MPV Commentary

God Encourages Joshua.

The Lord reassured Joshua, who had been greatly disheartened by the defeat at Ai, promising him success in their next attempt (De 31:6-8). This communication was a reminder that God's disciplinary government often uses chastisements to pave the way for temporal benefits that have been withheld due to sin. The Lord instructed Joshua to take all the fighting men with him and lead them up to Ai, which was on a hill in the plains of Jericho (Jos 7:3).

The entire force, numbering six hundred thousand, was ordered to participate in this battle, partly because the spies had previously underestimated the strength required to capture Ai. This large number also served to dispel any lingering doubts about their ability to conquer the city and to encourage obedience by rewarding those who refrained from taking booty at Jericho (De 6:10). The rest of the people, including women and children, remained in the camp at Gilgal.

The Lord assured Joshua that he would give him the king of Ai, his people, and their city into his hand. However, God allowed Joshua to devise his own tactics for capturing the city. Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valour to lie in ambush behind the city (Jos 8:12).

Joshua stationed these men on the west side of Ai, where they could conceal themselves and seize the opportunity to attack the city from behind. He also sent a detachment of five thousand men to position themselves near the town, ready to throw themselves into it at the right moment.

The king of Ai was unaware that there were liers in ambush against him, and he made a hasty sally with all his people who could bear arms, hoping to surprise and annihilate them. However, Joshua and all Israel pretended to flee before them, decoying all the inhabitants of Ai out of the city while the people of Beth-el hastened to participate in the expected victory.

Joshua gave a signal by stretching out his spear toward the city, which informed the ambush that it was time to attack. The men nearest the city made a sudden rush and took possession of the city, signaling their success by raising a smoke from the walls. Upon seeing this, the main body turned back at the head of the pass upon their pursuers, while the twenty-five thousand issuing from their ambuscade fell back upon their rear.

The Ai-ites were caught off guard and found themselves in a desperate situation. The king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua, who would later execute him as a greater criminal in God's sight than his subjects. In the combined attack from before and behind, all the men were massacred.

After the battle, all the Israelites returned to Ai and slaughtered its inhabitants with the edge of the sword, including women, children, and old persons left behind (Jos 8:25). Joshua did not withdraw his hand until the work was complete, a posture that may have been appointed by God to animate the people and maintain their devout spirit.

Finally, Joshua burned Ai and made it an eternal ruin, a name that remains to this day as "the tell of the heap of stones" (Van De Velde).