So Joshua arose, with all the warriors, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night. He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, like the first time.’ So we will flee before them, and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.
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Joshua 8:3-7 sits inside this longer paragraph.
So Joshua arose, with all the warriors, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night. He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, like the first time.’ So we will flee before them, and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand. It shall be, when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to Yahweh’s word. Behold, I have commanded you.”
Parallel Translations
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So Joshua arose, with all the warriors, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night.
He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.
They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, like the first time.’ So we will flee before them,
and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.
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So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,
(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.
Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
Show all 3 translations
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So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valour, and sent them forth by night.
And he commanded them, saying: 'Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready.
And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city; and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.
And they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say: They flee before us, as at the first; so we will flee before them.
And ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
Cross-references (26)
- Judges 20:29 (v4) Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.
- Proverbs 21:30-31 (v7) There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh. The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but victory is with Yahweh.
- Joshua 7:5 (v5) The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them. They chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent.…
- Joshua 8:1 (v7) 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…
- 2 Kings 5:1 (v7) Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given…
Show all 26 cross-references
- Exodus 14:3 (v6) Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.’
- Exodus 15:9 (v6) The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My…
- Joshua 8:16 (v4) All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
- Judges 9:25 (v4) The men of Shechem set an ambush for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them; and Abimelech…
- Judges 20:31-33 (v5) The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people as…
- Judges 20:32 (v6) The children of Benjamin said, “They are struck down before us, as at the first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let’s flee, and draw…
- Judges 20:33 (v4) All the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. Then the ambushers of Israel broke out of their…
- Judges 20:36 (v4) So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck, for the men of Israel yielded to Benjamin because they trusted the ambushers whom…
- 1 Samuel 15:2 (v4) Yahweh of Armies says, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way, when he came up out of Egypt.
- 1 Samuel 15:5 (v4) Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley.
- Ecclesiastes 7:19 (v4) Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
- Ecclesiastes 8:11 (v6) Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
- Ecclesiastes 9:12 (v6) For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are…
- Ecclesiastes 9:16 (v4) Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
- Matthew 10:16 (v5) “Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
- Matthew 24:39 (v3) and they didn’t know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
- Matthew 24:50 (v3) the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it, and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,
- Matthew 25:6 (v3) But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!’
- Acts 23:21 (v4) Therefore don’t yield to them, for more than forty men lie in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse to neither eat nor…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2 (v3) For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
- 2 Peter 3:10 (v3) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4, 7 God would not destroy Ai by miracle, as Jericho,…
God would not destroy Ai by miracle, as Jericho, to the intent that other nations might fear the power and policy of his people.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–7 Jos 8:3 So Joshua arose, and all the people…
Jos 8:3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
Ver. 3. And Joshua chose out thirty thousand.] Whom he commanded to lay some in ambush, to wit the five thousand mentioned in Jos 8:12.
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 On vv3, 4, 5, 7 To go up against Ai, i.e. to consider and…
To go up against Ai, i.e. to consider and conclude about this expedition of going against Ai; not as if all the people of war did actually go up, which was both unnecessary and burdensome, and might hinder their following design; but it seems to be resolved by Joshua and all the council of war, that the thirty thousand here following should be selected for the enterprise. Either,
1. The thirty thousand now mentioned; or,
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2. Part of them, to wit, such as were to lie in wait, as seems most probable, both from the next verse, which limits it to those who were to lie in wait, and from Jos 8:9, where what is here mentioned only by anticipation is actually put in execution; and it is said of them that were sent forth, that they went to lie in ambush, and did so; and these were only five thousand men, as is expressed, Jos 8:12. And the only inconvenience of this exposition is, that the pronoun relative them is put without, or before its antecedent, which is left to be gathered out of the following words, which is not unusual in the Hebrew tongue, as plainly appears from Exo 14:19; Num 18:9; 24:17; Psa 87:1; 105:19; 114:2; Pro 7:8; 14:26.
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 On v3 We have here an account of the taking of…
We have here an account of the taking of Ai by stratagem. The stratagem here used, we are sure, was lawful and good; God himself appointed it, and we have no reason to think but that the like is lawful and good in other wars. Here was no league broken, no treaty of peace, that the advantage was gained; no, these are sacred things, and not to be jested with, nor used to serve a turn; truth, when once it is plighted, becomes a debt even to the enemy. But in this stratagem here was no untruth told; nothing was concealed but their own counsels, which no enemy ever pretended a right to be entrusted with; nothing was dissembled, nothing counterfeited but a retreat, which was no natural or necessary indication at all of their inability to maintain their onset, or of any design not to renew it. The enemy ought to have been upon their guard, and to have kept within the defence of their own walls. Common prudence, had they been governed by it, would have directed them not to venture on the pursuit of an army which they saw was so far superior to them in numbers, and leave their city unguarded; but (si populus vult decipi, decipiatur - if the people will be deceived, let them) if the Canaanites will be so easily imposed upon, and in pursuit of God's Israel will break through all the laws of policy and good management, the Israelites are not at all to be blamed for taking advantage of their fury and thoughtlessness; nor is it any way inconsistent with the character God is pleased to give of them, that they are children that will not lie. Now in the account here given of this matter,
I. There is some difficulty in adjusting the numbers that were employed to effect it. Mention is made (Jos 8:3) of 30,000 that were chosen and sent away by night, to whom the charge was given to surprise the city as soon as ever they perceived it was evacuated, Jos 8:4, Jos 8:7, Jos 8:8. And yet afterwards (Jos 8:12) it is said, Joshua took 5000 men and set them to lie in ambush behind the city, and that ambush entered the city, and set it on fire, Jos 8:19. Now, 1. Some think there were two parties sent out to lie in ambush, 30,000 first, and afterwards 5000 to guard the roads, and to intercept those that were first sent out; and that Joshua made his open attack upon the city with all the thousands of Israel. So the learned bishop Patrick, insisting upon God's command (Jos 8:1) to take all the people of war with him. But, 2. Others think that all the people were taken only to encamp before the city, and that out of them Joshua chose out 30,000 men to be employed in the action, out of which he sent out 5000 to lie in ambush, which were as many as could be supposed to march incognito - without being discovered (more would have been seen, and thus the design would have been broken) and that then with the other 25,000 he made the open attack, as Masius thinks, or with the 30,000, which, as Calvin thinks, he kept entire for that purpose, having, besides them, sent out 5000 for an ambuscade. And those 5000 (they think) must be meant by those (Jos 8:3) whom he sent away by night, with orders to lie in wait behind the city, though the particular number is not specified till Jos 8:12. If we admit such a seeming disturbance in the order of the narrative (of which, perhaps, similar instances might be cited from the other scripture histories), it seems most probable that there was but one ambushment, which consisted only of 5000, enough for such a purpose.
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II. Yet the principal parts of the story are plain enough, that a detachment being secretly marched behind the city, on the other side to that on which the main body of the army lay (the situation of the country, it is probable, favouring their concealment), Joshua, and the forces with him, faced the city; the garrison made a vigorous sally out upon them, whereupon they withdrew, gave ground, and retreated in some seeming disorder towards the wilderness, which being perceived by the men of Ai, they drew out all the force they had to pursue them. This gave a fair opportunity for those that lay in ambush to make themselves masters of the city, whereof when they had given notice by a smoke to Joshua, he, with all his force, returned upon the pursuers, who now, when it was too late, were aware of the snare they were drawn into, and, their retreat being intercepted, they were every man of them cut off. The like artifice we find used, Jdg 20:30, etc. Now in this story we may observe,
1. What a brave commander Joshua was. See, (1.) His conduct and prudence. God gave him the hint (v. 2) that he should lay an ambush behind the city, but left him to himself to order the particulars, which he did admirably well. Doubtless wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men, Ecc 7:19. (2.) His care and industry (Jos 8:10): He rose up early in the morning, that he might lose no time, and to show how intent his mind was upon his business. Those that would maintain their spiritual conflicts must not love their ease. (3.) His courage and resolution; though an army of Israelites had been repulsed before Ai, yet he resolves to lead them on in person the second time, Jos 8:5. Being himself also an elder, he took the elders of Israel with him to make this attack upon the city (Jos 8:10), as if he were going rather to sit in judgment upon them as criminals than to fight them as enemies. (4.) His caution and consideration (Jos 8:13): He went that night into the midst of the valley, to make the necessary dispositions for an attack, and to see that every thing was in good order. It is the pious conjecture of the learned bishop Patrick that he went into the valley alone, to pray to God for a blessing upon his enterprise, and he did not seek in vain. (5.) His constancy and perseverance; when he had stretched out his spear towards the city (Jos 8:18, a spear almost as fatal and formidable to the enemies of Israel as the rod of Moses was) he never drew back his hand till the work was done. His hands in fighting, like Moses's in interceding, were steady till the going down of the sun. Those that have stretched out their hands against their spiritual enemies must never draw them back. Lastly, What Joshua did in the stratagem is applicable to our Lord Jesus, of whom he was a type. Joshua conquered by yielding, as if he had himself been conquered; so our Lord Jesus, when he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, seemed as if death and triumphed over him, and as if he and all his interests had been routed and ruined; but in his resurrection he rallied again and gave the powers of darkness a total defeat; he broke the serpent's head, by suffering him to bruise his heel. A glorious stratagem!
