MrMacSon wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 3:04 am
Joshua 8:
29
καὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῆς Γαι ἐκρέμασεν ἐπὶ ξύλου
διδύμου
And the. King
....of
. Ai
.he
.hung
. upon tree
twofold/
double
.καὶ ἦν
. ἐπὶ
.τοῦ ξύλου ἕως [καιρού της] ἑσπέρας
And he was.on the tree until [the.time.of.the] evening
. καὶ
. ἐπιδύνοντος
.τοῦ ἡλίου συνέταξεν Ἰησοῦς καὶ καθείλοσαν τὸ αὐτοῦ σῶμα ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου
And at
.the
.setting
.of the sun Joshua gave orders
and they
.lowered
...his body
..from
.the
. tree
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lxx/jos/8/1/s_195001 and
https://studybible.info/interlinear/Joshua%208
διδύμου is the genitive singular form of
δίδυμος (dídymos)
And
δίδυμος means either
- double, twofold; or
- twin
So, what does 'ξύλου διδύμου' mean here ?
καὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῆς Γαι ἐκρέμασεν ἐπὶ . ξύλου διδύμου
And the. King ....of. Ai .he*.hung. upon [a] twofold/double tree
- 'he' being Joshua ie. Joshua hung the King of Ai upon a tree
Based on 8:25 etc it appears that "twelve thousand" died in the sack of the city of Ai, and this includes all the residents they could catch, probably including the king. It does not explicitly say that the king of Ai was alive at the time he was strung up, or died before the evening when he was taken down. That he must have been dead by the time he is removed from the twin wood/tree is clear, as they threw his body into the cesspool outside the city, then heaped stones on him to mark the spot.
My first impression is that, here, ξύλου διδύμου refers to a tree root that had two trunks, a "Y" shape. We have a tree like this in our backyard. If this is correct, this would suggest that Joshua had found a prominent tree of this nature, and the body of the king of Ai was strung up on it as a public display for Joshua's enemies to see that Joshua and his God had prevailed.
It could simply mean that this "tree/wood" was two stakes from the same log, "twin stakes." Then I would think of an "X" or "I I" shaped display apparatus.
Either interpretation is feasible, but a lack of alternate descriptions of this same event do not exist (I think), which makes it impossible to choose one, the other, or a third explanation.
Unfortunately, the same problem exists in NT research when it comes to Jesus Christ.
DCH