Joshua 8:5-15

5 I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us, as before, we shall flee from them.

6 They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, "They are fleeing from us, as before.' While we flee from them,

7 you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city; for the Lord your God will give it into your hand.

8 And when you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire, doing as the Lord has ordered; see, 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 in the camp.

10 In the morning Joshua rose early and mustered the people, and went up, with the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

11 All the fighting men who were with him went up, and drew near before the city, and camped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.

12 Taking about five thousand men, he set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

13 So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley.

14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the inhabitants of the city, hurried out early in the morning to the meeting place facing the Arabah to meet Israel in battle; but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

15 And Joshua and all Israel made a pretense of being beaten before them, and fled in the direction 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb [among the people]