Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Five Canaanite kings attack the Gibeonites as deserters; but Joshua comes to their aid, puts the enemies to flight, and they are crushed by stones raining from heaven. Then, in verse 12, Joshua stops the sun and moon until he routs all the enemies. Then, in verse 22, he orders the five kings hiding in a cave to be trampled underfoot and hanged. Finally, in verse 28, he conquers several cities, after which he returns to the camp at Gilgal.
Vulgate Text: Joshua 10:1-43
1. When Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard these things, namely that Joshua had captured Ai and destroyed it (for as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he did to Ai and its king), and that the Gibeonites had deserted to Israel and were their allies, 2. he was greatly afraid. For Gibeon was a great city, and one of the royal cities, and greater than the town of Ai, and all its warriors were very strong. 3. Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, and to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia also king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying: 4. Come up to me and bring help, that we may conquer Gibeon, because it has deserted to Joshua and to the children of Israel. 5. So the five kings of the Amorites gathered and went up, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, together with their armies, and they encamped around Gibeon and attacked it. 6. But the inhabitants of the besieged city of Gibeon sent to Joshua, who was then staying in the camp at Gilgal, and said to him: Do not withdraw your hands from helping your servants; come up quickly and deliver us, and bring help: for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country have gathered against us. 7. And Joshua went up from Gilgal, and the whole army of warriors with him, very brave men. 8. And the Lord said to Joshua: Do not fear them; for I have delivered them into your hands: none of them shall be able to resist you. 9. So Joshua fell upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. 10. And the Lord threw them into confusion before Israel: and He struck them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11. And as they fled before the children of Israel and were on the descent of Beth-horon, the Lord sent upon them great stones from heaven as far as Azekah; and more died from the hailstones than the children of Israel had killed with the sword. 12. Then Joshua spoke to the Lord, on the day when He delivered the Amorite before the children of Israel, and he said before them: Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and moon, over the valley of Aijalon. 13. And the sun and moon stood still, until the nation avenged itself on its enemies. Is this not written in the book of the just? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to set for the space of one day. 14. There was no day before or after so long, the Lord obeying the voice of a man, and fighting for Israel. 15. And Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal. 16. For the five kings had fled and hidden themselves in a cave of the city of Makkedah. 17. And it was reported to Joshua that the five kings had been found hiding in a cave of the city of Makkedah. 18. And he commanded his companions and said: Roll great stones to the mouth of the cave, and set capable men to guard those enclosed; 19. but do not stop, rather pursue the enemies, and cut down the rearmost of the fugitives: and do not let them enter the defenses of their cities, whom the Lord God has delivered into your hands. 20. So when the adversaries had been slain with a great slaughter, and almost utterly consumed, those who were able to escape Israel entered the fortified cities. 21. And the whole army returned to Joshua at Makkedah, where the camp then was, safe and in full number: and no one dared to mutter against the children of Israel. 22. And Joshua commanded, saying: Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out to me the five kings who are hiding in it. 23. And the servants did as they had been commanded; and they brought out to him the five kings from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon. 24. And when they had been brought out to him, he called all the men of Israel, and said to the commanders of the army who were with him: Go and put your feet on the necks of these kings. And when they had gone and were treading on the necks of the prostrate kings, 25. he said to them again: Do not fear, nor be dismayed, be strong and courageous; for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight. 26. And Joshua struck and killed them, and hung them on five stakes, and they were hanging until evening. 27. And when the sun was setting, he commanded his companions to take them down from the gibbets. And they threw the bodies into the cave where they had hidden, and placed great stones at its mouth, which remain to this day. 28. On that same day Joshua also captured Makkedah and struck it with the edge of the sword, and killed its king and all its inhabitants: he did not leave even small remnants in it. And he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho. 29. Then he passed with all Israel from Makkedah to Libnah, and fought against it: 30. which the Lord delivered with its king into the hands of Israel; and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, and all its inhabitants; they did not leave any remnants in it. And they did to the king of Libnah as they had done to the king of Jericho. 31. From Libnah he passed to Lachish with all Israel: and having deployed the army in a circle he besieged it. 32. And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hands of Israel, and he captured it on the second day, and struck with the edge of the sword every soul that had been in it, as he had done to Libnah. 33. At that time Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish: and Joshua struck him with all his people to utter destruction. 34. And he passed from Lachish to Eglon and surrounded it, 35. and conquered it on the same day: and he struck with the edge of the sword all the souls that were in it, according to all that he had done to Lachish. 36. He also went up with all Israel from Eglon to Hebron, and fought against it: 37. he took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, its king also, and all the towns of that region, and all the souls that had dwelt in it: he left no remnants in it; as he had done to Eglon, so he did also to Hebron, consuming with the sword everything he found in it. 38. From there he turned back to Debir, 39. captured it and laid it waste: he also struck its king and all the surrounding towns with the edge of the sword: he left no remnants in it: as he had done to Hebron and Libnah and their kings, so he did to Debir and its king. 40. So Joshua struck all the hill country and the south and the lowland and Asedoth, with their kings; he left no remnants in them, but destroyed everything that could breathe, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him, 41. from Kadesh-barnea as far as Gaza. All the land of Goshen as far as Gibeon, 42. and all their kings and their territories he captured and laid waste in one campaign: for the Lord God of Israel fought for him, 43. and he returned with all Israel to the place of the camp at Gilgal.
