Joshua 8:3

3 So Joshua and {all the fighting men} went up immediately to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the best fighting men and sent them [by] night.

Joshua 8:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:3

So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against
Ai
As the Lord had commanded him:

and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour;
out of all the men of war; these were a select company, picked men, not the whole army, as some have thought, for he was ordered to take all the people of war, as he did:

and sent them away by night;
from the main army, that they might pass the city and get behind it undiscovered, for they were sent for an ambush; and of these some were to take the city, and be left in it to burn it, and some to smite the men of Ai, as Abarbinel notes.

Joshua 8:3 In-Context

1 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take {all the fighting men} with you {and go up immediately to Ai}. Look, I am giving into your hand the king of Ai, his city, and his land.

2 You will do to Ai and its king that which you did to Jericho and its king; you may take only its spoils and livestock as booty for yourself. Set for yourself an ambush against the city [from] behind [it]."

3 So Joshua and {all the fighting men} went up immediately to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the best fighting men and sent them [by] night.

4 And he commanded them, saying, "Look, you are to lay an ambush against the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city and be ready.

5 Then I and all of the people who [are] with me will approach the city. And when they go out to meet us {as before}, we will flee from them.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "all the people of war"