Joshua 8:19

19 The men in ambush jumped up quickly from their place; the moment he stretched out his hand, they ran, entered the city and captured it; and they hurried to set the city on fire.

Joshua 8:19 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:19

And the ambush arose quickly out of their place
As soon as the sentinels set in proper places observed the signal, and gave them notice of it, which was the stretching out of the spear, as appears by what follows:

and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand;
and the spear in his hand; from whence it is plain, that though the Lord is said to bid Joshua do this now, he had orders from him for it before and the ambush must have been made acquainted with it before they were sent away; and this was only a renewal of the order from the Lord, and which pointed out the proper time, the very crisis, when it should be stretched out:

and they entered into the city;
without any difficulty, the gates being open:

and took it;
took possession of it, and the strong holds in it:

and hasted and set the city on fire;
that is, they made haste to set some houses on fire as the signal to the army of Israel to return.

Joshua 8:19 In-Context

17 Not a man was left in 'Ai or Beit-El who had not gone after Isra'el; pursuing Isra'el, they left the city wide open.

18 Then ADONAI said to Y'hoshua, "Point the spear in your hand toward 'Ai, because I will hand it over to you." Y'hoshua pointed the spear in his hand toward the city.

19 The men in ambush jumped up quickly from their place; the moment he stretched out his hand, they ran, entered the city and captured it; and they hurried to set the city on fire.

20 When the men of 'Ai looked behind them, they saw it - there was the smoke from the city, rising to the sky; and they had no power to flee this way or that - at which point the people who had run off toward the desert turned back on the pursuers.

21 When Y'hoshua and all Isra'el saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was going up, they turned back and slaughtered the men of 'Ai;