Verse 1: Adoni-zedek King of Jerusalem
1. WHEN ADONI-ZEDEK KING OF JERUSALEM HEARD THESE THINGS — which was only two leagues or hours distant from Gibeon, and therefore its king invaded the Gibeonites, because they had gone over to the Hebrews, and because being neighbors they would open to the Hebrews the way to attack his Jerusalem. Adoni-zedek seems to have taken this name from Melchizedek, who had reigned in the same city 400 years before, and by his just laws, customs, and examples had made it the seat of tsedec, that is, justice, so that in it justice, the worship of God, and true religion would flourish. Hear Masius: In those ancient times all the kings of Jerusalem were called (as the Jews suppose) either Melchizedek or Adoni-zedek, the former meaning "king of justice," the latter "lord of justice." Whence it is conjectured that the city was first named tsedec, that is, "justice" (which its first just and holy king Melchizedek had planted there): but afterwards salem, that is, "peace," because people lived in it safely and peacefully (for the name Jebus, which was once attributed to it by the common people, I Chronicles 11:4, was proper to the inhabitants, not to the city), and then Jerusalem, and this was done either by David, as Josephus indicates, Book VII of Antiquities, chapter 3, or by some other person, by the joining or combining of the two words. For when Abraham, about to sacrifice his son in the same place, had given the place the name Adonai iire, that is, "the Lord will see" or "provide" Himself a victim, from that iire, that is, "he will provide," and the older name salem, the name Jerusalem was formed, that is, "he will provide" or "see peace," or "vision of peace." So says Masius. See what was said on Genesis 22:14.
Therefore Josephus, Book VII of the War, chapter 18, and Hegesippus, Book III, chapter 9, err in saying that Melchizedek, the city's founder, gave it this name Jerusalem, because he added to the old name salem the word hieron, that is, "sacred," on account of the temple he had built there, as if Jerusalem meant the same as hieron, that is, "the sacred temple of the city of Salem." Others with Eusebius, Book IX of Preparation, chapter 4, attribute this to Solomon, as if Jerusalem meant the same as hieron, that is, "the sacred temple of Solomon." But neither Melchizedek nor Solomon spoke Greek, but Hebrew.
Stephen of Byzantium likewise errs, in his book On Cities, asserting that the Solymi and Salem are named from the Solyma mountains, which was afterwards called Aelia from the Emperor Aelius Hadrian, its restorer.
But these names were divinely given to the city, on account of the mystery of the economy of the passion, the cross, and death to be accomplished in it, in which mystery the justice, peace, and happiness of the whole world was placed, according to that verse of Lamentations 2: "Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of the whole earth?" And Psalm 73: "But God our King before all ages has worked salvation in the midst of the earth." And Isaiah 2: "From Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." And Revelation 21:2: "I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." See Tobias, chapter 13, 11 and following, exulting in the praises of Jerusalem.