2. What an obedient people Israel was. What Joshua commanded them to do, according to the commandment of the Lord (Jos 8:8), they did it without murmuring or disputing. Those that were sent to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai (two cities confederate against them) were in a post of danger, and had they been discovered might all have been cut off, and yet they ventured; and, when the body of the army retreated and fled, it was both disgraceful and perilous, and yet, in obedience to Joshua, they did it.
3. What an infatuated enemy the king of Ai was, (1.) That he did not by his scouts discover those that lay in ambush behind the city, Jos 8:14. Some observe it as a remarkable instance of the power of God in making men blind to their own interest, and the things that belong to their peace, that he wist not that there were liers in wait against him. Those are most in danger who are least aware that they are so. (2.) That when Israel seemed to fly he drew out all his forces to pursue them, and left none to guard his city and to secure his retreat, Jos 8:17. Thus the church's enemies often run themselves into destruction by their own fury and the violence of their rage against the Israel of God. Pharaoh plunged himself into the Red Sea by the eagerness with which he pursued Israel. (3.) That from the killing of thirty-six men out of 3000, when Israel made the former attack upon his city, he should infer the total routing of so great an army as now he had to deal with (Jos 8:6): They flee before us as at the first. See how the prosperity of fools destroys them and hardens them to their ruin. God had made use of the men of Ai as a scourge to chastise his people for meddling with the accursed thing, and this had puffed them up with a conceit that they must have the honour of delivering their country from these formidable invaders; but they were soon made to see their mistake, and that when the Israelites had reconciled themselves to their God they could have no power against them. God had made use of them only for the rebuking of Israel, with a purpose, when the correction was over, to throw the rod itself into the fire; howbeit, they meant not so, but it was in their heart to destroy and cut off, Isa 10:5-7.
4. What a complete victory Israel obtained over them by the favour and blessing of God. Each did his part: the divided forces of Israel, by signals agreed on, understood one another, and every thing succeeded according to the project; so that the men of Ai, even when they were most confident of victory, found themselves surrounded, so that they had neither spirit to resist nor room to fly, but were under a fatal necessity of yielding their lives to the destroyers. And now it is hard to say whether the shouts of the men of Israel, or the shrieks of the men of Ai, were the louder, but easy to imagine what terror and confusion they were filled with, when their highest assurances sunk so suddenly into the heaviest despair. Note, The triumphing of the wicked is short, Job 20:5. They are exalted for a little while, that their fall and ruin may be the sorer, Job 24:24. See how easily, how quickly, the scale turns against those that have not God on their side.
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 On vv3–7 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war,…
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai,.... As the Lord had commanded him:
and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour; out of all the men of war; these were a select company, picked men, not the whole army, as some have thought, for he was ordered to take all the people of war, as he did:
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and sent them away by night; from the main army, that they might pass the city and get behind it undiscovered, for they were sent for an ambush; and of these some were to take the city, and be left in it to burn it, and some to smite the men of Ai, as Abarbinel notes.
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 On vv3–5 To go up against Ai - That is, to…
To go up against Ai - That is, to consider about this expedition; not as if all the people of war did actually go up, which was both unnecessary and burdensome: but it seems to be resolved by Joshua and all the council of war, that the thirty thousand here following should be selected for the enterprize. Either, 1, the thirty thousand now mentioned; or, 2. part of them; namely, such as were to lie in wait; and these were only five thousand men, as is expressed, ver. 12.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v3 Thirty thousand men - comparing Jos 8:3 and Jos…
Thirty thousand men - comparing Jos 8:3 and Jos 8:12 (“five thousand men”), there is probably a mistake in the numbers of this verse, where an early copyist may have written the sign for 30,000 instead of that for 5,000.
Sent them away by night - The selected 5,000 would accordingly post themselves in the main ravine between Ai and Bethel in the night and early morning. The neighhorhood in which Ai was situated is described as “a wild entanglement of hill and valley;” and amidst its recesses the detachment could easily shelter itself from observation until Joshua’s other measures were taken.
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 On vv4–5 Ready to enter the city, when its soldiers are…
Ready to enter the city, when its soldiers are all in pursuit of us. (Haydock)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3–4 So Joshua . . . chose out thirty thousand…
So Joshua . . . chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour--Joshua despatched thirty thousand men under cover of night, to station themselves at the place appointed for the ambuscade. Out of this number a detachment of five thousand was sent forward to conceal themselves in the immediate precincts of the town, in order to seize the first opportunity of throwing themselves into it [Jos 8:12].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3–6 3. Joshua arose… to go up — That is,…
3. Joshua arose… to go up — That is, set himself about the preliminary arrangements necessary for the march.
Chose out thirty thousand — There is some apparent confusion in the details of this movement of Joshua. Some eminent commentators think that the entire army of more than six hundred thousand fighting men (Num_26:51) was engaged in this enterprise. The difficulties of this interpretation are: (1) the impossibility of handling advantageously so vast a body of soldiers in a country cut up by deep and narrow mountain gorges; (2) The exposure of the camp left behind them; (3) The presence of so vast an array before Ai would so appal the inhabitants that they would not venture to sally out and attack it; (4) The extreme difficulty of hiding so large an ambuscade as that of thirty thousand men not very far from the city. Some expositors have even supposed that there were two ambuscades, one of thirty thousand and the other of five thousand. But if so, Jos_8:9; Jos_8:12 would argue that both were in the same place, namely, “between Bethel and Ai,” on the west side of Ai, and this is hardly supposable. Further, in Jos_8:19; Jos_8:21 mention is made of only one ambush. The other theory is, that this number of men were all who were engaged. These were divided into two corps — one of five thousand for the ambush and the other of twenty-five thousand for the feigned assault. The latter theory being more reasonable, and involving less difficulties, is assumed by us. [On this hypothesis the order of events must be understood as follows: Joshua, having made all necessary arrangements, arose early one morning, and, accompanied by the elders, went up with the thirty thousand men who were, in this siege, all the people of war, and encamped on the north side of Ai. Jos_8:10-11. This march occupied the day, so that it was evening when they approached Ai. That same night Joshua sent the five thousand men to lie in ambush on the west side of the city, (Jos_8:4; Jos_8:9; Jos_8:12,) but he and the twenty-five thousand remained en-camped in the valley north of Ai. Jos_8:13. The next day the king of Ai, not knowing Joshua’s stratagem, hasted out early with his people to attack the Israelites, but was caught in the snare prepared to deceive him, and he and his people and city were utterly ruined. On the apparent confusion of the narrative, see remarks in the Introduction on the style of the Hebrew historians.]
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And sent them away by night — A portion of them, five thousand in number. A part is here loosely put for the whole. See Jos_8:12, rendering the verb took, had taken, as does the Vulgate.
