What Does Joshua 10:24 Mean?
And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the commanders of the men of war who went with him, Draw near, and set your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they drew near, and set their feet upon the necks of them.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
Here, authority is expressed by lowering other bodies: the kings’ necks become the place where Israel’s commanders plant their feet.
THE MEANING
This verse puts victory in the body: the defeated kings’ necks are under the captains’ feet. Subjection is public and physical, with the rulers forced into a posture of humiliation. The violence is direct, not abstract.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that victory can be separated from bodily humiliation: here, domination is enacted on the defeated kings’ necks.
THE ROOT
רַגְלֵיכֶם
ragleichem
GROWS FROM
רגל
r-g-l
Foot; movement on foot.
The root holds the foot and going about on foot in one word family. Here the feet are planted on the kings’ necks, making domination a bodily act; the related movement sense keeps the foot from being merely an emblem.
ALSO GROWS
regel: Foot or leg.
רֶגֶל
The body part placed on the kings’ necks shares the root with the verse’s feet.
ragal: To go about on foot; to scout or spy.
רָגַל
This verb carries the foot into movement, while the verse shows the commanders’ feet planted in a public act of subjection.
גְּשׁוּ
geshu
GROWS FROM
נגשׁ
n-g-sh
Approach; draw near.
“Draw near” in this verse is geshu. Joshua commands the captains to approach, and the verse repeats the same root when they do so. Their physical closeness comes immediately before they place their feet on the kings’ necks.
ALSO GROWS
nigash: Approached or drew near.
נִגַּשׁ
The verse repeats this root in the report that the captains came near.
lehagish: To bring near or present.
לְהַגִּישׁ
This related form extends the root from approaching to bringing something close.
THE PATTERN
Victory is pictured as dominion made visible by placing the defeated beneath the victor’s feet.
He brings the peoples down beneath us, and the nations beneath our feet.For he must govern until he sets all his enemies under his feet.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I set your enemies as a footstool for your feet.The Hebrew root רגל (regel), “foot,” appears in Joshua’s command and in the Psalm’s phrase “thy feet.” Joshua shows bodily and literally the placement of enemies beneath a ruler that the Psalm pictures as a footstool.
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