Hear Adrichomius in his Description of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem, the chosen city of God, holy and glorious, founded on the holy mountains, surpassing all cities of the world in both the eminence of its location and the favorable climate and soil, is situated in the center of the whole world and of Judea, as the hub and navel of the earth; and like a royal city among all its neighbors, it stands out as the head in a body, and with its splendid buildings it shines like the sun above all others. And it is so illustriously glorified that by a singular privilege it was once the unique place chosen by God, and was a figure not only of every faithful soul, but also of the Church of Christ militant on earth, and finally of that blessed Church triumphant in heaven. A city of perfect beauty, the joy and exultation of the whole earth." So far Adrichomius.
Finally St. Jerome, epistle 17 to Marcella, inviting her to move from Rome to Jerusalem: "In three names," he says, "it demonstrates the faith of the Trinity: it is called Jebus, Salem, and Jerusalem. The first name means trampled, the second peace, the third vision of peace. For gradually we arrive at faith, and after being trampled we are raised to the vision of peace: from this Solomon, that is, the Peaceful One, was born in it, and His place was made in peace. And in the figure of Christ, under the etymology of the city, the Lord of lords and King of kings received His name."
Verse 2: Gibeon Was a Great City
2. FOR GIBEON WAS A GREAT CITY AND ONE OF THE ROYAL CITIES. — In Hebrew, like one of the cities of the kingdom, meaning: Gibeon was one of the chief cities of the kingdom of the Canaanites. The Septuagint: one of the chief cities of the kings; Masius: as great as any of the cities of the kingdom; the Chaldean: of the kingdoms.
Verse 4: Because It Had Deserted
4. BECAUSE IT HAD DESERTED — with impunity, namely "to Joshua," as if to say: Why shall we allow this desertion of the Gibeonites from us to the Hebrews to go unpunished? Meaning: Let us punish this apostasy of theirs from us, and cut them off, lest anyone dare to imitate them and desert to the Hebrews, "because it made peace with Joshua."
Verse 9: Joshua Fell Upon Them Suddenly
9. SO JOSHUA FELL UPON THEM SUDDENLY, HAVING MARCHED ALL NIGHT FROM GILGAL — meaning: Joshua, marching all night from Gilgal, arrived at Gibeon at early dawn, and suddenly and unexpectedly fell upon the camp of the enemies besieging it, and so overwhelmed them while they were sunk in sleep, confused and terrified. Note here Joshua's new stratagem, by which through speed and a dawn attack he threw the enemy camp into confusion and overcame them. For Themistocles, the great Greek leader in battles, wisely said, "friends must be overcome by patience, enemies by speed." And Julius Caesar: "I came, I saw, I conquered," which Charles V imitated more piously when he said: "I came, I saw, Christ conquered." Hannibal was swift and ever-watchful, as was the Emperor Vespasian. See what was said on Revelation chapter 3, verse 3. So Troy was captured by the Greeks, who, as Virgil says, Aeneid II:
They invade the city, buried in sleep and wine.
Therefore at night we must be most vigilant against enemies of both body and soul. For at night demons roam about to stir up shameful, wicked, and unspeakable things. Therefore against them at nightfall, to implore the help of God and the angels, we recite Psalm 90: "He who dwells in the aid of the Most High shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven, etc. You shall not fear the terror of the night, etc. From the business that walks in darkness." The Chaldean: you shall not fear the terror of demons who walk in the night, from the death that walks in darkness.
Verse 10: At Gibeon; He Pursued Them
10. AT GIBEON — in the field of Gibeon; for they were besieging Gibeon. See the similar passage in chapter 5, verse 3.
HE PURSUED THEM — namely Israel pursued the Amorites, or God through Israel as His soldier. For the Hebrews often omit the subject of the verb and leave it to be understood and supplied from the context, as obvious to the reader.
Verse 11: Great Stones from Heaven
11. THE LORD SENT UPON THEM GREAT STONES FROM HEAVEN. — Understand hailstones. Josephus, Book V of Antiquities, chapter 2, adds thunder and lightning; therefore this storm was terrible not only with stony hail of unusual size, but also with thunder and lightning, just as the Egyptian storm had been, Exodus 9:23. Eusebius, Book V of History, chapter 5, narrates that similar assistance of lightning was sent by God to the Christian legion (which was therefore called the Thundering Legion) under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius; and Claudian narrates that the same happened to the Emperor Theodosius fighting against Eugenius, singing thus:
O man too beloved of God, for whom Aeolus pours
Armed storms from his caves, for whom the sky fights,
And the conspiring winds come at the trumpet's call.
