Joshua 7: When Ai Spelled Defeat Series

Introduction: With the LORD’s help. Israel had conquered Jericho and was now ready to claim more of the Promised Land. The next city was Ai, but Israel made a number of mistakes resulting in a defeat—that didn’t need to happen.

The Prologue: A violation of God’s commands about Jericho

Text, Joshua 7:1, KJV: 1 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.

Some think this verse belongs at the end of chapter 6; others, that this is the correct place. The verse does serve as the reminder that the LORD does not approve of deliberate sins. Joshua wrote who did this, what he did, and the LORD’s reaction.

Joshua, clearly, was not aware of any of this. His focus was on leading Israel into more of the Promised Land, but even so, he was going to learn about the violations in a very sobering way.

1 Israel’s defeat

Text: Joshua 7:2-5, KJV: 2 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. 3 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. 4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 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.

No doubt all Israel was rejoicing in the victory over Jericho. They may have been wondering which direction to go next when Joshua decided to spy out Ai. Notice, though, that he did not enquire of the LORD about any of this, which was a big mistake on his part.

From a military or strategic standpoint, it would make sense to move further inland. Israel would have more land and wouldn’t be standing with their collective backs near the Jordan River and its floodplain. Ai was about 10 miles west of Jericho (estimates vary) and was also at a higher elevation according to the online map at https://bibleatlas.org/full/jericho.htm. This, then would give Israel an advantage by having a clearer view of the land and any enemies, plus being able to charge down from the elevation rather than trying to climb higher.

The men—we’re not told who nor how many—did go and view Ai. This time, Joshua did not have the Captain of the Lord’s Hosts to give him direction, and Joshua did not ask for any such command or direction from the LORD. As it turned out, and it’s hard to say this, Israel couldn’t have won anything because of the sin in the camp. Joshua knew nothing of this at the time, but he was about to get a very rude awakening shortly.

The battle plan, according to the spies, was to send only 2 or 3 thousand men against Ai because there were “but few” Canaanites living in the area. Joshua sent about 3,000 men against Ai, believing there would be another, relatively easy victory, and waited for the men to return.

And return they did, but with casualties. There were about 36 of these Israelite soldiers whom the people of Ai “smote”. In short, these men were killed in action. We don’t know if their bodies were returned to Israel, buried near Ai, or were abandoned. The writer records that the men of Ai chased the Israelites to Shebarim, an unknown and unidentified place that could be translated “quarries (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7671.htm)”.

Needless to say, Israel was not expecting a defeat and probably not expecting much resistance either. Nothing had happened at Jericho to give any indication there would be any “push back” by the Canaanites—but that sure happened at Ai. And to give a bit of a twist, the writer records that the hearts of the Israelites “melted, and became as water”. These are similar to the words Rahab had shared with the spies in Jericho: now, things were different and Israel was the one suffering from severe discouragement.

2 Joshua’s despair

Text, Joshua 7:6-9, KJV: 6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. 7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?