Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
Verse 29. He had the king of Ai hanged upon a tree, i.e., put to death, and then
suspended upon a stake (see Num 25:4) until the evening; but at sunset he had him
taken down (in accordance with Deut 21:22-23), and thrown at the entrance of the
town-gate, and a heap of stones piled upon him (as in the case of Achan, Josh 7:26).
Joshua 8:30-35
Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
Blessings and Curses upon Gerizim and Ebal. - After the capture of Ai, Israel had
gained so firm a footing in Canaan that Joshua was able to carry out the instructions
of Moses in Deut 27, that, after crossing the Jordan, he was to build an altar upon
Mount Ebal for the setting up the covenant. The fulfilment of these instructions,
according to the meaning of this solemn act, as a symbolical setting up of the law of
the Lord to be the invariable rule of life to the people of Israel in the land of Canaan
(see at Deut 27), was not only a practical expression of thanksgiving on the part of
the covenant nation for its entrance into this land through the almighty assistance of
its God, but also a practical acknowledgement, that in the overthrow of the
Canaanites thus far it had received a strong pledge of the conquest of the foes that
still remained and the capture of the whole of the promised land, provided only it
persevered in covenant faithfulness towards the Lord its God. The account of this
transaction is attached, it is true, to the conquest of Ai by the introduction, "Then
Joshua built," etc. (v. 30); but simply as an occurrence which had no logical
connection with the conquest of Canaan and the defeat of its kings.
The particle 'aaz (OT:227) ( sequ. imperf. ) is used, for example, in cases where the
historian either wishes to
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