Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land.
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land.
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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:
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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.
Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to Joshua 8:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Joshua 1:9 Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”
- Deuteronomy 1:21 Behold, Yahweh your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as Yahweh the God of your fathers has spoken to you. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.”
- Deuteronomy 7:18 you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:
- Deuteronomy 31:8 Yahweh himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.”
- Joshua 6:2 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Behold, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty men of valor.
- Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.
- Daniel 2:37-38 You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory. Wherever the children of men dwell, he has given the animals of the field and the birds of the sky into your hand, and has made you rule over them all. You are the head of gold.
- Daniel 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, “What are you doing?”
- Matthew 8:26 He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
- Joshua 7:6-7 Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before Yahweh’s ark until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. Joshua said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan!
- Joshua 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
- Psalms 27:1 Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
- Psalms 44:3 For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them.
- Psalms 46:11 Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
- Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.”
- Isaiah 41:10-16 Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish. You will seek them, and won’t find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a non-existent thing. For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I will help you.’ Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you,” says Yahweh. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff. You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in Yahweh. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- Jeremiah 46:27 “But don’t you be afraid, Jacob my servant. Don’t be dismayed, Israel; for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid.
- Daniel 2:21 He changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings, and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding.
- Daniel 4:25 that you shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the animals of the field. You shall be made to eat grass as oxen, and shall be wet with the dew of the sky, and seven times shall pass over you; until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (23 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. And the Lord said unto Joshua, etc It…
1. And the Lord said unto Joshua, etc It was of great consequence to Joshua, as well as the people, to inspire new courage, that they might prepare with confidence to assault the city of Ai, from which they had lately been repulsed with loss and greater disgrace. God, therefore, to inspire them with intrepidity on this expedition, promises that he will give them the city. With the same view he enjoins them to fight by stratagem more than open war, to entice the enemy out, and to select a secret place for an ambuscade which might take them by surprise. A few thousands might without any difficulty have been overthrown by an immense host attacking the city suddenly and unexpectedly. But as we formerly saw that the hearts of all had melted away, God consulted for their weakness by laying no greater burden upon them than they were able to bear, until they had recovered from their excessive panic, and could execute his commands with alacrity.
It is true, indeed, that he now used their own exertion, partly that they might not always keep looking for miracles, and so give themselves up to laziness, and partly that in different and unequal modes of acting they might nevertheless recognize that his power is the same. But care must be taken not to omit the special reason, namely, that not having yet recovered from their terror, they could scarcely have been induced to engage in an open conflict, had they not seen stratagem employed as a subsidiary aid. The first place, however, is due to the promise, Fear not, for I have delivered it into thy hands: for although it is verbally directed to Joshua, it belongs in common to the whole people, as it was most necessary that all to a man should be freed from anxiety and furnished with new confidence. The order to burn the city like Jericho, appears to be a concession to the popular feeling, the vengeance thus taken serving to wipe out the remembrance of their disgrace. At the same time that they may engage in the expedition more willingly, the spoils are left to them as the reward of victory.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jos 8:1 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear…
Jos 8:1 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:
Ver. 1. Fear not, neither be thou dismayed.] For I have found an atonement, as Job 33:24. And as a bone once broken is stronger after setting: as lovers are never greater friends than after a falling out: so is it betwixt God and his offending servants.
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Take all the people.] That all may partake of the spoil.
See, I have given it into thine hand.] Thine it is assuredly; but by my free gift, not by thine own prowess or policy.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Take all the people of war with thee; partly…
Take all the people of war with thee; partly to strengthen them against those fears which their late defeat had wrought in them; and partly that all of them might be partakers of this first spoil, and thereby be encouraged to proceed in their work. The weak multitude were not to go, because they might have hindered them in the following stratagem; and it was but fit that the military men who run the greatest hazards, should have the precedency and privilege in the spoils.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Israel were very happy in having such a commander…
Israel were very happy in having such a commander as Joshua, but Joshua was more happy in having such a director as God himself; when any difficulty occurred, he needed not to call a council of war who had God so nigh unto him, not only to answer, but even to anticipate, his enquiries. It should seem, Joshua was now at a stand, had scarcely recovered the discomposure he was put into by the trouble Achan gave them, and could not think, without fear and trembling, of pushing forward, lest there should be in the camp another Achan; then God spoke to him, either by vision, as before (Jos 5:1-15), or by the breastplate of judgment. Note, When we have faithfully put away sin, that accursed thing, which separates between us and God, then, and not till then, we may expect to hear from God to our comfort; and God's directing us how to go on in our Christian work and warfare is a good evidence of his being reconciled to us. Observe here,
I. The encouragement God gives to Joshua to proceed: Fear not, neither be thou dismayed, Jos 8:1. This intimates that the sin of Achan, and the consequences of it, had been a very great discouragement to Joshua, and made his heart almost ready to fail. Corruptions within the church weaken the hands, and damp the spirits, of her guides and helpers, more than oppositions from without; treacherous Israelites are to be dreaded more than malicious Canaanites. But God bids Joshua not be dismayed; the same power that keeps Israel from being ruined by their enemies shall keep them from ruining themselves. To animate him, 1. He assures him of success against Ai, tells him it is all his own; but he must take it as god's gift: I have given it into thy hands, which secured him both title and possession, and obliged him to give God the glory of both, Psa 44:3. 2. He allows the people to take the spoil to themselves. Here the spoil was not consecrated to God as that of Jericho, and therefore there was no danger of the people's committing such a trespass as they had committed there. Observe, How Achan who caught at forbidden spoil lost that, and life, and all, but the rest of the people who had conscientiously refrained from the accursed thing were quickly recompensed for their obedience with the spoil of Ai. the way to have the comfort of what God allows us is to forbear what he forbids us. No man shall lose by his self-denial; let God have his dues first, and then all will be clean to us and sure, Kg1 17:13. God did not bring them to these goodly cities, and houses filled with all good things, to tantalize them with the sight of that which they might not touch; but, having received the first-fruits from Jericho, the spoil of Ai, and of all the cities which thenceforward came into their hands, they might take for a prey to themselves.
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II. The direction he gives him in attacking Ai. It must not be such a work of time as the taking of Jericho was; this would have prolonged the war too much. Those that had patiently waited seven days for Jericho shall have Ai given them in one day. Nor was it, as that, to be taken by miracle, and purely by the act of God, but now their own conduct and courage must be exercised; having seen God work for them, they must now bestir themselves. God directs him, 1. to take all the people, that they might all be spectators of the action and sharers in the spoil. Hereby God gave him a tacit rebuke for sending so small a detachment against Ai in the former attempt upon it, Jos 7:4. 2. To lay an ambush behind the city; this was a method which perhaps Joshua would not have thought of at this time, if God had not directed him to it; and though now we are not to expect direction, as here, by visions, voices, or oracles, yet, whenever those who are entrusted with public councils take prudent measures for the public good, it must be acknowledged that god puts it into their hears; he that teaches the husbandman discretion no doubt teaches statesman and general.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the Lord said unto Joshua,.... Immediately after the…
And the Lord said unto Joshua,.... Immediately after the execution of Achan, the fierceness of his anger being turned away:
fear not, neither be thou dismayed; on account of the defeat of his troops he had sent to take Ai:
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take all the people of war with thee; all above twenty years of age, which, with the forty thousand of the tribes on the other side Jordan he brought over with him, must make an arm, five hundred thousand men; these Joshua was to take with so much to animate and encourage him, or to terrify the enemy, nor because such a number was necessary for the reduction of Ai, which was but a small city; but that all might have a part in the spoil and plunder of it, which they were denied at Jericho, and chiefly to draw all the men out of the city, seeing such a numerous host approaching:
and arise, go up to Ai; which lay high, and Joshua being now in the plains of Jericho; see Gill on Jos 7:2,
see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land; this city, though a small one, had a king over it, as most cities in the land of Canaan had; the number of his people in it were twelve thousand, and his land were the fields about it; all which were given to Joshua by the Lord, and were as sure as if he had them already in his hand.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Here is God's encouragement to Joshua, ver. 1, 2.…
Here is God's encouragement to Joshua, ver. 1, 2. Joshua's orders to the men of war, ver. 3-8. The stratagem succeeds, ver. 9- 22. Joshua takes and destroys the city, ver. 23-29. The solemn writing and reading of the law before all Israel, ver. 30-35.
Take all the people - That all of them might be partakers of this first spoil, and thereby encouraged to proceed in their work. The weak multitude indeed were not to go, because they might have hindered them in the following stratagem; and it was but fit that the military men who run the greatest hazards, should have the precedency in the spoils.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The Lord encourages Joshua, and promises to deliver Ai…
CHAPTER VIII
The Lord encourages Joshua, and promises to deliver Ai into his
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hands, and instructs him how he is to proceed against it, 1, 2.
Joshua takes thirty thousand of his best troops, and gives
them instructions concerning his intention of taking Ai by
stratagem, 3-8.
The men dispose themselves according to these directions, 9-13.
The king of Ai attacks the Israelites, who, feigning to be
beaten, fly before him, in consequence of which all the troops
of Ai issue out, and pursue the Israelites, 14-17.
Joshua, at the command of God, stretches out his spear towards
Ai, and then five thousand men that he had placed in ambush in
the valley rise up, enter the city, and set it on fire, 18, 19.
Then Joshua and his men turned against the men of Ai, and, at
the same time, those who had taken the city sallied forth and
attacked them in the rear; thus the men of Ai were defeated,
their king taken prisoner, the city sacked, and twelve thousand
persons slain, 20-26.
The Israelites take the spoils, and hang the king of Ai, 27-29.
Joshua builds an altar to God on Mount Ebal, and writes on it a
copy of the law of Moses, 30-32.
The elders, officers, and judges, stand on each side of the ark,
one half over against Mount Gerizim, and the other against
Mount Ebal, and read all the blessings and curses of the law,
according to the command of Moses, 33-35.
NOTES ON CHAP. VIII
Verse 1. Fear not] The iniquity being now purged away, because of which God had turned his hand against Israel, there was now no cause to dread any other disaster, and therefore Joshua is ordered to take courage.
Take all the people of war with thee] From the letter of this verse it appears that all that were capable of carrying arms were to march out of the camp on this occasion: thirty thousand chosen men formed an ambuscade in one place; five thousand he placed in another, who had all gained their positions in the night season: with the rest of the army he appeared the next morning before Ai, which the men of that city would naturally suppose were the whole of the Israelitish forces; and consequently be the more emboldened to come out and attack them. But some think that thirty thousand men were the whole that were employed on this occasion; five thousand of whom were placed as an ambuscade on the west side of the city between Beth-el and Ai, Jos 8:12, and with the rest he appeared before the city in the morning. The king of Ai seeing but about twenty-five thousand coming against him, and being determined to defend his city and crown to the last extremity, though he had but twelve thousand persons in the whole city, Jos 8:25, scarcely one half of whom we can suppose to be effective men, he was determined to risk a battle; and accordingly issued out, and was defeated by the stratagem mentioned in the preceding part of this chapter.
Several eminent commentators are of opinion that the whole Israelitish force was employed on this occasion, because of what is said in the first verse; but this is not at all likely.
1. It appears that but thirty thousand were chosen out of the whole camp for this expedition, the rest being drawn up in readiness should their co-operation be necessary. See Jos 8:3; Jos 8:10.
2. That all the people were mustered in order to make this selection, Jos 8:1.
3. That these thirty thousand were sent off by night, Jos 8:3, Joshua himself continuing in the camp a part of that night, Jos 8:9, with the design of putting himself at the head of the army next morning.
4. That of the thirty thousand men five thousand were directed to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city, Jos 8:12; the twenty-five thousand having taken a position on the north side of the city, Jos 8:11.
5. That the whole of the troops employed against Ai on this occasion were those on the north and west, Jos 8:13, which we know from the preceding verses were composed of thirty thousand chosen men.
