Joshua 8:1-12
Jos 8:1
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou
dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I
have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his
land:
Just as Jonah learned his lesson and was given a second
opportunity to be obedient to the LORD, here Israel is given a second chance to
conquer Ai. Once they removed the
sin from their midst, they were now in obedience to the LORD and they will now
go up to take Ai. The LORD has told
Joshua that he has given Ai into his hands.
With the loss they suffered at Ai previously there may have been some
fear on the part of the people of war in Israel since they were routed by those
of Ai. Here Joshua is being told
not to fear because the battle has already been decided even before it
commenced. Ai was located about 12
miles (19KM) Northwest of Gilgal where they were camped.
Jos 8:2
And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto
Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye
take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
As they commenced their trek west in the conquest of
Canaan, God gives Joshua assurance that they are going to do the same thing to
Ai they did to Jericho which was to completely decimate the city.
Here God gives them a different directive.
In Jericho they were not allowed to keep any of the spoils but here they
will be allowed to keep all the cattle and the spoils they find for themselves.
Then the LORD gives them a military tactic which has been used since that
time. They were to set an ambush
behind the city. This was done so
those who would try to escape, especially the king and the ruling class, would
be unable to and would find that the city was completely surrounded and there
was no way for anyone to escape.
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.
Out of all the fighting men of Israel Joshua chose 30,000
to commence the ambush so he sent them out by the cover of night.
Meanwhile the rest of their army had engaged the men of Ai from a
different side which would probably have been the eastern side and the 30,000
men had gone to the western side of the city thus surrounding the city.
This was a new military tactic which Joshua did not know about but would
find it a tremendous tactic for future use by other military leaders.
Jos 8:4
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:
The 30,000 men were to remain close to the city on the
western side and were to be ready when the battle began.
They were not to do anything until signaled so they would not give away
their position or their plan. When
the defenders of Ai would come out to meet the eastern part of the army, then
they would move on them in a pincer movement.
Jos 8:5
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,
Then building upon the previous battle with Ai, Joshua
plans a great deception. They were
to approach the wall from the eastern side and when the troops of Ai come out to
meet them, then Israel would flee giving Ai a false assurance that it was going
to be like the previous time that they would route Israel again.
They were going to give the men of Ai a dose of false confidence.
Jos 8:6
(For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them
from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first:
therefore we will flee before them.
Then when the men of Ai see the army of Joshua
approaching, they will have a sense of arrogance that they will be able to
defeat them as they did previously.
Joshua’s forces will retreat as if they are running scared and the men of Ai
will take it to mean that they will again send them back and will defend their
city victoriously. Therefore in
their blindness to what is happening they will exit the city and pursue Joshua
thus leaving the city unguarded and the gates wide open.
Jos 8:7
Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the
city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
Then their signal to move on Ai will be when they see the
fighting men leave the city, then the 30,000 men on the western side of the city
will move into the city and take it.
They were assured that the LORD “will deliver” the city into their hands.
Jos 8:8
And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that
ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye
do. See, I have commanded you.
Once the ambushers have taken and secured the city, they
were to set the entire city on fire which was a command from the LORD and then
passed on to the army of Israel. It
was a strategic move to burn everything that is in your rear. You do not want to
risk the chance that an enemy army could move into a standing city and use it as
an outpost and mount an offensive from behind and then have your army stuck in
the middle of a pincer movement. It
is much easier to fight from the outside in, than the inside out.
Jos 8:9
Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in
ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua
lodged that night among the people.
Then the 30,000 men were now dispatched under the cover
of darkness as previously written and were to set up the ambush and were to wait
until the time was proper. Beth-el
was about 3 miles (5 KM) west of Ai.
Then Joshua had retreated to the camp at Gilgal where he was now going to
instruct the main body of the army with the 30,000 men having now been
dispatched to the western side. The
ambushers would have had to travel 15 miles (24 KM) from Gilgal to Beth-el under
the cover of night so they would not be spotted by those on the walls at Ai.
Jos 8:10
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.
Joshua then rose early and set his army in proper array
according to their tribes and number.
He also had the elders of Israel go before the army as a symbol of the
spiritual aspect of the war. They
could also have been the junior officers who were in charge of their individual
battalions and squads. Then when they were ready they marched to Ai giving the
ambushers ample time to secure their position.
Jos 8:11
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.
So the entire army had approached Ai from the north and
came close to the city so those of Ai could see them.
Then they pitched their tents and set up camp just north of the city
making it look like they were the only ones engaged.
Now between them and Ai, there was a valley and not sure how steep it was
but it would have been a strategic location since the men of Ai would have to
chase them uphill tiring them and giving Israel a definite advantage.
During the American Civil war at Gettysburg, General George Pickett was
commanded by General Lee to fight uphill toward the Union defenses.
It was a disastrous move because General Pickett lost his entire division
in that attack on July 3, 1863.
Jos 8:12
And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie
in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city.