This chapter is about the city of Ai getting destroyed & the covenant gets renewed at Mount Ebal. Because you know that God likes to remind the Israelites. This chapter is pretty lengthy. So let’s get down to brass tacks, friends. Enjoy.
God tells Joshua that now that the events of the last chapter are over, the Israelites can go ahead & attack Ai. God was going to give everything from Ai to the Israelites. The Israelites had to do exactly what they did to Jericho. Except that the Israelites could keep the plunder & livestock from Ai. They had to set an ambush behind the city.
So Joshua & the whole Israelite army moved to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of the best fighting men & sent them out at night. Joshua told these men, “Look. We’re going to set an ambush. You 30k men are gonna go on the back side of the town. Be on alert! Don’t go far from the back of the city. I’m going to take the rest of the army & attack the front of the city. When the men come to attack us, we’ll run away. They’ll follow us, of course. When we get far enough away from the city, you 30,000 men are going to take over the city. When you’ve taken the city, set it on fire.”
Joshua then sends them off. They went to the place to wait for the ambush. They lay in wait between Bethel & Ai. Joshua, however, spent the night with the Israelites.
Early the next morning, Joshua got his men together. Joshua & the leaders of Israel marched before the army to Ai. They camped north of Ai, with the valley between them & the city. Joshua had taken 5,000 men & set them in an ambush between Bethel & Ai.
When the king of Ai saw this, he & all the men of the city hurried out to meet the Israelites in battle. This place overlooks the Arabah. But the king didn’t know that there was going to be an ambush.
Joshua did his part of the plan perfectly. So well, in fact, not a single man remained in Ai or Bethel who didn’t go after the Israelites. They left their cities wide open for the ambush. Joshua gave the ambushers a signal to take over the city.
The men entered the city, captured it & quickly set it on fire. The men of Ai looked back & saw the smoke of the city rising against the sky. But their escape routes had been cut off by the Israelites. The men of Ai were killed, with no survivors left. They did take the king of Ai, alive, to Joshua.
When the Israelites were done killing all of the men from Ai, 12,000 men & women fell that day. This was all the people of Ai. The Israelites did manage to carry off for themselves the livestock & plunder of this city.
So Joshua burned Ai. He made it a permanent heap of ruins. Joshua hung the king of Ai on a tree. The king was left there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered that the body be taken from the tree & thrown down at the entrance of the city gate. They put a large pile of rocks over it.
Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the Israelite god. He built it according to what’s written in the Book of the Law of Moses. There in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses. All the Israelites, aliens, & citizens alike (EVERYONE) were standing on both sides of the Ark of the Covenant, facing the Levites.
Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim & the other half stood in front of Mount Ebal. Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law- blessings & curses-just as it’s written in the Book of the Law. There wasn’t a word in all that Moses told Joshua that Joshua didn’t read to all of the Israelites. Including the women, kids, & aliens who lived among them. (How nice of them to include those sub-groups at the end?)
Spirituality & Religious Studies 