Joshua 8:29

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27 ^aOnly the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He had ^bcommanded Joshua.

28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it ^aa heap forever, a desolation to this day.

29 ^aAnd the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. ^bAnd as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and ^craise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

Joshua Renews the Covenant

30 Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel ^ain Mount Ebal,

31 as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: ^a“an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And ^bthey offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.

32 And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, ^ahe wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

33 Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, ^awho bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ^bthe stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, ^cas Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.

34 And afterward ^ahe read all the words of the law, ^bthe blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the ^cBook of the Law.

35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, ^awith the women, the little ones, ^band the strangers who were living among them.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Joshua 8:29

The king of Ai he hanged on a tree - He had gone out at the head of his men, and had been taken prisoner, Joshua 8:23; and the battle being over, he was ordered to be hanged, probably after having been strangled, or in some way deprived of life, as in the case mentioned Joshua 10:26, for in those times it was not customary to hang people alive.

As soon as the sun was down - It was not lawful to let the bodies remain all night upon the tree. See the note on Deuteronomy 21:23. The Septuagint say the king of Ai was hanged , upon a double tree, which probably means a forked tree, or something in the form of a cross. The tree on which criminals were hanged among the Romans was called arbor infelix , and lignum infelix , the unfortunate, ill-fated, or accursed tree.

Raise thereon a great heap of stones - This was a common custom through all antiquity in every country, as we have already seen in the case of Achan, Joshua 7:20.

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