And Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
A Canaanite king runs from a lost battle. Israel's men catch him and, instead of killing him, cripple his hands and feet. Two questions follow: why this punishment, and why did Israel choose it when God had commanded something else?
His name is a title, and it ends up describing what happened to him.
In Bezek they find Adoni-bezek. They chase him down and maim him, carrying out God's judgment on him for the same kind of cruelties he had inflicted on others. He himself admits this is what it is. That is a remarkable witness to Israel of how and why God was against the Canaanites, and that He whose judgments they were carrying out was over all. His name goes with the lesson. Bezek means "fettered," and so were these armies that they destroyed. Adoni-bezek means "lord of Bezek," no doubt his chief city, but the name also means, literally, "a lord in fetters." So it is with the freest man when he stands against God, and with the mightiest man in His hand.
The mutilation looks arbitrary until you see what it took from a soldier.
In ancient times people fully recognised the special place and usefulness of the thumb of the hand and the big toe of the foot. The Bible tells us about a great king, Adoni-bezek. He lost a battle, and as he tried to escape they caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes... Without thumbs and big toes a warrior could not fight, and getting away from the enemy became very hard.
The punishment fit the crime, but it did not fit God's command.
The allies seize Adoni-bezek and "cut off his thumbs and his big toes" (v. 6). This was not what God had commanded long ago. It was not what Joshua did to the kings of Jericho, Ai, Jerusalem and Makkedah, or to all the kings of the mountain and the plain. To mutilate the enemy was simply human retaliation. Adoni-bezek had done the same to humble his own enemies. He kept them at his court, because their presence added to his glory as conqueror.
Another writer explains why maiming could never be enough.
They captured its king, Adoni-Bezek ("lord of Bezek") as he fled. God had ordered them to put him to death, but they compromised and cut off his thumbs and big toes (vv. 5-6). He had done the same to 70 kings whom he had brought under his rule, and now he says that God has repaid him in kind... God had decreed his death because of the demon worship these Canaanites had given themselves up to. Maiming this wicked king would not stamp out that demon influence. These things teach us to show no mercy to sin. We are to "put to death what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Col. 3:5). Yet Adoni-Bezek died, so God intervened to carry out the proper sentence against him.
Half-measures at the start of the book set the pattern for everything that follows.
It is only a partial mutilation of an enemy instead of his absolute destruction. As you go on you find everything done in part only. At first they simply put the enemy to flight. Then they can no longer do even that, and they only drive the enemy into the mountain strongholds to live there alone. Then you find, a little further on, that they are not able to do even that; they actually make the enemies of God pay them tribute. The next step shows no power even for this: they live among them. Last of all, they cannot drive them out of the rich valleys, the choice pastures. The children of Israel have to live in the mountains, and the enemy has the best of all the land. What a progress that is!
The maimed king had his own explanation for what had happened to him.
Such treatment of a fallen foe seems both unchivalrous and cruel, but the reason for it is not hidden from us: as he had treated others, so was he treated. He immediately acknowledges the justice of his punishment, and in that state of self-judgment is brought to Jerusalem.
Notice who he credits for it — not Judah, and not bad luck.
Note this. Adoni-bezek went through the ordeal of having his thumbs and his big toes cut off, which left him badly crippled. He traced what had happened to him back to God: "as I have done, so God has repaid me." The boomerang he had often thrown at others had hit himself. It is always so.
- Lord in fetters — his name meant "lord of Bezek," and Bezek means "fettered." The mightiest man becomes a captive once he stands against God.
- Boomerang — he had crippled seventy kings. The weapon he threw at others came back on him, and he named God as the one repaying him.
- Compromise — God had ordered death. Israel cut off thumbs and toes instead: human retaliation in place of obedience.
- Half-measures fail — maiming leaves the evil alive. Sin in us needs the same treatment: put it to death, do not just disable it.
- The slide — this half-job starts a long decline. Israel first routs the enemy, then only taxes them, then lives among them, and ends up in the hills while the enemy keeps the best land.
And Adoni-Bezek said, Seventy kings, with their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gleaned under my table as I have done, so God has requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
Adoni-bezek was a Canaanite king, caught as he fled. His only recorded words are a confession: his punishment matched his own cruelty to seventy other kings. The verse raises two hard questions at once — was God behind this, and was Israel right to do it?
The striking thing is not the cruelty but who names God in it.
Adoni-bezek went through the ordeal of having his thumbs and his great toes cut off. It left him badly crippled. Yet he traced what had happened to him back to God — "God has repaid me." The boomerang he had often thrown at others had struck him. This is always so.
Why the thumbs and big toes? They were what a fighting man needed most:
In ancient times people knew well the special place and usefulness of the thumb of the hand and the big toe of the foot… Without thumbs and big toes a warrior could not fight, and escape from the enemy would be extremely difficult.
One commentator answers a long-standing charge against God with the words of a Canaanite himself.
Adoni-Bezek suffers the same treatment that he in his wickedness had given to others. Unbelievers have often found fault with the extermination of the Canaanites. The confession of Adoni-Bezek answers these objections: "As I have done, so God has repaid me." Their punishment was just and well deserved.
Judah and Simeon were not only winning a war. One commentator finds a witness to Israel in the whole scene, down to the king's name.
They pursue and maim him, carrying out God's judgment on him for cruelties of this same kind inflicted on others. He himself admits this is what it is. It was a remarkable witness to Israel of how and why God was against the Canaanites. It also showed that the One whose judgments they were carrying out was over all. His name goes with the lesson. Bezek means "fettered," and so were the hosts they destroyed. Adonibezek means "lord of Bezek," which was his chief city — but the name also means "a lord in fetters." So it is with the freest of men when they oppose God, and with the mightiest, in His hand.
Not everyone reads Israel's action as obedience. One writer calls the maiming a human choice, not God's command. He also finds the beaten king more open than God's own people.
This was not what God commanded long ago… To mutilate the enemy was nothing more than human retaliation. Adoni-bezek had likewise used this way of humbling his enemies. But he kept them at his court, since their presence added to his glory as conqueror. We see similar things in the history of the church. How often she has made a display of past victories to exalt herself in her own eyes and in the eyes of others. The conscience of a humbled enemy is often more open than that of the people of God in prosperity.
Another writer sees a compromise. Judah settled for less than God had ordered, and God finished what Israel left half done.
Instead of putting him to death, as God had ordered, they compromised by cutting off his thumbs and big toes. His own words in verse 7 are his condemnation… God had decreed this death because of the demon worship these Canaanites had given themselves over to. Maiming the ungodly king would never stamp out that demon influence. These things teach us that we are to show no mercy to sin… Yet Adoni-Bezek died, so God stepped in to carry out the proper sentence against him.
They take him to Jerusalem to die. That city's own history shows the same rule.
In the history of Jerusalem and its people we see that stern law shown, and it will be shown again: "whatever one sows, that will he also reap."… Such treatment of a fallen enemy seems both dishonourable and cruel. But the reason for it is not hidden from us: as he had treated others, so he was treated. He admits at once that his punishment is just. In that state of self-judgment they bring him to Jerusalem.
- Sown — Seventy maimed kings under his table were seed; the harvest came back to the sower's own hands and feet.
- Owned — He names God as the one repaying him. The condemned man agrees with his own sentence.
- Answered — A Canaanite king's own words answer the charge that God was unjust to the Canaanites.
- Fettered — "Lord of Bezek" ends as a lord in fetters. The freest and mightiest man is still in God's hand when he sets himself against Him.
- Half-done — Commentators differ on Judah's part: human retaliation, or a compromise short of God's order. Both warn that a maimed enemy left alive is no finished victory.