Joshua 7:2

And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai. After the sacking of Jericho, the next step was to penetrate into the hills above. Accordingly, spies went up the mountain pass to view the country. The precise site of Ai, or Hai, is indicated with sufficient clearness, Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:3. х `Ay (H5857), generally with the article prefixed, was a royal city in Canaan, a little east of Bethel; Septuagint, Gai (see varieties of the name, 1 Chronicles 7:28; Nehemiah 11:31; Isaiah 10:28).] The import of the name is a heap or tumulus of ruins. It has been recently discovered in an isolated Tell, called by the natives Tell-el-hajar, 'the Mount of Stones,' at two miles', or 'thirty-five minutes', distance east-southeast from Bethel (Van de Velde); but (see Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' vol. 2:, pp. 119; 312, 313; 'Handbook of Syria and Palestine,' p. 216) Keil identifies the site of Ai with Turmus Aya, a good deal further north. Stanley says ('Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 198, 202, note) that 'the precise position of Ai is unknown; but the description of Joshua points out its probable site in the wild entanglement of hill and valley at the head of the Wady Suweinit.'

Beside Beth-aven, х `im (H5973) Beeyt-'Aawen (H1007), near or hard by (cf. Judges 18:3); Septuagint, kata Baitheel.] Beth-aven, with reference to the tauriform image which was the symbol of idol-worship, in the land of the Raphaim (1 Samuel 13:5), means 'house of vanity,' a name afterward given derisively (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Hosea 10:5), on account of its idolatries, to Bethel, 'house of God;' but here referred to another place about six miles east of Bethel, and three north of Ai.