Joshua 10:16-43

16 These five kings fled and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. 17 And it was told to Joshua, “The five kings have been found, hidden in the cave at Makkedah.” 18 And Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them, 19 but do not stay there yourselves. Pursue your enemies; attack their rear guard. Do not let them enter their cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand.” 20 When Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking them with a great blow until they were wiped out, and when the remnant that remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, 21 then all the people returned safe to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah. Not a man moved his tongue against any of the people of Israel. [i]

40 So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded. 41 And Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon. 42 And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. 43 Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. [ii]

By dividing Joshua chapter 10 into two parts we have been able to examine the challenges and lessons of the text describing the battle at Gibeon (10:1-15) and to examine some of the issues it raises for the modern reader. Now, this second portion of the chapter takes us on through the outcome of the great battle and the conquest of the southern part of the promised land.

There is an interesting connection made by the repetition of verse 15 again in verse 43. Is verse 15 out of chronological sequence? Yes. But the best explanation is to see verse 15 not as a separate sentence but as the conclusion of the quotation from the Book of Jashar that began in verse 13b. Versus 15 and 43 form the bread of the sandwich. The meat of the sandwich is the description of the conquests found in verses 16 through 42. The emphasis of the entire chapter is the miraculous nature of Israel’s victories made possible by YHWH.

THE FIVE KINGS

Last week we saw the beginning of the narrative with the formation of an alliance as a preemptive strike against Israel. Jerusalem was the most prominent of these hilltop city fortresses. It was only about 6 miles South of Gibeon and so felt the defection of the Gibeonites strongly. Hebron lay 19 miles south-southwest of Jerusalem. It was the place where the patriarchs had lived centuries earlier, where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (and their wives) lay buried, and where Joseph was eventually buried in compliance with his final request. The armies of these cities formed a coalition against Gibeon and were routed by Joshua as a result of his sudden and unexpected attack. They were destroyed by the pursuing Israelites as they fled southward.

This week we see the ending of this story with the fate of the 5 kings who led their armies against Joshua. They were routed, with many soldiers slaughtered, and they made their escape to a cave at Makkedah (10:16). What the five pagan kings hoped would be their refuge in reality will become their tomb. Joshua traps them by sealing the entrance to the cave with large stones and posting a guard. The rest of his forces continue the pursuit of the fleeing armies to prevent them from returning to their cities (10:18-19).

The human agency in this story is the Lord’s army pursuing, attacking, and preventing. They are fulfilling the divine imperatives through Joshua’s leadership. Joshua rallies his troops with the assurance that the victory they are about to pursue is already the Lord’s gift to them (10:19b). We learned that although many were killed, some escaped and “entered into the fortified cities” (10:20), which explains why those cities had to be besieged and attacked, a campaign we read about in 10:31-37.

As we work through this section of the book detailing the conquest of the land, it’s important to remember that the author expresses the conquest in sweeping terms. Those terms appear to indicate every pagan tribe or town was “wiped out” (10:20). But later comments in the book reveal that there were pockets of resistance in many areas. The conquest was always incomplete in that sense and the author will draw our attention to it as we progress. It is a major theme of Joshua’s parting address in chapters 23 and 24. By Judges 2:1-5, God declares it to be the major cause of increasing problems in the land.

With the battle against the five kings concluded, Joshua orders the cave to be opened and the five kings brought out (10:22-23). As a powerful demonstration of their total victory and the enemies’ utter subjugation, Joshua orders his commanders to put their feet on their enemies’ necks (10:24). To make your enemies your footstool is a sign of complete conquest, something attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ (Psalm 110:1; 1 Corinthians 5:24-28). Joshua uses this moment to encourage his commanders for the battles yet to come.

