Editing Adoni-Bezek

[[File:Adonibesek’s Limbs are Cut Off.jpg|thumb|A 15th-century depiction of Adoni-Bezek being mutilated.]]
{{Short description|Ancient Canaanite king}}
'''Adoni-Bezek,''' ({{Langx|he|אֲדֹנִי־בֶזֶק}} ''’Aḏōnī-Ḇezeq'', "lord of Bezek"), also written '''Adonibezek'''<ref>In the [[King James Version]].</ref> or '''Adoni Bezek''',<ref> In [[God's Word Translation]].</ref> was a [[Canaan]]ite [[monarch|king]] referred to in the [[Book of Judges]] ( {{bibleverse||Judges|1:4-7|NKJV}}). Previous to the occupation of Canaan by the [[Israelites]], he had subdued seventy of the kings of cities around him. The tribes of [[Tribe of Judah|Judah]] and [[Tribe of Simeon|Simeon]] attacked the Canaanites and the [[Perizzites]] at Bezek and defeated him.

The historical reality of events described in the book of Judges is the subject of ongoing dispute among scholars, who vary in their opinions about how much of the book is historical.<ref name="Webb2012">{{cite book|author=Barry G. Webb|title=The Book of Judges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wm1yCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT30|date=20 December 2012|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-1-4674-3639-7|page=30}}</ref>

==Bezek==
Some scholars propose that Bezek was near [[Gezer]]. Others suggest that the place is to be identified with [[Khirbet Ibzik]] or the nearby [[Khirbet Salhab]], while others think that "Bezek" is a corruption of "Zedek," in reference to the story of [[Adonizedek]].<ref name="Lemche2010">{{cite book|author=Niels Peter Lemche|title=The A to Z of Ancient Israel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzGtpvH_BAwC&pg=PA86|year=2010|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8108-7565-4|page=86}}</ref> Bezek appears again in {{bibleverse|1|Samuel|11:8|NKJV}} as the site where [[Saul]] assembled the Israelite armies to fight against [[Nahash of Ammon|Nahash the Ammonite]].

==Mutilation==
Adoni-Bezek, according to Judges, had removed the large toes and thumbs of kings he subjugated to render them harmless as warriors, presumably so they could no longer wield weapons or run. After [[Joshua]] had died,<ref>Bible, Judges 1:1</ref> the tribes of Judah and Simeon continued the Israelite conquest of Canaan by leading an army against this Canaanite king.<ref>Bible, Judges 1:3</ref> Employing the biblical law of "[[eye for an eye]]" they did the same to Adoni-Bezek before sending him to [[Jerusalem]] as a slave.<ref>Bible, Judges 1:6</ref> Adoni-Bezek is recorded as saying "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me."<ref>Bible, Judges 1:7 ESV</ref> According to Elicott's Commentary for English readers, "The cutting off of his thumbs would prevent him from ever again drawing a bow or wielding a sword. Romans who desired to escape conscription cut off their thumbs".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://biblehub.com/commentaries/judges/1-6.htm|title = Judges 1:6 Commentaries: But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes}}</ref>

==Later life==
According to the Book of Judges, he confessed that [[God]] had requited him for his cruelty to the seventy kings whom he had subdued. Otherwise, nothing is known of his life after his [[mutilation]].

==Comparison with Adonizedek==
According to Coggins, he is probably the same person as [[Adonizedek]] mentioned in Joshua 10 who flourished c. 1200 BC.<ref>[[Richard James Coggins]]: ''Who's Who in the Bible''. London [[Batsford]] 1981, {{ISBN|0-7134-0144-3}}</ref> While some scholars think that the story of Adoni-bezek is a variation on the story of Adonizedek,<ref name="Lemche2010" /> James Martin argues that the stories are "so dissimilar" that the Adoni-Bezek narrative is most likely not "simply a variant" of the Adonizedek narrative.<ref name="Martin1975">{{cite book|author=James D. Martin|title=The Book of Judges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iBM7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA21|date=16 October 1975|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-09768-0|page=21}}</ref> According to Joshua 10, Adonizedek was captured after taking refuge with four other rulers in a cave and put to death in the course of Joshua's campaign in Canaan. Adonibezek, on the other hand, was captured, in a campaign following Joshua's death, in his city (Judges 1).

His name is missing from the list of thirty-one city kings in [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]] 12:9-24, although he had subjugated seventy other kings in the Judge's account. It has been argued that the latter figure may not be literally true: ''The Temple Dictionary of the Bible'' (1910) stated: '"This [70] is a round number, meaning 'many'".<ref>{{cite book|last=Ewing and Thomson|first=Rev. W. and Rev. J.E.H.|title=The Temple Dictionary of the Bible|url=https://archive.org/details/thetemplediction00ewinuoft|year=1910|publisher=J.M. Dent & Son|page=[https://archive.org/details/thetemplediction00ewinuoft/page/10 10]}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=844&letter=A ''Jewish Encyclopedia'':] Adoni-Bezek
*[http://www.ccel.org/e/easton/ebd/ebd.html ''Easton's Bible Dictionary'':] Adonibezek

[[Category:Amputees]]
[[Category:Book of Judges monarchs]]
[[Category:Canaanite people]]