Josué 7:2

2 Y Josué envió hombres desde Jericó á Hai, que estaba junto á Beth-aven hacia el oriente de Beth-el; y hablóles diciendo: Subid, y reconoced la tierra. Y ellos subieron, y reconocieron á Hai.

Josué 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.

Josué 7:2 In-Context

1 EMPERO los hijos de Israel cometieron prevaricación en el anatema: porque Achân, hijo de Carmi, hijo de Zabdi, hijo de Zera, de la tribu de Judá, tomó del anatema; y la ira de Jehová se encendió contra los hijos de Israel.

2 Y Josué envió hombres desde Jericó á Hai, que estaba junto á Beth-aven hacia el oriente de Beth-el; y hablóles diciendo: Subid, y reconoced la tierra. Y ellos subieron, y reconocieron á Hai.

3 Y volviendo á Josué, dijéronle: No suba todo el pueblo, mas suban como dos mil ó como tres mil hombre, y tomarán á Hai: no fatigues á todo el pueblo allí, porque son pocos.

4 Y subieron allá del pueblo como tres mil hombres, los cuales huyeron delante de los de Hai.

5 Y los de Hai hirieron de ellos como treinta y seis hombre, y siguiéronlos desde la puerta hasta Sebarim, y los rompieron en la bajada: por lo que se disolvió el corazón del pueblo, y vino á ser como agua.