He exhorts his leaders to be fearless and strong, “for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight” (10:25b). As a public demonstration of the curse of God that falls upon all who rebel against him, the kings are hung on trees until sunset (10:26), as commanded in Deuteronomy 21:22-23. Even in the thrill of victory, Joshua is careful to obey God’s law. The kings are then tossed back into the cave and the cave is again sealed with rocks. So we encounter yet another pile of rocks as a stone memorial, remaining “to this very day” (10:27).

Just like the pile of stones from the Jordan were a reminder of the powerful grace that rescues and preserves (4:21-24), and the stones that buried Achan and his family were a permanent memorial to God’s righteous wrath (7:26), this cave spells out what will happen to all who set themselves against God and his purposes.

SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN ADVANCES (10:28-43)

It’s interesting to note in verse 28 that the same day in which he cornered the five kings, killed them, and hung them on trees, Joshua also took the nearby town of Makkedah. It’s almost as if he couldn’t quite sit still. He grew bored looking at five dead kings hanging on trees, so he decided to destroy a city. The remainder of the chapter tells how he then went on to subdue one southern stronghold after another.

Next in our passage is a list of the cities that were conquered during the southern campaign. Beginning with Makkedah (10:28), Joshua and his army move on to Libnah (29-30), and then to Lachish (31-32), where Horam king of Gezer unsuccessfully attempts to aid his ally (33). From Lachish they move on to Eglon (10:34-35), then to Hebron (36-37), and finally to Debir (38-39). This section of the account is structured as a chiasm, funneling down to a narrow point from which it expands back out. The narrow point of this story centers on the failed intervention of king Horam in contrast to Joshua’s successful intervention in support of the Gibeonites.

There may have been more towns and cities conquered along the way, but the author chooses to list 7 since that number speaks to the completeness of the campaign. It is also significant that Lachish, Eglon, and Hebron are listed here since each was one of the cities of the Amorite alliance formed by Adoni-zedek (10:3). Not only did their kings fall by the sword, but also their cities.

Some cities fall by a siege and some by a battle, but the outcome is always a complete victory for Israel and the apparent annihilation of all her enemies. In these battle descriptions we find a phrase we read earlier in the account of Jericho (6:17). Joshua “devoted to…destruction” the entire population of the vanquished cities.

Verses 40-43 provide a concluding summary for this unit:

The geographical precision of verse 40 indicates that having entered the land at Jericho, which is around the middle of the land viewed from north to south, and then having pressed westward, Israel now sweeps south and succeeds in subjugating and “devoting to destruction” the whole territory. These verses provide the termination of the section that began back in 9:1, when the kings beyond the Jordan gathered together to fight against Israel. This passage shows that both the land and its Canaanite rulers were conquered and after describing the events provides the explanation, “because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel” (v. 42b).[iii]

We might assume that this campaign happened at great speed and ease. But it was not like that. The outcome was never in doubt because of God’s commitment to his promises, but there was much blood, toil, sweat, and tears along the way. Reading the conclusion, it’s easy for us to underestimate or even forget the process. But this campaign likely took months to conduct.

You might also have noticed in the list of these cities there is one glaring omission. Joshua may have killed the king of Jerusalem, but he did not take the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem escaped being conquered by the Israelites. We read in Joshua 15:63 that, “But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so that the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.” In fact, Jerusalem was not taken until the time of King David, hundreds of years later (2 Samuel 5:6-7).

The chapter concludes by saying that Joshua totally subdued four regions: the hill country, the Negev (the desert area to the more distant south), the western foothills, and the mountain slopes. “Joshua subdued them from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and from the whole region of Goshen to Gibeon. All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel” (Josh. 10:41–42).

IMPLICATIONS

In Exodus 23, YHWH promised, “29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.”[iv] God had always told his people that the conquest would be gradual. Many times during this book there are reminders that there is much more to be done and that Israel can never sit back and rest on their previous victories.

