Joshua 8:2-12

2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king. Only the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall ye take for booty unto yourselves. Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it."

3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valor, and sent them away by night.

4 And he commanded them, saying, "Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city. Go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready;

5 and I and all the people who are with me will approach unto the city. And it shall come to pass, when they come out against us as at the first, that we will flee before them

6 (for they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, `They flee before us, as at the first.' Therefore we will flee before them.

7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush and seize upon the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you."

9 Joshua therefore sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.

10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

11 And all the people, even the people of war who were with him, went up and drew nigh, and came before the city and pitched camp on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between them and Ai.

12 And he took about five thousand men and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.

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.