Joshua 10:17

Jos 10:17 And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found hid in a cave at Makkedah.

Ver. 17. In a cave at Makkedah.] In the confines and country adjacent, and belonging to this city.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. in a cave] “lurkinge in the spelunk,” Wyclif; in one of the numerous limestone caves, with which the district abounds, though the article here, both in the Hebrew and the LXX., seems to intimate that it was a well-known cave, overshadowed probably by a grove of trees (comp. Jos_10:26). Many such caves, large and dry, and often branching out into chambers, are found in the lime and chalk rocks of Palestine. Comp. (i) the cave in which Lot dwelt after the destruction of Sodom (Gen_19:30); (ii) the cave at Rimmon (Jdg_20:47), which could contain six hundred men in its spacious recess; (iii) David’s cave of Adullam, where he concealed “his brethren, and all his father’s house” (1Sa_22:1); (iv) the cave of Engedi, which Saul entered, and in the sides of which “David and his men remained” (1Sa_24:3); (v) Obadiah’s cave, in which he concealed “an hundred prophets” (1Ki_18:4). “The caves of Syria and Palestine are still used, either occasionally or permanently, as habitations.… The shepherds near Hebron leave their villages in the summer to dwell in caves and ruins, in order to be nearer to their flocks and fields. Almost all the habitations at Om-keis, Gadara, are caves.” See Smith’s Bible Dict. Art. Caves.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Joshua said, roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave,.... To keep the kings in, that they might not make their escape, until he had convenient time to have them brought before him, and be treated by him as they deserved; and no doubt there were plenty of stones about the hill or mountain, in which this cave was, fit for this purpose:

and set men by it for to keep them; as a guard upon them, to prevent their escape.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

City, or territory. (Calmet) --- The kings had sought their own safety in flight, leaving their people to make their escape as well as they could. But their cowardly behaviour only brought upon them a more dishonourable death. Josue and some of the forces stopped in the environs of Maceda, while the rest pursued after the fugitives, and slew all that had not strength to enter the fenced cities. (Haydock) --- Then all the army assembled round their leader, took Maceda, and completed the victory of that most memorable day, by the ignominious death of the five kings. (Calmet) --- God permitted some to escape, lest the land should be overrun with wild beasts; (Exodus xxiii. 29,) and to instruct us that his children must suffer tribulation, to prevent the growth of vice. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).