter).

Solomon built and fortified Gaza and it became an important fortress during the wars of the Maccabees (I Macc. 4:15 7:45 9:52 13:52 14:34 15:28, 35 II Macc. 10:32).

In v. 31, we have the final verbs in the masculine singular, referring back to Joshua at the beginning of the verse, and here the final verbs are in the masculine plural, referring to all of Israel. As you will recall, Eglon was one of the cities which allied themselves in the five-king alliance against Gibeon. Most of their fighting men have already been destroyed and their city is relatively defenseless. MacMillan places Eglon as southeast of Lachish; Keil and Delitzsch have it more eastward.

It was likely that Eglon had left a small force behind, but it was not near enough to withstand Joshua’s attack.

Hebron was one of the others on the list who had joined in with the five-king alliance. Hebron will later be give directly to Caleb, the other spy who, with Joshua, forty-some years ago, reported to Moses that they should go in and take the land. So Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb ben Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore, Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb ben Jephunneh the Kenizzite until this day, because he followed Jehovah God of Israel fully (Joshua 14:13–14). What Joshua did was get a foothold into southern Palestine and then he will distribute the land to various tribes. Some will continue to subdue the land, as did Caleb (Joshua 15:13–16).

Again, we have almost a word-for-word repetition of what had already been written. Hebron was one of the cities involved in the five-king alliance against Israel. The king here is obviously not the king whom Joshua has already slain. This would be his successor, whose very short term in power could have come about in a number of different ways. We do not know which cities have been left out in this campaign so far (Joshua conquered more cities than he mentions in this chapter) and Keil and Delitzsch suggest that it may have been more than a year between the conquering and execution of the kings in v. 24 and this verse. There is the second possibility that in listing that Joshua destroyed the people and the king that this did not all occur at the time of this verse but that Joshua had executed the king previously in Joshua 10:22–26). This is somewhat of a summary verse which takes in the attack on Eglon as well as the capture of the king earlier. Since Joshua later records that they took out one king of Hebron (Joshua 12:10), this latter explanation seems to be the most sound.

Joshua mentions the other towns around Hebron. Apparently, Hebron was a lead city or a ruling city of several much smaller cities which were in its immediate vicinity. It is not unlike a suburb, but we are taking very, very small scale. Very likely, these additional villages are just descendants of those who originally took Hebron or settled in Hebron who decided to move out to the country.

ZPEB has Debir in three possible places—due south of Jericho and due east of Jerusalem; and midway down the Salt Sea, one closer to the Med and the other closer to the Salt Sea. Judging by the area in which Joshua and his troops find themselves, the first location is the least likely.

Accord to the NASB’s map, Joshua has come in a quarter circle, going west and then south, and now is zigzagging south, to the west from Lachish to Eglon, then back to the east to Hebron, then to the west-southwest to Debir. This makes a reasonable amount of sense. According to the NIV Study Bible, In the past, Debir (also known as Kiriath Sepher, 15:15) was identified with Tell Beit Mirsim. More recently, however, it has been equated with Khirbet Rabud, about five miles southwest of Hebron.

In thinking about this, what we need is two maps as an overlay. That is, for the bottom map, we need ancient Palestine, and lain upon this we need modern Israel, so that we see how these cities are alined.

Keller indicated that the site of Debir was known. He writes: About 12 miles southwest of Hebron lay the Debir of the Bible. Defended by a strong enclosing wall it dominated the Negev. Excavations of W.F. Albright and M.G. Kyle of the U.S.A. in Tell Beitt Mirsim since 1926 disclosed a layer of ashes and considerable destruction. The stratum of ashes contained sherds which undoubtedly date from the end of the 13^th century b.c. Immediately above the burnt layer are traces of a new settlement by Israel.

The verb found here is moderately perplexing. It is the Qal imperfect of shûw^bv (בש) [pronounced shoo^bv]; which means to return, to turn, to turn back. Strong's #7725 BDB #996. Barnes also noticed this word and suggests: The words mark a change in the direction of the march. Joshua from Hebron turned to the south-west, and attacked Debir or Kirjath-sepher and its dependencies.

