Verse 23. -
The king of Jerusalem. The names of the kings are mentioned to emphasise the significance of the action recorded in the next Terse. The LXX. has
Ὀδολλάμ again here,
10:15-27 None moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. This shows their perfect safety. The kings were called to an account, as rebels against the Israel of God. Refuges of lies will but secure for God's judgment. God punished the abominable wickedness of these kings, the measure of whose iniquity was now full. And by this public act of justice, done upon these ringleaders of the Canaanites in sin, he would possess his people with the greater dread and detestation of the sins of the nations that God cast out from before them. Here is a type and figure of Christ's victories over the powers of darkness, and of believers' victories through him. In our spiritual conflicts we must not be satisfied with obtaining some important victory. We must pursue our scattered enemies, searching out the remains of sin as they rise up in our hearts, and thus pursue the conquest. In so doing, the Lord will afford light until the warfare be accomplished.
And they did so,.... Opened the mouth "of" the cave, by rolling away the stones:
and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave; who are next mentioned by name, one by one, according to their dignity, and in the order they were brought unto him:
the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon; who are particularly named for the greater glory of the conquest, and the triumph over them.