Joshua 8:29

29 And he hanged the king of Gai on a gallows; and he remained on the tree till evening: and when the sun went down, Joshua gave charge, and they took down his body from the tree, and cast it into a pit, and they set over him a heap of stones until this day.

Joshua 8:29 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:29

And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide
By way of terror to other kings in the land of Canaan, that should refuse to submit unto him:

and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should
take his carcass down from the tree;
according to the law in ( Deuteronomy 21:23 ) ; and that the land might not be defiled:

and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city;
this was done, according to Ben Gersom and Abarbinel, that it might be publicly known to the rest of the kings of the nations, that they might be afraid to fight with Israel:

and raise thereon a great heap of stones, [that remaineth] unto this
day;
as a sepulchral monument, showing that there was a person lay interred there; whether there was any inscription on the stone, showing who he was, does not appear; it looks as if it was only a rude heap of stones; and such kind of sepulchral monuments were common in former times in other countries.

Joshua 8:29 In-Context

27 Beside the spoils that were in the city, all things which the children of Israel took as spoil for themselves according to the command of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Joshua.
28 And Joshua burnt the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap for ever, to this day.
29 And he hanged the king of Gai on a gallows; and he remained on the tree till evening: and when the sun went down, Joshua gave charge, and they took down his body from the tree, and cast it into a pit, and they set over him a heap of stones until this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in mount Gaebal,
31 as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, on which iron had not been lifted up; and he offered there whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord, and a peace-offering.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. double tree.
  • [b]. the pit or trench. For vv. 30-35, see chap. 8. 2.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.