Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 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.

2. the spoil thereof ] unlike the case of Jericho, is formally conceded to the Israelites.

an ambush ] “Put busshementis to the citye bihynde it,” Wyclif. Literally a weaver, a lier in wait, from arab, to weave = “nectere insidias, struere dolos.”

for the city behind it ] High up, probably in the main ravine between Ai and Bethel. “Ai must be somewhere between Michmash and Rimmon, a region greatly cut up with gorges and ravines; and as I passed from Beit-n toward Michmash, I could easily understand how Joshua’s ambush of 5000 men could lie hid between Ai and Bethel.” Thomson’s Land and the Book, p. 671.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

To Ai, i.e. the city and people of Ai.

As thou didst unto Jericho and her king, i.e. overcome and destroy them. This was enjoined, partly to chastise their last insolence, and the triumphs and blasphemies which doubtless their success produced; and partly to revive the dread and terror which had been impressed upon the Canaanites by Jerichos ruin, and had been much abated by the late success of Ai, and their confidence and expectation of further and greater success much raised.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

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 side of it: some have called in question the lawfulness of the ambush, but, as this was appointed by the Lord, there is no room for it.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(2) Only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye takei.e., the material spoil, not the persons of the inhabitants. (See Jos. 11:14.) Jericho was treated exceptionally, in that the material spoil was made chrem, devoted to destruction, as the thing accursed of God.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. Only the spoil thereof shall ye take The spoils of Jericho had been devoted wholly to the Lord, as the first fruits of the conquest of Canaan. But the spoils of Ai and of the other conquered cities (Deu 6:10-11) are now to be appropriated unto the conquerors. The people and their king are to be slain and their city subverted. There was, henceforth, to be no temptation to the sin of Achan. Had he waited obediently and refrained from the accursed thing he might now have innocently enriched himself. So sin generally misses the mark.

Lay thee an ambush If war itself is ever justifiable, it is right to use the mind as well as the hand, strategy as well as brute force. It is certain that a contest of wit is as proper as a contest of muscle. Says Calvin: “Those are pronounced the best generals whose success is due less to force than to skilful manoeuvres. It is, of course, understood that neither must treaties be violated, nor faith broken in any other way.”

Behind it As Joshua was east of Ai, the ambuscade, by a flank movement up one of the numerous ravines, was to be made on the west side of the city. See note on Jos 8:9.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jos 8:2 a

‘And you will do to Ai and her king what you did to Jericho and her king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take for a prey for yourselves.’

The assurance was that it would be total victory. And the added assurance was that they could now begin to accumulate wealth from the land. YHWH had received His portion at Jericho, a token of what they owed to Him as their overlord. Now they could retain spoils for themselves. Compare on this verse Deu 2:35; Deu 3:6 on.

Jos 8:2-4

‘ “Set up an ambush for the city, behind it.” So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai, and Joshua chose out thirty eleph men, the mighty men of valour, and sent them out, and he commanded them, “Look, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but be ready, all of you.” ’

YHWH directed tactics. YHWH told him that they were to hide soldiers behind the city, probably making their way there by night. These were to lie in hiding, not far from the ‘city’, until after the frontal assault of the ‘city’. Then we are told that Joshua commanded exactly what YHWH had commanded. The way of obedience had also been restored.

“Thirty eleph men.” Ten times more than three eleph sent before. Complacency had been replaced by common sense. This thirty military units was possibly about fifteen hundred men sent to lie in ambush.

These were to go up prior to the main advance (note that ‘arose — to go up’ rather than ‘arose and went up’ signifies preparation preparatory to movement). This would take some time. It was an upward climb of over twenty four kilometres (fifteen miles).

Later he would set a further ambush of ‘about five eleph men’ to the west of the city (Jos 8:12). This may have been in order to strengthen the previous force, or in order to give a further prong to the attack. It may have been in case something had prevented the first contingent from taking up its position (no signal may have been spotted). This time he was taking no chances. He was no longer overconfident in their own prowess. And possibly at that stage he had become aware of Bethel looming in the distance.

Some read the text as signifying that the thirty eleph were Israel’s total force of which five eleph were put in ambush, but this does readily appear from the text, nor does it tie in with the fact that they had forty eleph Transjordanian troops (Jos 4:13). We may roughly measure this as indicating that Israel had about fifteen thousand troops, of which fifteen hundred were in the first ambush, and five hundred in the second. (It is to some extent guesswork as we do not really know what an eleph would represent at this time).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Ver. 2. Lay thee an ambush for the city, behind it That is, to the west; for the camp of Gilgal was to the east of Ai. It is asked here, by some, “How happens it that God, who, by his infinite power, could so easily destroy Ai and its inhabitants, should make use of artifice and stratagem to procure victory to the Hebrews? The pagans themselves (they add) judged such arts unworthy of men of courage; (see for examples, Grotius de Jure B. & P. l. iii. c. 1. sect. 20.) and they seem beneath the greatness of the Almighty.” But how weak is this manner of talking? Is God always obliged to work miracles, because he is able? And why does it seem more improper for him to have ordered an ambuscade to encompass the men of Ai, than to have set apart seven days for overturning the walls of Jericho, with so many ceremonies? He could, without striking a blow, have suddenly mowed down all the Canaanites, and opened to his people an entrance into Palestine, without their meeting the least opposition: but, had he chosen this method, he would neither have displayed his power by that vast number of miracles which he wrought, nor made the Israelites pass through trials that were expedient to their holiness and happiness.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

How gracious the Lord promiseth! Is it not so, in all our wars? The final issue is not doubtful. Rom 16:20 . Observe how the Lord giveth the spoil and the cattle now to Israel, not as in the case of Jericho. See Jos 6:19 . And observe, moreover, that the Lord graciously condescendeth to teach Joshua, by an ambush, how to war. The prophet Isaiah, ascribeth the knowledge of the husbandman to the Lord’s teaching. And David refers all his power and might in war to the same source: compare Isa 28:24 to the end, with Psa 144:1-2 . It is most sweet and precious, to refer all our powers, of what kind soever they may be, unto the Lord. Isa 42:16 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

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.

Ver. 2. Lay thee an ambush behind it. ] Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat? If the war be just, the use of stratagems is unquestionably warrantable. Of Decebalus, king of Dacians, in Domitian’s time, a valiant and wise warrior, it is thus storied, Noverat optime insidias faeere, proelium committere, optime uti victoria, et acceptam cladem ferre moderate; He well knew how to lay an ambush, pitch a field, use a victory, take a defeat. a

a Dio, in Dom.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)