This verb gives us several possibilities. If turning back means heading back east, when Joshua went from Eglon to Hebron, his movement was already primarily east. However, his general movement throughout this chapter has been somewhat of a zig zag motion. Joshua, in recording this information, is really not returning if he was last in Hebron. That is, two of the locations given for Debir would require Joshua going south again. This is not really turning back or returning. ZPEB suggests that there is a possibility that Debir is up near Jerusalem. That would mean that Joshua would be making pretty much 180° turn around. However, then the problem is that all of these conquered cities are fairly close together and moving from one to the next is a logical move. If he suddenly goes north a considerable distance to attack Debir, then that would be incongruous with what has already occurred. If Debir were further west, as Nelson in his 3-D Bible Mapbook suggests, then what we have is a south, southwest movement in general, a sudden sweep to the east to Hebron, and then he returns to his general southwesterly movement by going to Debir.

A second possible explanation is this: much of what Joshua conquered took place between vv. 37 and 38, and here, Joshua moves back into the territory where he began, took out Debir, and then returned to camp Gilgal. That is, he was in the Hebron-Debir area; he conquered Hebron; he continued to move south and west to conquer various other areas in southern Palestine; and now he is moving back north again toward Gilgal. In other words, there is an interval of conquering which takes place between vv. 37–38 which are implied by this word return. Why would these other cities be left out? I am thinking that Joshua split up his army as he went, assigning different areas to be subdued by different groups. He, therefore, would have less hands-on experience with the battles, and therefore, would not record as much information. In fact, there may have been several battles going on coterminously as Joshua and his army moved south, he would dispatch different divisions in different directions. Later, in v. 41, Joshua will record that he conquered the land down as far as Kadesh-barnea. We are nowhere near Kadesh-barnea, relatively speaking. The cities named in vv. 29–39 are fairly concentrated in the same area and nowhere in this chapter do we have troop movements given which go as far as the limits cited in v. 41. The most logical conclusion is that additional conquering occurred, some of the details of which, are given later with the division of the land. Joshua did not record the details here because he was less directly involved with the more southern conquests. Therefore, when it came to the conquering of southern Palestine, Joshua recorded what he actually participated in fairly directly. That is, he at least dealt with strategy and troop movement. When he began to split up his army and not attend to all of the details, he glosses over that information, recording it later in subsequent chapters, when he divides up the land (which, again, he is more directly involved with). In dividing up the land, he occasionally recalls the information given him by his highest in command and associates that information in his mind more with the division of the land than he does with the southern Palestine campaign recorded here. In this past paragraph, I may have made too much of the word return; however, somewhere in this chapter we do have additional areas which were conquered and not listed, so that occurred, regardless of whether it is connected to Joshua’s use of the word return.

Like a great deal of the Hebrew, it is difficult to render this word-for-word, and then to get a full understanding of what is being said. Joshua did not leave a remnant in Debir, just as he had not left a remnant in Hebron. He treated the king of Debir just had he treated the king of Libnah (which meant he executed them).

Our second problem with Debir is this: in this passage, Joshua has clearly defeated and destroyed Debir. However, in Joshua 15:15–17, we read: Then he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir; now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. And Caleb said, “The one who strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah, my daughter, to wife.” And Othniel ben Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it; so he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. We can resolve this in several different ways, neither of which is particularly satisfying to me. The simplest explanation is that there are two Debir’s. However, this would be an explanation which I would resort to if nothing else seemed possible or if they were clearly distinguished in some way (e.g., the different spellings of Gilgal in the Greek Septuagint). There is very likely a different Debir found in Joshua 13:26, which is actually Lidebir in the Hebrew; however, this is not the case here. Besides, Joshua associates Hebron and Debir together in this passage as well as in the passage where this land is given over to Caleb and it is recorded that Caleb takes the land in Joshua 14–15.

