Joshua 8:24

_AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN ISRAEL HAD MADE AN END OF SLAYING ALL THE INHABITANTS OF AI IN THE FIELD, IN THE WILDERNESS WHEREIN THEY CHASED THEM, AND WHEN THEY WERE ALL FALLEN ON THE EDGE OF THE SWORD, UNTIL THEY WERE CONSUMED, THAT ALL THE ISRAELITES RETURNED UNTO AI, AND SMOTE IT WITH THE EDGE OF THE SWORD._ All the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword - the women, children, and old persons left behind, amounting, in all, to 12,000 people....

23-29 God, the righteous Judge, had sentenced the Canaanites for their wickedness; the Israelites only executed his doom. None of their conduct can be drawn into an example for others. Especial reason no doubt there was for this severity to the king of Ai; it is likely he had been notoriously wicked and vile, and a blasphemer of the God of Israel....

Verse Joshua 8:24. _RETURNED UNTO AI, AND SMOTE IT WITH THE EDGE OF THE_ _SWORD._] This must refer to the women, children, and old persons, left behind; for it is likely that all the effective men had sallied out when they imagined the Israelites had fled. See Joshua 8:16....

EXPOSITION THE CAPTURE OF AI.— JOSHUA 8:1 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

AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN ISRAEL HAD MADE AN END OF SLAYING ALL THE INHABITANTS OF AI,.... That came out against them: IN THE FIELD, IN THE WILDERNESS WHEREIN THEY CHASED THEM; both in the arable lands that were sown with corn, and now clothed with it, the wheat especially, not being gathered in, as not yet ripe, and in the pasture ground, designed by the wilderness, see Joshua 8:15; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it: AND WHEN THEY WERE ALL FALLEN ON THE EDGE OF THE SWORD; and were slain by it: UNTIL THEY WERE CONSUMED; and not one left: THAT ALL THE ISRAELITES RETURNED UNTO AI; both the ambush that came out of it, and the army that came against it: AND SMOTE IT WITH THE EDGE OF THE SWORD; that is, the inhabitants that were left in it unfit for war, as old men, infirm persons, women and childr

8. THE OVERTHROW OF AI CHAPTER 8 _ 1. The advance commanded (Joshua 8:1)_ 2. The strategy of Joshua (Joshua 8:3) 3. Ai's defeat (Joshua 8:14) 4. Joshua's obedience (Joshua 8:30) 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. H

CAPTURE OF AI. Here we have the second and the successful attempt to take Ai. That two accounts have been combined is obvious. In Joshua 8:3 Joshua sends 30,000 men as an ambuscade against the city; in Joshua 8:12, he sends 5000 men. No doubt 30,000 is an error for 3000. The writer of 20, who tells us that the whole population of Ai was 12,000, is also the writer of Joshua 8:3. We may take it that he was far more likely to write 3000 than 30,000. In Joshua 8:17 the words and Bethel are an unintelligent insertion of a late editor. They are not in the LXX, and if the ambush was between Bethel and Ai, it is difficult to see how the inhabitants of Bethel could com

CONSUMED. spent....

_The Conquest of Ai Joshua 8:9-29_ 9Joshua therefore sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and abode behind Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people. 10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai. 12 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. 13 And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. 14 And it came to pass, whe

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 Joshua 8:3; Joshua 8:9, in which 30,000 are said to have been concealed, and the other in Joshua 8:10, in which only 5,000 are said to have been in hiding. These discrepancies in figures are very common....