Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 10:20
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, that the rest [which] remained of them entered into fenced cities.
20. the rest ] i.e. broken remnants of the fugitives.
fenced cities ] “the strengthid citees,” Wyclif, = the fortified towns of great strength and impregnable position. Comp. Num 32:17; Deu 3:5; Deu 9:1; Jos 14:12; 1Sa 6:18, &c. The fortifications of the cities of Palestine regularly fenced, consisted of one or more walls crowned with battlemented parapets, having towers at regular intervals (2Ch 32:5; Jer 31:38), on which in later times engines of war were placed, and in time of war watch was kept night and day ( Jdg 9:46-47 ; 2Ki 9:17; 2Ch 26:9; 2Ch 26:15). The earlier Egyptian fortifications consisted of a quadrangular and sometimes double wall of sun-dried brick, fifteen feet thick, and often fifty feet in height, with square towers at intervals of the same height as the walls, both crowned with a parapet, and a round-headed battlement in shape like a shield. See Smith’s Bib. Dict. 1:616.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
i.e. Joshua by the children of Israel; or the children of Israel, i.e. a party of them, by the command, direction, and encouragement of Joshua; for Joshua himself went not with them, but abode in the siege before Makkedah, Jos 10:21.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel,…. Joshua seems to have pitched his camp at Makkedah, while the rest of his army pursued the fleeing Canaanites, and when he and they were at different places:
had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed: and not to be seen in any large bodies, but scattered here and there:
that the rest [which] remained of them entered into fenced cities; to which they belonged, and which were afterwards taken, as related in the latter part of this chapter, Jos 10:28.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When the great battle and the pursuit of the enemy were ended, and such as remained had reached their fortified towns, the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace, i.e., without being attacked by anybody. “ There pointed not (a dog) its tongue against the sons of Israel, against any one ” (see at Exo 11:7). is in apposition to , and serves to define it more precisely. It is possible, however, to regard the as a copyist’s error, as Houbigant and Maurer do, in which case would be the nominative to the verb.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
20. Till they were consumed That is, utterly defeated, demoralized, and dispersed.
That the rest which remained These words and the restof this verse should be put in parentheses and rendered, And the survivors escaped from them and went into fortified cities. The sense of this passage is, therefore, well expressed by Keil: “Only a remnant of them was left, and they took refuge in the fortified cities.” The parenthesis thus qualifies the clause till they were consumed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And so it was that when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, until they were consumed, and the remnant who remained of them had entered into the walled (fenced) cities, all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua at Makkedah, in peace. None whetted his tongue against any of the children of Israel.’
At length the slaughter was over. All who had survived had by now reached their walled cities and taken refuge. There was no point in remaining there. So all the forces of Israel returned and gathered at Makkedah where Joshua had arranged to set up camp. They encountered no problems. No one sought to cause them trouble. ‘None whetted his tongue’ means that no one showed any belligerence against them (compare Exo 11:7).
The various battalions of Israelite troops had dealt with the enemy who had fled to their different cities. We are not told which one Joshua himself concentrated on, but he ensured that he was back at camp in order to welcome his victorious but exhausted troops. For ‘fenced cities’ see Jos 14:12; Jos 19:35; Num 13:28; Num 32:17; Num 32:36.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jos 10:20 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, that the rest [which] remained of them entered into fenced cities.
Ver. 20. Entered into their fenced cities. ] Which yet could not long secure them: their preservation was but a reservation.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
had made: Jos 10:10, Jos 8:24, 2Ch 13:17
fenced cities: 2Sa 20:6, Jer 8:14
Reciprocal: Jos 10:19 – suffer them Jdg 4:16 – pursued Jer 4:5 – Assemble
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 10:20-21. Joshua and the children of Israel Rather, the children of Israel, by the command of Joshua; for Joshua himself went not with them, but abode at the siege before Makkedah. And all the people returned to the camp To the body of the army, who were encamped there with Joshua, to besiege that place. In peace That is, in safety; all that detachment sent to pursue the enemies came back safe to the camp; not a man of them was lost, or so much as wounded. None moved his tongue Not only their men of war could not find their hands, but they were so confounded that they could not move their tongues to reproach any of the children of Israel, as doubtless they did when the Israelites were first repulsed and smitten at Ai: but now they were silenced as well as conquered.