Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 8:16
And all the people that [were] in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
All the people, to wit, all that were able to bear arms, for old men and children were unfit for the pursuit or fight; and that they were yet left, may seem from Jos 8:24,25.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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 take; or rather the sense is, that all the people in Ai, which were come out with the king to battle, when they saw Israel flee, “cried” x, or shouted, as soldiers do when victorious, “in” or “while pursuing” y after them;
and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city; at some considerable distance from it; which was the design to be answered by feigning a flight.
x “vociferantes”, V. L. “vociferati sunt”, Pagninus, Montanus. y “persequendo”, Pagninus, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
‘ And all the people who were in the city (or Ai) were summoned together to pursue after them, and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel that did not go out after Israel, and they left the city open and pursued after Israel.’
Joshua was not the only tricky general. The first attack was by the men of Ai, but when the retreat began and the king of Ai realised the strength of the force against him, he summoned the reinforcements, which he had hidden away, composed of the men of Bethel who had been secretly drawn from Bethel, who laid in wait ready for when needed. Thus he now emptied Ai of all its armed men in his eagerness to pursue Israel and dissuade them from trying again, leaving the city wide open.
At this point it is necessary to consider the position again with regard to Ai and Bethel. All the stress was laid on Ai. Yet Ai was only an advance post of Bethel. Why would the emphasis then be on Ai? The answer would seem to be that neither the king of Bethel, nor Bethel itself, were captured. It was the king of Ai who was strung up. It was Ai that was destroyed. Thus in the manner of victors it was Ai that was stressed. They captured their city and executed their king, and incidentally destroyed the army of Bethel at the same time.
The people of Bethel were then no longer a threat and for the time being could be left holed up in their city unable to pose any problems to Israel. It was probably considered that at this stage there were more important things to do than besiege Bethel whose power was broken and who from now on could only act in a defensive capacity for the near future. Thus the stress was on what was visibly achieved and not on what was not achieved.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jos 8:16 And all the people that [were] in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
Ver. 16. And were drawn away from the city. ] In hope of like success as before; but it proved otherwise. So wicked men praesumendo sperant, et sperando pereunt, presume and perish.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
in Ai. Some codices read “in the city”,
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
called together: Jdg 20:36-39
drawn away: Jos 8:5, Jos 8:6, Jdg 20:31, Psa 9:16, Eze 38:11-22, Rev 16:14, Rev 19:19-21
Reciprocal: Jos 8:4 – lie in wait Jos 8:14 – Ai saw it Jos 8:24 – returned unto Ai Jdg 20:32 – Let us flee