Joshua 8:15

15 And Joshua and all Israel [seem] stricken before them, and flee 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 they set the people, all the camp which [is] on the north of the city, and its rear on the west of the city, and Joshua goeth on that night into the midst of the valley.

14 And it cometh to pass, when the king of Ai seeth [it], that hasten, and rise early, and go out do the men of the city to meet Israel for battle, he and all his people, at the appointed season, at the front of the plain, and he hath not known that an ambush [is] against him, on the rear of the city.

15 And Joshua and all Israel [seem] stricken before them, and flee the way of the wilderness,

16 and all the people who [are] in the city are called to pursue after them, and they pursue after Joshua, and are drawn away out of the city,

17 and there hath not been left a man in Ai and Bethel who hath not gone out after Israel, and they leave the city open, and pursue after Israel.