Joshua 8:3

3 And Joshua riseth, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai, and Joshua chooseth thirty thousand men, mighty ones of valour, and sendeth them away by night,

Joshua 8:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:3

So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against
Ai
As the Lord had commanded him:

and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour;
out of all the men of war; these were a select company, picked men, not the whole army, as some have thought, for he was ordered to take all the people of war, as he did:

and sent them away by night;
from the main army, that they might pass the city and get behind it undiscovered, for they were sent for an ambush; and of these some were to take the city, and be left in it to burn it, and some to smite the men of Ai, as Abarbinel notes.

Joshua 8:3 In-Context

1 And Jehovah saith unto Joshua, `Fear not, nor be affrighted, take with thee all the people of war, and rise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land,

2 and thou hast done to Ai and to her king as thou hast done to Jericho and to her king; only, its spoil and its cattle ye spoil for yourselves; set for thee an ambush for the city at its rear.'

3 And Joshua riseth, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai, and Joshua chooseth thirty thousand men, mighty ones of valour, and sendeth them away by night,

4 and commandeth them, saying, `See, ye are liers in wait against the city, at the rear of the city, ye go not very far off from the city, and all of you have been prepared,

5 and I and all the people who [are] with me draw near unto the city, and it hath come to pass when they come out to meet us as at the first, and we have fled before them,