Adonizedec

Adonizedec was the Amorite king of Jerusalem who organized a coalition of five Canaanite kings to attack Gibeon after it made peace with Israel, prompting Joshua's forces to march to Gibeon's defense in the battle where the sun and moon reportedly stood still (Joshua 10:1-13). His coalition was defeated and the five kings were captured, humiliated, and executed (Joshua 10:16-27). His name, meaning “lord of righteousness,” echoes the earlier Melchizedek, priest-king of the same city centuries before (Genesis 14:18), and the fourteenth-century BC Amarna letters independently show Jerusalem ruled by its own king corresponding with Egypt around this period, confirming the city's status as an established Canaanite city-state.