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Texts -- Joshua 8:1-26 (NET)

Context
Israel Conquers Ai
8:1 The Lord told Joshua , “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic ! Take the whole army with you and march against Ai ! See , I am handing over to you the king of Ai , along with his people , city , and land . 8:2 Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king , except you may plunder its goods and cattle . Set an ambush behind the city !” 8:3 Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai . Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night . 8:4 He told them, “Look , set an ambush behind the city . Don’t go very far from the city ; all of you be ready ! 8:5 I and all the troops who are with me will approach the city . When they come out to fight us like before , we will retreat from them. 8:6 They will attack us until we have lured them from the city , for they will say , ‘They are retreating from us like before .’ We will retreat from them. 8:7 Then you rise up from your hiding place and seize the city . The Lord your God will hand it over to you . 8:8 When you capture the city , set it on fire . Do as the Lord says ! See , I have given you orders .” 8:9 Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place west of Ai , between Bethel and Ai . Joshua spent that night with the army . 8:10 Bright and early the next morning Joshua gathered the army , and he and the leaders of Israel marched at the head of it to Ai . 8:11 All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city . They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley . 8:12 He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel and Ai . 8:13 The army was in position– the main army north of the city and the rear guard west of the city . That night Joshua went into the middle of the valley . 8:14 When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah . But he did not realize men were hiding behind the city . 8:15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be defeated by them and they retreated along the way to the desert . 8:16 All the reinforcements in Ai were ordered to chase them; they chased Joshua and were lured away from the city . 8:17 No men were left in Ai or Bethel ; they all went out after Israel . They left the city wide open and chased Israel . 8:18 The Lord told Joshua , “Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand , for I am handing the city over to you.” So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand . 8:19 When he held out his hand , the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked . They entered the city , captured it, and immediately set it on fire . 8:20 When the men of Ai turned around , they saw the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction . In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers . 8:21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke , they turned around and struck down the men of Ai . 8:22 At the same time the men who had taken the city came out to fight , and the men of Ai were trapped in the middle . The Israelites struck them down , leaving no survivors or refugees . 8:23 But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua . 8:24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had chased them toward the desert (they all fell by the sword ), all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it . 8:25 Twelve thousand men and women died that day , including all the men of Ai . 8:26 Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai .

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

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  • As I have explained previously, the date of the Exodus was about 1446 B.C. (cf. 1 Kings 6:1).7Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness (Exod. 16:35; Num. 14:33-34). Thus Israel crossed the Jordan River and entered the land abo...
  • I. The conquest of the land chs. 1-12A. Preparations for entering Canaan chs. 1-21. God's charge to Joshua 1:1-92. Joshua's charge to Israel 1:10-183. The spying out of Jericho ch. 2B. Entrance into the land 3:1-5:121. Passag...
  • In one sense verses 1-9 are a preamble to the whole book. They contain the basic principles that were to guide Joshua and Israel so they could obtain all that God had promised their forefathers.1:1 The first word of the book ...
  • At Jericho, Israel learned God's strength. At Ai, she learned her own weakness. She could only conquer her enemies as she remained faithful to God's covenant."We are never in greater danger than right after we have won a grea...
  • When the people had dealt with the sin of Achan as God had commanded, Israel was ready to engage the enemy again.8:1-2 In view of Israel's defeat God's encouraging words were necessary to strengthen Joshua's resolve (cf. 1:9)...
  • The writer identified 31 kings in the order in which Joshua defeated them."Many of the same names appear in the Amarna letters, thus confirming the historicity of our text."158"The description was not complete. Shechem is not...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan. "The Province-List of Judah."Vetus Testamentum9 (1959):225-46.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwel...
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  • It is not clear why the northern tribes had invited Rehoboam to the northern town of Shechem. They may have done so for a coronation over Israel separate from his coronation over Judah.125On the other hand the northern tribes...
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  • This is the first in a series of three parables designed to impress on the overly optimistic exiles that there was no possibility that Jerusalem would escape destruction (cf. chs. 16-17).15:1-2 The Lord asked Ezekiel how the ...
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