Joshua 8:21-31

21 And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambuscade had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city went up to heaven; and they turned and smote the men of Gai.

22 And these came forth out of the city to meet them; and they were in the midst of the army, some on this side, and some on that; and they smote them until there was not left of them one who survived and escaped.

23 And they took the king of Gai alive, and brought him to Joshua.

24 And when the children of Israel had ceased slaying all that were in Gai, and in the fields, and in the mountain on the descent, from whence they pursued them to the end, then Joshua returned to Gai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.

25 And they that fell in that day, men and women, were twelve thousand: all the inhabitants of Gai.

26

27 Beside the spoils that were in the city, all things which the children of Israel took as spoil for themselves according to the command of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Joshua.

28 And Joshua burnt the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap for ever, to this day.

29 And he hanged the king of Gai on a gallows; and he remained on the tree till evening: and when the sun went down, Joshua gave charge, and they took down his body from the tree, and cast it into a pit, and they set over him a heap of stones until this day.

30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in mount Gaebal,

31 as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, on which iron had not been lifted up; and he offered there whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord, and a peace-offering.

Joshua 8:21-31 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. took.
• [b]. double tree.
• [c]. the pit or trench. For vv. 30-35, see chap. 8. 2.
• [d]. was not lifted up.