6. That Joshua went in the course of the night, probably before daybreak, into the valley between Beth-el and Ai, where the ambuscade of five thousand men was placed, Jos 8:13, and gave them the proper directions how they were to proceed, and agreed on the sign he was to give them at the moment he wished them to act, see Jos 8:18: and that, after having done so, he put himself at the head of the twenty-five thousand men on the north side of the city: for we find him among them when the men of Ai issued out, Jos 8:15, though he was the night before in the valley on the west side, where the ambuscade lay, Jos 8:13.
7. That as Ai was but a small city, containing only twelve thousand inhabitants, it would have been absurd to have employed an army of several hundred thousand men against them.
8. This is confirmed by the opinion of the spies, Jos 7:3, who, from the smallness of the place, the fewness of its inhabitants, and the panic-struck state in which they found them, judged that three thousand troops would be quite sufficient to reduce the place.
9. That it appears this judgment was correctly enough formed, as the whole population of the place amounted only to twelve thousand persons, as we have already seen, Jos 8:25.
10. That even a less force might have been sufficient for the reduction of this place, had they been supplied with battering-rams, and such like instruments, which it does not appear the Israelites possessed.
11. That this is the reason why Joshua employed the stratagems detailed in this chapter: having no proper instruments or machines by means of which he might hope to take the city by assault, (and to reduce it by famine, which was quite possible, would have consumed too much time,) he used the feigned flight, Jos 8:19, to draw the inhabitants from the city, that the ambush, Jos 8:12; Jos 8:15, might then enter, and take possession of it.
12. That had he advanced with a greater force against the city the inhabitants would have had no confidence in risking a battle, and consequently would have kept within their walls, which would have defeated the design of the Israelites, which was to get them to issue from their city.
13. That, all these circumstances considered thirty thousand men, disposed as above, were amply sufficient for the reduction of the city, and were the whole of the Israelitish troops which were employed on the occasion.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jos 8:1. And the Lord said unto Joshua —…
Jos 8:1. And the Lord said unto Joshua — Who, it is probable, now consulted God about the progress of the war, which he had omitted to do before, thinking himself, it seems, sufficiently authorised to proceed according to his own judgment, by what God had often said to him, and his success against Jericho. Take all the people of war with thee — This order may seem strange, since the people themselves thought that two or three thousand men would be sufficient, if God were with and not against them. But God would have them all to share in the spoil of Ai, the first spoil of the country, that they might be encouraged to go on with the work, and that they, who had obeyed him in abstaining from taking any thing in Jericho, might now be rewarded by the prey of the city.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain God rouses Joshua from his dejection Jos 7:6, and…
God rouses Joshua from his dejection Jos 7:6, and bids him lmarch against Ai with the main body. Though Ai was but a small city (compare Jos 8:25 and Jos 7:3), yet the discouragement of the people rendered it inexpedient to send a second time a mere detachment against it; and the people of Ai had, as appears from Jos 8:17, help from Bethel, and possibly from other places also. It was fitting too that all the people should witness with their own eyes the happy consequences of having faithfully put away the sin which had separated them from God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Men. Masius and Salien (Haydock) suppose that Josue selected…
Men. Masius and Salien (Haydock) suppose that Josue selected out of them 30,000; 5000 of whom were to be placed in ambush, and the rest were to pretend that they were terrified at the approach of the king of Hai, and to flee with Josue. But the text seems to assert that all accompanied their general, (Calmet) excepting such as were left to guard the camp.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 3. Capture and Destruction of Ai
3. Capture and Destruction of Ai
Jos_8:1-29
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a. Joshua’s Stratagem against Ai
Jos_8:1-13
1And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Joshua: Fear not, neither be thou dismayed, [Jos_1:9]: 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: 2And thou shalt do unto 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.
3So [And] Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour [strong heroes] and sent them away by night. 4And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even [omit: even] behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready: 5And 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 6we will flee before them, (for [and1] 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 7[and] we will flee before them. Then ye shall rise up from the ambush and seize upon the city: for the Lord [Jehovah] your God will deliver it into your hand. 8And it shall be when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire; according to the commandment [word] of the Lord [Jehovah] shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9Joshua therefore [And Joshua] 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. 10And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered [mustered] the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11And all the people, even the people [omit: 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 [and the valley was] between them 12[him] and Ai. And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush 13[as an ambush], between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city. And when they had set the people, even all the host [camp] that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went1 that night into the midst of the valley.2
b. Sham Flight of the Israelites. Their Victory. Capture and Destruction of the City
Jos_8:14-29
14And 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 [the] time appointed [or, to the appointed place3], before the plain [Jordan-valley]: but he wist not that there were liers in ambush [was an ambush] against him behind the city. 15And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them; and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away4 from the city. 17And 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.
18And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thine 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. 19And 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. 20And 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 [and] that way: and the people that fled to [had fled towards] the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. 21And 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 [smote]5 the men of Ai. 22And the other issued out of the city against them: so that 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. 23And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24And 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 [had] chased them,6 and when they were all fallen on [by] the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites [prop.: all Israel] returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge 25of the sword. And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women,were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. 26For Joshua drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out the spear [which he had stretched out with the spear], until he had utterly destroyed [devoted] all the inhabitants of Ai. 27Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord [Jehovah] which he commanded Joshua. 28And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. 29And the king of Ai he hanged on a [the] tree until even-tide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass [corpse] down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap [גַּל, mound] of stones, that remaineth [omit: that remaineth] unto this day.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
As soon as Achan’s crime is expiated by his death God restores his favor to Joshua and the people, exhorts them to be cheerful and bold, and for the second time to undertake the expedition against Ai. This is done, and now with complete success (Jos_8:1-29). To the rhetorical beauty of this section we have already referred in the introduction (§ 1); the critical difficulty (Jos_8:12-13) will be discussed below.
a. Joshua’s Stratagem against Ai, Jos_8:1-13. Jos_8:1. The same encouraging address as in Jos_1:9; now very much needed in reference to Jos_7:5.
All the people of war. Not as in the first attempt 3000 men only, Jos_7:4.
Jos_8:2. Only the spoil thereof .… shall ye take for prey. At the capture of Jericho, the spoil also (the property) was devoted to Jehovah; but at this time it should belong to the people to whom ample gain had been promised (Deu_6:10 ff.)
An ambush. Concerning the question so extensively discussed by the old interpreters, Whether the employment of stratagems (wiles in war) was consistent with the dignity of God, Calvin observes briefly and convincingly: “Quod hic quœrunt nonnulli, dolonc et per insidias liceat hostes opprimere, ex crassa imperitia nascitur. Certum est non feriendo solum geri bella, sed eos censeri optimos duces, qui arte et consilio pollent magis quam impetu. Ergo si legitimum sit bellum, extra controversiam est, consuetis vincendi artibus patefactam esse viam: modo ne vel pactis induciis, vel alio modo fidem datam fallamus.
Jos_8:3 does not agree with Jos_8:13-14. Here it is said that 30,000 men are placed in the ambush; according to Jos_8:12 they are only 5,000. Further, the 30,000 men were, according to this verse, sent out already on the evening before; in Jos_8:13, on the contrary, the 5,000 betake themselves to their safe concealment first on the morning of the battle. These contradictory, statements taken from different sources cannot be reconciled, as Keil indeed perceives, while yet he strangely attempts to harmonize them. He takes Jos_8:12-13 to be a “supplementary remark” to Jos_8:3, and says: Before the וַיִּשְׁלַח לַיְלָה, Jos_8:3, we must supply from the supplementary remark, that Joshua out of the 30,000 men separated again about 5,000 and sent them out by night into the ambush.”7 Against this Maurer correctly says, on Jos_8:12-13 : “Hœc repugnant iis quœvers.3–8et9–11expositu leguntur. Quam repugnantiam recte plerique repetunt ex annalibus diversis alio et alio ordine diversisque verbis scriptis, in quibus contrahendis is, qui hunc librum composuerit, non satis ad diversitatem attenderit. Confer similem locum, iv. 9. Alex. ver.12prorsus non exhibet, tertii decimi, maximam partem omittit; habet enim hœc tantum:καὶ τὰ ἔνεδρα τῆς πόλεως ἄπο θαλάσσης (Itala; et insidiœ erant civitati a marit), nihil amplius.” Such is the judgment of Knobel also. The 30,000 might reach the neighborhood of Ai before daybreak, since the distance from Gilgal to Ai was not more than five to six hours. (Robinson, ii. 307–12.) Joshua still remained that night in Gilgal.
Jos_8:4-8. Clear and exact instructions to the soldiers how they were to proceed. They must put themselves in ambush, not too far from the city, and be in readiness; he would make an attack in front and pretend to flee. Then they should break forth into the city abandoned by the enemy, and set it on fire. “See,” he concludes his address, “I have commanded it to you,” that is, “Take heed that you do well your part.”
Jos_8:9. Between Beth-el and Ai. “Ai lay forty-five minutes southeast of Beth-el (Jos_12:9; Gen_12:8); between the two places rise two rocky heights, behind which the liers in wait appear to have taken their position (Van de Velde: Narrative, ii. p. 280).” (Knobel.)
Jos_8:10. In the morning Joshua leads up the rest of the army, comes before the city and encamps to the north of it, so that a valley, probably “the present Wady Mutyah,” lay between him and Ai.
Jos_8:12-13. See above on Jos_8:3. According to Keil, בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא means the same night as Jos_8:9. But on that night (Jos_8:9) Joshua was not yet certainly before Ai, for which he started only in the morning (Jos_8:10). The reading וַיָּלֶן instead of ויֵּלֶךְ, originated perhaps in the same effort to harmonize Jos_8:15 with Jos_8:9.
b. Sham-flight of the Israelites. Their Victory, Capture and Destruction of the City (Jos_8:14-29). The plan succeeds admirably. The king of Ai, seeing Joshua’s army in front, leads out against him. The latter pretends to run away. The inhabitants of Ai now pursue the Israelites and leave the city standing open. Then Joshua gives the ambush a signal with his spear. They rush forth, seize the city, and set it on fire. Joshua himself with his army turns about at the same moment. The men of Ai find themselves suddenly attacked in front and rear at once, and are annihilated. The other inhabitants of Ai also, about 12,0008 in men and women, are slain. The city is razed to the ground, its king hanged on a tree.
Jos_8:14. When the king of Ai saw it, namely, Joshua and his army,—pointing back, therefore, to Jos_8:11, the continuation of which we have here. It cannot refer to Jos_8:13 because he could not see the ambush nor have any knowledge of it, as is shown by the close of Jos_8:11.
Jos_8:16-17. The men of Ai in their excessive ardor recklessly leave the city, without care about covering their line of return to Ai, and without protection to the city itself which they leave open. The expression וַיִּנָּתְקוּ is striking: “they were torn away,” Van Ess; “they were cut off.”9
Jos_8:18. A direct command of God renewed, under whose special order the whole affair proceeds.
Spear. Heb. כִּידוֹן dart, javelin, a small spear which is hurled (Job_41:20. Eng. 28), distinct from the חֲנִית there mentioned in connection with it. From our passage compared with Jos_8:26, some would conclude that the כּ׳ must have been furnished with a flag or standard. Possibly, though not necessarily, since the waving motion which Joshua made with his spear might be seen a long distance, especially if we suppose that there was a bright sunshine. As a weapon of the Babylonians and Persians, it is spoken of Jer_6:23; Jer 1:42. The rendering of the Vulg. by “clypeus” is erroneous.
Jos_8:20. יָדַיִםhad no power, Vulg. non potuerunt. Others, e.g. Gesenius, explain ידים with reference to Deu_23:13; Num_2:17; Isa_17:8, as meaning place, room; but whether the dua, can mean this appears to us doubtful. We should rather approve the rendering “sides” (Keil). The first signification, however, is to be preferred, because then the thought is this, that being held fast by terror, they had no power to flee this way or that. The whole situation of the men of Ai, who saw before them the enemy, behind them the burning town, is admirably pictured in a few strokes.
