(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Joshua 7:1–5, “But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.”
Jericho was an ancient trading city and there was a great deal of wealth in the city. Even though the Lord told Israel not to take any booty from the city, one man was tempted by the wealth and took some booty for himself. We find out later that, he knew he was sinning because he hid the booty in his tent. After the great victory at Jericho, Joshua decided that he should continue with the invasion and take the next city. He still acted with caution as a wise and careful leader so he spent spies again to check out the next city, called Ai. These spies saw that it was a much smaller city than Jericho so they suggested to Joshua that he only take a small contingent from his army to capture the city. They confidently moved against the city but suffered and embarrassing defeat. Some of their battle hardened troops were killed and the people lost their faith and became afraid.
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