约书亚记 8:29

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

他又把艾城的王懸在樹上，直到黃昏的時候；日落的時候，約書亞吩咐人把屍體從樹上拿下來，丟在城門口那裡，又在屍體上堆起了一大堆石頭，這堆石頭一直存到今日。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
又 将 艾 城 王 挂 在 树 上 ， 直 到 晚 上 。 日 落 的 时 候 ， 约 书 亚 吩 咐 人 把 尸 首 从 树 上 取 下 来 ， 丢 在 城 门 口 ， 在 尸 首 上 堆 成 一 大 堆 石 头 ， 直 存 到 今 日 。

Contextual Overview

²³ the king of Ai, and they brought him to Joshua. ²⁴ During the fighting the army of Israel chased the men of Ai into the fields and desert and killed all of them. Then they went back to Ai and killed everyone there. ²⁵ All the people of Ai died that day, twelve thousand men and women. ²⁶ Joshua had held his spear toward Ai, as a sign to destroy the city, and did not draw it back until all the people of Ai were destroyed. ²⁷ The people of Israel kept for themselves the animals and the other things the people of Ai had owned, as the Lord had commanded Joshua to do. ²⁸ Then Joshua burned the city of Ai and made it a pile of ruins. And it is still like that today. ²⁹ Joshua hanged the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset Joshua told his men to take the king's body down from the tree and to throw it down at the city gate. Then they covered it with a pile of rocks, which is still there today.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the king: The kings of Canaan lay under the same curse as their subjects and probably were more deeply criminal. The reserving of the king of Ai for a solemn execution, would tend to strike terror into the other kings, contribute to the success of Israel, and give their proceedings the stamp of a judicial process, and of executing the vengeance of God upon his enemies. Joshua 10:26-28, Joshua 10:30, Joshua 10:33, Deuteronomy 21:22, Deuteronomy 21:23, Esther 7:10, Psalms 107:40, Psalms 110:5, Acts 12:23, Revelation 19:17, Revelation 19:18

as soon: Joshua 10:27

a great heap: Joshua 7:26, 2 Samuel 18:17

Reciprocal: Genesis 40:19 - hang thee Joshua 8:2 - do to Ai Joshua 8:23 - General Joshua 10:29 - Libnah Joshua 12:9 - Ai 2 Samuel 21:6 - hang Esther 2:23 - hanged

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide,.... By way of terror to other kings in the land of Canaan, that should refuse to submit unto him:

and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree; according to the law in

Deuteronomy 21:23; and that the land might not be defiled:

and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city; this was done, according to Ben Gersom and Abarbinel, that it might be publicly known to the rest of the kings of the nations, that they might be afraid to fight with Israel:

and raise thereon a great heap of stones, [that remaineth] unto this day; as a sepulchral monument, showing that there was a person lay interred there; whether there was any inscription on the stone, showing who he was, does not appear; it looks as if it was only a rude heap of stones; and such kind of sepulchral monuments were common in former times in other countries.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare Deuteronomy 21:22-23 notes.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 29. The king of Ai he hanged on a tree — He had gone out at the head of his men, and had been taken prisoner, Joshua 8:23; and the battle being over, he was ordered to be hanged, probably after having been strangled, or in some way deprived of life, as in the case mentioned Joshua 10:26, for in those times it was not customary to hang people alive.

As soon as the sun was down — It was not lawful to let the bodies remain all night upon the tree. See the note on Deuteronomy 21:23. The Septuagint say the king of Ai was hanged επι ξυλον διδυμον, upon a double tree, which probably means a forked tree, or something in the form of a cross. The tree on which criminals were hanged among the Romans was called arbor infelix, and lignum infelix, the unfortunate, ill-fated, or accursed tree.

Raise thereon a great heap of stones — This was a common custom through all antiquity in every country, as we have already seen in the case of Achan, Joshua 7:20.