Joshua 8:15

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

Joshua 8:15 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:15

And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before
them
Or smitten, as some of them might be in the pursuit:

and fled by the way of the wilderness;
not a barren desert, but, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, a place for the pasture of cattle; though perhaps it is the same with the wilderness of Bethaven, ( Joshua 18:12 ) . Epiphanius ^F23 makes mention of the wilderness of Bethel and Ephraim as near Jericho.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Contr. Haeres. l. 1. tom. 2.

Joshua 8:15 In-Context

13 And when they had set the people, [even] all the host that [was] on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

14 And it came to pass when the king of Ai saw [it], that they hasted and rose early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain: but he knew not that [there were] liers in ambush against him behind the city.

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

16 And all the people that [were] in Ai were called together to pursue them: and they pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.

17 And there was not a man left in Ai, or Beth-el that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued Israel.