CHAPTER 8. THE DEFEAT OF AI AND BETHEL.
Joshua was now encouraged to go up and take Ai, and was directed as to
what method he should use. Accordingly he set an ambush on the west
side of it, and he and the rest of the army then advanced upwards
towards its gates. When the king of Ai saw them, he sa... [ Continue Reading ]
Joshua 8:2 a
‘And you will do to Ai and her king what you did to Jericho and her
king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take for a prey for
yourselves.'
The assurance was that it would be total victory. And the added
assurance was that they could now begin to accumulate wealth from the
land... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And I, and all the people who are with me, will approach the city,
and it shall be that when they come out against us, as they did the
first time, we will flee before them, and they will come out after us,
until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say,
‘They flee before us, as the... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And you will rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the
city. For YHWH your God will deliver it into your hand.”
At a signal from Joshua, made by raising his spear (verse 19) on some
high point, for which they would be on the lookout, they would then
move in and take possession of Ai. An... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And it shall be, when you have seized the city, you will set the
city on fire. You will do according to the word of YHWH. See I have
commanded you.”
Once the city was taken it was to be set on fire. This would both act
as a signal and would begin the fulfilment of YHWH's instruction to
‘devote' t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ Joshua therefore sent them out and they went to the ambush site
and settled in between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai. But
Joshua lodged that night among the people.'
So the battle plan was laid out and the first part carried out. The
men in the ambush would hopefully arrive at the appoint... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and mustered (numbered)
the people, and he and the elders of Israel went up before the people
to Ai.'
As usual he rose early. There was a hard climb and they wanted an
early start. Then the troops were mustered and set in their units.
Then Joshua and his c... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And all the people, the people of war who were with him, went up,
and drew near, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side
of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.'
The army made the ascent and camped to the north of Ai with a valley
between them and Ai. Notice the stress o... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush
between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.'
These were probably a further precaution rather than to increase the
previous ambush. It may well have been in case of an attack from
Bethel because he had recognised more clearly the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they set the people, all the host that was on the north of the
city, and their liers in wait (literally ‘their heel') who were on
the west of the city. And Joshua moved that night into the midst of
the valley.'
This probably refers to the officers putting the main army in order
ready for batt... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And so it was that when the king of Ai saw it, they hastily
stirred themselves and rose up early, and the men of the city went out
against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time (or
place') appointed, before the Arabah. But he did not know that there
was an ambush against him behind... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them,
and fled by the way of the wilderness.'
Joshua wanted them well away from their strongpoint and so he and the
army pretended to be beaten, probably after a minor skirmish, and
retreated into barren land, probably the rugged territ... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And all the people who were in the city (or Ai) were summoned
together to pursue after them, and they pursued after Joshua, and were
drawn away from the city. And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel
that did not go out after Israel, and they left the city open and
pursued after Israel.'
Josh... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And YHWH said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear in your hand
towards Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched
out the spear that he had in his hand towards the city.'
This was clearly the signal for the ambush to attack. This would not
be a signal to the ‘heel' or reinforcement... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the ambush arose quickly from their place, and they ran as
soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and
took it. And they speedily set the city on fire.'
The ambush had been there waiting hidden for over a day. They were no
doubt relieved to see the signal and acted i... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold,
the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power
(literally ‘hands') to flee this way or that way, and the people who
fled into the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.'
The word for ‘hands' is the same as in v... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And when Joshua, and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the
city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again
and slew the men of Ai.'
Once again we have the typical repetition of this kind of literature,
ensuring that the hearer gathered the important points and kept up... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the other came out of the city against them. So they were in
the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side, and
they smote them so that they let none of them remain or escape.'
Now the men of Ai and Bethel were trapped, caught in between the two
parties, and possibly the five... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.'
The general who had initially been so successful and who had finally
led to defeat not only his own men, but the men of Bethel as well, was
captured alive and brought to Joshua for him to decide how to deal
with him.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And so it was that when Israel had made an end of slaying all the
inhabitants of Ai out in the countryside, in the wilderness in which
they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword
until they were consumed, that all Israel returned to Ai and smote it
with the edge of the swo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve
eleph, even all the men of Ai.'
This figure probably included the men from Bethel. The habit of
mentioning the allies only once and then assuming their presence
occurs elsewhere. Compare Judges 3:13 in a passage which might give
the i... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For Joshua did not draw back his hand back with which he stretched
out his spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of
Ai.'
It would appear that having stretched out his spear as a signal he
then continued to hold it out as a gesture of victory, until the
victory was complete (com... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ Only the cattle, and the spoil of the city, Israel took for a prey
for themselves, in accordance with the word of YHWH which he commanded
Joshua.'
In this case the spoils were to the victors. YHWH had received the
firstfruits at Jericho. These belonged to His people. Note the
emphasis on their do... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap (a mound - ‘tel') for
ever, even a desolation to this day.'
This must have been written before the later restoration of Ai which,
if the usual site is accepted, was in the time of the Judges. But it
was not even then restored as a walled city. The much later... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the evening, and at
the going down of the sun Joshua gave a command, and they took his
carcase down from the tree and tossed it down at the entering of the
gate of the city, and raised on it a great heap of stones to this
day.'
The king of Ai was hanged... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ Then Joshua built an altar to YHWH, the God of Israel in Mount
Ebal.'
The next act of Joshua was to fulfil the command of Moses as expressed
in Deuteronomy 11:29; Deuteronomy 27:2 where God commanded the
building of an altar of unhewn stones on Mount Ebal, and the setting
up of stones on which th... [ Continue Reading ]
Joshua 8:31 A
‘As Moses the servant of YHWH had commanded the children of Israel,
as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of hewn
stones on which no man had lifted up any iron.'
Joshua was carefully carrying out the instructions that he had
received from Moses. The altar of unhe... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which
he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.'
These need not have been the same as the altar stones. The Hebrew
definite article is not specific. It can simply mean ‘on the stones
I am now talking about'. The stones would b... [ Continue Reading ]
Joshua 8:33 A.
‘And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges,
stood on this side of the Ark, and on that side, before the priests
and the Levites, who bore the Ark of the covenant of YHWH, as well the
stranger as the homeborn, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and
half of t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And afterwards he read all the words of the law, the blessings and
the cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read
not before all the assembly of the children of Israel, and the women
and the little ones and... [ Continue Reading ]