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 On vv3–5 3. Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of…
3. Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour] There is an apparent discrepancy between this statement and that in Jos_8:10-12. But possibly (a) while 30000 were selected for the ambush, 5000 were actually employed when the decisive moment came; or (b) Joshua may have sent two distinct bodies of men, one of 30000, the other of 5000; or (c) as Bp Wordsworth suggests, on the day after the 30000 had taken up their position the 5000 may have been sent from Joshua’s own force to encourage and assure them.
sent them away by night] The force detached might easily reach the neighbourhood of Ai before daybreak, since the distance from Gilgal thither is not more than five to six hours. See Robinson, Vol. 2:307–312.
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 On vv3–4 (3) And Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men.—Some…
(3) And Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men.—Some difficulty arises from the fact that thirty thousand men are mentioned as having been sent away with general instructions to form an ambush in the first instance, while five thousand were ultimately posted between Bethel and Ai. Were there two distinct bodies in ambush, or only one? It does not seem possible to answer this question with absolute certainty; but we ought to notice in the first place what the aim of Joshua was. He meant to isolate the town of Ai, taking it in front and flank; but there was another town immediately in the rear, less than two miles off. It was necessary, therefore, to employ a sufficient body of men to close the communications between Bethel and Ai from the first.
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 On vv3, 5, 6 Thirty thousand. In ver. 12 we read 5, 000,…
Thirty thousand. In ver. 12 we read 5, 000, and this must be the true reading. Thirty thousand men could hardly have been posted, without detection, in the ravines around Ai, whereas we are informed by travellers that there would have been no difficulty in concealing 5, 000 men there. See, however, the passage cited from Lieut. Conder"s Report in the note on Jos_7:2. The confused condition of the numbers in the present text of the Old Testament is a well known fact, and it is proved by the great discrepancies in this respect between the Books of Chronicles and those of Samuel and Kings. Some have thought (e.g., Haverniek, "Introduction to the Old Testament," II 1:15) that two bands were laid in ambush, one on the northwest and the other on the southwest. This is a possible, though not probable, solution of the difficulty (see below). Then we must suppose that the city was nearly surrounded, Joshua and the main body on the southeast, the larger detachment on the north (ver. 13), and the smaller ambush on the west (see note on ver. 13). Keil, in his earlier editions, supposed that Joshua assaulted Ai with 30, 000 men, out of whom he chose 5, 000 as an ambush. So also Hengstenberg"s "Geschichte des Reiches Gottes," p. 219. But this only introduces a third contradiction, for we are told both in vers. 1 and 3 that Joshua took with him "all the men of war." Keil has, however, abandoned that supposition, which is contrary to all the ancient versions, including the present text of the LXX The Bishop of Lincoln suggests that 5, 000 men may have been detached to reinforce the former detachment of 30, 000. But to say nothing of the improbability of an ambush of 35, 000 men remaining undetected (and they were specially instructed see next verse not to station themselves far from the city), we have the plain statement in ver. 12 brewOa "he stationed (or had stationed) them as an ambush."
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 On v3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war.
Jos_8:3-29
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war.
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All the people at work for Jesus
I. Consider the advice of the spies which led to such a shameful defeat (Jos_7:3).
1. Here we shall have to deal with the error of supposing that a part only of the Church will be sufficient to perform the work of the whole.
2. In Joshuas day this error sprang up among the Israelites because, on account of their sins, God was displeased with them. When God is in the midst of a Church He guides its counsels and directs the hearts of men to go about His work in the wisest manner. Even upon the Lords own people a measure of judicial blindness may come. You may depend upon it that when it becomes a doctrine that only special classes of men are to be expected to work in the Church there is some great wrong in the background.
3. Furthermore, this evil policy arose out of presumption engendered by success. The full sail needs much ballast, lest the boat be overset. We must be more sensible of weakness, more mindful that the conversion of souls is the work of Omnipotence, or we shall see but little done. We must ourselves believe more fully in the need of earnest work for God, and put forth all our strength, and strain every sinew for Him, knowing that it is His power that worketh in us mightily when we strive with all our hearts.
4. Let us not forget that these children of Israel were forgetting their commission and violating the command of God. As they all expected to have a dwelling-place in Canaan, so they were all expected to conquer the territory by their own exertions. They were all an enlisted host for God, and He never ordained that a part only should go forth in His great controversy with the condemned Canaanites. If we ever neglect to render universal service as a Church in the cause of Christ we shall depart from our trust and call, for the Lord has sent all His disciples to testify of Him and contend against sin.
5. These Israelites, in the new fashion which they were trying to set up, were departing from their own model. That model was, doubtless, the siege of Jericho. In that siege there was much dependence upon God, but there was no neglect of instrumentality; and, though all they did was to go round the city and shout, yet in so doing they were literally fulfilling orders, and doing all that was commanded. What, then, is our model as a Church? Is it not Pentecost? In that day did they not break bread from house to house, all of them? Did they not sell their lands and lay the price of them at the apostles feet? Was there not a burning enthusiasm throughout the entire company of disciples? I suppose there is not one person present who heard that famous sermon by Matthew Wilks upon the universal service rendered by idolaters to their false gods, from the text, The children gathered wood, and the fathers kindled the fire, and the women kneaded their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven. The preachers argument on that occasion was that which I would now press upon you, that all should take part in the work of the Lord. Distinct offices but united aims; diverse operations but the same spirit; many and yet one--so let it be.
6. Again, this error which we are carefully to avoid was no doubt the dictate of carnal wisdom. Spies were norm of much use to Israel--two only of the first twelve were faithful--what did Israel want with spies? Better far had it been to walk by faith. To Ai they must needs send spies instead of going up at once in the confidence of faith: evil came of it, for these spies counselled that only part of the people need labour up the hill. And the best ministers of Christ, worthy of all honour, would be the cause of great mischief if once their carnal wisdom should make them think that they can supersede primitive plans with wiser inventions.
7. These children of Israel, in sending to the war only part of the men were breaking in upon the Divine design. The Lord never intended to have two peoples, but one; and so we read that the Beubenites and the Gadites came over Jordan to the war, although their portion was already conquered. It was the Divine intent that they should be one army of the living God, each separate son of the seed of Abraham belonging Go that army and fighting in it; He meant that not some only, but all should see the mighty works of His hand, working with them to overthrow their adversaries. I am sure it is so with the Church of God to-day. Our Lord means to keep all His chosen ones as one army, and to instruct them a]l as one band. And when are we most manifestly one? When we get to work.
II. The command that all israel should go forth to the fight: Take all the men of war with thee. We must have all our Church members go to the war. We want to turn out the drones, and we need an increase of true working bees. How is it to be done?
1. We must be ourselves deeply impressed with the evil brought upon idle Christians by their idleness, and the evil which they bring upon the rest of the Church. Indolence is temptation. Certain of our Churches are suffering from unsound teaching, but they are suffering as much from want of work. The moss is growing upon them, the rust is eating them up; the gold becomes dim, the silver is losing its brightness, and all for want of use.
2. We need to be impressed with the mischief which idlers cause to others. One sickly sheep infects the flock; one member who does nothing lowers the tone of the whole body. The indolence of prominent professors is not merely the waste of their own labour, but of that of scores of others. Every man in an army who is not efficient and really serviceable is on the enemys side.
3. Moreover, we must hunt out the sin which leads to the evil against which we contend, and I believe it is want of vital godliness in many cases. It is often the sin which grows out of too much ease, self-indulgence, and luxurious living. It seems as if the more God gives a man the less return he is inclined to offer. Whatever the secret sin of the Church may be, let us try to discover it, and then by the aid of the Holy Spirit endeavour to educate all our members to work for the Lord.
4. There must be a continual insisting upon the personal obligations of Christians. What art thou doing for Christ? is a question to be asked of all. No one must appear before the Lord empty, but either by active or passive service must prove his gratitude to God. And then, while each is responsible, neglect by one is injurious to the common service of the whole. I saw a cart standing this morning on the roadside with one wheel chained; there was no fear of its moving with that one wheel fast. Sometimes one chained wheel in a Church will hinder all.
5. Dwell upon the importance of the enterprise in which we are engaged; and so act as to make others feel its importance. We must make men feel that to save a soul is better than to possess all knowledge, or even to gain the whole world! While others are making a new gospel let us labour to save souls by the old one.