So at Samuel's prayers God struck the Philistines with thunder, and cast them before the Hebrews to be struck, I Kings 7:10.
Verse 12: Sun, Stand Still Over Gibeon
12. THEN JOSHUA SPOKE TO THE LORD. — The Chaldean: then Joshua praised the Lord, and praising Him asked with full confidence that He would halt the sun until he obtained a complete victory over the slain enemies; and with this prayer to God having been made first, Joshua, trusting entirely in divine power and help, commanded the sun to be still and to stand. Sirach 46:4 teaches that Joshua did this out of zeal and righteous anger against the enemies of the people of God, with the Holy Spirit indeed impelling him. See here how powerful great faith in God is; but God must suggest and inspire this in us, as He inspired it in Joshua: otherwise he would have been reckless in commanding the sun to stand still. This is what Christ promised in Matthew 21:22, saying: "Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." Therefore as much as you believe and hope, so much will you receive from God. Who then would not hope for the greatest things from God, in order to receive the greatest things?
SUN, STAND STILL OVER GIBEON, AND MOON, OVER THE VALLEY OF AIJALON. — In Hebrew it reads: sun, be silent. Which R. Solomon understands of the Pythagorean harmony of the spheres, as if to say: Sun, do not sing as you usually do, but be silent and hear my voice and command, and halt your course. But this is ridiculous and futile: "Sun, be silent" means the same as "Sun, be still, do not move from your place." The Septuagint: Sun, stand at Gibeon, and moon at the valley of Elon. The sense therefore is, as if to say: I command you, O sun, in the power of Almighty God, and order you not to move, but to remain motionless and fixed opposite the cities of Gibeon and Aijalon, that you may provide light for us, until we pursue our enemies and destroy them all utterly. For the city of Aijalon was near the city of Gibeon, and between them was a valley in the middle, in which this battle was being fought. Whence it appears that on that day it was around the new moon, and the moon was in conjunction with the sun.
But the reason Joshua names the moon is not as if this were necessary to provide light for his men (for the sun alone was amply providing this from elsewhere), but because with poetic abundance he plays on the sun and moon, just as on Gibeon and Aijalon; for this verse and the two following are Hebrew rhythmic verses, apparently drawn from the Book of the Just.
Second, he names the moon to indicate that not only the sun, but also the moon and all the orbs of heaven were commanded to halt their course: for by the sun and moon, which are the noblest stars and preside over day and night, all the other heavenly stars and bodies are signified; for otherwise the halting of the moon was not required here for light or for victory; it therefore signifies that God restrained all the orbs of heaven, lest the perpetual order, regularity, and harmony among these orbs established by Him from the creation of the world be disturbed by the unequal progression of one or two, as Abulensis and Masius teach at length. A similar thing happened in Isaiah 38:8, where Isaiah at the prayers of King Hezekiah commanded the sun to go back ten degrees.
Therefore on Joshua's day there was no time in the strict sense, whose measure is the motion of the first mover (for that motion ceased on that day), but there was duration which naturally accompanies anything existing and enduring, and whose measure could be the duration of the first mover, even while it was at rest. And this duration could be measured by clocks — not sundials, but hourglasses or mechanical clocks, which being balanced run their course at a set time, and indicate each hour by their pointer or sound and stroke. In a similar way, when the motion of the sun and moon ceased, the reciprocal tide, or the ebb and flow of the sea, also ceased; for this is caused by the motion of the moon.
Verse 13: The Book of the Just
13. IS THIS NOT WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE JUST? — This book was like a catalog of saints, in which the distinguished deeds of men illustrious for faith and religion were recorded. Who wrote it and what kind it was is unknown, for it has completely perished. So Theodoret and others. See Sixtus of Siena in his Catalog of Sacred Books, reporting the various opinions of scholars about this book.
SO THE SUN STOOD STILL IN THE MIDST OF HEAVEN — that is, in the great and vast sky itself: it is a frequent Hebraism; or in our hemisphere, which is half in relation to the other hemisphere, which faces the antipodes.
