and it happened about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out; where the men went I don't know: pursue after them quickly; for you will overtake them.
"And it was told the king of Jericho   ..." At that time, and until about the 9th century, kings, even of extensive areas were called after the name of their capital.  In Jonah, for example, the king of Assyria is referred to as "the king of Nineveh."  Such designations are a mark of very great antiquity, and such signs compel us to look at the age of Moses and Joshua as the period when all of these first O.T. books were written. Palestine at the time of the conquest by Israel had about thirty-two such kinglets over that many little kingdoms.