6. Above all, let us pray for more grace. Napoleon used to say, Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me; and it is so with Christians. You must advance; you must outdo the exploits of the past, and eclipse the deeds of your sires, or you will show yourselves unworthy of them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
United effort needed
In the days of chivalry a certain band of knights had never known defeat. In all battles their name was terrible to the foe. On their banners was emblazoned a long list of victories; but in an evil hour the leaders of the knights summoned them in chapter, and he said: My brethren, we cause ourselves too much toil. Let the champions go alone. Yonder knight with his sword can cleave a man in twain at a single stroke, and his comrade can break a bar of iron with his axe; others among us are equally powerful, each one being a host in himself. With the terror of our name behind them, the chosen champions can carry on the war while the rest divide the spoil. The saying pleased the warriors well, but from that hour the knell of their fame was rung, and defeat defiled their standard. When they came together they complained of the champions because they had not sustained the honour of the order, and they bade them exert themselves more heroically. They did so, but with small success. Louder and louder were the notes of discontent and the demands for new champions. Then one of the oldest of the knights said: Brethren, why do you blame us? The mistake lies here. In the old time, when the enemy assailed us, a thousand men were up in arms, and we who led the van knew that a gallant army followed at our heels. But now you have made us solitary champions, and the adversary takes heart to defy us, finding us unsustained. Come you all with us to the fray as aforetime, and none shall stand against us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Work for God among the heathen
Let us each question his own heart as to the claims of the heathen: for my own part, I dare not sleep till I have honestly considered whether I ought to go or not. We tell our young men in the college that they must prove that they have not to go, or else their duty is clear. If some of the men of Israel had said to Joshua, We cannot go to At, Joshua would have replied, You must prove that you cannot go or you may not be excused. All other things being equal, ministers should take it for granted that it is their duty to invade new territory unless they can prove to the contrary. France is wanting the gospel. See what one beloved brother in Paris has been able to do--are there none who can do the like for other cities in that neigh bout-country? Here and there a good man can say, I have made a competency--why not live and employ it where you can lay it out personally for the spread of the Redeemers kingdom? Such a thing is being done by a few, it is not therefore impossible, and you who follow the grand example shall have your reward. See what Pastor Harms did in the village of Hermansburg, how he stirred up all the people until they gave themselves and their property to the Lord, and built a ship for the mission and went forth in it to Africa, company after company, to evangelise. Should it not be the ambition of a minister to feel that if he stays at home he will at least, by the Holy Spirits help, produce missionaries by scores in the village where he labours? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Ye shall lie in wait against the city.
Joshuas address to the soldiers of the expedition
I. Joshuas obedience.
II. Joshuas prudence.
III. Joshuas courage.
IV. Joshuas faith.
V. Joshuas authority.
1. The authority of all God-given words.
2. The authority of obedience. (F. G. Marchant.)
The victorious retreat
I. There is such a thing as victorious retreat. There are times in your life when the best thing you can do is to run. You were once the victim of strong drink. The glass and the decanter were your fierce foes. Your only safety is to get away from them. Your dissipating companions will come around you for your overthrow. Run for your life! Your retreat is your victory. Here is a converted infidel. He is so strong now in his faith in the gospel, he says he can read anything. What are you reading? Bolingbroke? Theodore Parker? Drop them and run. You will be an infidel before you die unless you quit that. Fly before they cut you with their swords and transfix you with their javelins. There are people who have been well-nigh ruined because they risked a foolhardy expedition in the presence of mighty and overwhelming temptations, and the men of Ai made a morning meal of them. So also there is such a thing as victorious defeat for the Church. Thousands of times the kingdom of Christ has seemed to fall back. When the Vaudois of France chose extermination rather than make an unchristian surrender, when on St. Bartholomews day mounted assassins rode through the streets of Paris, crying, Kill! Blood-letting is good in August! Kill! Death to the Huguenots! Kill! When John Bunyan lay rotting in Bedford Jail, saying, If God will help me, and my physical life continues, I will stay here until the moss grows on my eyebrows rather than give up my faith, the days of retreat for the Church were days of victory. But there is a more marked illustration of victorious retreat in the life of our Joshua, the Jesus of the ages. First falling back from an appalling height to an appalling depth, falling from celestial hills to terrestrial valleys, from throne to manger; yet that did not seem to suffice Him as a retreat. Falling back still further from Bethlehem to Nazareth, from Nazareth to Jerusalem, back from Jerusalem to Golgotha, back from Golgotha to the mausoleum in the rock, back down over the precipices of perdition, until He walked amid the caverns of the eternal captives and drank of the wine of the wrath of almighty God amid the Ahabs and the Jezebels and the Belshazzars. Oh, men of the pulpit and men of the pew, Christs descent from heaven to earth does not measure half the distance! It was from glory to perdition. He descended into hell. All the records of earthly retreat are as nothing compared with this falling back. Santa Anna with the fragments of his army flying over the plateau of Mexico, and Napoleon and his army retreating from Moscow into the awful snows of Russia, are not worthy to be mentioned with this retreat when all the powers of darkness seem to be pursuing Christ as He fell back, until the body of Him who came to do such wonderful things lay pulseless and stripped. But let not the powers of darkness rejoice quite so soon. Do you hear that disturbance in the tomb of Arimathea? I hear the sheet rending! What means that stone hurled down the side of the hill? Who is this coming out? Push Him back! The dead must not stalk in this open daylight. Oh, it is our Joshua! Let Him come out. He comes forth and starts for the city. He takes the spear of the Roman guard and points that way. Church militant marches up on one side and the Church triumphant marches down on the other side. And the powers of darkness being caught between these ranks of celestial and terrestrial valour, nothing is left of them save just enough to illustrate the direful overthrow of hell and our Joshuas eternal victory.
II. The triumph of the wicked is short. Did you ever see an army in a panic? There is nothing so uncontrollable. If you had stood at Long Bridge, Washington, during the opening of our unfortunate war, you would know what it is to see an army run. And when those men of Ai looked out and saw those men of Joshua in a stampede, they expected easy work. They would scatter them as the equinox the leaves. Oh, the gleeful and jubilant descent of the men of Ai upon the men of Joshua! But their exhilaration was brief, for the tide of battle turned, and these quondam conquerors left their miserable bodies in the wilderness of Bethaven. So it always is. The triumph of the wicked is short. Call over the roll of bad men who prospered, and see how short was their prosperity.
III. How much may be accomplished by lying in ambush for opportunities. Are you hypercritical of Joshuas manoeuvre? Do you say that it was cheating for him to take that city by ambuscade? Was it wrong for Washington to kindle camp-fires on New Jersey Heights, giving the impression to the opposing force that a great army was encamped there when there was none at all? I answer, if the war was right then Joshua was right in his stratagem. He violated no flag of truce. He broke no treaty, but by a lawful ambuscade captured the city of Ai. Oh, that we all knew how to lie in ambush for opportunities to serve God! The best opportunities do not lie on the surface, but are secreted; by fact, by stratagem, by Christian ambuscade, you may take almost any castle of sin for Christ. Come up towards men with a regular besiegement of argument, and you will be defeated; but just wait until the door of their hearts is set ajar, or they are off their guard, or their severe caution is away from home, and then drop in on them from a Christian ambuscade. There has been many a man up to his chin in scientific portfolios which proved there was no Christ and no Divine revelation, his pen a scimetar flung into the heart of the theological opponents, who, nevertheless, has been discomfited and captured for God by some little three-year-old child who has got up and put her snowy arms around his sinewy neck and said, Papa, why dont you love Jesus? Oh, make a flank movement; steal a march on the devil; cheat that man into heaven! Do not rub a mans disposition the wrong way. Do not take the imperative mood when the subjunctive mood will do just as well. You can take any man for Christ if you know how to get at him. Do not send word to him that to-morrow at ten oclock you propose to open your batteries upon him, but come on him by a skilful, persevering, God-directed ambuscade.