Jos_8:26. “Joshua drew not back the hand which he had stretched out with the spear, until all the inhabitants of Ai had been destroyed. The signal for attack on Ai was also a signal for the destruction of the inhabitants, and remained until its design was fulfilled” (Knobel).
Jos_8:28. The city is made even with the ground—κατ’ ἔδαφος.
Jos_8:29. Heap of stones, as in Jos_7:26.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It should not be overlooked that the spoil to be taken in Ai is given over to the Israelites, which was not the case at Jericho. Jericho was the first of the cities of Canaan captured, and belonged on this account wholly to the Lord, as the first-born of man and beast (Exo_13:2; Exo_13:12; Exo_13:15), and as the firstlings of the fruits of the field (Exo_23:19; Exo_34:26; Lev_2:12; Lev_23:10; Lev_23:17; Lev_23:20; Num_15:20-21). This was no longer so at Ai.
2. If the justice of the war is conceded, it follows that a stratagem such as was here adopted by Joshua against Ai, is likewise morally allowable, since notoriously wars are not carried on exclusively through “hard blows” (feriendo), as Calvin has well remarked. Yet stratagem, as Calvin also calls us to notice, has its limits. A treacherous termination of a truce, and the like, is morally reprehensible. Of such things there is no mention here, but simply an instance of strategy like what is witnessed in almost every great battle.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
God’s renewed call to Joshua—the same word indeed as before, but now of quite a different import, since God by it not only assures him of his support, but also gives him to understand that He is again gracious to him.—The capture and destruction of the city of Ai. (1.) Preparation. (2.) Execution.—See, I have commanded it to you—a strict military admonition, which may apply also to the spiritual conflict.—How God gives his enemies into the hands of his servants, while he (1.) blinds and disheartens the former; (2.) enlightens and strengthens the latter.
Starke: Although every victory comes from God, it is still in the order of our own fidelity and bravery.—From God alone comes the victory and He it is who can subdue and root out the peoples.
Lange: In so far as a war is justifiable, so far is stratagem therein justifiable also, provided only that it conflict not with the special agreements existing, and lead not to inhuman measures; for as much as possible, the people must be spared.
Bib. Tub.: The fortune of war is changeable, but it turns as the Lord will have.
Cranmer: Just wars are not in themselves against God. But without necessity, recklessly, and from trifling causes to begin war, is iniquitous, 2Ch_35:20; 1Ki_20:3.
4. The Altar of Blessing and of Cursing on Ebal
Jos_8:30-35
30Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel in Mount Ebal, 31as Moses the servant of the Lord [Jehovah had] 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 lifted up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto the Lord [Jehovah], and sacrificed peace-offerings. 32And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote [had written] in the presence of the children [sons] of Israel. 33And all Israel, and their elders, and officers [overseers], and their judges, stood on this side the ark, and on that side, before the priests the Levites, which [who] bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord [Jehovah], 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 [Jehovah] had commanded before,10 that they should bless the people of Israel. 34And 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. 35There 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 conversan [the stranger that walked] among them.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This paragraph, which contains the fulfillment of the command given by Moses, Deu_27:1 ff., breaks the connection between chaps. Jos_8:29 and Jos_9:1, and would appear to be in place later, perhaps after Jos_11:23, since it is not likely that before the complete conquest of the land, Joshua could have undertaken such a celebration: and besides, we find him still, chaps, 9 and 10, in the south of Palestine. Keil, in his prejudiced opposition to all which is called criticism, naturally allows no weight to this, and hence seeks, among other things, to show that when (Jos_9:6) the camp at Gilgal is spoken of, this is not Gilgal near Jericho but another place of that name in the region of Shechem. If this were correct the author would certainly in some way have given an intimation of the fact that in Jos_9:6 we no longer are to understand the Gilgal near Jericho but a Gilgal near Shechem. As he omits this, the whole connection points to the former, and Joshua is in the southern part, not in central Palestine.
Jos_8:30. Ebal. On the alleged fertility of Gerizim, and barrenness of Ebal, many fables have been told by travellers and interpreters. According to Robinson (Bibl. Res. iii. 96–103, and Later Bibl. Res. 131, 132 [Phys. Geog. of H. L. p. 36 f.]), both mountains are alike desolate, while the vale of Shechem lying between them is extremely pleasant and fertile. [Comp. Dict. of the Bible, articles, Ebal, Gerizim, Shechem.] According to Deu_27:6, the altar was to be erected on Ebal, which would thus have the advantage over Gerizim, which, however, is distinguished in its turn by the fact that from it the blessing was to be pronounced. Probably Ebal had been like Sinai, like Moriah Genesis 22), an old place of sacrifice, and so rendered sacred. The name by עֵיבָל, from עבל, to strip off (leaves), signifies the naked (mountain): compare also עוֹבָל (Gen_10:28), a region of Joktanite Arabia. Gerizim (חַר גְּרִזִּים) Jos_8:33 is = mount of the Gerizites. The גְּרִזִּים (from גָּרַז in Arab. to hew, to exterminate, in Heb. only in Niphal,Psa_31:23; Psa_86:6) are the dwellers in a barren land. Assuming this, then the desolation perceived by travellers on the mountain would be as truly countenanced by the name in the case of mount Gerizim, as in that of Ebal.
Jos_8:31. Altar of unhewn stones over which no man had lifted up any iron. So the law required in general (Exo_20:25); so it had been specially ordained for this case (Deu_27:5-6).
Jos_8:32. Stones. Not the stones of the altar (Jos. Syr.) but the great stones whitewashed with lime, spoken of in Deu_27:2-4; Deu_27:8. For this reason the article also stands here, הַא׳. The unhewn, rough stones of the altar moreover would have been poorly adapted to this use.
A copy of the Law of Moses (מִשְׁנֵה ת׳ מ׳, properly, doubling of the law of Moses. So Gen_43:15 they say מ׳ הַכֶּסֶף = doubling of the money. By this doubling of the law is naturally to be understood a copy of the law, in the same sense here as in Deu_17:18, as we also speak of the duplicate of a document. What now was written on the stones? Different answers are given to this, ranged according to the interpretations of Deu_27:3. (a.) The whole law (several Rabbins, Mich., Baumg.) and, according to the Talmudists in Tract. Sota, Joshua 7, in seventy languages, that all the peoples of the earth might read it; therefore the whole Thorah with all its narratives, genealogies, legal prescriptions, etc. Improbable, (b.) Particular parts of the law; (α.) the Decalogue (Grotius, Kennicott, Hasse). (β.) Deuteronomy (Gerhardt, Osiander, Geddes, Vater, Hengstenberg). (γ.) The blessings and cursings (Masius, Maurer, Rosenmüller)—against the words of Deu_27:3. (c.) Everything in the books of Moses which is law, every מִצְוָה (Deu_27:1), which is given in them, all the words of the law (Deu_27:3). So formerly Michaelis (Laws of Moses ii. § 60), rightly, and now Knobel on Deu_27:1 : “The language reaches to the law in general (Mischna Sota 7, 5), to the Mosaic law (Jos_8:32). The author thinks, however, only of the commandments proper, six hundred and thirteen in number, according to the Jewish reckoning, not of all the narratives also and warnings, admonitions, discourses, reasons, and the like. So also Jos_6:9.” The inscription itself may probably have been effected not till after the ceremony was completed, being reported here by anticipation.
Jos_8:33-35. Proclamation of the Blessing and Curse. We must imagine the position of the people to have been such that the priests with the ark of the covenant stood in the midst of the valley, between Ebal lying on the north and Gerizim lying on the south, but the people, one half over against Gerizim (therefore on Ebal), and the other half over against Ebal (therefore on Gerizim). After this had been arranged Joshua himself read (Luther; incorrectly: “caused to be read”) all the words of the law, the blessing, and the cursing. A discrepancy which Knobel thinks he finds between this report and the directions Deu_27:9 ff. we cannot admit, because by the expression “all the words of the law” which is afterwards defined by the addition, “the blessing and the curse,” nothing more is probably to be understood than in the formulas given Deu_27:14 ff. The curses are exactly twelve, according to the number of the tribes; the blessings, see Deu_28:1-14.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It is consistent with the divine economy of salvation in the time of the old covenant, that on the entrance of the chosen people into the promised land, not merely blessing but also curse was held up before them. A people standing so low in morality as the Israelites then did needed stern discipline, and not only might be allured by promises but must be alarmed by threats. This was a very wholesome pædagogic, which is even yet quite in place in the education of particular individuals as well as of whole nationalities, under certain circumstances. Think, for instance, of the neglected children as they are delivered to our reformatory institutions, or of rough heathen nations among whom the Christian missionaries labor. Only we must consider one thing, namely this, that the day of salvation, in which we live, must never be lost sight of, that Moses may not be again put in the place of Christ by whom grace and truth have been brought to us (Joh_1:17), nor the servile spirit in place of the filial (Rom_8:15). Unfortunately, a certain legal tendency has shown a great inclination that way, even in the evangelical church, to say nothing of Rome, whose curses, far removed from the royal power of those imprecations of the O. T. are a kind of invectives about which no one cares. The curse, to have any power, must be uttered in the name of God against unquestionable transgressions of the divine command, as conversely, the blessing only takes effect when it is bestowed upon acts well pleasing to God. According to this canonical law the curia has seldom proceeded, but often exactly in the opposite way.
2. More closely considered, the twelve curses are directed against idolatry (Deu_27:15), contempt of parents (Jos_8:16), removing a neighbor’s land-mark (Jos_8:17), inhumanity toward the blind, strangers, orphans, widows (Jos_8:18-19), incest and sodomy (Jos_8:20-23), murder (Jos_8:24-25), and finally in general against the transgression of the law in any manner (Jos_8:26). Blessings are promised in the city and on the field (Jos_23:3), on all births (Jos_23:4), on the basket and the kneading-trough (Jos_23:5; Exo_7:28; Exo_11:36), on going out and coming in (Deu_28:6); a blessing in particular on their arms in contest with their enemies (Jos_23:7), a blessing on the position of Israel among the nations (Jos_23:9-14). The N. T. recognizes still an entirely different blessing, the εὐλογία πνευματική in heavenly goods (ἐν το͂ις ἐπουρανίοις) in Christ (Eph_1:3), the imperishable, and undefiled, and unfading inheritance which is reserved in heaven (1Pe_1:3). This blessing makes rich, in the highest sense, without trouble added (Pro_10:22).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The solemn gathering of the people on Ebal, (1) Sacrifice, (2) inscription of the law, (3) blessing and curse.—The consecrated altar.—Not only on the stones but rather on the heart should the law of God be written, Jer_31:31; Jer_31:34.—On the import of blessing and cursing.—Rather bless than curse, yet bless not under all circumstances.—Curse may become blessing, blessing curse.—How is it with thee, Christian congregation? Standest thou under the blessing or deservest thou the curse of thy God?—Questions to be asked, perhaps, on days of penitence and prayer.—The whole congregation should hear the word.
Starke: A Christian should not, after being delivered from need, forget gratitude also.—Not human nonsense but the holy word of God alone must be taught and preached.—My God, give us also readiness and desire to make known thy commandments, to all, friends and foes, old and young.
Footnotes:
[1][Jos_8:6.—וְיָצְאוּ. The train of thought will probably be better represented by beginning the sentence anew and dropping the parenthesis, so as to connect this clause with the following. So Fay and De Wette: And they will come out after us till, etc. Zunz, however, continues from the preceding: “that they may come out,” etc.—Tr.].
[2]Some Codd. read וַיָּלֶן (lodged) instead of וַיֵּלֶךְ.
[3][Jos_8:14.—So Fay, De Wette, Keil. Either way מוֹעֵד has the article. Perhaps “to the appointment,” meaning In respect either to time or to place, would represent the Hebrew with sufficient definiteness.—Tr.].
[4][Jos_8:16.—יִּבָּתְּקוּ here, “were torn away,” “completely separated.” See Exegetical Notes.—Tr.].
