Joshua 8:29

Joshua 8:29

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:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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THE KING HANGED. (Joshua 8:29)

The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide—that is, gibbeted. In ancient, and particularly Oriental wars, the chiefs, when taken prisoners, were usually executed. The Israelites were obliged, by the divine law, to put them to death. The execution of the king of Ai would tend to facilitate the conquest of the land, by striking terror into the other chiefs, and making it appear a judicial process, in which they were inflicting the vengeance of God upon His enemies.

take his carcass down . . . and raise thereon a great heap of stones—It was taken down at sunset, according to the divine command (Deuteronomy 21:23), and cast into a pit dug "at the entering of the gate," because that was the most public place. An immense cairn was raised over his grave—an ancient usage, still existing in the East, whereby is marked the sepulchre of persons whose memory is infamous.

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Joshua 8:29:**

Joshua 8:29
1 Samuel 31:3-5

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