Joshua 10:22

"All the men of Israel ..." (Joshua 10:24). The purpose of this ceremony of placing their feet upon the necks of the kings was no doubt designed to encourage the whole people. It was certainly commendable that Joshua should have assigned his chief leaders to enact this ceremony instead of taking the honor unto himself, as most of the military leaders of that era would surely have done. One may see many examples of this type of ceremony in the sculptures and artistic depictions frequently uncovered by the excavations of the archeologist. "It serves here as a token of encouragement, symbolizing what the Lord will do to all the enemies of Israel (See Psalms 110:1)."[32]

"Hanged them on five trees ..." (Joshua 10:26). This action was for the purpose of instilling fear into the hearts of all his enemies. One of the important aspects of this terrible execution was that their bodies were not allowed to remain hanging on the trees after sundown, reflecting the instructions of Deuteronomy 21:22-23. Every word of Deuteronomy was well known to all of Israel and, as we have seen, to the peoples of the Canaanites as well. Rahab the harlot, the Gibeonites, and all the rest of the proscribed peoples knew perfectly well what God had commanded regarding both Israel and themselves. In this light, the prior existence of the whole Pentateuch appears absolutely certain. As Plummer noted, Joshua strictly observed the law in this action of taking down the bodies before sundown; "and this law is to be found only in Deuteronomy. It is from minute details of this kind, which escape the superficial observer, that the authenticity of the Book of Deuteronomy is established."[33]

Several commentators have pointed out that the words `unto this very day,' which conclude this paragraph do not convey the meaning that any considerable time at all had passed before this passage was written. In fact Keil even translated the words, thus: "They cast them into the cave where they had been hid, and where they had placed great stones until that very day."[34] Plummer favored that rendition and pointed out that the passage refers to an interval of several days between the confinement of the kings in the cave and the day of their execution, in which case, "that very day" would be a reference to the day of their death. The etiological supposition with reference to this phrase is in no sense applicable.