At sunset Joshua gave the order and they took them down from the poles and threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. At the mouth of the cave they placed large rocks, which are there to this day. – Joshua 10:27

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 6, 2019): Joshua 10

The movie Braveheart (spoiler alert if you have not watched the 1995 movie) ends with the death of William Wallace. The 2018 Netflix movie “The Outlaw King” basically continues the Scottish tale by telling the story of what happens next. The historical William Wallace was executed on August 23, 1305. But that does not end the tale of William Wallace. Wallace was hung, but not killed. He was cut down early so that he would still be alive when his bowels were removed from his body. His intestines were then burned in front of him. Wallace was then beheaded, and his head was dipped in tar to preserve it so that it could be displayed on top of London Bridge. His body was cut into four sections and immediately sent out to the four corners of the land. This kind of action was not unheard of in ancient time and was often done as a warning to any others who might be inclined to take up a revolution against the crown.

We don’t know how long the various parts of William Wallace’s dead body were displayed, but we can assume that they were not removed quickly. Wallace’s tar dipped head was on top of London Bridge for a relatively long period. We know this because on September 8, 1306, just over a year after the execution of William Wallace, Wallace’s colleague and friend Simon Fraser was executed and his head was dipped in tar and placed beside that of William Wallace at the top of London Bridge.

Executing an enemy and then displaying the body was not an unknown action in the ancient world. It was a way of sending a message to your enemies. And that message, as was true in the case of William Wallace and Simon Fraser, was “don’t rebel and fight against us, because we will not react with mercy.” The intent was to drive so much fear into the enemy so that they acquiesced to the demands of the dominant party. And often the heads and bodies were left on display while the flesh decayed off of the bones.

While Joshua executes the five kings and displays their bodies on poles, by the norms of the day, he refuses to leave the bodies on the poles past sundown. (Compare this to the head of William Wallace displayed on London Bridge for more than a year, and likely much longer.) Experts look at this and make the argument, as they should, that Joshua was trying to keep the letter of the law. And it is Deuteronomy contains this prohibition:

If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

But that brings us into a different argument. Some have argued that the Book of Deuteronomy is actually of late origin, written or compiled later in the monarchy, possibly during the reign of King Josiah (640 to 609 B.C.E.). But the instruction not to leave the executed body of an enemy on display passed sundown is only found in Deuteronomy, and Joshua seems to have knowledge of the instruction. All of which supports the belief that Deuteronomy is of early origin, and that the book is made up of the final sermons of Moses, something of which Joshua would have been well aware.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 11