AND IT DID NOT HASTEN TO SET FOR THE SPACE OF ONE DAY. — From this it seems that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still toward evening, when it was setting, and therefore Joshua feared lest the enemies escape through the impending darkness. Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue Against Trypho, thinks that this day of Joshua was thirty-six hours long. For besides the twelve natural hours, he adds twenty-four supernatural hours, during which he thinks the sun stood still. More correctly you should understand it of an artificial day; for this alone provides light, and Sirach 46:5 suggests this, saying: "One day was made as if two," meaning: A day that is usually twelve or fourteen hours long became twenty-four or twenty-eight hours. Therefore the sun stood still here for twelve or rather fourteen hours. For this battle occurred around the summer solstice, when in Judea the day is fourteen hours long.
I have said more about this halting of the sun, both literal and mystical, on Sirach 46:3, to which add tropologically: In the moon consider the knowledge of the intellect, which in this life is always less clear, and in the sun the ardor of love. These sometimes stand still without variation in contemplating and loving the one supreme good, until a man avenges himself on his enemies. For nothing so tames and consumes our imperfections as that gift of most perfect contemplation, by which a man through the Lord's grace learns to emulate the angelic spirits.
In a physical and military sense, Emperor Leo in his Tactics, in the Epilogue, number 51: "In forming a battle line," he says, "have the sun and wind at your back, and you will place both in the eyes of the enemy." The same may be said of dust, that you place it at your back and in front of the enemy, so that it flies into their eyes and blinds them, so that they cannot fight; for dust follows the wind.
Anagogically, Rupert says: In this halting of the sun is a figure of the last judgment; for when Christ comes to judge, the sun standing still, there will be a long day until He avenges Himself on His enemies. "Near is," says Zephaniah, chapter 1, "the great day of the Lord, a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and anguish, a day of calamity and misery." Indeed after the day of judgment all motion of the heavens will cease, and the sun, moon, and stars will remain in the same place forever, as theologians teach.
Allegorically, Joshua here was a type of Jesus Christ. "For just as when the Prophet (Joshua) was fighting the sun stood still, so when our Savior was dissolving death by His death, the sun at midday restrained its rays and filled the earth with darkness," says Theodoret, Question 15. Finally the Hebrews, on account of this halting of the sun obtained by Joshua, engraved the sun on his tomb as a perpetual memorial of so great a miracle, because he had been the one who stopped the sun, and like the sun had been vigilant night and day; for "wars stand firm under a vigilant commander," about which I will speak again at the last chapter, verse 30.
Verse 14: No Day Before or After So Long
14. THERE WAS NO DAY BEFORE OR AFTER SO LONG. — For the day of Hezekiah prolonged by Isaiah was only fifteen hours. For Isaiah added five hours to the ten hours of the day; but this day of Joshua was twenty-eight hours. For Joshua added another fourteen hours to the fourteen hours of the day. See what was said on Sirach 46:5, and Isaiah 38:8.
THE LORD OBEYING THE VOICE OF A MAN, AND FIGHTING FOR ISRAEL. — It is a prodigy that God obeys man, just as God obeyed Joshua asking Him to halt the sun, because Joshua in all things obeyed God. Do you want God to hear you? Hear God, and obey Him; so He will make all things He has created obey you, and will as it were communicate His omnipotence to you. For it is written: "He will do the will of those who fear Him." So St. Dominic used to say that he obtained from God whatever he asked of Him. Even now holy men experience the same. "From which it is understood that God obeys the prayers of His servants, and opportunely directs His creatures to meet their needs," says the Author of On the Wonders of Sacred Scripture, in St. Augustine, volume III, Book II, chapter 4.
St. Bernard marvels that God born of the Virgin obeyed her as a son; but it is more marvelous that God obeyed Joshua. For Christ obeyed His mother, not as God, but as man and son, but here God as God obeyed Joshua. O prodigy, O wonder, O condescension never heard of in heaven or on earth, that the Creator obeys the creature, God obeys man! St. Bernard exclaims: Blush, O dust: God humbles Himself, and you exalt yourself. Blush, O ashes: God obeys man, and you obey neither man nor God!
