Joshua 8:1-29--The Fall of Ai

Joshua 8:1-29
English Standard Version

The Fall of Ai
8 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. 2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

3 So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. 4 And he commanded them, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. 5 And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, we shall flee before them. 6 And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them. 7 Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will give it into your hand. 8 And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the LORD. See, I have commanded you.” 9 So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.

10 Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. 12 He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley. 14 And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. 16 So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.

18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19 And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire. 20 So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped. 23 But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.

​24 When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword. 25 And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. 26 But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction. 27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the LORD that he commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day. 29 And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.

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Now that the sin of Achan has been dealt with, it is time for Israel to once again fight the city of Ai.  Now the LORD gives instructions to Joshua how to fight the battle and the LORD tells him that even though it is a small town to take all the fighting men with them.  This time, the tactic will be ambush.  Also, the LORD tells Joshua that they will again kill the king of the city, just like they did with Jericho, but this time all of the livestock and plunder were for the people.  If Achan could have only waited for God's timing, God wanted to allow His people to have the spoils of war, but their hearts had to be right first and the covetousness that was in Achan's heart had to be dealt with before the LORD could give them good things as the spoils of war.

Joshua took all 30,000 men that were of fighting age and broke them into two groups so that one group staged itself to the rear of the city in an ambush position and the other force would act as the diversion as they would pretend to attack and run as they did last time so that the inhabitants of Ai would give chase, but the ambush party would enter the city and destroy it with fire while its inhabitants were away.  The ambush party went out in the cover of darkness to take their positions between Bethel and Ai, but Joshua stayed camped with the people so that he would be with what appeared to be the main attack party.

Joshua did not attack right away, but instead he set camp just to the north of the city with a ravine between the city and the camp where it would appear that they were in plain view of the city and the city could get a good look at the size of the entire camp, but that same day, Joshua sent 5,000 men (about 1/6 of the army) to the ambush positions (the rear guard) to the west of the city while the main army was encamped to the north of the city, and Joshua spent the night in the valley that was the ravine between the camp and the city.

The king of Ai saw this and he and all his fighting men went out to the appointed place (they had places where the kings typically battled each other during this time) near the plain called the Wady el-Arabah that is south of the Dead Sea as they were going out to meet Israel in battle.  The king of Ai had no idea of the ambush set behind his city and when he went out to battle Joshua and the main army, they pretended to flee from the army of Ai as they had done before and they ran towards the wilderness.  Both the cities of Ai and Bethel were left deserted.

Now the LORD told Joshua to stretch out his javelin towards Ai and the LORD would give the city into the hands of Joshua and Israel, and as Joshua did so, the ambush party fell upon the city, captured it and burned it with fire as they were commanded.  When the men of Israel saw that the ambush had been successful (for they saw the smoke rising form the city) they turned back and attacked the men of Ai that were pursuing them, and the others of the ambush party came out from the city against them so that the army of Ai was surrounded.  None of their fighting men survived, but they brought the king to Joshua alive.

Once all the fighting men were destroyed, the returned to the city to kill all the remaining inhabitants as they were instructed.  All 12,000 inhabitants of Ai were destroyed that day according to the word of the LORD, and Joshua did not lower his javelin until all the people of Ai that were devoted for destruction had been killed.  The Israelites only took the livestock and the plunder that the LORD had given to them.  Joshua burned the city, just as they had with Jericho and it became a heap of ruble and they hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening (a sign from the Law that someone was accursed), and then at nightfall they took his body down and threw it at the city gate and raised over it a giant heap of stones to bury him, and that heap of stones was there to the day that this text was written.

Next time we'll see how this victory leads Joshua and the people to once again renew their covenant with the LORD as they would read the blessings and curses from the book of Deuteronomy at Mount Ebal just as was commanded of them by the LORD through Moses before he died.