The Southern Campaign and Conquest of Cities

Study notes

The southern advance unfolds as a steady sequence of movements and captures in which the LORD repeatedly grants each city to Israel. At every site the army follows the same pattern of engagement and total destruction, matching the treatment already given Jericho and Libnah. One external attempt at relief from Gezer meets the same end. The closing summary gathers these actions into a single campaign that covers the hill country, the Negeb, the Shephelah, and the slopes, attributing the outcome directly to the LORD God of Israel fighting for his people. The return to Gilgal marks the completion of this phase under the same divine direction that initiated it.

What is The Southern Campaign and Conquest of Cities about?

After the defeat of the five kings who had marched against Gibeon, Joshua leads the army southward from Makkedah. The next verses follow the force as it moves from one city to the next, fighting at Libnah, then Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir. At each place the pattern repeats: the army encamps, engages the city, and the LORD gives it into Israel's hand. The king of Gezer attempts to relieve Lachish but is cut down with his troops. Every living being inside the captured cities is struck with the edge of the sword, and the same treatment is applied to their kings. The account records that these actions match what had already been done at Jericho and at Libnah. A closing summary states that Joshua struck the hill country, the Negeb, the Shephelah, and the slopes, leaving no survivor and devoting every living thing exactly as the LORD God of Israel had commanded. The campaign reaches from Kadesh-barnea as far as Gaza and includes the land of Goshen. All of it is completed in a single push because the LORD fought for Israel, after which the army returns to the camp at Gilgal. These verses therefore show how the earlier victory opens into a wider southern advance that follows the specific instructions already given for the cities of the land.

Where does this passage sit in Joshua?

The account moves directly from the execution of the five kings at Makkedah into a southward march that links one city to the next through repeated verbs of movement and combat. Joshua and all Israel with him pass from Libnah to Lachish, then from Lachish to Eglon, and later from Eglon to Hebron before returning to Debir. Each transition keeps the same phrasing, so the reader follows an unbroken line of advance rather than a set of separate raids.

The pattern of encampment, battle, and total destruction repeats at every site, yet the text varies the timing and the comparisons. Lachish falls on the second day, Eglon on the same day it is attacked, and the treatment of each king is measured against what happened at Jericho or at the city just taken. These cross-references tie the southern actions to the earlier fall of Jericho and to the just-completed handling of the five kings, showing that the same rule of devotion applies without exception.

The arrival of Horam king of Gezer interrupts the sequence only long enough for his force to be destroyed alongside the defenders of Lachish. After that interruption the march resumes, and the closing verses gather every place struck into one summary statement that names the hill country, the Negeb, the Shephelah, and the slopes. The final sentence records the return to the camp at Gilgal, marking the end of this phase of fighting.

In the larger design of the book this southern sweep stands between the victory at Gibeon and the northern coalition that gathers in chapter 11. The repeated language of total devotion and the explicit note that the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel prepare for the claim in 11:23 that the land had rest from war, while the return to Gilgal restores the army to the same base from which the Jordan crossing began.

How is the passage structured?

The verses open with a simple forward motion: Joshua and all Israel with him passed from Makkedah to Libnah and fought against Libnah. The next sentence immediately supplies the outcome, stating that the LORD also gave her into the hand of Israel together with her king. From that point the account settles into a chain of nearly identical reports. Each begins with the same subject and verb of movement, names the next city, records the encampment and battle, and then states the LORD’s gift of the city followed by the total destruction carried out with the edge of the sword.

Two small shifts interrupt the steady rhythm. At Lachish the capture occurs on the second day rather than at once. Immediately afterward Horam king of Gezer arrives to help, only to be struck down with his people until no survivor remains. The narrative then resumes the original pattern at Eglon, where the city falls on the same day, and continues without further interruption through Hebron and Debir.

After the last city the sentences widen. Joshua struck all the land—the hill country, the Negeb, the Shephelah, and the slopes—together with all their kings. The summary gathers the separate actions into one campaign and attributes the result to the LORD God of Israel fighting for Israel. The final sentence returns the army to the camp at Gilgal, closing the southern movement with the same phrase that opened the sequence of departures.

What is the historical background?

