Joshua 10:21

_AND IT WAS TOLD JOSHUA, SAYING, THE FIVE KINGS ARE FOUND HID IN A CAVE AT MAKKEDAH._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

15-27 None moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. This shows their perfect safety. The kings were called to an account, as rebels against the Israel of God. Refuges of lies will but secure for God's judgment. God punished the abominable wickedness of these kings, the measure of whose iniquity was now full. And by this public act of justice, done upon these ringleaders of the Canaanites in sin, he would possess his people with the greater dread and detestation of the sins of the nations that God cast out from before them. Here is a type and figure of Christ's victories over the powers of darkness, and of believers' victories through him. In our spiritual conflicts we must not be satisfied with obtaining some important victory. We must pursue our scattered enemies, searching out the remains of sin as they rise up in our hearts, and thus pursue the conquest. In so doing, th...

Verse Joshua 10:21. _NONE MOVED HIS TONGUE_] The whole transaction of this important day had been carried on so evidently under the direction of God that there was not the least murmuring, nor cause for it, among them, for their enemies were all discomfited. There is an expression similar to this, Exodus 11:7, on which the reader is requested to consult the note....

Joshua himself remained at Makkedah with the guards set before the cave. The other warriors would not return from the pursuit until the evening of the overthrow of the Amorites; and the execution of the kings and the capture of Makkedah itself belong, no doubt, to the day following Joshua 10:27. NONE MOVED HIS TONGUE - See the marginal reference and note....

EXPOSITION THE BATTLE OF BETH-HORON, AND THE SUBJUGATION OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE.— JOSHUA 10:1 ADONI-ZEDEC (cf. Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18). The _name_ given to the king of Jerusalem was good enough, and no doubt was a survival of earlier and purer times. In the days of Melchizedek the name corresponded to the character. JERUSALEM. Hebrew, _Jerushalaim, _with the usual dual termination. It has been generally supposed to be the same with Salem, or rather Shalem, the city of which Melehizedek was king, and this is supported by the fact t

AND ALL THE PEOPLE RETURNED TO THE CAMP TO JOSHUA AT MAKKEDAH IN PEACE,.... Sound and well, as not one killed or missing, so not one wounded, as the Vulgate Latin version, "sound and in full number:'' NONE MOVED HIS TONGUE AGAINST ANY OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; as to curse them, reproach them, and speak ill of them, for invading them, and using them in the manner they did, such was the terror that was upon them. It may be supplied, "not a dog moved" his tongue, as in Exodus 11:7; as it was with them when they came out of Egypt, so it was when they entered the land of Canaan. It seems to be a proverbial expression, as Ben Gersom observes, signifying that no harm was done to them by word or deed....

10. THE VICTORIOUS CONQUEST CHAPTER 10 _ 1. Adoni-zedec and his confederacy (Joshua 10:1)_ 2. The war (Joshua 10:7) 3. The miracle (Joshua 10:12) 4. The victory won (Joshua 10:16) 5. The five kings slain (Joshua 10:22) 6. Further conquests (Joshua 10:28) The name Jerusalem is mentioned here for the first time in the Bible. (Salem in...

DEFEAT AND DEATH OF THE FIVE KINGS. Here we have the account of the famous battle of Bethhoron. Five kings band themselves together against Gibeon; the Gibeonites send for help to Joshua, who comes upon the enemy suddenly and completely routs them. It is hardly necessary to say that the adjuration to the sun to stand still is purely poetical, and is to be compared with the words of Deborah's song, The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The compiler of this book, however, took it as an actual prayer that was really granted, as is seen from the words, So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven. Mr. Stanley Cook would omit the third line and make the fourth line part of the appeal, which would then run, Sun, stand thou still at Gibeon, and thou, moon, on the valley of Aijalon, till Yahweh (not the people) hath avenged himself on his enemies. He also gives the interesting infor...

Flight and Execution of the Five Kings 16. _But these five kings_ Here the regular historical narrative is resumed. The second stage in the flight was over. "In the lengthened day granted to Joshua's prayer" now commences the third stage. The tide of fugitives rolled on, hotly pursued by the Israelites through the pass of Lower Beth-horon to Azekah, and thence to Makkedah....

_VER._ 21. _ALL THE PEOPLE RETURNED—IN PEACE_— The LXX translate it, _safe and sound;_ the Vulgate, _unhurt, and in the same number._ That is to say, the detachments, which pursued after the runaways, returned to Joshua without any loss. The next clause Bochart and others translate, _there was not a dog that moved his tongue,_ &c. supplying the word _dog,_ and making the words a kind of proverbial phrase, synonimous to that in Exodus 11:7 as if the historian had said, that the victory of the Israelites was so complete, and so great their tranquillity after the battle, that even a dog would not have dared to bark against the Hebrews. See Hieroz. p. i. l. ii. c. 55....