So the holy Joshua commands the heavens, and as a king lays down laws for them, and by his voice and command alone, as with reins, marvelously restrains and bridles the sun and moon in their mid-course. So the saints command life and death, heaven and hell, when they raise the dead, and by converting souls destined for hell transfer them to heaven. For the one whom the Creator obeys, Angels, demons, men, and all creatures must likewise obey. See here how great is the power of prayer, which makes God obey us. Hence Jacob, wrestling with God in prayer and overcoming Him who willed it, was called "Israel," that is, "ruling over God," Genesis 32:28. Therefore the one who prays to God becomes Israel, and prevails over God. See what was said on James 5:16 and following.
Verse 15: Joshua Returned to Gilgal
15. AND JOSHUA RETURNED WITH ALL ISRAEL TO THE CAMP AT GILGAL. — "He returned," that is, when the battle was completely finished, in which God miraculously fought for Israel by halting the sun, until all the enemies were slain, as was told above. This verse is placed here by anticipation and is interjected as if in a parenthesis; for it should properly be placed at the last verse of the chapter. So Masius; or more plainly and more connectedly with the following verse, meaning: "He returned," that is, Joshua was beginning to return, because the five kings, the leaders of the enemy, had fled and seemed to have escaped; for they had hidden themselves in the cave of Makkedah: and when Joshua heard this, he turned back, and ordered the cave to be guarded, until his men pursued and killed the rest of their followers, as follows. Hence Vatablus translates: and Joshua was preparing for the return.
Verse 16: They Had Fled
16. FOR THEY HAD FLED — according to the sense already given. Masius and others translate: but they had fled, so that this verse is connected with verse 13, and verse 14 is inserted as a parenthesis.
Verse 19: Pursue the Enemies
19. PURSUE THE ENEMIES. — Hear what Emperor Leo decrees in his Tactics, chapter 20, number 202, about pursuing fleeing enemies: "When a victory has been granted to you by God, do not immediately pursue them in a turbulent and confused manner, but while pursuing take care lest they turn back and attack you again: for an unbridled and intemperate pursuit makes those who are pursuing vulnerable to attack." And Vegetius, Book III, last chapter: "He who, with his troops scattered, rashly pursues, wants to give to the adversary the victory he had received." Hence Joshua here orders that the whole wedge of the Hebrews pursue the enemies.
Verse 21: At Makkedah Where the Camp Was
21. AT MAKKEDAH WHERE THE CAMP THEN WAS. — For Joshua had ordered his men to guard the five kings hidden in Makkedah, and to set up camp there, while one part of the army pursued and killed the fleeing enemy, and after accomplishing this returned to the rest at Makkedah. "The camp" here therefore means the greater and more fortified portion of the army. Then from Makkedah, after the five kings were killed, they returned to the original and full camp situated at Gilgal, as is clear from the last verse.
AND NO ONE DARED TO MUTTER AGAINST THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. — In Hebrew: no one sharpened his tongue against the children of Israel. Masius: not even a dog would have sharpened his tongue against any of the children of Israel, meaning: Israel suffered no harm, and was formidable to all surrounding nations; therefore no one dared to bark at it, not even a dog, an animal otherwise supremely irritable, but to be feared for its teeth, not its tongue; for dogs that bark much with their tongue hardly bite with their teeth. It is a proverb.
Verse 24: Put Your Feet on the Necks of These Kings
24. PUT YOUR FEET ON THE NECKS OF THESE KINGS. — This was not the act of an insolent spirit, or one elated by victory. For Joshua knew well that saying of Aristides, volume II, oration 2 On Peace: "The honorable use of victory brings no less praise than the victory itself." He therefore ordered his men to tread on the necks of the kings, first, to add confidence and courage to his men for conquering the remaining kings of the Canaanites, and to show that God fulfills the promises made through Moses, Deuteronomy 33, last verse, where it says: "Your enemies shall deny you, and you shall tread upon their necks."
Second, to exact deserved punishments from the most impious tyrants.
Third, to further alienate his men from their unspeakable crimes and from association with the wicked Canaanites, inasmuch as they saw them both trodden down by God's vengeance and by Joshua's sentence, killed, and after killing displayed on crosses.
