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THERE WERE MANY PROMOTIONS by the end of that day, as units were split and reorganized to outflank, encircle, or otherwise trap pockets of the enemy. Common soldiers became lieutenants; lieutenants became captains; and captains became marshals.
Salmon was promoted to captain, though the hundred he took command of was barely over the strength of his old fifty.
The battle of Bet-Horon (as it would later be known) degenerated into a chaotic mop-up operation, but on a strategic scale. Disorganized Coalition Forces were isolated and destroyed as quickly as possible, for all Yacov's generals worried that when the sun finally did go down, some of the enemy would certainly escape.
Alas, the sun finally did sink toward the horizon. Y'hoshua had Makkedah put to the sword, and established camp there, surrounding his temporary Command Post. The five "god-kings" were slain, hung from five trees for all Yacov's army to see, but cut down before sunset.
Like nearly everyone else, when Salmon and Othniel dragged themselves into camp, they were thirsty, hungry, utterly exhausted, and every muscle in their bodies sore. Othniel fell asleep by the fire in mid-motion of raising spoon to lips. Salmon passed out halfway through the task of removing his armor.
MAKKEDAH WAS A CONVENIENT campsite for Kalev, because it was inside his tribe's allotment of land. Just a short march to the east was Kireath-Arba, and a shorter march to the south was D'vir–named after the king whose neck Othniel stepped on. Armies of the remaining southern kingdoms had reached the safety of fortified cities like these before the Yacovim could engage them.
Kalev had explored the outskirts of Kireath-Arba long ago, during the infamous reconnaissance mission assigned by Moshe. There were better areas, to be sure: more fertile, or more picturesque. But Kalev fixated on Kireath-Arba, and was overwhelmed with the compulsion to one day make the surrounding land his home.
The trouble was, the city's strong fortifications had survived all the recent quakes, and three of the most powerful Gibborim generals had escaped behind its walls with enough giant warriors to make it an extremely difficult prize to capture. And the longer they could hide behind the walls, the more organized a fighting force they would become.
Kalev marched east the next morning, leading a weary, hungry tribe of warriors.
The elongated day had enabled Y'hoshua to annihilate the Coalition Forces of the five kings, but that had motivated the remaining heathens in the south to consolidate, redeploy, and fortify. Y'hoshua wanted to dislodge them before they could dig in too deeply, but there were just too many pockets of resistance to mop up piecemeal. He gave each of the tribes their own assignments so they could sweep and clear multiple areas simultaneously.
Kalev surrounded Kireath-Arba, cutting off all routes in and out. He sent scouts to the walls by night to see what they could and report back. Reluctantly he decided that (save for a special intervention by Hashem) the wise thing to do was besiege the city, as they would have besieged Bet-Yariq under normal circumstances. He left a few thousands to forage in the captured villages and maintain the siege while the bulk of the tribe returned to Stone Circle. He instituted a rotation plan that would ensure the troops conducting the siege were well-fed and rested.
They would have to wait it out until the three generals either surrendered, or grew too weak to defend the walls.
Other generals used similar strategies to subdue the southern kingdoms.