Another more reasonable explanation is that as Joshua returned in his sweep toward Gilgal, he may have begun to assign areas to different tribes and assign the capture and destruction of that area to these particular tribes. The only problem with this explanation is that such a scenario is nowhere clearly stated in Joshua. That is, Joshua, as he made his rounds through the cities, is never said to distribute land and responsibilities to certain tribes and groups. We have all of the conquering mentioned in Joshua 10–11 and the distribution in Joshua 15–19. This might be because Joshua tends to compartmentalize his thinking and he separated one from the other, although there were times when they took place at the same time. It would be important to have documents indicating which real estate belonged to who. It would be easier to keep track of if these records were altogether in one place without a story line occurring at the same time. This could account for things being done this way. Also, in support of this position, recall that Israel has a huge army—as many as 600,000 men. They have the man power to operate in this manner.

In other words, what my position on this matter and explanation is concerning Debir being completely conquered here and then conquered again in Joshua 15 is that portions of this chapter and of Joshua 14–15 are coterminous. If you read ahead in Judges 1:10–13, you will find that passage is parallel to the one in Joshua 15:15–17; so it is not a stretch for it to be parallel with this passage as well.

A third possibility, offered by Keil and Delitzsch, is that the city became re-infested with Anakim, making it necessary for Caleb to re-conquer them. This latter explanation is possible, as the Israelites will spend a longer time in the northern portion of Canaan than they did in the southern portion. My recollection is that the entire process, from Jericho to final land distribution, took about seven years. I don’t think that the southern campaign took much over a year, if that. That would leave nearly six years to conquer the northern kingdom of Canaan. That is enough time for the Anakim to move into the conquered cities, if Joshua left no one behind to hold them. We have the same problem here as with the second possible explanation—nowhere is it specifically stated that the Anakim re-inhabited Hebron and Debir. The book of Joshua and Judges are not specific enough to indicate which of these solutions solve the apparent discrepancy.

While reading the next chapter, a fourth possibility came to me. Joshua tends to group things topically. It has always been assumed that he conquered the southern portion of Canaan and then traveled to the northern portion and conquered that. It is possible that he conquered much of the southern portion of Palestine, making enough inroads so that he could return in a few years and occupy the land. He did return, after the conquering of the northern kingdom, to Debir. This is when he gave the land to Caleb and Caleb then went in and conquered it. This is similar to the second explanation, with the exception that (1) it readily explains the word returned; (2) and it clears up the reason why there is no mention of a re-infiltration of Anakim—that’s because they did not re-populate that area. It had not yet been conquered (there were a lot of cities left in that state when Joshua moved north). Finally, (3) it explains why Joshua did not mention that the conquering of Debir by Caleb was coterminous with the conquering given in jo 10—he did actually mention that they were the same by using the word returned. They left that general area and then they returned. Joshua topically gathered the conquering of southern Palestine together, although it was definitely not all conquered together (and this is a truth, regardless of which of the explanations you choose).

The only difficult phrase is one near the end. We have, literally, he did not leave a remnant and... then we have the mark of the direct object, the kôl entirety (which means all of, entire, the whole of), and the definite article and the feminine singular substantive n^eshâmâh (ה ָמ ָש ׃נ) [pronounced n^eshaw-MAW], which means breath; with kôl, it means every breathing thing. Strong’s #5397 BDB #675. What is important is that Joshua did this in obedience to God’s commands. He was not a blood-thirsty man; and, as most of us find, we mellow somewhat in our old age. Joshua had to do just the opposite.

In these next few verses, we have a summary of the latter half of this chapter, which takes in a great many more cities and area than was discussed in vv. 29–39. Joshua will name more of the cities which were actually conquered when it comes to the division of the property between the various tribes and families.

