And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron ,.... Which lay in the hill country, and therefore they are said to go up to it from Eglon, which lay lower; and, according to Bunting F7 Ibid. (Travels of the Patriarchs, &c.; p. 96.) , it was sixteen miles from it: and they fought against it ; it making some resistance at first, and did not surrender at once, as demanded. read more
And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword , and the king thereof ,.... For though the king of Hebron was one of the kings that were taken in the cave of Makkedah, and hanged; yet before Joshua came up to it, they had set up another king over them: and all the cities thereof ; for Hebron was a metropolitan city, and had other cities dependent on it, and subject to it: and all the souls that were therein ; both in Hebron, and in the cities subject to it: he... read more
And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir ,.... A city, according to Kimchi, which he passed by when he went to Hebron, and did not fight against it; but, when he had taken Hebron, returned and took it; and which Bunting F8 Travels of the Patriarchs, &c.; p. 96. says was but a mile from it, and twenty two miles from Jerusalem, towards the south; it is the same with Kirjathsepher and Kirjathsannah, Joshua 15:15 ; the city of a book or books; and the Rabbins say F9 ... read more
And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof ,.... For this also was a royal city, and had others dependent on it; and therefore must lie further from Hebron than before suggested; and indeed Burchard F11 Apud Masium in loc. says it was five or six miles from it, and another writer F12 Fuller's Pisgah Sight of Palestine, B. 2. c. 13. p. 276. says ten miles: and they smote them with the edge of the sword ; the inhabitants of Debir, and the other cities... read more
So Joshua smote all the country of the hills and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings ,.... That part of the land of Canaan which lay southward, and consisted of hills and vales; which abounded with springs, and was a well watered country, and agrees with the description Moses gives of it, though he never saw it, Deuteronomy 8:7 , he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed ; that is, all human creatures; for as for the cattle, they... read more
And Joshua smote them, from Kadeshbarnea ,.... Which lay to the south of the land of Canaan, Numbers 13:17 , even unto Gaza , which lay to the southwest, and was one of the five principalities of the Philistines; of which city See Gill on Amos 1:7 ; and See Gill on Acts 8:26 , and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon ; to which he returned back in his way to his camp at Gilgal, having conquered all the southern part of the country. This country of Goshen is not that in... read more
And all these kings, and their land, did Joshua take at one time ,.... Not in one day, but in a very short time, in a few days, as the history clearly shows: because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel ; which is the true reason of such quick dispatch being made, otherwise in all probability much longer time must have been consumed in subduing them. The Targum is,"because the Lord God of Israel fought by his Word for Israel.' read more
And Joshua returned ,.... After all these kings and their cities had been taken by him, and not before; though the same is said, Joshua 10:15 , before the history of those facts; See Gill on Joshua 10:15 , and all Israel with him to the camp in Gilgal ; where the body of the people were left, and where was the tabernacle of the Lord; and no doubt he and Israel with him gave public praise and thanksgiving there for the signal victories they had obtained over the Canaanites. read more
That day Joshua took Makkedah - It is very possible that Makkedah was taken on the evening of the same day in which the miraculous solstice took place; but as to the other cities mentioned in this chapter, they certainly were subdued some days after, as it is not possible that an army, exhausted as this must have been with a whole night's march, and two days' hard fighting, could have proceeded farther than Makkedah that night; the other cities were successively taken in the... read more
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John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 10:35
And they took it on that day ,.... The same day they encamped about it and besieged it; the besieged finding they were not able to keep it: and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein he utterly destroyed that day ; made an utter devastation of all its inhabitants: according to all that he had done to Lachish ; the last city he took; this having no king as that had not, its king being one of the five that had been hanged, Joshua 10:26 . read more