IV. The importance of taking good aim. There must be some signal--a signal to stop the one division and to start the other. Joshua, with a spear on which were ordinarily hung the colours of battle, points towards the city. He stands in such a conspicuous position, and there is so much of the morning light dripping from that spear-tip, that all around the horizon they see it. It was as much as to say: There is the city. Take it. Take it now. Roll down from the west side. Surge up from the north side. It is ours, the city of Ai. God knows and we know that a great deal of Christian attack amounts to nothing simply because we do not take good aim. Nobody knows, and we do not know ourselves, which point we want to take, when we ought to make up our minds what God will have us to do, and point our spear in that direction, and then hurl our body, mind, soul, time, eternity, at that one target. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Variety of Divine means
Jericho was taken by the power of God; this was to be by the stratagem of His people. Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it. The designs of Jehovah engage a diversity of means and operation as may best promote the ends of His infinite wisdom. It had been equally as easy to have taken this city without hands, and to have caused its fenced walls to have yielded to invisible operation, as those of Jericho; but then the courage of faith had not been exercised in His people, nor had the conquest of their enemies, now exulting, been so striking and instructive. The achievements of the Lords people are all of Him, whether effected by the measures of force or of artifice. (W. Seaton.)
Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched Out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.--
The outstretched spear
A spear outstretched, outstretched by Divine command, outstretched till the doom of Ai was sealed--what means it?
I. It was the signal of prudence. Plans had been carefully prepared for the capture of Ai, and that spear, probably with a pennon hanging from its head like the weapon of the Lancers, was a pre-arranged signal for the carrying out of these plans. The outstretched spear would have been useless, meaningless, apart from the plans to which it referred. But it was most important when these are taken into consideration. In the great war we wage against evil within and without, God desires us to use all the appliances of wisdom and prudence. How wary is the fisher as he angles on the stream, taking advantage of every bush and tuft of grass, of every passing cloud and gentle ripple; and the more the waters are fished the more wary and ingenious is he. Oh, for a holy ingenuity, a sanctified sagacity in winning souls! Oh, that the dictates of prudence were more faithfully carried out in the sanctification of the scull
II. It was the sign of obedience. While much was left to human prudence, certain Divine principles clearly laid down must not be traversed. Joshua must not in every respect do as he pleased. There was a circle within which wisdom might have free and full play, but beyond that circle he dared not go at his peril. But not only was there a general obedience to this Divine command, there was also a very special and definite act of obedience in connection with the outstretched spear. Joshua did not do this when he pleased, but waited patiently till he got a clear intimation of the Divine will that the time had come for striking the decisive blow. Thus Joshuas act in stretching out the spear was well-timed. We need the same patient and punctual obedience which Joshua manifested. We must not be like the horse, going before, or the mule lagging behind, and therefore requiring the bit and the bridle of Gods providences. We must not be like Moses, who when he was forty was too fast, and when he was eighty was too slow, to obey the Divine command. Let us be like Joshua here, led by the eye of God to a well-timed obedience.
III. It was also a signal of attack. Its waving pennon cried to those in ambush, Up and at them! It called to those who were retreating, Turn and smite! And it shouted to all of them, Retrieve your lost honour, win back your laurels. How many deeds of daring were the answer to that signal. Every common soldier in Israel was a hero that day, a noble brother of the man who waved that spear aloft. Oh, for like courage and energy in the wars of the Lord, for noble deeds done against deadly sins!
IV. It was also the mark of confidence. He did not think because he had once failed that he would fail again. He had no foreboding of defeat. Not with nervous, trembling, fearful hand did he hold it aloft, but with the firm, sure grasp of perfect confidence. From the vantage-ground on which he stood, he ordered the fight, as again an assured victor. Thus should we engage in the war to which we are called--with sublime confidence, sure of victory, aye, even after we have experienced defeat. So should it be in the inner fight, for He who has begun the good work will perfect that which concerns us to the praise of His glorious grace. And so should it be in the outer. Never let us dishearten ourselves or our neighbours with the thought that we are fighting a losing battle. The very idea is blasphemous; as if man or the devil, or both, were stronger than the Almighty.
V. It may be also looked upon as a memorial of mercy. As certainly as Amalek fled before the Lords hosts, so certainly will the men of Ai. Victory is sure. In the spiritual warfare how stimulating is it to bring to mind past victories; to remember how David and Paul, Luther, Calvin, and Knox, Wesley, Whitefield, and McCheyne, wrestled with evil and prevailed. But above all, the remembrance of hard-won victories in our own experience is pre-eminently fitted to encourage.
VI. It was the symbol of perseverance. No doubt Joshua remembered how the battle with Amalek swayed forward and backward as the rod of Moses was elevated or depressed; and this perhaps explains the fact that he never drew back the spear till the work was finished. As if his hand had been glued to that spear he held it aloft, and thus he urged his soldiers to look like himself to the God of Sabaoth, who alone giveth victory. We have seen the battle well begun, with prudence and obedience, courage and confidence. See it nobly continued and ended with stubborn perseverance. Oh, for such a spirit in the fight of faith! Alas! how few endure to the end.
VII. It was also the omen of doom. It hung over Ai like the great sword of the angel over Jerusalem. And it is worthy of notice that these men were not without resources. They showed great zeal and enthusiasm in defending their city, rising early to go out to fight. They also displayed far greater courage than the men of Jericho, for they marched against overwhelming odds. They also showed considerable wisdom in acting on the offensive, and not waiting to be attacked like their neighbours. It was also plain that they believed that union was strength, for they got the men of Bethel to unite their forces with theirs in the attack on Joshua. They also had great confidence in their success, emboldened as they were by their previous victory. They had all these qualities, good in themselves, but all useless because on the wrong side. The all-important question is, On which side are you? Are you on the wrong side? Then cast down your weapons of rebellion. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Are you on the right side? Then Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. (A. B. Mackay.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v3 Jos_8:3. Thirty thousand … and sent them away] Probably…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Jos_8:3. Thirty thousand … and sent them away] Probably 30,000 was the entire number chosen to operate against Ai, and of these 5000 were sent, as stated in Jos_8:12, to form the ambush between Bethel and Ai. To suppose two ambushes, one of 30,000 on the south-west, and one of 5000 on the north-west of the city, requires the further supposition that Joshua would have led all the remaining men of war in the camp, nearly half a million, to the first assault. As the fighting men of Ai could not have amounted to more than two or three thousand, it is not likely that Joshua feigned to flee before this small band with an army of half a million soldiers. On whichever hypothesis the passage is interpreted, there are great difficulties to be explained; but the view suggested, taken with the inartistic repetitions and anticipations of the narrative, which are common also to the historian’s style in chap. 6, affords much the easier solution.
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Jos_8:5. As at the first] The first battle, when the Israelites fled in defeat (chap. Jos_7:4).
Jos_8:9. Sent them forth] The five thousand intended for the ambush. Joshua lodged that night among the people] Probably among the twenty-five thousand already in the neighbourhood of Ai. If Joshua lodged in the camp at Gilgal, which was about twenty-five miles from Ai, the ambush would have been compelled to lie in hiding, over one entire day, between the two cities. This could hardly be done without discovery, nor would it have served any purpose to incur such risk.
Jos_8:10. Joshua rose up early] We may suppose the two divisions of the army to have started about seven o’clock in the evening, having before them a march of some eight hours. This would allow each division to arrive at its destination shortly after three in the morning. Both divisions would probably leave Gilgal in company (Jos_8:3) and march for four or five hours together, along a common road. The main body would then bear away to the right, to take up its position on the north of the city, while the ambush would diverge to the left, pass Ai on the south, and gain its hiding-place on the west of the city; thus avoiding the danger of discovery from crossing the road between Bethel and Ai. Each division on arriving at its post, say about three o’clock, would proceed to take some rest; “but Joshua lodged that night among the people,” i.e., among the main body of the army. Sleeping for one or two hours, Joshua might rise by five (Jos_8:10), silently call up, and once more review his army, send messengers across the main road between the two cities to communicate with the ambush, ascertaining their safe arrival, and giving them final instructions (Jos_8:12); and then, still in “that night” (Jos_8:13), or by six o’clock in the morning, march his 25,000 men from the temporary encampment on the north of Ai “into the midst of the valley,” and in open view of their enemies. Here they were almost immediately seen, and the men of Ai “hasted and rose up early” (Jos_8:14), and forthwith the battle began.