Although 10:42 says the conquest happened “at one time” that does not indicate it was rapid. This was an entire campaign to deal with all the opposition in the South. But the question remains how extensive were the victories and the destruction? Chapters 11, 13, and 15 point out that while the conquest of this area was not fully complete, the author of Joshua, here in chapter 10, draws a provisional conclusion indicating that enough had been accomplished to conclude that the land was predominantly subjugated. It is a stylized summary. No significant opposition remained in the southern region.

Some scholars describe this language in Joshua as the language of conventional warfare rhetoric used in ancient near eastern literature. To us it may sound over inflated and exaggerated, but this book is not making mistakes or deliberately misleading us. The author is simply writing in the language that everyone in his day would have understood. In our day we use this kind of rhetorical structure to describe sports victories, like “slaughtering” or “annihilating” the opponent. [v]

Deuteronomy 7:2-5 supports this scholarly interpretation. In that passage there is a tension between the command and the reality:

…and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. [vi]

If the Canaanites were to be completely obliterated, why this prohibition against intermarriage or treaties? In those instances or places that the Israelites did not purge, they were to purge their idolatry. The land had to be cleaned out of its false gods. Otherwise, Israel would begin to adopt these false religions and demonic idols and risk being consecrated to destruction themselves.

The provisions of Deuteronomy 7:3-5 are made because God knows that Israel’s obedience to his covenant of works will be less than complete. God is not qualifying his command to wipe out the pagans, he is ordering a second line of action to which Israel may fall back in light of their failure to fulfill verse 2. And as the people of Israel grew in population, as God promised they would back in Exodus 23, they still fail to push all the pagans out of the land. As we read on in biblical history, we know that Israel failed to keep even the second provisional command. They began to worship the idols they were commanded to destroy.

You may recall that in Chapter 7 we discussed the concept of the herem, the curse that required its objects to be devoted to destruction. Everything in Jericho was declared herem. However that concept was worked out by the Israelites, there can be little doubt about either its moral purpose or its judicial righteousness.

Whatever its intended parameters, there can be little doubt about either its moral purpose or its judicial righteousness. The destruction was entirely righteous because the entire human race is born into the condition of sinful rebellion. That renders each person liable to the wrath of God “revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18). If we were to advocate for justice for the Canaanites, living in God’s world and created by him in his image, then destruction is the only proper verdict.

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed” (Lamentations 3:22, KJV). That for which our sinful humanity cries out is mercy, not justice. But there can be no true mercy if justice remains unsatisfied. That is what leads us to the cross of Christ, where “steadfast love and faithfulness meet” and where “righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10). On the cross, as the Lord Jesus Christ was “devoted to destruction” (the destruction WE deserve), as he carried the weight of human sin and guilt in his own body on the tree, there and there alone can the curse be lifted and mercy triumph over wrath.

We should not be shocked that a world in rebellion against its Creator seizes upon a passage such as this. Modern atheists may label the conquest as genocide or ethnic cleansing and distort the biblical account by claiming these are “bloodthirsty massacres” carried out with “xenophobic relish.” Such views are at least partly based on an unwillingness to allow any authority to sit in judgment over the sovereign self. If there is a Creator, then it would stand to reason we owe something to him and that our lives are not entirely our own, they are a gift from God, to whom we must give an account.

Terrible and brutal though they were, the judgments on Canaan were mere precursors and foreshadowing of the judgment that awaits the whole creation at the last day.

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. [vii]

That reality, pictured here in type and shadow, is the thing each atheist must deny at all costs. The Lord Jesus himself warned us to fear the greater judgment and to live now in the light of eternity:

“4 I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him![viii]”

Those willing to repent of their sin and trust entirely into him have nothing to fear from him. But those who reject him, ignore him, even hate him, will one day face a terrifying sight:

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings

[i] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jos 10:16–21.

[ii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jos 10:40–43.

[iii] Jackman, David. Joshua (Preaching the Word) (p. 167). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

[iv] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ex 23:29–30.

[v] Jackman, 168.

[vi] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Dt 7:2–5.

[vii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 20:11–15.

[viii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 12:4–5.