[5][Jos_8:21.—יַכּוּ as in the next verse—Tr.].
[6][Jos_8:24.—That is, “wherein (or whither) the men of Ai had chased the Israelites.”—Tr.]
[7][Keil supposes that Joshua also, and the main army had gone from Gilgal to the neighborhood of Ai (Jos_8:3), that from there he sent out the ambush (Jos_8:3-9), and there (near Ai) he spent that night in the midst of the people (Jos_8:9). In Jos_8:12-13, then he finds only a repetition with some more particularity of the statement concerning the ambush previously mentioned. The only difficulty in the way of regarding both accounts as relating to the same movement is the great difference of the numbers of the men. Here he thinks there has been simply an error of transcription, the letters representing the 5,000 having been by mistake replaced in Jos_8:3 by those denoting 30,000.—Tr.]
[8][But it was “all that fell that day” (Jos_8:25), not “the other inhabitants” that made up the 12,000.—Tr.].
[9][It is the same word which, Jos_4:18, denotes the with-drawment of the priests feet from the mud of the river-bed to the dry land; “were lifted,” more exactly “plucked, up.”—Tr.].
[10][Jos_8:33.—בָּרִאשֹׁנָה qualifies rather the following clause, “to bless the people of Israel in the beginning,” or, “at first;” probably with reference to the injunction in Deu_27:2, taken literally, and so far removing the improbability that what is recorded in this paragraph should have occurred before the completion of the conquest.—Tr.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain CAPTURE OF AI, Jos_8:1-29.
CAPTURE OF AI, Jos_8:1-29.
1. Fear not — Joshua had need of reassurance and encouragement after the disasters and humiliation which Israel had suffered for the sin of Achan. As shines the sun emerging from behind a thunder cloud, so the returning mercy of Jehovah upon the camp of Israel.
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Take all the people of war with thee — How different from the counsel of the spies, (Jos_7:3,) “Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up.” The Lord could, indeed, have given Ai into the hands of two or three thousand as easily as to all, but he would not encourage Israel in a rash, imprudent dependence on Omnipotence. It appears from Jos_8:3 that the expression all the people of war, like the oft-recurring phrase, “all Israel,” is not to be taken in its widest import. It is probable that the whole camp was put in preparation, and the whole force was reviewed, and thirty thousand of the most suitable were detached for this expedition, while the rest of the army was held in reserve.
Go up to Ai — The march from Jericho to Ai was actually an ascent, but the term go up is often used in a military sense of an advance against a city or nation where the advance is not an actual ascent.
Have given — The conquest of Ai was a foregone conclusion in the Divine mind. Compare Jos_6:2, note.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain Ch. Jos_8:1-29. The Capture of Ai
Ch. Jos_8:1-29. The Capture of Ai
1. And the Lord said unto Joshua] The same encouraging address, and one much needed after all that had taken place, is now given as that recorded in Jos_1:9. The sin of Israel having been removed, the Almighty once more assures Joshua of His presence to give success in the reduction of Ai.
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all the people of war] Not three thousand men only as at the first attempt.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) Fear not, neither be thou dismayed.—See Jos_1:9; Jos_10:25.…
VIII.
(1) Fear not, neither be thou dismayed.—See Jos_1:9; Jos_10:25. In Jos_1:9, “For the Lord thy God is with thee.” These words indicate the return of Jehovah to the host of Israel, for the prosecution of the war.
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Take all the people.—Not merely “two or three thousand,” as before.
Ai.—In Hebrew, Hâ-ai. Ai is intended for one syllable, not two as often sounded in English. It means “the heap” (of ruins apparently). In Jos_8:28 we read that Joshua made it “an heap for ever” (Tel-ôlâm in Hebrew). Thus its first and last names agree. It is remarked that whereas Palestine is full of “Tels” with other names appended to them (as Tell-es Sultan, and some ten others near Jericho alone), the place called et-Tel by Bethel has no other appendage. It is not the heap of anything, but simply the heap, to this day; and this fact, which is apparently without parallel, seems to fix the site of Ai at et-Tel. (See Note on Jos_7:2.)
And his land.—The capture of Ai was not simply the capture of a town or fortress, but of the chief town of a territory, the extent of which we are not told. If we knew the circumstances of the time more precisely, we might apprehend the strategical reasons which made it desirable to obtain possession of Ai in particular at this stage of the campaign.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Fear not. Joshua was down cast at his former…
THE CAPTURE OF AI
Fear not. Joshua was down cast at his former failure, and well he might. "Treacherous Israelites are to be dreaded more than malicious Canaanites" (Matthew Henry). Take all the people of wax with thee. Not, as has been before stated, because 3, 000 men were too few to take the city, for the capture of Jericho was a far greater marvel than that of Ai with this number of men. The true reason is indicated by Calvin, and is indeed suggested by the words "Fear not, neither be thou dismayed." It was to reassure the people, whose hearts had "melted and become as water." Sometimes God calls upon His people for a display of faith, as when He led them through the Jordan, or commanded them to compass Jericho seven days. But in days of despondency He compassionates their weakness and permits them to rely upon visible means of support (see also below, ver. 3). Matthew Henry thinks that a tacit rebuke is here administered to Joshua for sending so few men to Ai on the frowner occasion. He ought to have permitted all to have shared the toil and glory. I have given into thy hand. The work, let man do his best, is God"s after all. The king. For the political condition of Palestine before the Israelitish invasion see Introduction. And his land. As in the case of the early Germanic peoples, there was a certain portion of their land in the neigbourhood attached to each city which was used for agricultural purposes. (see Introduction; also Jos_13:28, Jos_14:4)
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Vers. 1-29. Renewed effort after disaster.
The Christian warfare, whether from an individual or from a general point of view, is no record of invariable success. The career of each Christian, as of the Christian Church, is a chequered course. It has its periods of triumph and its moments of disaster. We learn here many valuable lessons as to our conduct under adverse circumstances.
I WE ARE NOT TO INDULGE DESPONDENCY.
(1) In consequence of evil allowed to lurk within you, you have had a grievous fall. Your duty is plain: to examine carefully into yourself, with God"s help, to detect the hidden evil, and to cast it out. This done, your next duty is to renew the strife. He who is cast down by failure so much as to give up all effort, is lost. The only way to inherit the land of promise is to continue the strife ceaselessly until every one of God"s enemies be destroyed. To Joshua, a catastrophe like that of Ai only occurs once. In the case of most ordinary Christians it occurs many times. But the same course is necessary, how many times soever it befalls us. Stone Achan with stones till he die; then "Fear not, neither be dismayed:" "Arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given it into thy hand.
(2) The history of the Church is the same as that of the individual Its conflict is more prolonged, mare mysterious, and more complete. Therefore it has many Achans, its failures like those of Ai are more numerous, and its need of such encouragement as is here given far greater. Whatever the strife may be, its failures are due to the sins, sometimes unsuspected and undetected, though open, of the Achans of the flock. Many a generation of Christians has failed in their strife against evil, because they have not sought enlightenment from God, and so have called good evil and evil good, have put darkness for light, and light for darkness. After a failure they have not cast lots for the offender, and often they have given up the fight. But the fight must never be given up. Whatever is recognised as not of God must be contended against to the last. If success seems to have deserted us, let us look out for our Achan; try and find out the reasons for our failure. Somewhere or other, if we are sincere in the search, we shall find the hidden evil that paralyses our efforts. Our first task must be to cast it out; our next to renew the conflict with greater energy and mere precautions. No amount of failure ought to daunt us. If still success does not crown our efforts, let us seek for new Achans, and immolate them to the justice of God. But our duty is still to persevere, still to arise up against Ai, and never to cease our efforts until it, and the king thereof, and all the souls that are therein, are involved in one common ruin.
II WE MUST GIVE HONOUR WHERE HONOUR IS DUE. Some successes are entirely God"s doing. Man may not claim credit or in any way seek profit by them. Others are due to man"s individual energy and courage God, of course, working with him, and prospering his efforts. For these he may lawfully enjoy the credit, and be "held in reputation," provided he is careful "not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith." So the spoil of Jericho, which God put into the hands of the Israelites, was devoted to Him. Achan, in seizing it for himself, was robbing God of His right. But the spoil of Ai, which God permitted the Israelites to take by their own exertions, was given into their hands. "God is not unrighteous that he should forget your works and labours of love." He or she has a right to be "beloved" who has "laboured much in the Lord.
III YET MAN MAY NOT CLAIM UNDUE CREDIT FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE. Nothing can be done without God"s help. Our greatest successes are the result of talents entrusted us by God. "What hast thou that thou hast not received?" asks the apostle. Therefore "Not unto us, but unto God"s name be the praise." The greatest saint must therefore preserve the grace of humility. While he joyfully employs the influence and authority his faith and patience have won for him in God"s cause, he must never forget who it was that enabled him to do what he has done; that if he has been "working out," either his "own salvation," or any blessed works for the salvation of others, it was through God who was working in him. Joshua could not take Ai, had not God given it into his hand. Therefore whatever we have done, we are still unprofitable servants. We have done no more than our duty. "Let us not be high minded, but fear.
IV WE MUST ASSAIL OUR ENEMIES INDIRECTLY AS WELL AS DIRECTLY. Joshua employs stratagem as well as force against Ai. It is to be feared that Christian Churches need no exhortations to this course. Many have been the stratagems and devices of various religious bodies to gain their ends, which have brought not success but disgrace upon the cause. Yet we may remember that it is not therefore necessary to rush to the opposite extreme, and imagine that nothing but violent denunciation and open force are the methods to be employed. There is a wisdom of the serpent which may be lawfully employed in God"s cause. The man who is not won by argument may be won by persuasion. The mind that is repelled by vigorous denunciation may be open to satire or raillery. We may frequently gain over antagonists by appearing to yield to them. Sometimes it is even the best way to remove an abuse by allowing it to have full course, and work out its own evil results, and then turning round and pointing out its true character. But stratagems of the character of pious frauds, stratagems which do violence to the Christian"s character for truth and honesty, deliberate concealment of aims which should be avowed, compromises with error for the ultimate advantage of truth these are predestined to fail. If they gain their immediate object, they will most certainly in the end be detrimental to God"s cause.
HOMILIES BY S.R. ALDRIDGE Vers. 1, 2. God"s people victorious.
Frequently does Scripture describe the Christian life as a warfare. We are to war against the evil in ourselves and around us. In the management of our forces for the conflict we may derive comfort and rules of action from the narrative before us. It was not unintentionally recorded. It shows how God fulfils His word, going forth with His people conquering and to conquer; His presence makes the feeble strong, and lends wisdom to the simple.
I THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE BATTLE.
1. The putting away of known sin may lead us to expect the favour of God. Whilst Achan"s theft defiled the Israelites there was no hope of winning the fight. The soldiers of the cross must not entangle themselves with the affairs of this life. (2Ti_2:4) Those must be clean who are to bear the vessels of the Lord. Sin purged, the light of God"s countenance again shone upon His people, and His encouragement not sounded in their ears. We need be afraid only when doing wrong. Without God we are "without hope," helpless and undone; but when He is our light and salvation whom shall we fear? Advance to the strife courageously!
2. All our strength must be brought to bear upon the contest. So confident had the Israelites been that they deemed 3, 000 men sufficient to capture the place. This time no foolish security must be displayed; a second defeat would be disastrous. "All" the people must attack Ai; that is to say, a fully representative force, in contrast with the few who previously made the assault. The help of the Almighty does not release us from the necessity of "bestirring" ourselves. (see 2Sa_5:24) And what we do we must do with our might. He who is always reserving his power for some future occasion will grow feeble, and when he at length essays a strenuous effort will discover his weakness. Nor must we underrate the strength of the enemy. "We wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers, spiritual wickedness in high places;" wherefore let us take to ourselves "the whole armour of God.