Jos_8:12. And he took] Translated by pluperfect—“He had taken; so Masius, C. a Lapide, and others. “This expresses the sense, but is not justifiable as a translation.” (Keil.) Probably the historian only intended to refer to the communication with the ambush, made in the early morning, from the northern side of the city.
Jos_8:17. Not a man left in Ai] Not a soldier. It is evident, by Jos_8:24. that the women, children, and others unable to bear arms remained within the city. Or Bethel] It is likely that Bethel was only one or two miles distant, and the two cities were evidently in league on this occasion. Probably Bethel shared the fate of Ai (cf. chap. Jos_12:16).
Jos_8:20. They had no power] Heb.=no hands: there was no direction in which they could flee: they were enclosed on all sides,—surrounded, as we say, “on every hand.”
Jos_8:25. Twelve thousand] This number is given, not as the number of the soldiers of Ai, but as that of the entire population. In addition to these, it is likely that some of the inhabitants of Bethel were slain on this day.
Jos_8:29. Hanged on a tree] Possibly he was first slain with the sword (cf. chap. Jos_10:26). Until eventide] According to the instructions in Deu_21:22-23.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_8:3-29
THE ULTIMATE VICTORY OF GOD AND OF TRUTH
I. The variable methods of God. (Jos_8:3-13.) If we look at the two attacks on Ai, we see that in the first God was not there, while in the last He chose to be present: the first attack failed utterly; in the last, victory was complete. Comparing the overthrow of Jericho and that of Ai, we see that, by the deliberate choice of Jehovah, the attack on the former city lasted seven days, while that on Ai was accomplished in one; the assault on Jericho was without the slightest concealment, that on Ai was made apparently dependent on strategy. In view of these differences it may be remarked:—
1. The Divine method sometimes teaches us that the beginning of real victory is through stern defeat. When Israel suffered defeat, Joshua could not interpret the way of the Lord. He cried, in his anguish, “O Lord, wherefore hast Thou at all brought this people over Jordan?” Now Joshua could clearly see that but for the defeat graciously ordered by God, sin would have prevented victory in its highest form. It was manifest now, that for God to have made Israel triumphant then, would simply have been for Him to have chosen against one sinful people in favour of another. Learn the folly of habitually judging a whole by its parts. We cannot judge a watch by a wheel. We should know almost nothing of the beauty of Handel’s Messiah by taking two or three bars from any one of its choruses or solos. No man could form a good opinion of a poem from one or two lines, selected at random. It would be foolish to endeavour to pronounce on the merits of a painting by examining a small fraction cut from any part of the whole. When we attempt to interpret Divine providence, we can only do it in fragments. God’s plan is very vast: it has relation, not only to our present, but to all our life; it includes not only us, but ten thousand others who surround us. We must not expect to judge the heart of the Lord aright by a broken limb, by a heavy loss of property, by a severe sickness, or by the severity of some trying bereavement. He is wise who studies the love of God in His dealings with men generally, who contemplates “the image of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” and who hears his Lord say, What thou knowest not now thou shalt know hereafter.
2. The Divine method sometimes shews that all real victory depends absolutely on God, and, at others, makes it clear that without the utmost efforts of man, everything will fail. Jericho shewed men that God must be all in all; Ai, that men must do all that human skill and power could devise and execute. Truth is very large, and we cannot learn or even survey it on all sides at once. Men teach their children sometimes reading, sometimes writing, sometimes arithmetic, sometimes poetry; but reading and writing are not adverse the one to the other, nor is arithmetic a contradiction of poetry. God teaches us now one thing, and now another, because our powers of perception are very limited, and our views of truth are necessarily partial, while He is sufficiently gentle and patient to endeavour to lead us into all truth.
3. The variableness of Divine methods has regard to the specific forms of human necessity. If the first experience at Ai had preceded the victory at Jericho, how great would have been the consternation in Israel! If the absolute victory at Jericho had been succeeded by a similar triumph at Ai, notwithstanding the sin of Achan, how sadly might the people have been demoralised! If the defeat which followed the first attack on Ai had been repeated now, how the hearts of the people would have “melted and become as water” indeed! God not only teaches us in separate lessons, but He never teaches us the wrong lesson first. At the entrance into Canaan, even as at the cross of Christ, we hear the Divine voice proclaiming to men: “I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”
II. The fatuity of the enemies of God. A recent author has said concerning the overthrow of Pharaoh: “It is written that Pharaoh hardened his heart, and this again and again; as well as, and we may be sure to all intents and purposes antecedently to, the fact that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh would have it so. Judicial blindness set in after a time; but first there had been cause shewn in Heaven’s chancery court. The infatuation was beyond remedy. The ossification of the heart involved, in its progress and development, paralysis of the brain. Dementation was now the precursor of perdition. ‘Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat.’ ” Thus it ever proves with those who determinately set themselves against the Lord. Persistent sin works blindness, stupidity, madness; and madness needs only to be left to itself to accomplish destruction. God has ordained that blind folly shall be the outcome of persistent sin, and that destruction, in its turn, shall be the result of folly. Thus did Pharaoh foolishly pursue after Israel into the midst of the sea; and thus, with equal blindness, the three or four thousand men of Ai rushed out of their city against the overwhelming numbers of their foes. It was the forerunning madness of idolatrous men whom God had determined to destroy.
1. The enemies of the Lord are ignorant of the cause of their victories. These idolaters had put down their former triumph to the strength of Aiite arms, utterly unconscious that it was entirely owing to wickedness in Israelitish hearts. It is ever so. The wicked flourish, and do not know that their prosperity is but temporarily given them by God, that His people may be better enabled to discover and put away sin; or that some other equally important purpose is to be served by their brief period of exaltation.
2. The enemies of the Lord are ignorant of changes in God’s appointments. The men of Ai “wist not that there were liers in ambush.” God changes His plan of battle, and while the secret of the Lord is often with them that fear Him, the enemies of truth know nothing of His way: they have no access to His throne, and no acquaintance with His counsels.
3. The enemies of the Lord are absolutely powerless before those whom God guides and helps. “They had no power to flee this way or that way” (Jos_8:20). (a) They had no way by which to flee (cf. Crit. Notes). They were surrounded on every hand. (b) They had no strength to flee. The hand is sometimes put for the symbol of power, as in Psa_76:5. Probably the former is the more correct meaning, although it should not be forgotten that, practically taken, it involves the latter. Read in either sense, it is seen that when God makes bare His arm, His foes are utterly helpless; the ways of escape are closed up, and courage and strength fail together.
III. The ultimate triumph of God and of truth. As with the men of Ai, the triumphs of the wicked are but the forerunners of their fall.
1. The final victory of God will leave none to uphold error (Jos_8:22-25). Not a Canaanite was left to perpetuate idolatry. The wicked live on Divine sufferance, even as others, although they exalt themselves against God: when their salvation has become hopeless, and God wills it, they are removed out of their place. The tares only grow till God’s harvest is ready; when that time comes, God will leave not a single seed to re-sow the “new earth” with sin.
2. The final victory of God will sink the greatest of His foes even lower than the least. “The king of Ai he hanged on a tree,” etc. The measure of a wicked man’s elevation here will be the measure of his degradation when God goes forth for his overthrow; then “the first shall be last.”
“Each minute of man’s safety he does walk
A bridge, no thicker than his frozen breath,
O’er a precipitous and craggy danger
Yawning to death.”
Every enemy of God and truth should feel that, but he who is as a king among the wicked should read in it the most dreadful meaning; beneath the lowest deep which remains for others, he should discover a lower still, yawning for himself. In human wars, officers who are taken prisoners receive superior treatment to that afforded to privates; their fare is better, their lodging superior, and their confinement is sometimes not so strict. This may be well among men, where each side generally represents at least some elements of right and truth. In this war of the Lord, truth and right are all with Him, and, as in cases of rebellion and treason among nations, those who are ringleaders are regarded as being worst.
