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Joshua 10:10

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon - Multitudes of them fell in the onset; after which they fled, and the Israelites pursued them by the way of Beth-horon. There were two cities of this name, the upper and lower, both in the tribe of Ephraim, and built by Sherah, the daughter of Ephraim, 1 Chronicles 7:24. The situation of these two cities is not exactly known.

To Azekah, and unto Makkedah - These two cities were in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:35-41.

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

Beth-horon - The two places of this name, the upper and the lower Beth-horon (marginal reference), are identified with the villages Beit-ur el Foka (the upper) and Beit-ur et Tahta (the lower): Beit-ur being probably a corruption of Beth-horon. The name itself (“house of caves”) points to the exceedingly rocky character of the district. Upper Beth-horon was between six and seven miles west of Gibeon; and “the way that goeth up to Beth-horon” must accordingly be the hilly road which leads from Gibeon to it. Between the two Beth-horons is a steep pass, “the going down to Beth-horon” Joshua 10:11; and here the Amorites were crushed by the hailstones. The main road from Jerusalem and the Jordan valley to the seacoast lay through the pass of Beth-horon; and, accordingly, both the Beth-horons were secured by Solomon with strong fortifications 2 Chronicles 8:5. It was in this pass that Judas Maccabaeus routed the Syrians under Seron (2 Kings 19:35.

Azekah, which has not been as yet certainly identified, was in the hill country, between the mountains around Gibeon and the plain (see the marginal reference). It was fortified by Rehoboam 2 Chronicles 11:9 and besieged by the Babylonians Jeremiah 34:7 shortly before the captivity. It was an inhabited city after the return from the exile Nehemiah 11:30.

Makkedah - The exact site of this town is uncertain. It was situated in the plain between the mountains and the line of seacoast which the Philistines held Joshua 15:41, and no great way northeast of Libnab Joshua 12:15-16. (Warren (Conder) identifies it with the modern el Mughhar, a village on the south side of the valley of Torek.)

Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
The meanest and most feeble, who have just begun to trust the Lord, are as much entitled to be protected as those who have long and faithfully been his servants. It is our duty to defend the afflicted, who, like the Gibeonites, are brought into trouble on our account, or for the sake of the gospel. Joshua would not forsake his new vassals. How much less shall our true Joshua fail those who trust in Him! We may be wanting in our trust, but our trust never can want success. Yet God's promises are not to slacken and do away, but to quicken and encourage our endeavours. Notice the great faith of Joshua, and the power of God answering it by the miraculous staying of the sun, that the day of Israel's victories might be made longer. Joshua acted on this occasion by impulse on his mind from the Spirit of God. It was not necessary that Joshua should speak, or the miracle be recorded, according to the modern terms of astronomy. The sun appeared to the Israelites over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Ajalon, and there they appeared to be stopped on their course for one whole day. Is any thing too hard for the Lord? forms a sufficient answer to ten thousand difficulties, which objectors have in every age started against the truth of God as revealed in his written word. Proclamation was hereby made to the neighbouring nations, Behold the works of the Lord, and say, What nation is there so great as Israel, who has God so nigh unto them?
Ellen G. White
Patriarchs and Prophets, 506-9

Great was the indignation of the Israelites as they learned the deception that had been practiced upon them. And this was heightened when, after three days’ journey, they reached the cities of the Gibeonites, near the center of the land. “All the congregation murmured against the princes;” but the latter refused to break the treaty, though secured by fraud, because they had “sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel.” “And the children of Israel smote them not.” The Gibeonites had pledged themselves to renounce idolatry, and accept the worship of Jehovah; and the preservation of their lives was not a violation of God's command to destroy the idolatrous Canaanites. Hence the Hebrews had not by their oath pledged themselves to commit sin. And though the oath had been secured by deception, it was not to be disregarded. The obligation to which one's word is pledged—if it do not bind him to perform a wrong act—should be held sacred. No consideration of gain, of revenge, or of self-interest can in any way affect the inviolability of an oath or pledge. “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord.” Proverbs 12:22. He that “shall ascend into the hill of the Lord,” and “stand in His holy place,” is “he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” Psalm 24:3; 15:4. PP 506.1

The Gibeonites were permitted to live, but were attached as bondmen to the sanctuary, to perform all menial services. “Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord.” These conditions they gratefully accepted, conscious that they had been at fault, and glad to purchase life on any terms. “Behold, we are in thine hand,” they said to Joshua; “as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.” For centuries their descendants were connected with the service of the sanctuary. PP 506.2

The territory of the Gibeonites comprised four cities. The people were not under the rule of a king, but were governed by elders, or senators. Gibeon, the most important of their towns, “was a great city, as one of the royal cities,” “and all the men thereof were mighty.” It is a striking evidence of the terror with which the Israelites had inspired the inhabitants of Canaan, that the people of such a city should have resorted to so humiliating an expedient to save their lives. PP 506.3

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