Joshua 10:16

"And these five kings fled, and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found, hidden in the cave at Makkedah. And Joshua said, Roll great stones to the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to keep them, but stay not ye; pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities: for Jehovah your God hath delivered them into your hand. And it came to pass when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed, and the remnant which remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel."

Here we understand that Joshua had established a temporary headquarters at Makkedah, making it highly unlikely that he returned to Gilgal until after the incident of the five kings and their execution had been completed. We have already noted Noth's ridiculous explanation of this incident of the five kings as an etiological exercise in which some "redactor" tried to explain to his generation the mystery of a big cave with large stones in front of it! Such explanations were called absurd by Sizoo (see above), and so they are.

It is especially significant here that the account is realistic, reasonable, and free from exaggeration. Woudstra pointed out that mention is made in Joshua 10:20 of escapees who successfully avoided either capture or death and were able to take refuge in their fortified cities. Such facts as this and many others evoked a comment from Woudstra that, "Such features lend credibility; this is not just an epic, or a saga. It is HISTORY."[31]

After this first decisive victory at Gibeon, the Southern Campaign continued for some time, as related in the balance of this chapter.