3. The final victory of God will leave no memorials of error, excepting memorials of shame. Joshua made Ai “an heap for ever,” and over the dead and dishonoured body of its king he raised “a great heap of stones.” The righteous man, “being dead, yet speaketh;” so does the wicked, but every tongue which is left to proclaim his name declares also his disgrace.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_8:3-8.—THE ADDRESS TO THE SOLDIERS OF THE EXPEDITION.
This address marks with some emphasis and distinctness several features in the character of Israel’s leader.
I. Joshua’s obedience. As soon as he knew the Divine will he arose promptly, and at once selected the troops which were to be engaged (Jos_8:3). The closing words of his address shew that his one concern was to perform the commandment of the Lord (Jos_8:8). That command was uppermost in his own mind; he would have it stand before everything else in the minds of the people also. A godly man is anxious to do the will of the Lord himself; he is equally concerned to lead others into obedience.
II. Joshua’s prudence. He enters heartily into the details of God’s plan for secresy. The language is evidently that of a man who is in earnest to leave nothing undone to ensure success with as little loss as possible. The people are “sent away in the night.” The plan of the ambush is sufficiently explained to make it of interest to all. It is not enough to be zealous and prompt; God says of Jesus Christ, our pattern in work and conflict: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently.”
III. Joshua’s courage. “I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city.” Joshua did not send others to do dangerous work, and abstain from it himself. Although, as the commander of the forces, he might not have been personally engaged in the conflict, yet he was present on the field of battle, and evidently shared the dangers of the day.
IV. Joshua’s faith. (Jos_8:6-7.) If the former of these two verses shews confidence in the success of the stratagem, the latter proclaims that this confidence has its real ground in the promise of Jehovah. Joshua uses the means at his disposal with all the tact and energy possible, and then believes in the Lord. “The Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.” The Divine consolation had left no room for pain, and the Divine promise no room for doubt. The “fear not,” of Jos_8:1, had banished all anxiety, and the “I have given” had imparted calm assurance. The trust of God’s forgiven children should be as perfect as though they had never fallen under their heavenly Father’s displeasure.
V. Joshua’s authority. (Jos_8:8.) He made the people feel that his own commands were but the reiterated commands of the Lord.
1. The authority of all God-given words. We too often speak the Lord’s words as if they were our own. He who does this will assuredly weaken them. There are very few things, perhaps, in which we need concern ourselves to imitate men who, in the present day, claim to be priests over their fellows; many ministers might profitably learn from them to teach the Lord’s words as having the Lord’s authority. It is possible to be so intent on commending the truth by argument or anecdote, as to weaken the truth. Many who “beseech men in Christ’s stead,” lamentably need the tone of “ambassadors.”
2. The authority of obedience. “According to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. See I have commanded you.” The leader who shews his own obedience can shew no better right to be obeyed.
Jos_8:4.—THE LOCALITY OF AI: ITS SUITABILTITY FOR CONCEALING THE AMBUSH.
“No neighbourhood in Palestine is more crowded with interesting Biblical associations than this. I should like to spend a day wandering over the rough hills between Er Ram, Gibeah, Michmash, Rimmon, Bethel, and Beer. Perhaps we might stumble upon the site of Ai, which Joshua’s curse has hidden from all the world; for he ‘burned Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.’ It must be somewhere between Michmash and Rimmon, a region greatly cut up with gorges and ravines; and as I passed from Beit-în toward Michmash, I could easily understand how Joshua’s ambush of five thousand men could lie hid between Ai and Bethel. Some of our Jerusalem friends identify Ai with a conspicuous mound which I saw from a distance. It bears now no other name than Tell, which you may translate ‘heap;’ and as for ‘desolation,’ it remains complete unto this day. No doubt traces still remain, could we but find them, of that great heap of stones which Joshua raised over the carcass of Ai’s hapless king.”—[The Land and the Book.]
Jos_8:14-17.—THE CONFLICT OF TRUTH AND ERROR.
It should be borne in mind that this was a religious war. The men who invaded Canaan were the soldiers of the God of truth, and their enemies were fighting, not only for their own territory and their homes, but in support of a cruel and debasing system of idolatry.
In the conflict between truth and error, if we would prove that we are contending on the side of truth:—
I. We need something more than zeal. The King of Ai could rise up early, as well as Joshua, and the men of the city were equally on the alert, to haste with their leader to the battle. One of the arguments, if it be worthy of the name, which we still hear urged on behalf of certain supporters of error is this plea of zeal: “See,” we are told, “how earnest these people are, and how cold and dead are the men who oppose them.” As if the men who made fires for the martyrs were not zealous! As if Bonner were not zealous in burning the Bible! As if he who “goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” went about idly, and was indifferent concerning his prey! No true soldier of the cross will be “cold and dead;” but he who relies on zeal as sufficient to prove that he is on the Lord’s side, must be prepared to adopt into his brotherhood at least Mahomet, the persecutors of the early Church, many of the worst of the popes, and not a few atheists.
II. We need something more than bravery. While we wonder to see these idolaters so infatuated and blind, we cannot but admire their courage. Though they were visibly outnumbered in the proportion of at least six to one, without counting the ambush of their enemies, they shewed no hesitation in commencing the attack, and in subsequently pursuing after the Israelites. For all that, they were idolaters.
III. We need something more than wise precaution. The expression, “at a time appointed” (Jos_8:14), shews that the sortie of the idolaters was not wholly reckless. Keil is of opinion that the original word may be rendered in one of three ways: as in the text, “at the signal agreed upon,” or, “at the place appointed.” Of these three translations, he prefers the last as the most appropriate, and then adds: “Evidently before making the sally, the king had arranged with the army, upon what point the attack should be concentrated.” Error has often shewn much organisation and discipline in its attacks on truth. The words in which unbelief assaults faith are not all reckless rodomontade; but intelligence, and the systematic use of it, are not necessarily truth.
IV. We need something more than the general support of those who are about us. “There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel,” etc. (Jos_8:17). After a long argument, John Wesley is reported to have said, with a view to terminate the discussion by the force of his dominating will: “You may say what you will, sister, the voice of the people is the voice of God.” “Yes, John,” she quietly replied, “it cried, Crucify Him, crucify Him.” Men contend against each other in parties, in families, clans, nations; and oftener than not sides are taken, utterly irrespective of truth and right. The accident of our cradles and our nurseries has more to do with our creeds than many suspect. It is very strange to think how many children of episcopalians grow up to believe in the Church of England, Wesleyans in Methodism. Baptists in immersion, Calvinists in Calvinism, Russians in the Greek Church, Arabs and Turks in Mahometanism, and so on, through endless divisions of our race, and almost every believer is prepared to contend earnestly for his own view of truth, as “the faith once delivered to the saints.” Baal and Ashtoreth against the living God; that was the state of the case in this war in Canaan and while each Canaanite found truth in his idolatry, each Israelite found it only in Jehovah. The line of religious faith was co-extensive and identical with the line dividing the nations. In deciding upon the true religion, it made all the difference whether a man was descended from Ham or Shem, from Canaan or Abram; whether he was left to grow up under the traditions which had accumulated upon a sinful people, or trained by the God of heaven and the pious care of His servants; whether he had a home and a country to defend, or a home and a country to win. When we rely on the unanimity of those about us to assure ourselves that we are on the side of truth, we forget the silent sarcasm of history. In a matter like this, we want light to guide us, not numbers, and light only comes to the obedient. “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” No more arbitrary, and no less true, is that word of the former Testament, “I will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” One lifetime is not long enough to grow into the doctrine of truth; it is altogether too short to grow out of a creed that is erroneous.
V. We need something more than temporary success. The servants of truth may “make as if they are beaten,” or, for a season, they may be really beaten; no seeming or even actual prosperity, which is but for a little while, can sufficiently prove that they who pursue are fighting on the side of truth. We need some better guarantee than occasional and momentary triumphs. The same hour that finds us pursuing, may, ere it close, find us fleeing. Happy is that man whose God assures him that his last enemy shall be destroyed, and whose brethren in faith have by myriads quitted life crying, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Jos_8:18-19; Jos_8:25-26.—THE OUTSTRETCHED SPEAR.
1. The stretching out of human hands towards God is a recognised form of supplicating for mercy. (Cf. Psa_44:20; Psa_48:10; Psa_88:9, etc.)
