Makkedah

Five kings run for a cave, and Joshua has stones rolled across its mouth. That is the scene at Makkedah, a town in the southern lowland where Israel’s battle against an alliance of Amorite kings ends in Joshua 10. The army pursues the rest, then returns to camp “in peace.” Joshua calls his captains to put their feet on the kings’ necks and says, “Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage.” The kings are then executed and hung on trees until evening. It is a hard passage, told plainly, and the account runs through the second half of Joshua 10.

14 verses

Joshua

Joshua 10:5

Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.

Joshua 10:16

But these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah.

Joshua 10:17

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

Joshua 10:18

And Joshua said, Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them:

Joshua 10:19

And stay ye not, but pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities: for the LORD your God hath delivered them into your hand.

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.

Joshua 10:21

And all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.

Joshua 10:22

Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave.

Joshua 10:23

And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

Joshua 10:24

And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.

Joshua 10:25

And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.

Joshua 10:26

And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening.

Joshua 10:27

And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave's mouth, which remain until this very day.

Joshua 10:28

And that day Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Herdsman’s place, one of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh. 12:16), near which was a cave where the five kings who had confederated against Israel sought refuge (10:10-29). They were put to death by Joshua, who afterwards suspended their bodies upon five trees. It has been identified with the modern village called Sumeil, standing on a low hill about 7 miles to the north-west of Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin), where are ancient remains and a great cave. The Palestine Exploration surveyors have, however, identified it with el-Mughar, or “the caves,” 3 miles from Jabneh and 2 1/2 southwest of Ekron, because, they say, “at this site only of all possible sites for Makkedah in the Palestine plain do caves still exist.” (See ADONI-ZEDEC.)

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(place of shepherds), a place memorable in the annals of the conquest of Canaan as the scene of the execution by Joshua of the five confederate kings, (Joshua 10:10-50) who had hidden themselves in a cave at this place. (It was a royal city of the Canaanites, in the plains of Judah. Conder identifies it with the modern el-Moghar , 25 miles northwest of Jerusalem, where are two caves large enough to contain five men each. Schaff says that "one cave has, curiously enough, five loculi rudely scooped in its side, and an enthusiast might contend that this was the very place of sepulchre of the five kings."-ED.)