Allegorically: "This was not cruelty, but kindness," says Origen, homily 11, "signifying the sacrament of Christ, which the Lord Jesus, first foreshadowed by the son of Nun through individual cities, now in truth fulfills through individual souls of believers: so that those which were possessed by the worst kings, according to the prince of this world, He might deign to make, after those kings were expelled and destroyed, a dwelling of faith and a temple of the Holy Spirit."
Symbolically St. Jerome, Book I Against Jovinian, takes the five kings to mean the five senses, which reign in man, but are overcome by Jesus fighting. "It is signified," he says, "that before the Lord led His people out of Egypt and circumcised them, sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch had reigned, and all things had been subject to them as to princes, whom Jesus, when they fled to the cave of the body and entered the dark place, that is, the body itself, killed, so that they were killed through that through which they had previously reigned."
Verse 31: From Libnah He Passed to Lachish
31. FROM LIBNAH HE PASSED TO LACHISH. — See how Joshua wisely uses his victory, and after the kings are slain captures all the terrified cities and sweeps through like a thunderbolt. Hannibal sinned in this matter; for if after slaying the Romans at Lake Trasimene he had marched on Rome, he would have captured it. Hence it was said of him: "Hannibal knows how to win, but he does not know how to use victory."
Verse 37: He Captured Hebron
37. HE CAPTURED IT. — Therefore Joshua captured Hebron, but only in passing. Hence some giants occupied it again, whom Caleb afterwards destroyed in the same city, as is clear from chapter 15:14, about which see the following chapter, verse 21.
AND HE STRUCK WITH THE EDGE OF THE SWORD — that is, with the blade of the sword; which the French say, au fil de l'epee. By this phrase it is signified that all were slaughtered by the sword; for what the mouth is to a man, the edge is to a sword. For just as a man devours the food he touches with his mouth, so a sword consumes whatever it strikes with its edge.
ITS KING ALSO — namely he had already struck him with the sword before, and had hung the slain king on a gibbet, as he said in verse 26. For he repeats the king's slaying, because he is recounting the general destruction inflicted on his city Hebron, although the king was slain not in Hebron, but in Makkedah.
Verse 40: Asedoth; Everything That Could Breathe
40. HE STRUCK, ETC. ASEDOTH. — So it should be read with the Roman edition, not Aseoth. Likewise the Septuagint retained the Hebrew name as a proper name of the region, both here and in chapter 12:8, and chapter 13:20; and Eusebius in Hebrew Places also asserts that Asedoth is a proper name of a city. Masius however and others take this name not as a proper name but as a common noun, and translate it as "outpourings," that is, sloping areas and valleys, where mountains or hills stretch out and pour into valleys and plains. Our translator, Deuteronomy 4:27, translates it as "the roots of the mountain," and Numbers 21:45, translates it as "crags" that extend and pour themselves into the river.
HE KILLED EVERYTHING THAT COULD BREATHE. — In Hebrew: every soul, that is, every human being who enjoyed breath and life, "he killed:" for that the cattle were not slain but driven away as plunder is clear from the following chapter, verse 14. For God never commanded the cattle to be killed except at Jericho, chapter 6:21, because it was declared anathema. So Abulensis, Question 98.
Verse 41: From Kadesh-barnea as Far as Gaza
41. FROM KADESH-BARNEA AS FAR AS GAZA. — See here the courage, success, speed, and victories of Joshua, by which like a thunderbolt sweeping over he overthrew and subdued everything, however well fortified, such as Gaza, the strongest city of the Philistines, so much so that Alexander the Great besieged it for two months before capturing it, as Diodorus testifies, Book 17. Hence it received its name from strength. For Gaza in Hebrew is Azza, or Gaza (for they often pronounce the letter ain as g). However, this name was confirmed for a different reason by Cambyses, son of Cyrus, which Pomponius Mela recounts, Book I, chapter 11: "In Palestine," he says, "there is the immense and very well fortified Gaza. So the Persians call their treasury. And the name comes from the fact that when Cambyses was heading to Egypt with his army, he had brought his war resources and money here," so that in Gaza, as the most fortified place, it would be safest. Hence shortly after Joshua's passage, the giants recovered Gaza, and made it more fortified, as is narrated in the following chapter, verse 22.