Joshua 10:37
And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls that were therein.
Joshua 10:37 records the capture of Hebron in Israel's conquest to possess the promised land, when its king and all its towns and every person in them were struck with the sword and utterly destroyed with none left alive, as had been done to Eglon. The souls destroyed there mean the people themselves, the whole men and living beings dwelling in the city and its villages with the king. Soul here means the whole person and living creature, body and life together, the same as when man became a living soul. It therefore shows that the soul is mortal and can be killed and destroyed by men with the sword until none remain alive, and not a deathless inner part that lives on apart from the body after death. The word behind soul is the Hebrew nephesh, which is never rendered spirit, and its destruction proves immortality is not affirmed of it.
Conquest and Destruction
The capture recorded here was part of Joshua's conquest of the land in Israel's effort to possess the promised land. The city was taken and struck with the edge of the sword, together with its king and all its towns and all the souls within them. None were left remaining, but all were destroyed utterly, according to all that had been done to Eglon.
The city taken was Hebron, and its ruler and its inhabitants were slain. The king struck there was not another of the five kings who had fought alongside Hoham. When those five left their cities to join the battle they had left rulers in their place, and those rulers became the kings of the cities after the five were killed. This belongs to the account of battles in which Israel conquered several kingdoms. The people of those kingdoms were not spared, because allowing them to continue would have perpetuated the same evil.
Soul Means Mortal Person
The souls in the city and its villages, together with the king, are the people living there, persons and whole men, lives and every living being found in the place. All who lived in the city were struck down and destroyed, with none left remaining alive. The same is said of those slain in the conquest connected with Debir and of those of Eglon, whose inhabitants were killed so that none remained. All the souls destroyed means all the persons destroyed in the cities.
More precisely, soul here means the whole person and the entire man, the whole being and creature, a living person and living creature, the life and the body. It is the same use as when man became a living soul. The souls therein are the persons therein, and the repeated statements about all the souls in the taken cities mean all the persons in them. The souls smitten with the sword were whole persons put to death.
A soul in this sense is mortal and liable to be killed and destroyed by men with the sword. Souls can die and become dead and lifeless, and can be utterly destroyed with none remaining alive. Joshua utterly destroyed them that day with the sword and left none remaining.
The soul here is not an immortal, deathless, undying, separate inner part breathed into the body. It does not survive apart from the body, live on after the body dies, continue in sentient existence apart from man, or escape annihilation, for it is a living soul only when the breath of life is present. In the original the souls smitten with the sword are described as dead souls, which proves a soul can be lifeless and dead. The Hebrew word behind soul in the verse is nephesh, the same word behind soul in the Old Testament, which is never rendered spirit, and its destruction proves immortality is not affirmed of it.
Thoroughness as Example
The words about leaving none remaining reveal remarkable thoroughness in the conquest of Canaan. They mean the day was never counted as won while a single enemy still breathed, but the fighting was kept up until the enemies were consumed and all that breathed was destroyed. It was that same thorough spirit that refused to quit until the work was done and sought a day of double length in order to finish destroying the Amorites. That refusal to stop short is an example to follow by sticking to the work of freeing schools from debt until every debt is gone and not one remains.