3. Prudence an ingredient in the Christian warfare. A detachment was appointed to lie in ambush. (Several reasons render it probable that vers. 9 and 12 refer to the same ambuscade, composed of 5, 000 men; the larger number in ver. 3 being a copyist"s error. The same position is assigned in each case; in the account of the battle only one party of men ambushed is mentioned; and 30, 000 would be too large a force to remain concealed near the city, even in a valley) The lawfulness of stratagem in war cannot be disputed, nor does the Bible know anything of that excessive refinement which will hide nothing but requires the blunt truth to be always stated. See 1Sa_16:2, where the adoption of a fair pretext to prevent bloodshed is sanctioned yea, proposed by the Lord. There must be no falsehood or deception practised; but it is allowable to be "wise as serpents," and to try to win men to the truth by innocent devices. Christian tactics are permissible without pleading the goodness of the end as sanctifying the means employed. Our Captain demands the use of our discretion as well as of our valour.
II THE BATTLE ITSELF.
1. Temporary success blinds the workers of evil. Joshua well knew that the enemy would exultingly exclaim, "They flee before us as at the first," and rush to their doom. Misplaced assurance is the bane of God"s enemies. For a season they may flourish and swell with hope and pride, but consider their end! "How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!" What terms can set forth the delusion of those who fight against God?
2. Fidelity to commandment ensures the Christian"s triumph. The emphatic assertion, "See, I have commanded you," reminded the troops of their duty, and of obedience as essential to success. All orders were faithfully executed and victory crowned their arms. If we pretend to greater wisdom than our Captain, or think fragmentary adherence to precept will suffice, the battle may be the Lord"s, but it will not be ours. Constant study of our war manual and a resolute determination to observe its instructions can alone secure us the victory. Our ears must be attentive to the notes of the clarion, and whither we are sent we must go. Rom_13:11-13 and Eph_6:10-18 must be pondered and put into practice.
3. Diversity of position not incompatible with union. In the occupation by the two forces of Israel of separate posts an illustration is afforded of a truth sometimes overlooked. There are different regiments in the Christian army, and to a soldier in the ranks it may appear as if there was a want of connection with any other division. But there is real working unanimity perceptible to the chief, and when the signal is given the enemy shall be attacked on many sides. The end desired is one and the same, the extermination of the empire of evil.
4. No reason for discouragement if at first the battle goes against us. It may be part of the plan that the enemy should be demented by success prior to his overthrow. However distressed, we may, like David, encourage ourselves in the Lord our God.
III THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMY.
1. Prophetic of the final overthrow of Satan and his host. Jesus, "the Son of God, was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." "Death, the last enemy, is being destroyed.
2. Indicative of the Divine hatred of sin. The men and women of Ai were slain and their city set on fire; their king hanged, and a heap of stones his sepulchre. Thus would the Divine wrath extirpate idolatrous abominations. All His judgments were not purifying, this sentence was penal. What a warning to the Israelites! Dull consciences must be aroused by flashes of fire. Granite hearts must have the inscription cut with toil and pains. Inattentive or forgetful scholars must have the teaching imprinted on their minds by irresistible examples, The preceding chapter proves how needful to Israel was the ocular demonstration of the hatefulness of sin.
Conclusion, "Who is on the Lord"s side?" If this is our position, secure and blissful, diligent and courageous we may be. May we "endure hardness as good soldiers." But if numbered amongst those hostile to God, what terms can describe the dread future that awaits us, unless we repent betimes and seek forgiveness, and receive change of heart and state through Jesus Christ? A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Fear not . . . I have given into…
Jos_8:1-2
Fear not . . . I have given into thy hand the king Of Ai.
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The use of failure
Fear not. How much of our misery arises from fear! How many a beating heart, how many a shaking nerve, how many a sleepless night have come, not from evil experienced, but from evil apprehended! To save one from the apprehension of evil is sometimes more important, as it is usually far more difficult, than to save one from evil itself. An affectionate father finds that one of his most needed services to his children is to allay their fears. Never is he doing them a greater kindness than when he uses his larger experience of life to assure them, in some anxiety, that there is no cause for fear. Our heavenly Father finds much occasion for a similar course. Virtually the command to Joshua is to try again. Success, though denied to the first effort, often comes to the next, or at least to a subsequent one. Even apart from spiritual considerations, it is those who try oftenest who succeed best. There is little good in a man who abandons an undertaking simply because he has tried once and failed. Who does not recall in this connection the story of Alfred the Great? Or of Robert the Bruce watching the spider in the barn that at last reached the roof after sixteen failures? Or, looking to what has a more immediate bearing on the kingdom of God, who has not admired the perseverance of Livingstone, undaunted by fever and famine and the ferocity of savage chiefs; unmoved by his longings for home and dreams of plenty and comfort that mocked him when he awoke to physical wretchedness and want? Such perseverance gives a man the stamp of true nobility. To Christian men especially failure brings very valuable lessons. There is always something to be learned from it. In our first attempt we were too self-confident. We went too carelessly about the matter, and did not sufficiently realise the need of Divine support. In the case of Joshua and his people, one of the chief lessons derived from their failure before Ai was the evil of covering sin. Alas, this policy is the cause of failures innumerable in the spiritual life! In numberless ways it interrupts Divine fellowship, withdraws the Divine blessing, and grieves the Holy Spirit. Joshua is instructed to go up again against Ai, but in order to interest and encourage the people he resorts to a new plan of attack. A stratagem is to be put in operation. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
The right policy
I. These words were spoken to give encouragment. God began His address with the exhortation, Fear not. This indeed constitutes the burden of comfort which it contains. God would renew Joshuas confidence; for this is always essential to success in the work of the Lord. Without holy confidence there can be no good hopes, no wise plans, no buoyant energy, no patient endurance, no successful campaign. The fact that this was an old exhortation made it doubly dear. Israels sins had been confessed, acknowledged, judged, therefore God is faithful and just to forgive it, thoroughly, absolutely. These words of God also contain a promise. Ai is thine; this is the pledge given. It was sure, for Gods Word is never broken. And it was as sweet as it was sure. It was the encouragement of a perfect love that had long been experienced and enjoyed; a new outpouring of its glory most grateful and precious.
II. But God thus addressed Joshua in order to reprove an error. The spies had said, Let not all the people go up, &c. Here God says, Take all the people with thee, and arise, go up to Ai. Here God points out the error of division in His work, the error of thinking that part can do the work designed for the whole. The policy of the spies was a policy of pride. They were elated with their marvellous success at Jericho, with that brilliant victory so easily won; and therefore when they came to look at Ai their hearts were filled with contempt. And the feelings which influenced them still possess the human heart. How dangerous is success to the individual, to the congregation, to the Church I The policy of the spies was also one of ignorance and disobedience. It was opposed to the Divine design and command. So is it now. God has never said to any of His children, Son, go to church, enjoy the services, criticise the sermons, bury yourself in business and pleasure from Monday till Saturday. No, but He does say, Son, go work. And He says that to every son whom He acknowledges. No Christian can shake off his responsibility for personal service. And no one can buy himself off, for the conscription is universal. We must each put our hand to this work as we have opportunity, and if we do not, we show ourselves ignorant or prove ourselves disobedient. Moreover, this policy of the spies was a policy of inconsistency. In adopting it Joshua fell from his own model. He had begun in the spirit and was continuing in the flesh. The taking of Jericho was the pattern for faith to follow. What is the model set by God before His Church in the prosecution of the campaign of salvation? Without dispute, the Day of Pentecost. And what were the characteristics of that day? Unity of spirit, unity of labour. Likewise, this policy sprang from presumption. Joshua in listening to the advice of the spies acted according to the dictates of carnal wisdom. If all the people go against Ai they will tread on each other and be a hindrance rather than a help. If all the people quit the camp there will be a useless expenditure of energy. It is absurd to use 50,000 men when 5,000 are quite capable of doing the work. So they argued; and so the modern descendants of these wise spies say, Not all the people. If all are engaged in this work, many mistakes will be made, much energy will be wasted, much folly will be wrought, much injury to the good cause will be done. What! Has not God ordained that all are to take part in this campaign? Let us take heed, then, lest in our wisdom we perchance become guilty of presumptuously opposing God, who has ordained by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Certainly it is delightful to see zeal well directed, but any zeal for the good of souls is better than lethargy, indifference, death. Still further, this policy of the spies was a policy of infatuation. That Joshua entertained this proposal and acted on it was a sign that for the while he was left to himself on account of that sin which had defiled all Israel. Its unanimous adoption by the people (for both those who went to Ai and those who stayed in the camp signified their approval of it) was a clear token of the Divine displeasure, and brought its own punishment in the universal disgrace which followed. Thus does God often deal with men when they will not hearken to His voice. He makes them eat of the fruit of their own ways. May we ever be saved from such infatuation. Let us fall every one into the ranks of this great army of salvation. Let us buckle on the sword of the Spirit. Let us march to the attack on Satans citadels with united front; and we also, like Israel, will divide the spoil and share the glory of the victory.
III. God gave this command to Joshua in order to teach a lesson. Jericho was taken in one way, Ai in another: therefore methods may vary; they are not stereotyped, cast-iron rules, which cannot be altered. There are essential and there are non-essential elements in the mode of conducting the Divine work. It is essential that all Gods people should take part in the work. All were employed at Jericho; all were to be employed at Ai. It is essential that there be organisation and arrangement. It was an army, not a rabble, which did the work at Jericho; so was it at Ai. But there are non-essentials also. There are great diversities of operation in this army of the Cross. God does not always act exactly in the same way. He has different modes of reaching the human heart and conscience in different ages, in different countries, and among different classes. What is suitable in one set of circumstances may be very unsuitable in another. (A. B. Mackay.)
The taking of Ai Spiritualised
1. It appears, in the first place, that in going out to battle with anything that is doomed we must have a right character and a right cause. The Lord would not allow a blow to be struck at the city by a wicked hand; He will have judgment executed by righteousness; He will have the law proclaimed by lips that have been circumcised and anointed. The first great inquiry of man is a moral inquiry, not an inquest about numbers, places: and possible issues--but, Is this thing right? and am I right who attempt to do the work? That being the case, go forward.
2. The next great lesson of this incident is that we must all advance upon the doomed institution. When the idea of taking Ai was first broached, there were clever men in Israel who said, Let two or three thousand of us go up and take the city. I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city (Jos_8:5). That must be the rule of the Church in all its great moral wars. The battle is not to be handed over to a few persons, however skilful and zealous. The work of teaching the world and saving the world is a work committed to the whole Christian body. The living Church of the living God is one. When the Church realises its totality, when every man is part of an army and not an isolated warrior, then every Ai doomed of Heaven shall reel under the battering-ram which the Church will employ. There are to be no mere critics; there are to be thousands of active soldiers.
3. This being so, the incident brings before us in a very suggestive and picturesque manner the fact that we must excel the enemy in shrewdness. The Church is to be shrewder than the world, believers are to be keener of mind and more active in every energy than unbelievers. It is evident, moreover, that if we are to do any real work in the world in the name of God and in the cause of Christ we must be about our business night and day. In Jos_8:10 we read, And Joshua rose up early in the morning; in verse 13 we read, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. How useful some men might be if they had the spirit of consecration: what time they have on hand!
4. We should miss one great lesson of this story if we did not note that we are bound to set fire to every devoted abomination. Ai was burned. We are not called to compromise, to paltering, to arranging, to expediency where ignorance is concerned, or slavery, or vice, or wrong. Things must be so burned down that they can never grow again. And after destruction, what then? Positive religion comes next: Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal (verse 30). It is no use building your altar until you have burned the abomination. A great destructive work is to be done first, and in the doing of it, there will be great outcry about change, and novelty, and reprisal, and revolution. If you have not been faithful in the work of destruction, you cannot be faithful in the work of construction. It is lying unto the Holy Ghost to build an altar upon the basis of a rotten life. So we are called to thoroughness of work. There is to be no superficial action here. And after the altar, what? The law--the law of righteousness, the law of God. Verse 32 reads, And Joshua wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. This is complete work-destruction, the erected altar, the inscribed law. This is healthy work. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain CHAPTER XVI. THE CAPTURE OF AI. Jos_8:1-29.
