Joshua is encouraged to go up and take Ai, and is directed what method to make use of, Josh. 8:1, Josh. 8:2; accordingly he set an ambush on the west side of it, and, he and the rest of the army went up before it, Josh.

And the Lord said unto Joshua Immediately after the execution of Achan, the fierceness of his anger being turned away: fear not, neither be thou dismayed; on account of the defeat of his troops he had sent to take Ai: take all the people of war with thee; all above twenty years of age, which, with…

And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst to Jericho and her king Burn the one and slay the other: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves; which they were not allowed to do at Jericho: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it; at the west…

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…

And he commanded them, saying At the time he sent them away; behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city; that is, on the west side of it, ; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready; to enter into it, as soon as the forces are drawn out eastward to meet the army of…

And I and all the people that are with me will approach unto the city That is, Joshua with the main body of the army would march up to the city the next morning, in order to draw out the inhabitants of it to fight them: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first; as…

For they will come out after us Of which there could be no doubt, when they should see them run from them: till we have drawn them from the city; some distance from it, that they could not return soon enough to save it from the ambush, or prevent their entrance into it, and burning it: for they…

Then ye shall rise up from the ambush When they should see a signal made, that in (Josh. 8:18, Josh. 8:19) ; and when their watch, they might set in a proper place, should see Israel flee, and the men of Ai at a distance from their city, pursuing, and give notice of it to the ambush: and seize upon…

And it shall be, when ye have taken the city Entered it and become masters of it: that ye shall set the city on fire; not the whole city, only some outlying houses of it, to make a smoke which might be seen both by Israel and the men of Ai, for different purposes; for the spoil of the city was…

Joshua therefore sent them forth The thirty thousand chosen men: and they went to lie in ambush; as they were ordered, : and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; for as Ai was on the east of Bethel, .

And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people To see if there were any wanting, and to put them in proper order for their march: and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai; these elders were either the seventy elders who went with Joshua as council to him;…

And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, and went up, and drew nigh To the city of Ai: and came before the city; as if they intended to besiege it, storm it, or force an entrance into it: and pitched on the north side of Ai; which was judged fittest for the purpose: now there…

And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush This was another ambush, as both Jarchi and Kimchi observe; and the latter adds, perhaps he set them nearer the city than the former; though some are of opinion that these are the same ambush spoken of, whose number is here given,…

And when they had set the people In battle array, as in ; that is, Joshua and the officers of the army: even all the host that was on the north of the city; where Joshua and the main army were: and the liers in wait on the west of the city: both the first and second ambush; when all, were prepared…

And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it Not the ambush on the west side, but the host or army on the north side, or, however, some of his people gave him notice of it: that they hasted and rose up early; or made haste to rise out of their beds, on the alarm given of Israel’s near approach:…

And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them Or smitten, as some of them might be in the pursuit: and fled by the way of the wilderness; not a barren desert, but, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, a place for the pasture of cattle; though perhaps it is the same with the…

And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them Because the host of Israel was very numerous, it was judged proper that all the people in Ai should assist in pursuing them, not only to kill the more in the pursuit, but to carry off the spoil and prisoners they should…

And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel that went not out after Israel For as these two places were very near to each other, but a mile apart, they were in confederacy, and acted together, and could easily be called to the help of each other when required: though there is a difficulty how the…

And the Lord said unto Joshua, stretch out the spear that is in thy hand towards Ai On which was a flag, as Abarbinel and Ben Melech think; and which is not improbable, and served for a signal for the ambush to come out and seize the city, as both they and Jarchi observe, as well as a signal also…

And the ambush arose quickly out of their place As soon as the sentinels set in proper places observed the signal, and gave them notice of it, which was the stretching out of the spear, as appears by what follows: and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand; and the spear in his hand;…

And when the men of Ai looked behind them On some account or another, perhaps observing that the army of Israel made a full stop and was gazing at the city: they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven; from whence they concluded an enemy was there, and had set fire to it: and…

And when Joshua Or “for Joshua” [[24]]: and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city; which they knew by the smoke, as follows: and that the smoke of the city ascended; in large columns, which sufficiently indicated that the whole city was taken and fired by the ambush: then, or, “and”,…

And the other issued out of the city against them That is, the ambush, or at least a part of them: so that they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side; or, as we commonly say, they were between two fires, the ambush on one side, the army of Israel on the other: and…

And the king of Ai they took alive They spared him, and reserved him for a more shameful death: and brought him to Joshua; their general; delivering him into his hands as his prisoner, to do will, him as seemed good in his sight.

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…

And so it was, that all that fell that day Partly in the city, and partly in the field, both by the ambush and the army: both of men and women; were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai; so that the city was not a very large one, and the numbers of inhabitants were comparatively but few, as in .

For Joshua drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out his spear But continued it, and that stretched out: until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai; just as the hand of Moses was held up, and kept held up until Amalek was discomfited by Joshua, (Ex. 17:12, Ex. 17:13) .

Only the cattle, and the spoil of the city, Israel took for a prey unto themselves Even all their substance, as besides their cattle, also their gold, silver, household goods, merchandise according unto the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua, .

And Joshua burnt Ai The whole city, fire being only set before to a few houses, to make a smoke as a signal; he did with it as he had done with Jericho, for so he was ordered, ; and made it an heap for ever; that is, for a long time, for it appears to have been rebuilt, and to have been inhabited…

And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide By way of terror to other kings in the land of Canaan, that should refuse to submit unto him: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree; according to the law in ; and that the land…

Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. ] As was commanded, . The Samaritan Chronicle says, it was built in Mount Gerizim; but there is a difficulty arises, when this was done by Joshua; it should seem by inserting the account here, that it was done immediately after…

As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses ; an altar of whole stones, on which no man hath lift up any iron; (See Gill on Ex. 20:25), (See Gill on Deut. 27:5), and, (See Gill on Deut.

And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses Not upon the stones of which the altar was made, though some have so thought; but upon other stones erected in the form of a pillar, and plastered over, ; which copy of the law was not the whole book of Deuteronomy, as some, at least…

And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark, and on that side Some on Ebal, and some on Gerizim: before the priests and the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord; it being brought out of the tabernacle on this occasion, and bottle…

And afterwards he read all the words of the law Not the whole Pentateuch, nor the whole book of Deuteronomy, but either some parts of it, the decalogue, or whatsoever he had written on the stones, and as follows: the blessings and cursings, according to all that was written in the book of the law;…

There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not So punctually, precisely, and exactly did he observe the instructions and commands that were given him by Moses; and this he did in the most public manner: before all the congregation of Israel; who were on this occasion called…