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Joshua 8:1-29

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The Conquest of Ai

1 Now the LORD said to Joshua, "1Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, 2I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
2 "You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall 3take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind * it."
3 So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 * men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night.
4 He commanded them, saying, "See, you are 4going to ambush the city from behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
5 "Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as at the first, 5we will flee before them.
6 "They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, 'They are fleeing before us as at the first.' So we will flee before them.
7 "And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 "Then it will be when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it 6according to the word of the LORD. See, I have commanded you."
9 So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Now Joshua 7rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai.
11 Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city, and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.
12 And he took about 5,000 * men and set them in ambush between 8Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
13 So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley.
14 It came about when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind * the city.
15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled 9by the way of the wilderness.
16 And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and 10were drawn away from the city.
17 So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they left the city unguarded and pursued Israel.
18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "11Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand." So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
19 The men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire.
20 When the men of Ai turned back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers.
21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and slew the men of Ai.
22 The others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they slew them until 12no one was left of those who survived or escaped.
23 But they took alive the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
24 Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.
25 13All who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000 * * -all the people of Ai.
26 For Joshua 14did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 15Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua.
28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it 16a heap forever, a desolation until this day.
29 17He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset * Joshua gave command and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.
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Joshua 8:1-29 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 17

  • 1. Joshua 1:9; Joshua 10:8
  • 2. Joshua 6:2
  • 3. Deuteronomy 20:14; Joshua 8:27
  • 4. Judges 20:29
  • 5. Judges 20:32
  • 6. Deuteronomy 20:16-18; Joshua 8:2
  • 7. Genesis 22:3
  • 8. Genesis 12:8; Genesis 28:19; Judges 1:22
  • 9. Joshua 15:61; Joshua 16:1; Joshua 18:12
  • 10. Judges 20:31
  • 11. Exodus 14:16; Exodus 17:9-13; Joshua 8:26
  • 12. Joshua 8:8
  • 13. Deuteronomy 20:16-18
  • 14. Exodus 17:11, 12
  • 15. Joshua 8:2
  • 16. Deuteronomy 13:16
  • 17. Deuteronomy 21:22, 23

Footnotes 12

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.