and they took it on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword; and all the souls who were therein he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.
"But beyond inflicting immediate loss, this campaign achieved little else by itself-it was a sweep, not an occupation: ’Joshua returned and all Israel with him, to the camp, to Gilgal’ (Joshua 10:15; Joshua 10:43). Occupation of the land, to live in it, keep livestock and cultivate crops in it, etc., was a far slower process, visible in part later in Joshua and in Judges." [Note: Kitchen, p. 89.] 