(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Joshua 8:23–29, “And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua. And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.”
After Joshua dealt with the problems caused by Achan’s sin, he took action in faith and completed the task that had been interrupted. When the battle was convincingly won he had to deal with the aftermath. The battle was fierce but they dealt with the king of Ai as a king. He was a man of dignity in his community and they treated him with more respect than they treated the rest of the people from the city. Not only did they deal with the soldiers they also dealt with the city as well. The city had supported the army when they fought against Israel before and they had to be treated like the rest of the Amorites because they had been given a chance to choose to submit to the Lord but had refused to do so. (compare Gen 15:16, “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”) Joshua continued as he had before till the battle was over and the victory was complete. (see Ex 17:12–13, “But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”) He didn’t command his troops to withdraw from the battle until the victory was absolute. Even though the king was taken prisoner, he was later executed for his part in blocking the Lord’s will as far as the conquest of Canaan was concerned. He was allowed to understand that he had been the Lord’s enemy. He was buried near the gate of his own city and buried under a large pile of stones so that no one would be tempted to treat him as a martyr and worship him at a later date.an only be properly appreciated with some knowledge of the topography. Ai was at the head of a deep valley running down into the Jordan Valley. Joshua sent a large part of his army to hide in the hills behind Ai and they remained there all night. In the morning a small contingent of soldiers went to attack the city. The people were confident after their previous victory so all the men ran out of the city to fight against Israel’s army. The soldiers in that contingent ran away down into the steep valley. As they went into the valley the rest of the Israeli army attacked and sacked the city. They set the city on fire. When the other contingent saw the smoke rise up from the city they turned to face the men from Ai. The rest of the Israeli army blocked their retreat to the city. The men from Ai were caught in the ambush and massacred. This was an example of an outstanding battle plan carried out by a great general. All of Joshua’s doubts and his loss of reputation were put away and he regained his respect as the Lord’s general at that time.
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