CHAPTER XVI. THE CAPTURE OF AI. Jos_8:1-29.
JOSHUA, having dealt faithfully with the case of Achan, whose sin had intercepted the favour of God, is again encouraged, and directed to renew, but more carefully, his attack on Ai. That word is addressed to him which has always such significance when coming from the Divine lips - "Fear not." How much of our misery arises from fear! How many a beating heart, how many a shaking nerve, how many a sleepless night have come, not from evil experienced, but from evil apprehended! To save one from the apprehension of evil is sometimes more important, as it is usually far more difficult, than to save one from evil itself. An affectionate father finds that one of his most needed services to his children is to allay their fears. Never is he doing them a greater kindness than when he uses his larger experience of life to assure them, in some anxiety, that there is no cause for fear. Our heavenly Father finds much occasion for a similar course. He has indeed got a very timid family. It is most interesting to mark how the Bible is studded with "fear nots," from Genesis to Revelation; from that early word to Abraham - ''Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" - to that most comforting assurance to the beloved disciple, ''Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of hades and of death." If only God's children could hear Him uttering that one word, from how much anxiety and misery would it set them free!
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Virtually the command to Joshua is to ''try again." Success, though denied to the first effort, often comes to the next, or at least to a subsequent one. Even apart from spiritual considerations, it is those who try oftenest who succeed best. There is little good in a man who abandons an undertaking simply because he has tried once and failed. Who does not recall in this connection the story of Alfred the Great? Or of Robert the Bruce watching the spider in the barn that at last reached the roof after sixteen failures? Or, looking to what has a more immediate bearing on the kingdom of God, who has not admired the perseverance of Livingstone, undaunted by fever and famine, and the ferocity of savage chiefs; unmoved by his longings for home and dreams of plenty and comfort that mocked him when he awoke to physical wretchedness and want? Such perseverance gives a man the stamp of true nobility; we are almost tempted to fall down and worship. If failure be humiliating, it is redeemed by the very act and attitude of perseverance, and the self-denial and scorn of ease which it involves. In the Christian warfare no man is promised victory at the first. "Let us not be weary in welldoing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."
To Christian men especially, failure brings very valuable lessons. There is always something to be learned from it. In our first attempt we were too selfconfident. We went too carelessly about the matter, and did not sufficiently realize the need of Divine support. Never was there a servant of God who learned more from his failures than St. Peter. Nothing could have been more humiliating than his thrice- repeated denial of his Lord. But when Peter came to himself, he saw on what a bruised reed he had been leaning when he said, ''Though I should die with Thee yet will I not deny Thee." How miserably misplaced that self-confidence had been! But it had the effect of startling him, of showing him his danger, and of leading him to lift up his eyes to the hills from whence came his help. It might have seemed a risky, nay reckless thing for our Lord to commit the task of steering His infant Church over the stormy seas of her first voyage to a man who, six weeks before, had proved so weak and treacherous. But Peter was a genuine man, and it was that first failure that afterwards made him so strong. It is no longer Peter, but Christ in Peter that directs the movement. And thus it came to pass that, during the critical period of the Church's birth, no carnal drawback diminished his strength or diluted his faith; all his natural rapidity of movement, all his natural outspokenness, boldness, and directness were brought to bear without abatement on the advancement of the young cause. He conducted himself during this most delicate and vital period with a nobility beyond all praise. He took the ship out into the open sea amid raging storms without touching a single rock. And it was all owing to the fact that by God's grace he profited by his failure!
In the case of Joshua and his people, one of the chief lessons derived from their failure before Ai was the evil of covering sin. Alas, this policy is the cause of failures innumerable in the spiritual life! In numberless ways it interrupts Divine fellowship, withdraws the Divine blessing, and grieves the Holy Spirit. We have not courage to cut off a right hand and pluck out a right eye. We leave besetting sins in a corner of our hearts, instead of trying to exterminate them, and determining not to allow them a foothold there. The acknowledgment of sin, the giving up of all leniency towards it, the determination, by God's grace, to be done with it, always go before true revivals, before a true return of God to us in all His graciousness and power. Rather, we should say, they are the beginning of revival. In Israel of old the land had to be purged of every vestige of idolatry under Hezekiah and other godly kings, before the light of God's countenance was again lifted upon it. "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word."
Joshua is instructed to go up again against Ai, but in order to interest and encourage the people, he resorts to a new plan of attack. A stratagem is to be put in operation. An ambuscade is to be stationed on the west side of the city, while the main body of the assaulting force is to approach it, as formerly, from the east. There is some obscurity and apparent confusion in the narrative, confined, however, to one point, the number composing the ambuscade and the main body respectively. Some error in the text appears to have crept in. From the statement in Jos_8:3 we might suppose that the men who were to lie in ambush amounted to thirty thousand; but in Jos_8:12 it is expressly stated that only five thousand were employed in this way. There can be little doubt (though it is not according to the letter of the narrative) that the whole force employed amounted to thirty thousand, and that, of these, five thousand formed the ambush. Indeed, in such a valley, it would not have been possible for thirty thousand men to conceal themselves so as to be invisible from the city. It would appear (Jos_8:17) that the people of Bethel had left their own village and gone into Ai. Bethel, as we have said, was situated higher up; in fact, it was on the very ridge of the plateau of Western Palestine. It must have been but a little place, and its people seem to have deemed it better to join those of Ai, knowing that if the Israelites were repulsed from the lower city, the upper was safe.
The ruse was that the ambush should be concealed behind the city; that Ai, as before, should be attacked from the east by the main-body of troops; that on receiving the onslaught from the city they should seem to be defeated as before; that Joshua, probably standing on some commanding height, should give a signal to the men in ambush by raising his spear; whereupon these men should rush down on the now deserted place and set it on fire. On seeing the flames, the pursuers would naturally turn and rush back to extinguish them; then the main body of Israel would turn likewise, and thus the enemy would be caught as in a trap from which there was no escape, and fall a victim to the two sections of Israel.
To plots of this kind, the main objection in a strategical sense lies in the risk of detection. For the five thousand who went to station themselves in the west it was a somewhat perilous thing to separate themselves from the host, and place themselves in the heart of enemies both in front and in rear. It needed strong faith to expose themselves in such a situation. Suppose they had been detected as they went stealing along past Ai in the darkness of the night; suppose they had come on some house or hamlet, and wakened the people, so that the alarm should have been carried to Ai, what would have been the result? It was well for Israel that no such mishap occurred, and that they were able in silence to reach a place where they might lie concealed. The ground is so broken by rocks and ravines that this would not have been very difficult; the people of Ai suspected nothing; probably the force on the east were at pains, by camp-fires and otherwise, to engage their attention, and whenever that force began to move, as if for the attack, every eye in the city would be fixed intently upon it.
The plot was entirely successful; everything fell out precisely as Joshua had desired. A terrible slaughter of the men of Ai took place, caught as they were on the east of the city between the two sections of Joshua's troops, for the Israelites gave no quarter either to age or sex. The whole number of the slain amounted to twelve thousand, and that probably included the people of Bethel too. We see from this what an insignificant place Ai must have been, and how very humiliating was the defeat it inflicted at first. With reference to the spoil of the city, the rigid law prescribed at Jericho was not repeated; the people got it for themselves. Jericho was an exceptional case; it was the firstfruits of the conquest, therefore holy to the Lord. If Achan had but waited a little, he would have had his share of the spoil of Ai or some other place. He would have got legitimately what he purloined unlawfully. In the slaughter, the king, or chief of the place, suffered a more ignominious doom than his soldiers; instead of being slain with the sword, he was hanged, and his body was exposed on a tree till sunset. Joshua did not want some drops of Oriental blood; he had the stern pleasure of the Eastern warrior in humbling those who were highest in honour. What remained of the city was burned; it continued thereafter a heap of ruins, with a great cairn of stones at its gate, erected over the dead body of the king.
We see that already light begins to be thrown on what at the time must have seemed the very severe and rigid order about the spoil of Jericho. Although Achan was the only offender, he was probably far from being the only complainer on that occasion. Many another Israelite with a covetous heart must have felt bitterly that it was very hard to be prevented from taking even an atom to oneself. "Were not our fathers allowed to spoil the Egyptians - why, then, should we be absolutely prevented from having a share of the spoil of Jericho?" It might have been enough to answer that God claimed the firstfruits of the land for Himself; or to say that God designed at the very entrance of His people into Canaan to show that they were not a tumultuous rabble, rushing greedily on all they could lay their hands on, but a well-trained, well-mannered family, in whom self-restraint was one of the noblest virtues. But to all this it might have been added, that the people's day was not far off. It is not God's method to muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And so to all who rush tumultuously upon the good things of this life. He says, "Seek first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Let God arrange the order in which His gifts are distributed. Never hurry Providence, as Sarah did when she gave Hagar to Abraham. Sarah had good cause to repent of her impetuosity; it brought her many a bitter hour. Whereas God was really kinder to her than she had thought, and in due time He gave her Isaac, not the son of the bondwoman, but her own. A question has been raised respecting the legitimacy of the stratagem employed by Joshua in order to capture Ai. Was it right to deceive the people; to pretend to be defeated while in reality he was only executing a ruse, and thus draw on the poor men of Ai to a terrible death? Calvin and other commentators make short work of this objection. If war is lawful, stratagem is lawful. Stratagem indeed, as war used to be conducted, was a principal part of it; and even now the term "strategic," derived from it, is often used to denote operations designed for a different purpose from that which at first appears. It is needless to discuss here the lawfulness of war, for the Israelites were waging war at the express command of the Almighty. And if it be said that when once you allow the principle that it is lawful in war to mislead the enemy, you virtually allow perfidy, inasmuch as it would be lawful for you, after pledging your word under a flag of truce, to disregard your promise, the answer to that is, that to mislead in such circumstances would be infamous. A distinction is to be drawn between acts where the enemy has no right to expect that you will make known your intention, and acts where they have such a right. In the ordinary run of strategic movements, you are under no obligation to tell the foe what you are about. It is part of their business to watch you, to scrutinize your every movement, and in spite of appearances to divine your real purpose. If they are too careless to watch, or too stupid to discern between a professed and a real plan, they must bear the consequences. But when a flag of truce is displayed, when a meeting takes place under its protection, and when conditions are agreed to on both sides, the case is very different. The enemy is entitled now to expect that you will not mislead them. Your word of honour has been passed to that effect. And to disregard that pledge, and deem it smart to mislead thereby, is a proceeding worthy only of the most barbarous, the most perfidious, the most shameless of men.
Thus far we may defend the usages of war; but at best it is a barbarous mode of operations. Very memorable was the observation of the Duke of Wellington, that next to the calamity of suffering a defeat was that of gaining a victory. To look over a great battlefield, fresh from the clash of arms; to survey the trampled crops, the ruined houses, the universal desolation; to gaze on all the manly forms lying cold in death, and the many besides wounded, bleeding, groaning, perhaps dying; to think of the illimitable treasure that has been lavished on this work of destruction and the comforts of which it has robbed the countries engaged; to remember in what a multitude of cases, death must carry desolation and anguish to the poor widow, and turn the remainder of life into a lonely pilgrimage, is enough surely to rob war of the glory associated with it, and to make good the position that on the part of civilized and Christian men it should only be the last desperate resort, after every other means of effecting its object has failed. We are not forgetful of the manly self-sacrifice of those who expose themselves so readily to the risk of mutilation and death, wherever the rulers of their country require it, for it is the redeeming feature of war that it brings out so much of this high patriotic devotion; but surely they are right who deem arbitration the better method of settling national differences; who call for a great disarmament of the European nations, and would put a stop to the attitude of every great country shaking its fist in the face of its neighbours. What has become of the prophecy "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks"? Or the beautiful vision of Milton on the birth of the Saviour? -
"No war, or battle's sound Was heard the world around; The idle spear and shield were high uphung; The hooked chariot stood Unstained with hostile blood, The trumpet spake not to the armed throng; And kings sat still with awful eye As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by."