A note from The Amplified Bible is apropos here: Jehovah will take part in this conflict, not as an ally or an adversary, but as commander-in-chief. It is not Israel's quarrel, in which they are to ask the Divine assistance. It is the Lord's own quarrel, and Israel and Joshua are but a division in His host. The wars of Israel in Canaan are always presented by the Old Testament as "the wars of the Lord." the conquest of Canaan is too often treated as an enterprise of the Israelites, carried out with great cruelties, for which they claimed the Divine sanction. The Old Testament presents the matter in an entirely different light...Jehovah fights for His own right hand, and Israel is but a fragment of His army. “The sun stood still,” the stars in their courses fought against His foes (Ellicott’s Commentary).

The land conquered here is mentioned in part in Deut. 1:6–7: “Jehovah our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and set your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland an din the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.’ ” What God has given to the Jews is much greater than what they took. The Negev is the further southern portion of Palestine. The cities named in this chapter are all actually on the northern portion of the Negev (or, the South). Moses had promised the people: “And He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.” (Deut. 7:24).

There was a lot here left unsaid if they went down as far as Kadesh-barnea. In the cities specifically mentioned, they have traveled at best, forty miles south. Kadesh-barnea is perhaps 100–120 miles south of Gilgal. Recall that they had been encamped at Kadesh-barnea forty-some years ago and from Kadesh had attempted to enter the land from the south, and were rebuffed at Hormah (Num. 13–14 Deut. 9:23). Now they have covered a great distance moving to the south.

Gaza is on the coast of the Med, due west from almost the southernmost tip of the Dead Sea. Joshua did not conquer it himself. This is as far as he got. In fact, what will be the upshot of his conquests is that he will gain an undisputed foothold in the land, distribute the lands to the various tribes, and leave it up to each individual tribe to purify his own land. Gaza will be left to Judah, who will not conquer Gaza. From Kadesh-barnea to Gaza are the south-to-north cities on the western portion of southern Palestine.

The Bible mentions Gaza as far back as Gen. 10:19, placing it in the territory of the Canaanites. During the time of Moses, those inhabiting Gaza were called Avvim (Duet. 2:23, 19–23). We will see that the Canaanites and the Avvim are still associated with Gaza, but the controlling group was the Philistines (Joshua 13:3–4). It will be clear in the book of Judges that the Israelites did not rid themselves of the Philistines who ruled in Gaza and it is here where Sampson would be eventually imprisoned (Judges 16:21). This is also mentioned in Joshua 11:22: There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod some remained.

The land of Goshen sounds familiar because this is the area where the Israelites lived when they were in slavery to the Egyptians. Obviously, Joshua’s campaign did not extend all of the way to that Goshen. Apparently, there was some area which reminded them of Goshen, and the Israelites so named it. The NIV Study Bible the Negev is called by this name. There is a town of Goshen in the hill country which will be given to Judah (Joshua 15:51) and ZPEB places it south-southwest of Hebron by twelve miles or so. These two areas mark the south-to-north boundaries of the eastern portion of southern Palestine. Since Hebron was, during the time of Moses, almost the southern-most city which was occupied by enemy forces (which is why this is the first city that Moses invaded), the indigenous people of the land had moved quite a ways south in the past forty years.

Gibeon, as we know, is further north, between the Salt Sea and the Med; at the northernmost tip of the Salt Sea. This description is firstly a southern sweep across Palestine on up to where Joshua and his men began. This same general description of the land conquered by Joshua is given again in Joshua 11:16 where the northern portion of Palestine is added in v. 17.

What is important in this passage is the extent that Joshua and his men captured the land. It is obvious that in the previous verses, we did not got a full enumeration of all of the cities that Joshua invaded and conquered. My guess is that we got the first few and the last one, and that there were many left out.

