Jozua 7:2

2 Als Jozua mannen zond van Jericho naar Ai, dat bij Beth-Aven ligt, aan het oosten van Beth-El, zo sprak hij tot hen, zeggende: Trekt opwaarts en bespiedt het land. Die mannen nu trokken op en bespiedden Ai.

Jozua 7:2 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 7:2

And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai
Which was the next city of importance, though not so large as Jericho, and was, as the Jews say ^F12, three miles distant from it; Abarbinel says ^F13 four miles, and so Bunting ^F14; Jerom ^F15 says, that in his times very few ruins of it appeared, only the place was shown where it stood:

which [is] beside Bethaven;
a name by which Bethel in later times was called, ( Hosea 4:15 ) ; but here it is manifestly a distinct place from it; just hard by or near to this place, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it, was the city of Ai: Bethaven seems to have been the suburbs of it, or however was very near unto it:

on the east side of Bethel;
near to which Abraham built an altar, as did Jacob also, and which in former times was called Luz, ( Genesis 12:8 ) ( Genesis 35:1 Genesis 35:3 Genesis 35:6 Genesis 35:7 ) ; and was well known in later ages by the name of Bethel; it was reckoned about a mile from Ai: the situation of this city is so particularly described to distinguish it from another city of this name, Ai of the Amorites, ( Jeremiah 49:3 ) ; and is here called "that Ai", that well known Ai, as Kimchi observes:

and spake unto them;
at the time he sent them, when he gave them their orders to go thither:

saying, go up and view the country;
the mountainous part of it; for they were now in a plain, where Jericho was seated; and observe what place was most proper to attack next, and which the best way of coming at it:

and the men went up and viewed Ai;
what a sort of a city it was, how large, and what its fortifications, and what avenues were to it: by this it appears that Ai was built upon a hill, or at least was higher than Jericho and its plains; and with this agrees what a traveller says

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 of it, it is a village full of large ruins (in this he differs from Jerom) and from hence are seen the valley of Jericho, the dead sea, Gilgal, and Mount Quarantania, and many other places towards the east.

F12 Shemoth Rabba, sect. 32. fol. 185. 2.
F13 In Josh. xx. fol. 34. 1.
F14 Travels Of the Patriarchs p. 95.
F15 De loc. Heb. fol. 87. E.
F16 Baumgarten. Peregrinatio, l. 3. c. 1. p. 105.

Jozua 7:2 In-Context

1 Maar de kinderen Israels overtraden door overtreding met het verbannene; want Achan, de zoon van Charmi, den zoon van Zabdi, den zoon van Zerah, uit den stam van Juda, nam van het verbannene. Toen ontstak de toorn des HEEREN tegen de kinderen Israels.

2 Als Jozua mannen zond van Jericho naar Ai, dat bij Beth-Aven ligt, aan het oosten van Beth-El, zo sprak hij tot hen, zeggende: Trekt opwaarts en bespiedt het land. Die mannen nu trokken op en bespiedden Ai.

3 Daarna keerden zij weder naar Jozua, en zeiden tot hem: Dat het ganse volk niet optrekke, dat er omtrent twee duizend mannen, of omtrent drie duizend mannen optrekken, om Ai te slaan; vermoei daarheen al het volk niet; want zij zijn weinige.

4 Alzo trokken derwaarts op van het volk omtrent drie duizend man; dewelke vloden voor het aangezicht der mannen van Ai.

5 En de mannen van Ai sloegen van dezelven omtrent zes en dertig man, en vervolgden hen van voor de poort tot Schebarim toe, en sloegen hen in een afgang. Toen versmolt het hart des volks, en het werd tot water.