The cities named in these verses sat in the southern districts of Canaanite territory. Lachish and Eglon occupied positions in the Shephelah, the low hills that formed a buffer between the coastal plain and the higher central ridge. Hebron and Debir stood farther east in the hill country proper, while the Negeb stretched southward from Hebron toward Kadesh-barnea. The slopes mentioned in the summary likely refer to the descent toward the Jordan valley or the Dead Sea. These zones supported distinct patterns of settlement, with fortified towns controlling surrounding farmland and trade routes.

Each town operated as an independent city-state under its own king. When Horam of Gezer marched to relieve Lachish, he followed the ordinary expectation that neighboring rulers would aid one another against an outside force. The text records that Israel treated the kings of these cities in the same manner as the king of Jericho, indicating that the practice of execution after capture had already been set in the earlier campaign. The phrase “devoted her” points to the wartime custom of placing captured settlements under a ban that removed them from ordinary use and assigned their contents to destruction.

The closing statement that Joshua captured the kings and their land “in a single campaign” reflects the mobility of armies that moved rapidly between nearby strongholds rather than conducting prolonged sieges of each one. The army’s return to the camp at Gilgal shows that operations began and ended from the base established after the Jordan crossing. The repeated claim that the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel and issued the command for total devotion supplies the stated warrant for the actions taken across the listed regions.

What does this passage teach about God?

The repeated statement that the LORD gave each city into Israel's hand places divine initiative at the center of the campaign. At Libnah the LORD grants the city together with its king, and the same pattern holds at Lachish, where capture occurs on the second day. The text records that every living being inside these places is struck with the edge of the sword and that no survivor remains. These outcomes are presented not as Israel's independent achievement but as the direct result of the LORD's action in handing the cities over.

The account also stresses exact correspondence with prior instructions. The treatment of the king of Libnah matches what was done to the king of Jericho. Lachish receives the same handling as Libnah, Eglon the same as Lachish, and both Hebron and Debir follow the pattern already set at Eglon and Libnah. Verse 40 states that Joshua devoted every living thing just as the LORD God of Israel had commanded. The consistency across multiple sites therefore shows obedience to a standing divine directive rather than decisions made on the field.

The LORD's involvement extends to active defense. When the king of Gezer advances to relieve Lachish, Joshua strikes him and his people until none remain. The summary in verse 42 attributes the capture of all these kings and their land in a single campaign to the fact that the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel. Human movement from one site to the next is recorded, yet the decisive factor named is the LORD's fighting on Israel's behalf.

The closing return to the camp at Gilgal frames the entire southern sweep as a completed assignment carried out under that same divine direction. The text presents the total devotion of the cities and the absence of survivors as the concrete fulfillment of what the LORD had already required.

What are the interpretive difficulties?

The account repeats the claim that Israel left no survivor in each captured city and dealt with each king exactly as it had dealt with the king of Jericho. This uniformity raises the question of whether the writer intends to describe a single, exhaustive policy applied without exception or whether the formula serves to mark continuity with the earlier events at Jericho and Libnah. The text itself supplies no further distinctions among the cities on this point.

Horam king of Gezer appears only once, coming up to help Lachish. The narrative records that Joshua struck him and his people until none remained, yet it offers no comment on why Gezer alone attempted relief or what relation, if any, existed between Gezer and the other southern kings. Readers must decide how much weight to give this isolated intervention.

Verses 40–42 summarize the campaign across the hill country, the Negeb, the Shephelah, and the slopes, stating that Joshua left no survivor and devoted every living thing as the LORD God of Israel had commanded. The same verses locate the action from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza and as far as Gibeon. The passage does not clarify whether these boundaries mark the precise limits of every engagement or whether they describe the overall reach of the single campaign mentioned in verse 42. The text attributes the outcome to the LORD fighting for Israel but does not expand on how that divine action relates to the human movements already narrated.

The final return to the camp at Gilgal closes the southern sequence without recording any instruction or reflection given at that point. The account therefore leaves open what, if anything, the army was expected to do next with the territory now described as taken.

Notes accompany the Anselm Project Bible, an AI translation from the original languages. Tap any verse above for the committee's word-level decisions.