Joshua 08
Israel Conquers Ai
8:1 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! See, I am handing over to you the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land.
Israel’s morale was crushed. Jehovah reaffirmed to Joshua that there was no reason for fear and panic. He commanded Joshua to take his whole army against Ai and he would be victorious.
8:2 Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!”
Jericho was under the חֵ֫רֶם (herem) curse, but Ai was not. If Achan would have trusted God, then he could have kept his life and received plunder.
8:3 Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai. Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night.
The whole army of Israel went to battle. God would not allow Joshua to underestimate the enemy again.
8:4 He told them, “Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city; all of you be ready!
God established the battle plans. The army was divided into thirds. One group was to set up an ambush behind the city.
8:5 I and all the troops who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them.
One third of the army would feign an attack and then retreat.
8:6 They will attack us until we have lured them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are retreating from us like before.’ We will retreat from them.
The soldiers of Ai will be overconfident and overaggressive from their last victory.
8:7 Then you rise up from your hiding place and seize the city. The Lord your God will hand it over to you.
After the Ai soldiers were drawn out of their city, the other third of the Israelite soldiers will seize the unguarded city.
8:8 When you capture the city, set it on fire. Do as the Lord says! See, I have given you orders.”
The city of Ai was to be set on fire.
8:9 Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place west of Ai, between Bethel and Ai. Joshua spent that night with the army.
The three groups went to their hiding place and slept for the night.
8:10 Bright and early the next morning Joshua gathered the army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched at the head of it to Ai.
Joshua’s diversionary army marched fifteen miles to Ai in plain sight of the enemy.
8:11 All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city. They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley.
Joshua’s diversionary army camped outside of Ai.
8:12 He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel and Ai.
Five thousand men were sent to establish an ambush attack.
8:13 The army was in position – the main army north of the city and the rear guard west of the city. That night Joshua went into the middle of the valley.
The armies were in position.
8:14 When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah. But he did not realize men were hiding behind the city.
The King of Ai wanted to attack the Israelite army immediately after their long march, hoping that they were too fatigued to fight.
8:15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be defeated by them and they retreated along the way to the desert.
Joshua feigned defeat and began his retreat.
8:16 All the reinforcements in Ai were ordered to chase them; they chased Joshua and were lured away from the city.
Ai took the bait and chased after Israel, leaving the city unguarded.
8:17 No men were left in Ai or Bethel; they all went out after Israel. They left the city wide open and chased Israel.
Every single Ai soldier left his city to pursue Israel.
8:18 The Lord told Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city over to you.” So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand.
The curved sword was a signal to the ambush team.
8:19 When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
The ambush team attacked the city and burnt it to the ground.
8:20 When the men of Ai turned around, they saw the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers.
The Ai soldiers were shocked and found themselves caught in a trap.
8:21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai. 8:22 At the same time the men who had taken the city came out to fight, and the men of Ai were trapped in the middle. The Israelites struck them down, leaving no survivors or refugees.
All of the soldiers of Ai were killed.
8:23 But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
The King of Ai was captured alive.
8:24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had chased them toward the desert (they all fell by the sword), all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it.
Israel returned and killed every man, woman and child in the city.
8:25 Twelve thousand men and women died that day, including all the men of Ai.
This was a divine genocide of about 12,000 people. Genocides can only be called by God.
8:26 Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai.
The lifted sword meant to continue the genocide until it was completed. This was a small picture of what Christ will do at His Second Coming. Christ will return and genocide all of His enemies.
8:27 But Israel did plunder the cattle and the goods of the city, in accordance with the Lord’s orders to Joshua.
Israel was allowed to gather plunder. Achan should have waited.
8:28 Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanently uninhabited mound (it remains that way to this very day).
Modern conservative scholars have claimed to have found this site. Liberals disagree, mostly out of bias. Liberals will rarely agree with archaeology which supports the biblical record. They choose to use their profession to aid the satanic world system. Satan does have his archaeologists out in the satanic world system. Those grounded in Bible doctrine will not be deceived by these charlatans.
8:29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree, leaving him exposed until evening. At sunset Joshua ordered that his corpse be taken down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and erected over it a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day).
The king of Ai was buried in the same way as Achan.
Covenant Renewal
8:30 Then Joshua built an altar for the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal,
Instead of continuing the onslaught, Joshua took his troops to Mount Ebal and built an altar to Jehovah. To the secular world, this would seem like a military blunder.
8:31 just as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded the Israelites. As described in the law scroll of Moses, it was made with uncut stones untouched by an iron tool. They offered burnt sacrifices on it and sacrificed tokens of peace.
Joshua was following the commands of Moses.
8:32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a duplicate of the law written by Moses.
Joshua inscribed the Law on stones. This could have been the whole Law, parts of Deuteronomy, or the Ten Commandments.
8:33 All the people, rulers, leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there. Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord’s servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony.
All of the Jewish people and proselytes divided themselves in half, standing in front of two opposite mountains.
8:34 Then Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the law scroll.
Joshua read aloud the blessings and cursings of the Law.
8:35 Joshua read aloud every commandment Moses had given before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, children, and resident foreigners who lived among them.
Every man, woman and child listened to the reading. There were no separate Sunday school classes for children.