Joshua is likely the author and he knows Who is responsible for his victories. God fought on behalf of Joshua and He fought on behalf of Israel. A more complete enumeration of the cities and kings conquered will be given later in Joshua 15. After entering the land and defeating Jericho and Ai, Joshua entered into two campaigns—he dealt with the southern portion of Palestine at the end of this chapter and he will deal with the northern portion in the next chapter. The implication is that the events of this chapter went by rather quickly, the southern campaign lasting perhaps several weeks. Although a case could be made for leaving various groups of Israelites in the southern portion of Palestine, v. 43 seems to indicate that Joshua did not. This does not mean that he did not assign certain areas to his troops, allow them to take the cities assigned to them, and then for them to connect up later and return to camp Gilgal. Joshua’s campaign in the north will take a lot more time (Joshua 11:18).

It is not stated here whether Joshua left men behind or what. It is not likely that he needed to. He has gone into many of the cities and has completely destroyed the population. In several cases, he burned the entire town down. My thinking is that this campaign of Joshua’s took a very short time, maybe seven years, and that he will send his people into the land to populate it once they have gotten their undisputed foothold of the land.

Throughout this book of Joshua, I have made mention of the Canaanites and their degeneracy, and have given reasons why Joshua exterminated almost every man, woman and child of the Land of Canaan (and with regards to those who were not killed, fault was assigned to Israel). We should formalize this now as the Doctrine of the Extermination of the Peoples of Canaan—not finished yet!!

Five kings from Lachish, Jarmuth,

Return to Joshua 10:10

Eglon, Hebron and Jerusalem

gather to attack Gibeon for

entering into an alliance

with the Israelites. The

Gibeonites go to Gilgal

to ask Joshua for his

help. Joshua and

his men make a

forced march from

Gilgal to Gibeon in one

night. The five-king alliance

is caused to retreat. The

sun remains out an

extra 12–24 hours

in order for Joshua

and his army to kill

most of the

allied army.

Return to Joshua 10:16

The five kings

escape to Makkedah,

where Joshua keeps

them confined

to a cave.

Joshua’s troop movement

Five-king alliance

Return to Joshua 10:10

One of the things which is important about this map is that the position of Gilgal as near Jordan and near Jericho makes perfect sense. The five-king alliance comes from the south, Joshua and his troops come from the east, causing the alliance to flee north-northeast. If Joshua came from the north, then this movement of retreat would make less sense. Certainly, there is the option that Joshua came from northern Gilgal (never so named in Scripture), and then attacked from the east, however, Joshua and his men did a forced, one-night march to arrive in Gibeon is quickly as possible. There is no indication that Joshua then spent any amount of time dealing with tactics. The implication of the passage is that he moved quickly from Gilgal to Gibeon and then immediately attacked. Time was of the essence. An attack from the north would simply send the enemy troops directly back from whence they came.

Joshua’s Defense of Gibeon

(Map and Text)

Map of Joshua’s Southern Kingdom Conquests

This map covers Joshua’s recorded conquest of southern Palestine. They moved south to Makkedah, where the five kings were hidden. Makkedah is midway between Lachish and Hebron, midway between the Mediterranean and the Dead Seas, half way down and across from the Dead Sea. Joshua camped against Makkedah and then conquered it (v. 28). Joshua then moves 7 miles north-northwest to attack Libnah (vv. 29–30) and then south-southwest 3 miles and conquers Lachish (vv. 31–32). Troops from allied Gezer heard of Joshua’s movement and were dispatched to help Lachish. Gezer was not in immediate danger and Horam, her king, and his men, marched almost 20 miles due south to come to assist Lachish. Joshua defeated him and all of his men (v. 33). Then Joshua and his men moved south-southeast 6–7 miles to attack and defeat Eglon (vv. 34–35). From Eglon, Joshua will move due west over 10 miles to subdue and destroy Hebron (vv. 36–37). In v. 38, we have that Joshua returned (or, turned back) to Debir. Either the geography is messed up here in the MacMillan Bible Atlas, or Joshua’s troops had gone down as far as Debir in pursuit of their enemies. Debir was not given as a part of the five-king alliance and it is about four miles south of Hebron.

∙Gezer

∙Eglon?

∙Debir

Joshua 10:29

Joshua 10:31

Joshua 10:33

Joshua 10:36

Joshua 10:38

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