Joshua 6:26

This 'inspired curse' of Joshua was fulfilled, after the lapse of some six centuries, in the reign of Ahab (1 Kings 16:34). Hiel the Bethelite incurred it, being the first, apparently, to attempt a complete rebuilding and fortification of the accursed city, although informal settlements seem to have been there from the first. It is mentioned, e.g. in Joshua 18:21, as one of ten 'cities' of Benjamin, and again in the time of David (2 Samuel 10:5). Here we have another note of comparatively early date. If the writer of this passage had known of the fulfilment, he would surely have recorded it.