Joshua 8:5-15

5 And I and all the people that are with me, will approach the city; and when they come out against us, as at the first, we will flee before them

6 (for they will come out after us) until we have raptured them out of 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 take possession of the city; for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

8 And when ye have taken the city, ye shall set the city on fire. Ye shall do according to the word of the LORD. See, I have commanded you.

9 Then Joshua sent them forth, and they went to lie in ambush and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; and Joshua lodged that night in the midst of 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 against Ai.

11 And all the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew near 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.

13 And the people, all the camp that was on the side of the north came near to the city, and their ambush on the west of the city. And Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

14 When the king of Ai saw it, he rose up early in the morning and made haste with the men of the city to go out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

15 Then Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them and fled by the way of the wilderness.

Joshua 8:5-15 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.