Joshua 10:29

All Israel. The expression is not to be pressed in a literal sense. "All Israel" is simply equivalent to "all his disposable troops." Libnah . This belonged to the lowlands of Palestine. See note on Joshua 9:1 ; also Joshua 15:42 . It became a Levitical city. It revolted from Judah in the reign of Joram ( 2 Kings 8:22 ). It seems to have returned to its allegiance, since we find it not included in the conquest of Israel by Shalmaneser, while, on the other hand, it undergoes a siege among the fenced cities of Judah ( 2 Kings 18:13 ; 2 Kings 19:8 ). The cause (see Blunt 'Undesigned Coincidences,' part 2:27) of this return is not far to seek. The Levites cast off the authority of Joram "because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers" ( 2 Chronicles 21:10 , 2 Chronicles 21:11 ). It probably remained independent—for it was not likely to have joined itself to Israel, either from geographical position or religious principles—until the accession of Joash terminated the connection between the royal house of Judah and the descendants of the wicked Ahab. Libnah, or the white city, has been identified with Tell es Safieh, the Blanche Garde of the Crusaders. See Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 207, 258. Lieut. Conder, however, supposes it to have been Eleutheropolis, now Beit Jibrin, and Capt. Warren believes he has found it at Ibna. Vanclevelde suggests yet another site. But Lieut. Conder's description of the hill on which Tell es Safieh stands as "a white precipice of many hundred feet", would account for the name Libnah.