Or, “the hornets,” or, “hornets.” In the Hebrew the form is identical with that found in Ex. 23:28 and Deut. 7:20, where God promised to send the hornets before His people to subdue the land. Now Joshua said that God had sent the hornets before His people and had driven out the two kings of the Amorites. The earlier record of this conquest states that these kings and their peoples had been smitten with the sword of Israel (Num. 21:24, 35). It seems clear that the signal victory over these kings was not due to the skill of the sword and bow, but rather to the special blessing of God. Hornets, then, seem to be figurative of the assistance God provided to give success to the armies of Israel. The figure is appropriate. As hornets would produce consternation and panic in a camp, so the Lord would send fear, terror, quaking, and confusion into the camp of the nations to unnerve them for battle (see Deut. 2:25; Joshua 2:11).

 Some see in these hornets the Egyptians whom the Lord used to weaken Canaanitish nations so as to make them as easy prey to the Israelites (see on Ex. 23:28).