An ambush set behind the city
Joshuachapter 8
35 verses · BSB238 cross-references outward · 133 inwardJoshua book hub →
Speaks with:Joshua 8×11Judges 20×6Deuteronomy 27×5Deuteronomy 31×4Joshua 1×3Matthew 24×3
Chapter summary
Ai is taken the second time by ambush.
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Chapter summary
Ai is taken the second time by ambush.
Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾Show less ▴
Ai is taken the second time by ambush. Jehovah gives the city and its king into Joshua's hand, an ambush lies westward, the main force feigns flight as before, and Joshua holds out his javelin toward the city until every inhabitant is destroyed; the king is hanged on a tree and taken down at sunset, buried under a heap of stones. Then the army climbs north to do what Deuteronomy 27 commanded: an altar of unhewn stones on Mount Ebal, a copy of the law written on the stones, and all Israel — sojourner and homeborn alike, half toward Gerizim and half toward Ebal — hearing every word of blessing and curse read aloud.
Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.
Context
History · Joshua — Joshua overview
- A. 1–13 An ambush set behind the city
- B. 14–29 Ai burned, its king hanged on a tree
- C. 30–35 The law read aloud between Ebal and Gerizim
33All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.
The world behind this chapter
Joshua 8The history
The plan is a standard ambush, described in enough detail to follow on a map. A force is set behind the city to the west, the main body appears in front, and the defenders — encouraged by the earlier victory — chase them out. The city is left open, the ambush takes it and sets it on fire, and the smoke is the signal for the fleeing force to turn around.
This time the plunder and livestock were Israel's to keep, by God's own instruction. The contrast with Jericho was deliberate: the first city was firstfruits, devoted entirely; after that, normal spoil rules applied. Achan died for taking early what the nation was given later.
The king of Ai was hanged on a tree and his body taken down at sunset, exactly as the law in Deuteronomy required. The narrative is showing the commander operating by the book he had just been handed.
Then the whole nation walks about thirty miles north to Shechem to do what Moses commanded: an altar of uncut stones on Mount Ebal, a copy of the law written on the stones, half the people on one mountain and half on the other, and the blessings and curses read aloud with foreigners standing among them. A stone structure on Mount Ebal excavated in the 1980s has been argued to be this altar; the identification is disputed and the site's purpose is still debated.
What it meant to them
The sequence would have struck first hearers hard. Defeat, then confession, then victory, then a covenant ceremony in the middle of enemy territory before the country was anywhere near conquered.
Joshua read every word of the law, the blessing and the curse, to the whole assembly including the women, the children, and the foreigners among them. The land was being claimed by a public reading before it was claimed by an army.
Sources cited
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament