God's Plan to Defeat Ai
Study note
God encouraged Joshua not to be afraid and told him to take the whole army to attack Ai. Unlike Jericho, the Israelites would be allowed to keep the livestock and goods from Ai. God told Joshua to set up an ambush behind the city. The plan was for Joshua and the main army to approach from one direction, pretend to retreat when Ai's soldiers came out, and draw them away from the city. Then the hidden soldiers would rush in and set the city on fire.
1 Then the Lord told Joshua, "There is nothing to fear, and you must not lose hope. Take your entire army and march to Ai. I have already placed the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his whole territory in your hands." And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, 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 "Treat Ai and its king the same way you treated Jericho and its king. But this time, you may keep the plunder and livestock for yourselves. Station some troops in hiding behind the city." And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
3 Joshua and the whole army prepared to march on Ai. Joshua handpicked thirty thousand of his best warriors and sent them out under cover of darkness. So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
4 He ordered them, "Take up a hidden position behind the city. Stay close and be ready to spring into action." And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
5 "The rest of the army and I will approach the city head-on. When Ai's soldiers come out to fight us like they did last time, we will turn around and pretend to run." And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,
6 "They will chase us, convinced we are running away in fear just like before. While we lure them away from the city," (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.
7 "you will jump out of your hiding spot and seize the city. The Lord your God is handing it right to you." Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 "Once you have taken the city, set it ablaze. Follow the Lord's instructions. Those are my orders." And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
The Ambush and Battle
Study note
Joshua sent thirty thousand soldiers to hide west of Ai at night. He also positioned about five thousand men as a second ambush group between Bethel and Ai. The next morning Joshua and the main army approached from the north. When the king of Ai saw them, he rushed out with all his soldiers to attack, not knowing about the ambush behind the city. Joshua and his men pretended to run away, just as they had the first time. Every soldier in Ai and Bethel chased after them, leaving the city wide open. Then God told Joshua to stretch out his spear toward Ai as a signal. The hidden soldiers rushed into the empty city and set it on fire.
9 Joshua dispatched them, and they took up their ambush positions between Bethel and Ai, on Ai's western side. Joshua spent that night with the main army in camp. Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10 The next morning Joshua organized his troops and marched toward Ai. The elders of Israel went at the front. And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11 The whole army moved to the area before the city. They set up camp on Ai's north side. A valley stood between them and the city. And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai.
12 Joshua had also placed about 5,000 soldiers in hiding. They were between Bethel and Ai, on the city's west side. And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city.
13 The main army was north of the city, and the ambush force was to the west. Joshua went down into the valley that night. 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 When Ai's king spotted the Israelites, he and his entire army rushed out early to attack them at a spot near the plain. He had no idea there was an ambush waiting behind the city. And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up 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 wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city.
15 Joshua and the Israelites pretended to lose. They ran toward the desert. And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
16 Every soldier in Ai was ordered to chase them. They pursued Joshua and were pulled farther and farther from the city. And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17 Not a single man remained in Ai or Bethel -- everyone had rushed out to chase Israel. The city stood wide open and completely unguarded. 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 after Israel.
18 Then the Lord told Joshua, "Raise the spear in your hand and point it at Ai, because I am giving the city to you." Joshua pointed his spear toward Ai. And the LORD said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.
19 He raised his arm. The hidden soldiers burst from their spots at once. They sprinted into the city and took it. They set it on fire right away. And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
20 When Ai's soldiers glanced back and saw smoke billowing up from their city, they realized they were trapped. The Israelites who had been fleeing toward the desert suddenly wheeled around to fight. And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
21 Joshua and the main army saw smoke rising from the city. They saw their hidden force inside. So they turned and attacked the men of Ai. And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
22 Meanwhile, the ambush force poured out of the city to join the fight. Ai's army was sandwiched between Israelite forces on both sides. Israel cut them down until not a single person escaped or survived. And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23 But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
The Destruction of Ai
Study note
When the soldiers of Ai looked back and saw smoke rising from their city, they realized they were trapped. The Israelites who had been retreating turned around to fight, while the ambush force came out of the city behind them. The men of Ai were caught in the middle with no escape. About twelve thousand people of Ai fell that day. Joshua kept his spear stretched out until the city was completely destroyed. The Israelites kept the livestock and goods as God had allowed. The king of Ai was captured alive, then executed, and his body was placed at the city gate.
24 The Israelites chased down every soldier from Ai in the fields and desert. They killed them all. Then they went back into the city. They finished off everyone there with the sword. And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
25 The total number of people killed that day, both men and women, was twelve thousand -- everyone who lived in Ai. And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.
26 Joshua kept his spear raised and pointed at the city. He held it up until every person in Ai was destroyed. For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Israel did keep the livestock and goods from the city for themselves. The Lord had told Joshua they could. Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua.
28 Joshua burned Ai to the ground and turned it into a permanent ruin, which it remains today. And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
29 He hanged the king of Ai on a tree and left the body there until evening. At sundown, Joshua ordered the body taken down. They tossed it at the city gate entrance and piled a big mound of stones over it that is still there. And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
The Covenant Renewed at Mount Ebal
Study note
After the victory, Joshua led the people about twenty miles north to the area between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, near the city of Shechem. This was the very place where God had first promised the land to Abraham hundreds of years earlier. Joshua built an altar of uncut stones on Mount Ebal and offered sacrifices to the Lord, just as Moses had commanded. He wrote a copy of the Law of Moses on the stones. Then half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, and Joshua read every word of the Law, including the blessings and curses, to the entire assembly of men, women, children, and foreigners living among them.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal. Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
31 He built it just as Moses the Lord's servant had told the Israelites. He used natural, uncut stones that no iron tool had touched. This was written in the Book of Moses' Law. On this altar they offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord. As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 There, with all the Israelites watching, Joshua carved a copy of Moses' Law onto the stones. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
33 The whole group stood in two lines on either side of the Ark. They faced the Levite priests who carried it. Half faced Mount Gerizim. Half faced Mount Ebal. Moses, the Lord's servant, had told them to do this. They were there to bless the people. And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.
34 After that, Joshua read out loud every word of the Law. He read the blessings and the curses, exactly as they are written in the Book of the Law. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
35 Joshua read every last word Moses had commanded. He read it all to the entire gathering. This included the women, children, and foreigners living among them. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.