A. T. CHAPMAN.
MAKKEDAH (39>; Maxnéd [in Jos 1055. 9 154 B has Μακηδάν]; Syr. Mokor; Vulg. Maceda),— A royal city of the Canaanites, situated in the
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Shephélah or lowland of Judah, mentioned (Jos 15*} with Gederoth, Beth-dagon, and Naamah in the list of cities allotted to Judah. The last three are perhaps to be identified with the modern villages of Katrah, Dajin, N@aneh, and Makkedah with el- Mughar—all lying in the vicinity of Ludd (Lydda, Diospolis) and Yebnah (Jabneel). It is mentioned ten times (Jos 10!" 1216 1531) in connexion with Joshua’s great victory in the day when the Lord fought for Israel. Makkedah is first men- tioned (Jos 1010) with Azekah as one of the two points to which the allied forces were followed by the victorious host of Israel, and they were not necessarily near each other: in the list of cities allotted to Judah they are both stated to be in the Shephélah, but Azekah is in one group of fourteen cities, while Makkedah is in another group of six- teen cities. Azekah is mentioned with Adullam, Socoh, and Jarmuth, which have all been found together about 14 miles 8.E. of Makkedah. hen the battle had reached these points, it is related (Jos 10") that Joshua returned and all Israel with him unto the camp to Gilgal, and then the narrative of the battle is resumed and other victories of Joshua recorded, and then again it is stated (v.*) that Joshua returned to Gilgal in the same words. The LXX omits(vv.! 93) all mention of the return of Joshua to Gilgal, and some vom- mentators propose that at least v. should be omitted, or even that it should be treated as part of the quotation from the Bk. of Jashar and not as pare of the narrative, so that the action of Joshua after leaving Gilgal until the taking of Makkedah is continuous, and occurred on the eat day when the sun stood still in the midst of eaven. It appears clear, however, that the passage is composite, the narrative of JE being interrupted by comments and generalizations of D? (see Driver, LOT® 108).
Joshua was in his cell at Gilgal (Jos 10°) in the plains on the east border of Jericho when he received a pressing message from the men of Gibeon, urging him to come up and save them from the kings of the Amorites. Now Gibeon was in the hill-country (present e/-Jeb), 3400 ft. above Gilgal and 10 miles distant as the crow flies, but by the rugged devious mountain passes a stiff uphill march of 16 to 18 miles. Joshua went up from Gilgal all night, he and all the pearls of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour, and coming upon the Amorites suddenly and unex- pectedly, Ee at early dawn while they still slept, Be slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the pass of the Upper and Lower Beth-horon as far as Azekah ant Makkedah, over a rough country, a distance of at least 25 miles from Gibeon as the crow flies.
It may have been somewhere in the upper portion of the pass of Beth-horon that Joshua said in the sight of all Israel, ‘Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Aijalon.’ The expression ‘upon (3) Gibeon’ rather indicates an early hour when the sun would be rising over the ridge and hills where Gibeon was situated, but Stanley (S. and P. 210) considers that the emphatic expression that the sun stayed in the midst of heaven seems intended to indicate noonday. ('n the other hand, the geographical conditions, Gibeon being to S.E. and Aijalon to S.W. of the Upper Beth-horon, would indicate some hour midway between sunrise and noon, according to the time of year; while the view also is held by many that the account of the miraculous standing still of the sun, being derived from the poetical Bk. of Jashar, is not to be considered as part of the historical narrative of the Bk. of Joshua (Speaker's Com Add. notes on Jos 10!!8, and Dillmann, im Joc.)
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MALACHI
It is evident from our present knowledge of the sur- rounding country, that if the attack of Joshua took place at early dawn, and the flight of the Amorites immediately followed, consequent on their being taken by surprise, the force of Joshua may have been at Beth-horon two hours after sunrise and at Makke- dah from eight to ten hours after sunrise, so that the circumstances related as having taken place on the great day may have occurred within the limits of an ordinary day at any time of the year.
On arrival at Makkedah, Joshua was told that the five kings of the Amorites were hid in the cave (722, so correctly RV) at Makkedah. This cave is mentioned eight times in the Bk. of Joshua always with the article as ‘the cave’; it was evidently a well-known cave close to the city Makkedah, and probably near to a grove of trees (cf. Jos 1038),
Joshua did not stop the battle tide, but, ordering great stones to be rolled to the mouth of the cave and setting a guard there, caused the pursuit to be continued until the children of Israel had made an end of slaying the enemy with great slaughter and returned to the camp αὖ Makkedah. Then the cave was opened, and the kings of the Amorites, after the ceremonial degradation, were smitten by Joshua, and were hanged on five trees until sun- down. At sunset (cf. Dt 21) the five kings were taken down off the trees and cast into the cave wherein they had been hid, and great stones were laid at the cave’s mouth.