Joshua 10:28, commentary and pictures

On that day Joshua took Makkedah and smote its king and all the people therein with the edge of the sword, letting none remain alive.
The souls destroyed there were the inhabitants themselves, the whole persons and living creatures, not life alone and not a separate inner or disembodied part of man.
Souls are therefore mortal and can be slain, killed and utterly destroyed with the sword, showing the soul is not inherently immortal, deathless or able to live consciously apart from the body.
That thorough work belonged to Israel's victories won with the Captain of Jehovah's hosts present in contrast to defeat at Ai through failure to trust, and sparing those peoples would have perverted mercy by leaving them to spread their kind.

Conquest at Makkedah

The book to which the taking of Makkedah belongs was largely written by Joshua himself. His name means saviour, even as Jesus does in Greek, and he was one of the two of his generation who wholly followed the Lord through the forty years of temptation and wilderness. He entered upon his greatest work at about eighty years of age, leading Israel through the Jordan, dividing the land among them, and setting them in a fair way to conquer all foes and find the promised rest. The victory at Makkedah was part of that work of victory done with the Captain of Jehovah's hosts present with him, showing what trust brought in contrast to the defeat at Ai when Israel failed to trust. Had such faithfulness continued Israel would soon have possessed the land, but after Jericho came general backsliding that brought captivity again and again and years lived in adversity instead of prosperity.

The conquest of Makkedah stands among Israel's battles against several small kingdoms. To have spared the peoples of those kingdoms would have been a perversion of mercy, because they would have continued to spread the same kind of people. Joshua took Makkedah and smote its king and all therein with the edge of the sword and let none remain, showing thoroughness in doing the assigned work of conquering Canaan. He never counted the day won while a single enemy breathed, and that same thoroughness that took the whole land is the pattern for fighting until freedom from school debts is complete and not one debt is left remaining.

Soul Is Mortal Person

The souls in Makkedah were the people themselves who were in the city, and to destroy or smite the souls means those inhabitants including the king were killed with the edge of the sword with none left alive. The account in Joshua 10:28-39 uses souls for the people who lived in the conquered cities, whom Joshua destroyed. Soul here means the whole person, the entire man, the whole being and living creature. It does not mean merely life, nor a separate part of man, a separate inner man, a separate man within a man, a disembodied intangible entity, or a deathless part existing apart from the body.

Souls are therefore mortal and can be slain, killed, smitten and utterly destroyed with the sword. The verse is evidence that the soul is not inherently immortal, deathless, undying or never-dying, and the whole person is mortal. The word is used over and over in the chapter for persons, proving its primary meaning is person, the whole being, the whole creature, a living person. That meaning includes both man and beast and is still used today. This proves the souls underneath the altar are persons who died for their faith upon the earth.

In the original the term is dead soul, and a soul can be lifeless and dead. Adam was a lifeless soul before the breath of life was breathed into him and became a living soul afterward. This puts the verse under the first meaning of soul as person, the whole man, distinct from soul as life common to man and beast and soul as emotions, mind and mental capacities. The soul is never said to be immortal or capable of conscious existence apart from man.