The Cave at Makkedah
16 These five kings fled, and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. 17 Joshua was told, saying, “The five kings have been found, hidden in the cave at Makkedah.” 18 Joshua said, “Roll large stones to cover the cave’s entrance, and set men by it to guard them; 19 but don’t stay there. Pursue your enemies, and attack them from the rear. Don’t allow them to enter into their cities; for Yahweh your God has delivered them into your hand.” 20 When Joshua and the children of Israel had finished killing them with a very great slaughter until they were consumed, and the remnant which remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, 21 all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace. None moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. 22 Then Joshua said, “Open the cave entrance, and bring those five kings out of the cave to me.” 23 They did so, and brought those five kings out of the cave to him: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. 24 When they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who went with him, “Come near. Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” They came near, and put their feet on their necks. 25 Joshua said to them, “Don’t be afraid, nor be dismayed. Be strong and courageous, for Yahweh will do this to all your enemies against whom you fight.” 26 Afterward Joshua struck them, put them to death, and hanged them on five trees. They were hanging on the trees until the evening. 27 At the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and threw them into the cave in which they had hidden themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave, which remain to this very day.
Five kings hide in a cave and are held there while the battle finishes — and their end is staged as a lesson in courage for the chiefs who will fight on.
These five kings fled, and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah.
The men who convened the coalition run first, and the kings of five royal cities end the day underground. Joshua's field decision is a commander's: roll large stones to cover the cave's entrance, and set men by it... but don't stay there. Pursue your enemies Joshua 10:18–19. The trapped kings can wait; the fleeing armies cannot be allowed to reach their walls. The main chance is kept in view while the trophy is sealed for later — a discipline of priorities that the earlier Joshua of Ai's first assault had not yet shown Joshua 7:3.
When they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who went with him, “Come near. Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” They came near, and put their feet on their necks.
When the kings are brought out, the gesture Joshua orders is the ancient Near East's standard image of total victory — the foot on the neck, carved on monuments across that world. But the detail that matters is who does the treading: not Joshua, but the chiefs of the men of war — the field officers who will have to fight the remaining campaigns. And the words spoken over the act are the book's own charge, redistributed: don't be afraid, nor be dismayed. Be strong and courageous, for Yahweh will do this to all your enemies against whom you fight Joshua 10:25 Joshua 1:9. What God said to Joshua, Joshua now says to his officers, with the evidence under their feet. Courage in this book is transmissible, and it is transmitted by exactly this: past deliverance handled, stood on, remembered as policy for the next fear. The psalms will make the posture a promise for all God's people — every enemy eventually underfoot Psalms 110:1 Romans 16:20.
Afterward Joshua struck them, put them to death, and hanged them on five trees. They were hanging on the trees until the evening.
The executions are judicial, not vindictive — these are the kings of the ban's docket Deuteronomy 20:16–17, displayed until evening and then taken down at sundown as the law required for the hanged Deuteronomy 21:22–23, scrupulous even here. The bodies go back into the cave that hid them, sealed under great stones which remain to this very day Joshua 10:27 — the campaign's fourth cairn. Jericho's rubble, Achan's heap, Ai's gate, Makkedah's cave: the conquest is leaving a landscape of stone markers, each one holding a memory down where a question can find it Joshua 4:6–7.
held with reason What this mark means