2. The stretching out of the hand of God towards men is indicative of His anger. (Cf. Pro_1:24; Isa_5:25; Isa_9:12; Isa_9:17; Isa_9:21; Eze_16:27.)
3. The stretching out of human hands towards things, or men, at the command of God, is also indicative of Divine anger. This, indeed, is the sign for the immediate exercise of Divine power in some judgment. Cf. Exo_7:19, and repeatedly in the narrative of the ten plagues, in the chapters following. See, also, 1Ch_21:16, where it is said that the sword of the angel was “stretched out over Jerusalem. Thus, the conclusion of several of the earlier commentators that there was “nothing figurative” in the outstretched spear of Joshua, appears to be against the evidence.
I. The Lord’s direct encouragement and help of His servants in the time of their most urgent necessity. In these days of calmer thought, and of determinate rejection of superstition, we are little able to estimate the depression and fear which, probably, at this time, distressed the army of Israel. True, their numbers were greatly augmented since their former defeat, but they could not forget they had been beaten. The Israelites had only been forty years away from the idolatrous superstitions of Egypt; they were even now in a country where the inhabitants believed that the gods who had, as they thought, controlled the issue in the first battle of Ai, would no less ordain a similar issue now. To this should be added a recollection of the natural impressibility of the oriental mind. We may measure the depression of the Israelites, at this time, by the absurd and exultant confidence of the Aiites: by so much as the latter were foolishly assured, by so much were the Israelites inclined to fear. We may measure the fear of the Israelites, not less, by the encouragement of Jehovah. The promise of Jos_8:1 is here repeated, in the very midst of the engagement. God times His help and comfort to His servants’ wants, and makes the measure of it proportionate to His servants’ necessities. Scripture has many instances of such direct interposition. It was thus in the cases of Hagar, of Elijah, of Peter when in prison; of Paul and Silas in the jail at Philippi; of Paul in the castle of Antonia at Jerusalem (Act_23:11), and of the same apostle on the sea of Adria (Act_27:23-24). Is there anything to represent such help and encouragement of the Lord’s people now? Surely there is. These instances are not symbols of nothing; they tell us of a heart that never changes, and of a hand, which though it now remains invisible, can always find its own way to bring relief to such as fear God.
II. The Lord’s adoption of such of His servants’ methods as are not out of harmony with Divine principles. “The Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear,” etc. And no sooner was Joshua’s spear thus stretched out towards Ai, and the signal transmitted, perhaps by watchers, to the ambush far away, than the ambush arose quickly, and entered the city, and set part of it on fire. The stretching out of the spear was evidently a prearranged signal; it was manifestly Joshua’s preconcerted sign to the ambush, and God does but adopt His servant’s plan, and make it His own way.
1. God’s methods for human service are not arbitrary. Much is left to the judgment of men, even in the exalted mission of doing His work. God never crosses our way for the sake of crossing it.
2. God frequently adopts human methods of service. He adopted the way of James in preaching against a faith which lacked works, and Paul’s manner of preaching against works which did not spring from faith. Peter, fastening his eyes on the lame man, lying at the gate Beautiful, said: “Look on us. In the name of Jesus Christ of of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” God adopted that method. Paul, looking upon the cripple of Lystra, did not use Peter’s formula at all; he “said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet.” And this cripple, also, “leaped and walked.” God honoured that method. At Ephesus Paul permitted “handkerchiefs or aprons” to be carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases departed from them. God made that way His own also. At Troas, Eutychus fell down, and was taken up dead. To him “Paul went down, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.… And they brought the young man alive.” God adopted that method too. Peter, in a similar case, following, perhaps half unconsciously, the well-remembered example of the Saviour, put every one out of the room. His way, with the dead, was to work alone with his God. And so, being there in company with the corpse only, he “kneeled down and prayed; and turning him to the body, said, Tabitha, arise: and she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.” God recognised this way as a good way no less than the other, but not more than the other. His way is to give our individuality perfect liberty. So long as our hearts are right, He has little concern as to our particular manner of working. The Divine way is not to tie us down to set forms of service, but to honour always the work of those who are endeavouring to bless men, and who therein seek to exalt God.
3. God adopts human methods of serving Him only within certain limits. He never recognises by His help methods which traverse Divine principles, and which seek other ways than the way of holiness. The seven sons of Sceva had a great ambition. They wanted to cast out devils, and thus exalt themselves. So they found their man, and cried, “We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth.” The formula was good enough, but the spirit was altogether wrong; and “they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” The devil is never driven out of another man by a devil in ourselves. That would be “dividing the house against itself.” He who would succeed against that which is devilish must work together with God. Simon Magus wished to purchase with money the power of conferring the Holy Ghost. To the apostles the idea was revolting, and the thought of the man’s heart was even more obnoxious to God. This was not the Divine method at all. When our way is in harmony with truth, it is ever in harmony with heaven. Within the circle of holiness our methods may take any form whatever, and God will approve them; without that circle, everything which we do is offensive in His sight.
III. The Lord’s encouragement of His servants supplemented by their remembrance of the Lord’s former mercies. “Joshua drew not his hand back” so long as an enemy remained (Jos_8:26). The leader of Israel could not but have thought of that other battle, forty years before, when the tide of victory had ebbed and flowed in response to the falling and uplifted hands of Moses. It is of no account to say that the spear of Joshua had no such relation to success as the uplifted hands of his forerunner; no one can pronounce on that either way. It is enough to feel that Joshua must have recalled the scene at Rephidim, and then to observe that he kept his own hand persistently steady. On that occasion he had personally led in the conflict, and he would well enough remember how fitfully and sternly the battle had gone. Thinking of that, he keeps his spear steadily outstretched till the last enemy has fallen. God’s present encouragements were great; to the strength given by them, Joshua would add the memory of the mercies of bygone years. We need often special help from on high; God would ever have us use, also, every other aid which our experience affords. In every conflict of the present, we shall do well to recall His goodness in the past.
Jos_8:20.—THE CRISIS OF THE WICKED.
Sooner or later, all those who oppose themselves against God must prepare to meet their God. When the Lord meets the wicked in conflict and judgment:—
I. The wicked will see all their earthly hopes destroyed. “The smoke of the city ascended up to heaven.” These idolaters saw:—
1. That their houses were destroyed.
2. That all their property and gains were lost.
3. That every earthly hope was cut off.
4. That they had no hope for the life to come.
II. The wicked will have no strength to resist. These men of Ai saw how completely they were at the mercy of their foes, and they became powerless.
III. The wicked will have no direction in which to flee. The idolaters “had no hand” on which they could escape. “The people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon their pursuers.” (Compare Luk_23:30, Rev_6:16-17, with Isa_8:14-15; Isa_28:16-17; 1Pe_2:6.)
Jos_8:26-29.—VICTORY IN THE LORD’S WAR.
I. The way to victory is through persistent conflict. Our hand is not to be drawn back while a single enemy remains (Jos_8:26).
II. The rewards of victory are a Divine gift. God took Jericho, as the firstfruits, to shew that all the spoils belonged to Himself; here, according to his word, He gives the earnest of the future possession as from Himself (Jos_8:27).
III. The object of victory is to blot out sin from the earth. The very cities of this idolatrous land were to be purified by fire (Jos_8:28).
IV. The doom which follows victory will be according to the desert. The king, who had ruled over these idolaters, and been a leader among transgressors, is singled out for the emphasis of the curse (cf. Deu_21:23), and is thus made cherem even beyond his brethren.
V. The memorials of victory should be suitable to its mercies. The heap of stones was the customary monument of the times, and, usually, one that long remained to bear its witness.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5 the men of war
the men of war
"the army of Israel"
Read full note →
thirty thousand men
"30,000 men" (See: Numbers)
translationWords
Joshua
Ai
command
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 On vv3–4 8:3 set out to attack Ai: This first sentence…
8:3 set out to attack Ai: This first sentence provides a summary; details are filled in over the next several paragraphs. • The Hebrew words translated 30,000 might mean 30 units (see study note on Exod 12:37) or 30 chieftains. As the battle developed, this group would wait in ambush until Joshua called them out (Josh 8:18-19).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.