מלכים א, פרק ט״ז, פסוק ל״ד

After generations of lying in ruins under an ancient and severe curse, the city of Jericho is brazenly rebuilt. This act of defiance occurs during a period of deep spiritual decline under the rule of King Ahab of Israel. At the time, Ahab was heavily involved in idolatry, yet divine punishment seemed inexplicably delayed. This apparent lack of consequences led many to doubt divine providence and dismiss the warnings of the prophets. Hiel, the man who undertook the rebuilding, applied his own flawed logic to the situation: if the warnings of Moses—that idolatry would bring drought—were not materializing in Ahab's days, then surely the curse of Joshua, who was merely Moses' student, would also fail to come to pass [מלבי״ם, אלשיך]. Furthermore, this tragedy is recorded during Ahab's reign to illustrate that negative events naturally unfold during the era of wicked leaders [רש״י, חומת אנך].

Although Jericho was located within the territory of Benjamin in the neighboring Kingdom of Judah, the event is specifically tied to Ahab's era to highlight the king's profound stubbornness. Even as he watched the ancient curse tragically unfold before his very eyes, Ahab learned nothing, refused to fear God, and simply continued on his wicked path [מצודת דוד, רלב״ג, אברבנאל]. As for Hiel himself, the primary approach among commentators is that his title indicates he hailed from the city of Bethel [רש״י, מצודת דוד, רד״ק, רלב״ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ, אברבנאל]. However, others interpret the title as a derogatory term rooted in the word for an oath or curse, reflecting how he recklessly challenged and brought Joshua's curse upon his own head [רש״י, רד״ק, חומת אנך, אברבנאל]. In a desperate attempt to outsmart this fate, Hiel even slightly altered the name of the city, believing that a new name would allow him to escape the decree, but he was terribly mistaken [חומת אנך]. Ultimately, Hiel himself met a tragic end when he was fatally bitten by a snake [חומת אנך].

The original ban only forbade the actual reconstruction of Jericho; once the city was rebuilt, living in it was no longer prohibited [רד״ק]. Yet the process of rebuilding triggered a gradual and agonizing fulfillment of the prophecy. At the very beginning of the project, as Hiel laid the city's foundations, his firstborn son died. Rather than recognizing this as a clear divine warning, Hiel stubbornly attributed the tragedy to mere chance and pressed on with the construction. As the building progressed, he buried his middle sons one by one [רש״י, מצודת דוד, רלב״ג, מלבי״ם, אלשיך, אברבנאל]. Finally, as he completed the work and set the city doors in place, his youngest son died [מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This chilling sequence of events confirmed that God fully supported the ban originally imposed by Joshua and executed it exactly as promised [חומת אנך, ביאור שטיינזלץ].