One lesson comes to us with pre-eminent force from the operations of war. The activity displayed by every good commander is a splendid example for all of us in spiritual warfare. "Joshua arose"; "Joshua lodged that night among the people"; ''Joshua rose up early in the morning"; "Joshua went that night into the middle of the valley"; "Joshua drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai." Such expressions show how intensely in earnest he was, how unsparing of himself, how vigilant and indefatigable in all that bore upon his enterprise. And generally we still see that, wherever military expeditions are undertaken, they are pushed forward with untiring energy, and the sinews of war are supplied in unstinted abundance, whatever grumbling there may be afterwards when the bill comes to be paid. Has the Christian Church ever girded herself for the great enterprise of conquering the world for Christ with the same zeal and determination? What are all the sums of money contributed for Christian missions, compared to those spent annually on military and naval forces, and multiplied indefinitely when active war goes on! Alas, this question brings out but one result of a painful comparison - the contrast between the ardour with which secular results are pursued by secular men, and spiritual results by spiritual men. Let the rumour spread that gold or diamonds have been found at some remote region of the globe, what multitudes flock to them in the hope of possessing themselves of a share of the spoil! Not even the prospect of spending many days and nights in barbarism, amid the misery of dirt and heat and insects, and with company so rude and rough and reckless that they have hardly the appearance of humanity, can overcome the impetuous desire to possess themselves of the precious material, and come home rich. What crowds rush in when the prospectus of a profitable brewery promises an abundant dividend, earned too often by the manufactory of drunkards! What eager eyes scan the advertisements that tell you that if persons bearing a certain name, or related to one of that name, would apply at a certain address, they would hear of something to their advantage! Once we knew of a young man who had not even seen such an advertisement, but had been told that it had appeared. There was a vague tradition in his family that in certain circumstances a property would fall to them. The mere rumour that an advertisement had appeared in which he was interested set him to institute a search for it. He procured a file of the Times newspaper, reaching over a series of years, and eagerly scanned its advertisements. Failing to find there what he was in search of, he procured sets of other daily newspapers and subjected them to the same process. And thus he went on and on in his unwearied search, till first he lost his situation, then he lost his reason, and then he lost his life. What will men not do to obtain a corruptible crown? Could it be supposed from our attitude and ardour that we are striving for the incorruptible? Could it be thought that the riches which we are striving to accumulate are not those which moth and rust do corrupt, but the treasures that endure for evermore? Surely "it is high time for us to awake out of sleep." Surely we ought to lay to heart that "the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Memorable are the poet's words respecting the great objects of human desire: -
"The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve: And like this unsubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Jos_8:1. Take all the people of war] The total…
VICTORY RESTORED AT AI, AND THE LAW PROCLAIMED AT EBAL
CRITICAL NOTES.—
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Jos_8:1. Take all the people of war] The total number of men capable of bearing arms, omitting the seventy thousand left on the eastern side of Jordan, amounted to rather more than 531,000. It is not likely that all of these were taken up to make war on Ai. By “all the people of war” we may understand a body of chosen troops made up by selection from the various tribes; or, as the third verse suggests, “all the people of war” were mustered, and then thirty thousand were chosen from the assembled host.
Jos_8:2. As thou didst unto Jericho and her king] This alludes in general terms to the devoting of the city and its inhabitants, the one by burning, and the other by death. At Jericho the spoil was made cherem; here it was given to the people. The king of Jericho seems to have been slain with the sword; the king of Ai was hanged, although it is likely that he was first put to death in some other way. Lay thee an ambush] “The question put by many with reference to the propriety of employing stratagem in order to deceive an enemy, indicates excessive ignorance. For it is certainly not physical force alone which determines the issue of war, but, on the contrary, those are pronounced the best generals, whose success is due less to force than to skilful manœuvres. Therefore, if war is lawful at all, it is indisputably right to avail oneself of those arts by which victory is usually obtained. It is of course understood that neither must treaties be violated, nor faith broken in any other way.” (Calvin.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_8:1-2
THE RAISING UP OF THE FALLEN
The Bible is the only book from which men have learned to encourage each other to sing, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” Men tread down the fallen, and those who have suffered moral disgrace have little to hope from “the tender mercies of the wicked,” which are ever cruel in proportion to the wickedness of those who shew them. It is only from Divine lips that we hear the assurance, “To the poor the Gospel is preached.” For the outcast and the fallen the Pharisees had no good tidings; they made broad their phylacteries, and murmured of Him who came to give hope to such, “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them;” and yet these Pharisees were the very men whose fathers had been taught to say, “He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
Three things may be noticed in these two verses:—
I. The completeness of Divine pardon. No sooner had the people put away their sin than “the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not.” The Divine manifestation of love was as full as though no sin had been committed. The encouragement given here is as free from restraint as the encouragement in chap. Jos_1:9.
1. No man should postpone repentance on the ground of fear. How differently does God appear in these two chapters! in the seventh there was every cause for fear; in this there was every reason for trust. Blake, the painter, in his energetic lines addressed to the tiger, abruptly and with wonder asks the fierce beast,
“Did He that made the lamb make thee?”
The God of the tiger seems one God, and the God of the lamb appears almost as another God. All life shews God passing before us in what seem to us these conflicting manifestations of Himself. The God of spring and plenty and health seems one Being; the God of winter and of famine and of sickness appears as if another. The God of our children’s cradles is one to whom we lift our eyes in thankfulness and love; the God of their coflins, and of our other bereavements, is one to whom, if we are not well taught, we are tempted to look up with fear and dismay, and ask, Who art Thou, Thou Dreadful One, that Thou smitest thus severely? So, to Israel, the Lord must have seemed in the first attack on Ai, and in the subsequent inquisition and judgment, a God greatly to be feared; here, all Israel would have felt again, that He was a God to be adored and delighted in and loved. We misunderstand the Heart that always loves us, in whatever form it manifests itself; and we mistake the time for fear. When a ship is sailing in tropical regions, there will sometimes come over the ocean an unusual calm. The mere passenger might enjoy it, and mistake it for peace. Not so the captain: he hastens to his instruments, marks the rapid fall of the mercury, and turning again promptly to his crew, in tones that mark urgency and coming danger he bids them “Furl all.” In the intense stillness in which a landsman might admire the deep peace of the sea, the sailor beholds the hushed waves listening, as with bated breath, to the tread of the coming tempest, ere the wild cyclone rushes madly across the ocean. Men are at peace when they should fear, and fear when they should be at peace. “The Lord raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” It is not the contrite man, but the unrepentant, who has cause to fear that God will turn against him. The Pharisees may well cower before the indignant looks and words of Christ; the woman in tears at His feet may trust and not be afraid. The conflict of Paul with sin, recorded in the seventh chapter of the Romans, does but make way for the joy and confidence so soon after expressed in the eighth.
2. No man should think that a given amount of formal repentance will necessarily be followed by a given amount of spiritual peace. There seems a kind of intentional irregularity in God’s method of assuring men of the forgiveness of sin; just as, in the outward aspect, there is an intentional irregularity in the Divine method of answering prayer. No intelligent Christian thinks that God answers prayer by machinery which regulates the quantity of answer according to the quantity of utterance; He answers prayer by infinite love, and wisdom, and patience, and therefore with infinite variations. A given amount of prayer from a hungry Christian will not come out a given amount of bread, as though human supplications were so much corn, and the throne of grace were mill and bakehouse in one. If so many prayers resulted regularly in so many loaves, then farewell to honest industry and to the discipline of healthy labour: for men would turn into spiritual vagrants by the million; just as here, in London, the routine charity of foolish and indiscriminate givers, makes hundreds of beggars every year, and spreads an influence of easy indifference to pauperism, till it weakens and contaminates the minds of even the honest and manly poor. God loves us too much and too wisely to turn men into spiritual paupers thus; and therefore He answers prayer, as we call it, “by crosses,” or He keeps us waiting, or He seems not to answer at all. Intelligent Christians have always understood that so many words of prayer could never be equivalent to so many temporal gifts, to so many sins forgiven, or to so much assurance of grace from on high. There is, and for the same reason there must be, a similar irregularity in God’s method of assuring men of forgiveness. A given amount of pain and tears can have no exact and ascertained relation to the time when His sinful children shall hear Him say again, “Fear not, neither be thou dismayed.” If in all the future national sins of Israel the people had said, “The sacrifice of one family in the valley of Achor brought Divine forgiveness, and saved the nation when the nation had sinned then; therefore we will sacrifice another family, and save the nation now; and we will always sacrifice a family for the sake of the nation when we get into similar disfavour with God: if the Israelites had said that, or felt and acted like that, the valley of Achor, instead of being “a door of hope,” would have become a door through which would have entered into the national life and history a horrible system of alternating sin and sacrifices, of selfishness and cruelty. God may keep the penitent waiting ere He speaks the words, “Fear not,” so as to be heard; let it be enough for us to know that all the penitent are forgiven when they come to God in tears for sin, and with faith in the offering of Christ; and that ultimately, if not immediately, those who wait thus on the Lord will enter into the peace of manifest reconciliation.
3. When pardon is pronounced by God, every forgiven man should regard it as perfect, and wanting nothing. After the penitence of Israel, and the punishment of Achan, the way to victory was held to be as open and clear as before Achan had sinned. “As far as the east is from the west,” so far was this transgression put away. God had “cast it behind His back,” and it was no more in view as a reproach to the people, or as a hindrance to their triumph. Many a man has felt the purity of child-life contrasting so painfully with the sin-stained course of his maturer years, that he has responded with all his heart to the feeling of one similarly moved:—
“I could have turned
Into my yesterdays, and wandered back
To distant childhood, and gone out to God
By the gate of birth, not death.”
We cannot but be ashamed of our transgressions, yet we need not mourn that we cannot go forth to God thus; nor need we fear to meet Him in the way which is common unto men, for His forgiveness is complete, and His welcome of every pardoned child will be as though sin had never been committed.
II. The beauty of Divine gentleness. God said to Joshua, and through Joshua to all Israel, “Fear not, neither be thou dismayed.” “As one whom his mother comforteth,” so was Joshua gently assured and comforted by the Lord.
1. Divine gentleness should be considered in relation to Divine power. The gentleness of an infant surprises no one, but that of a strong warrior is imposing. A true representation of tenderness must have power for its background. It is in this aspect that the gentleness of Christ becomes so real and so attractive. It is He who stills the storm with a word, that blesses the little children; it is He who calls men calmly back from the grave, that tenderly concerns Himself lest the unfed thousands faint by the way; in a word, the Lion of the tribe of Judah is also the Lamb of God. Quite in harmony with this, He who says “Fear not” to Joshua, is also He who smote Pharaoh, who made a path through the sea, who sent the manna for forty years, and who gave Israel water from the rocks of the wilderness. The words “Fear not” could have given little comfort from the lips of a feeble child; it was another thing to hear them from Him who had so recently overthrown “famous kings,” divided the Jordan, and given the marvellous triumph at Jericho. It is the God of the sun and stars, and of all the universe, who stands by the cross of Jesus, and says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;” it is the Lord of all power and might who softly whispers to His troubled disciples through all time, “Fear not, little flock: it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
2. Divine gentleness to sinners should be considered in connection with Divine sensibility to sin. Men are gentle to transgressors from indifference to transgression. The life of Christ is full of incident and utterance, in which stern deeds and words of wrath against sin mingle with gentle assurances to the penitent and fearful. Almost in a breath the Saviour proclaims woe unto Chorazin, to Bethsaida, and to Capernaum, and then adds, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Similarly, Luke tells us, in a single paragraph, how Christ wept over Jerusalem, and then, with the tears hardly dried from His face, how He went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold therein and them that bought. So, in this page of the history of Israel, we see Jehovah, in one chapter, solemnly insisting on the death of Achan, and forth with, in this, tenderly assuring Joshua of coming victory. It is a God so sensitive to sin, and one hating it so severely, who proposes to say to every penitent believer in His Son, “Thy sins, which be many, are all forgiven thee: go in peace.”
