Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 8:28
And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap forever, [even] a desolation unto this day.
28. a heap ] “an everlasting toumbe,” Wyclif. Heb. a “ Tel,” always with the article, The Tel, or Heap. “For a long time modern explorers in vain sought for the site of Ai, where they knew it must have stood. “The inhabitants of the neighbouring villages,” writes Canon Williams, “declared repeatedly and emphatically that this was Tel and nothing else. I was satisfied that it should be so when, on subsequent reference to the original text of Jos 8:28, I found it written that ‘Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a Tel for ever, even a desolation unto this day.’ There are many Tels in modern Palestine, that land of Tels, even Tel with some other name attached to it to mark the former site. But the site of Ai has no other name ‘unto this day.’ It is simply et-Tel = the Heap, ‘par excellence’.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 28. Unto this day.] This last clause was probably added by a later hand.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For ever, or, for a long time, as that word oft signifies, as Gen 6:3; Isa 42:14; for that it was after some ages rebuilt, may seem from Neh 11:31, unless that were another city built near the former, there being some little difference in the name also.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. Joshua burnt Ai, and made it anheap for ever“For ever” often signifies “a longtime” (Ge 6:3). One of theremarkable things with regard to the tell we have identified with Aiis its namethe tell of the heap of stonesa name which to thisday remains [VAN DEVELDE].
Jos8:29. THE KINGHANGED.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Jos 8:2;
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 by the Jews, after their return from their Babylonish captivity, Ne 11:31;
[even] a desolation unto this day; to the time of the writing of this book; and by what has been just observed, it appears that Ezra could not be the writer of it, since this city was inhabited in his time.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(28) An heap for ever.Heb., Tel-lam; modern name, Et-tel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. A heap for ever [The word translated heap is , Tel, and strikingly confirms Capt. Wilson’s identification of the site of Ai with the mound still bearing, after the lapse of ages, the name Et-Tel, the ruined heap. Compare note on Jos 7:2.] Because the meaning of Ai is a heap of ruins the Rationalists build up a theory that the history of its conquest is a myth, growing out of ruins of unknown origin. But the city destroyed by Joshua may have taken the name of Ai or Hai, the ruins, from the ruins of a more ancient city out of which it may have been built.
Unto this day This clause seems awkward, coming immediately after for ever, but it shows that the word for ever sometimes has a limited reference. Perhaps, however, the historian, or some later editor, meant by the former clause, closing with for ever, to express Joshua’s purpose to make Ai a perpetual desolation, and by the latter clause to indicate its fulfilment. The name of Ai appears again, after a thousand years, as inhabited. Neh 11:31. But it was probably on another site, just as there were an Old and a New Troy, an Old and a New Tyre.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap (a mound – ‘tel’) for ever, even a desolation to this day.’
This must have been written before the later restoration of Ai which, if the usual site is accepted, was in the time of the Judges. But it was not even then restored as a walled city. The much later city was probably built elsewhere (Isa 10:28; Ezr 2:28). So the great battle of Ai was over with victory going to YHWH. There is no further mention of Bethel. That city was probably not taken which is why it was not mentioned. But it would be militarily weak for a long time to come. Its king was slain by Israel later on (Jos 12:16).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 28. And Joshua burnt Ai, &c. After giving up the city to plunder, according to the express command of God, Joshua caused it to be burnt to ashes, leaving there only a heap of stones, which was to be seen even to the time of writing this book. See ver. 11. 26. As to the expression an heap for ever, it is well known that it should not be understood in strictness. When the Hebrews say a thing will last for ever, it almost always signifies, that it will last a very long time, and nothing more. Thus we find that the city of Ai had been rebuilt, and was inhabited at the time of Esdras and Nehemiah. Ezr 2:28. Neh 11:31.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jos 8:28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, [even] a desolation unto this day.
Ver. 28. And Joshua burnt Ai. ] See Trapp on “ Jos 8:8 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
heap. Its only name to-day is “Tell” = the Heap.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
an heap: Deu 13:16, 2Ki 19:25, Isa 17:1, Isa 25:2, Jer 9:11, Jer 49:2, Jer 50:26, Mic 3:12
unto this day: Jos 4:9
Reciprocal: Jos 6:24 – burnt Jos 8:2 – do to Ai Jos 8:8 – set the city
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8:28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for {l} ever, [even] a desolation unto this day.
(l) That it could never be built again.