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Joshua 8:2-12

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2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did 1to Jericho and its king. Only 2its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it."
3 So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night.
4 And he commanded them, "Behold, 3you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready.
5 And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us 4just as before, we shall flee before them.
6 And they will come out after us, until we have 5drawn them away from the city. For they will say, 'They are fleeing from us, just as before.' So we will flee before them.
7 Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will give it into your hand.
8 And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the LORD. 6See, I have commanded you."
9 So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11 And 7all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.
12 He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
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Joshua 8:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 8

Joshua is encouraged to go up and take Ai, and is directed what method to make use of, Jos 8:1,2; accordingly he set an ambush on the west side of it, and, he and the rest of the army went up before it, Jos 8:3-13; which, when the king of Ai saw, he and all his forces came cut against them, and the Israelites making a feint as if they were beaten, drew on the men of Ai to pursue them, upon which the ambush arose and entered the city and set fire to it, Jos 8:14-19; the smoke of which being observed by Joshua and Israel, they turned back upon the pursuers, and the ambush sallying out of the city behind them, made an entire destruction of them, then slew all the inhabitants, took the spoil, burnt the city, and hanged the king of it, Jos 8:20-29; after this Joshua built an altar at Ebal, wrote the law on stones, and read the blessings and curses in it before all Israel, Jos 8:30-35.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 7

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.