III. The fulness of Divine encouragement. All that Joshua just now wanted to know was communicated to him by Jehovah.
1. We see God giving special promises for peculiar discouragement. Divine comfort has about it nothing vague: it does not end in mere generalities. The utterances of Scripture are definite, and meet us in our actual necessities.
2. God’s encouragement is corrective of former errors. “Take all the people of war with thee.” This is set over against the former mistake arising from the counsel of the spies. The words of the Lord deal not only with our need in the future, but with our errors in the past.
3. God’s encouragements have regard to the nature of His people’s dejection. The Israelites are suffered to take at least thirty thousand men to give battle to not more than three or four thousand of their foes. In the time of great weakness, God suffers us, somewhat more than in ordinary life, to take hope from things visible.
4. God’s encouragement is given in the form of a promise already proved. Compare the words, “Fear not, neither be thou dismayed,” with chap. Jos_1:9 and Deu_31:6-8. The whole of the Church above has gone before us, proving for our use the words in which God asks us each for a little longer to trust and not be afraid.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_8:1.—FREEDOM FROM FEAR: ITS NECESSITY, GROUNDS, AND ENCOURAGEMENTS.
I. The necessity of freedom from fear and dismay.
1. Confidence is necessary for active warfare.
2. Confidence necessary for successful work.
3. Confidence is necessary for patient endurance.
4. Confidence is necessary for spiritual growth.
II. The ground of freedom from fear and dismay. “I have given into thine hand,” etc.
1. There is no other ground sufficiently philosophical. True wisdom is on the side of trusting God. The human brain unperverted by the allurements of the world, the pride of the heart, and the scorn of men, ever elects to “wait on the Lord.”
2. There is no other ground sufficiently pleasing. Imagination is on the side of trusting God. Music, painting, poetry, and everything which moves and delights the human fancy has found a sufficient theatre nowhere but in the faith of Him. Deity is infinite space in the beautiful, where holy imagination can rove at large, never wearied, and ever delighted.
3. There is no other ground sufficiently precious. Our hearts are on the side of trusting God. If the intellect and the fancy sometimes find a temporary resting place in men or things, the heart never can be satisfied excepting in the Lord. The being who has been made in the Divine image can find no sufficient and ultimate home for his love, saving in the heart of Him who is love.
4. There is no other ground sufficiently proved. History is on the side of trusting God. “Our fathers trusted in Thee, and were not confounded,” can only be said of one Helper. He who goes forth to meet the giant enemies of life with any other weapons than those furnished by the Lord of life, will, sooner or later, fear to meet his foes, and will cry with the shepherd youth of Israel, when dressed in the armour of his king, “I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them.”
III. The encouragements to freedom from fear and dismay.
1. There is error to be vanquished. The Israelites might rejoice in the overthrow of idolatry. They were not to delight in slaying men, but to exult over the fall of error which had brought such multitudes to the saddest form of death. Wellington’s grief at Waterloo.
2. There is honour to be won. In God’s battles, this is no empty thing tacked on from without; no medal, which can be cast in a die; no ribbon, which depends on texture and colour for its brightness. Every real victory in the way of truth brings to each triumphant soldier of Christ a holy sense of exaltation within himself. He may say: By God’s grace I have helped the cause of righteousness; I have removed some temptations; I have helped weak men about me now, and the weak of the ages to come. In the warfare of life, every damaged idol may stand for a delivered man.
3. There is reward to be gathered. The spoil of Ai was to be given to Israel. Spiritual victory has nobler and richer gains both here and hereafter.
“GOD’S RENEWED CALL TO JOSHUA. This is the same word indeed as before, but now of quite a different import, since God by it not only assures Joshua of His support, but also gives him to understand that He is again gracious to Him.”—[Lange.]
“Joshua needed the comforting exhortation after the bitter experiences through which he had just passed. Comp. Act_18:9-10; Act_27:23-24.”—[Crosby.]
“Although every victory comes from God, it is still in the order of our own fidelity and bravery.”—[Starke.]
“The fortune of war is changeable, but it turns as the Lord will have.”—[Bib. Tub.]
Jos_8:2.—God will have the first fruits, in order to teach us whence all fruits come, and to whom they all belong.
God gives His people the subsequent fruits, to shew them that they can win nothing which is essential to Him, and to make manifest His love and care for them.
God thus makes both firstfruits and after-fruits to serve His people’s good.
“The way to have the comfort of what God allows us is to forbear what He forbids us. No man shall lose by his self-denial; let God have His dues first, and then all will be clean to us, and sure, 1Ki_17:13.”—[Henry.]
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain The Conquest of Ai. The Covenant confirmed upon Mt.…
The Conquest of Ai. The Covenant confirmed upon Mt. Ebal
1-29. The Taking of Ai. Edersheim explains that Joshua detailed a corps of 30,000 men, of whom 5,000 were placed W. of Ai in a wood. The 25,000 pitched K of Ai, and subsequently moved forward into the valley below the city. Then came the feigned attack and retreat eastward, the signal from Joshua, and the assault by the ambush from the rear. It should be noted, however, that there are two accounts of the ambush, one in Jos_8:3, Jos_8:9, in which 30,000 are said to have been concealed, and the other in Jos_8:10-12, in which only 5,000 are said to have been in hiding. These discrepancies in figures are very common.
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15. By the way of the wilderness] i.e. toward the Jordan valley.
17. Or Bethel] omit, as LXX.
30-35. The Covenant confirmed upon Mt. Ebal, near Shechem. At the first opportunity the law of Jehovah is proclaimed as the law of the land.
31. As Moses.. commanded] see Deu_11:29, and, more fully, Deuteronomy 27. An altar of white stones] see Exo_20:25. Burnt offerings] representing entire oblation of the offerer to God: wholly consumed on the altar. Peace offerings] representing communion with God. God was the Host, and the offerer and his friends feasted with Him at His table.
32. The stones] i.e. the stones when plastered: see Deu_27:2-4. A copy of the law] Obviously not the whole Pentateuch, or even the legislative matter contained in it; but the Law of the Blessings and Cursings: see Deuteronomy 27.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 8. The Overthrow of Ai
8. The Overthrow of Ai
CHAPTER 8
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1. The advance commanded (Jos 8:1-2)
2. The strategy of Joshua (Jos 8:3-13)
3. Ai’s defeat (Jos 8:14-29)
4. Joshua’s obedience (Jos 8:30-35)
Sin confessed, judged and put away restored communion with the Lord. If any burden remained upon the mind of Joshua, it was removed by the repeated words of comfort and cheer. “Fear not, neither be thou dismayed.” The failure is no longer mentioned, but instead, comfort and assurance is given and victory promised. He deals in the same gracious way with us, whenever we have failed and humbled ourselves before Him in self-judgment. However, their former presumption is not overlooked by Jehovah. The capture of Ai is hard work for them. They had to learn the lesson. Their pride and self reliance was dealt with by Jehovah, who ever wants His people in the place of lowliness and weakness. Instead of 3,000 men, ten times as many had to go up and engage in the warfare.
The Lord commanded Joshua to stretch out the spear toward Ai. This corresponds to the uplifted hands of Moses in the warfare against Amalek in Exodus 17. It was a token of the presence of divine power in securing the complete victory. We read nothing of Joshua’s arm with the spear becoming weak, as it was with the uplifted hands of Moses. “For Joshua drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai” (verse 26). It was an act of faith, and divine power supported the out stretched arm.
Then, after the victory, Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel, in Mount Ebal. He is doing this in obedience to the previously given command. See Deu 27:2-8. What an impressive scene it must have been when “he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.”
“Both mounts belong to the range of Mount Ephraim; the elevated valley of Shechem lies between them. The transaction probably took place in the following manner. Six tribes occupied each mount; the priests, standing below in the valley with the ark of the covenant in their midst, turned toward Mount Gerizim as they solemnly pronounced the words of blessing, and then, looking towards Mount Ebal, repeated the words of cursing; all the people responded to each of the words, and said: ‘Amen!’ Ebal, the Mount of cursing, is naked and bald; Gerizim, the mount of blessing, is green and fertile. The circumstance that the mount of cursing was assigned for the writing of the law, the erection of the altar, and the offering of sacrifice, is highly significant; the cause lies in the intimate relations existing between the curse, on the one hand, and the Law and Sacrifice, on the other--the former brings a curse, or gives a sharp point to it, the latter abolishes it” (J.H. Kurtz).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Preparations for the Taking Of Ai
Preparations for the Taking Of Ai
v. 1. And the Lord, having restored His favor to Israel by the expiation of Achan’s death, said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed, cast down and filled with apprehension. Take all the people of war with thee, the entire army, 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, the territory of which Ai was capital;
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v. 2. and thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king, exterminate all human beings; only the spoil thereof, in money and goods, and the cattle thereof shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves, for only Jericho, as first-fruits, had been devoted to the Lord. Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
v. 3. So Joshua arose and all the people of war, the entire army, as ordered by God, to go up against Ai, he gave the command that all should be mustered. And Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night, since the distance was such as to be made easily in one night’s march.
v. 4. And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, ready for an attack, even behind the city. Go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready;
v. 5. and I and all the people that are with me, the main division of the army, will approach unto the city, along the road which led to it from the southeast; and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them, employ this ruse to draw them out of the city,
v. 6. (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, thus strengthening the enemy in their false supposition and causing them to abandon caution.
v. 7. Then ye shall rise up from the ambush and seize upon the city, capture it without difficulty; for the Lord, your God, will deliver it into your hand.
v. 8. 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.
v. 9. Joshua therefore sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai, there being some rocky ridges to the southwest, where concealment could easily be made. But Joshua lodged that night among the people, in camp with the larger division of his army, which marched less swiftly.
v. 10. And Joshua rose up early in the morning and numbered the people, mustered them, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, for it behooved them to take the lead in the attack, before the people of Ai, so that the watchmen of the city could see them.
v. 11. 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. Thus their camp was plainly visible from Ai, but could not easily be attacked.
v. 12. And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city, for there was a second ridge toward the northwest.
v. 13. And when they had set the people, assigned to every company and every individual the place which he was to occupy in the attack, 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, moved forward, as though for an attack, under cover of darkness. Thus the main part of the army was on the north side of the city, the ambush of thirty thousand was on the southwest, directly behind the city, and the smaller ambush of five thousand men was ready to attack the flank of the enemy. It was not merely Joshua’s military genius which appears in this story, for the plan was made by the Lord, whose purpose was to reassure the army of Israel.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Do not fear; do not be discouraged
Do not fear; do not be discouraged
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. Yahweh combines them to emphasize that there is no reason to be afraid. (See: Parallelism)
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I have given into your hand the king of Ai ... and his land
Giving them into Israel's hand represents giving Israel victory and control over them. AT: "I have given you victory over the king of Ai and his people, and I have given you control over his city and his land" (See: Metonymy)
I have given
God speaks of what he promises to do as though he had already done it, because he will certainly do it. AT: "I will certainly give" or "I am giving" (See: Predictive Past)
her king
The word "her" refers to the city of Ai. Cities were often spoken of as if they were women. AT: "its king" or "their king" (See: Personification)
translationWords
Yahweh
Joshua
Ai
hand
king
people group
Jericho
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:1-13 The first attempt to conquer Ai had been…
8:1-13 The first attempt to conquer Ai had been done without consulting God; the second attempt would be made at God’s command and direction. Before the second attempt, God spoke to Joshua again and gave him a strategy. More importantly, in light of Israel’s recent disaster, God gave him encouragement and a promise.
8:1 Do not be afraid or discouraged: God gave Joshua similar encouragement before sending him against Jericho (6:2).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.