Removing Sinners (Joshua 8)

Was a lost battle finally won after removing one problem person? Was a sinful city removed? Will there be an even greater removal at the end of the age? Let’s begin in Joshua 8.

Was the way now cleared for Israel to conquer the city of Ai?

Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land. You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.” (Joshua 8:1-2 WEB)

Was God’s plan to capture the city of Ai and burn it?

So Joshua and the whole army got ready to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand brave soldiers. He sent them out by night. He commanded them, “Look. You are to ambush the city from behind. Don’t move too far away from the city. Be ready, all of you. I will approach the city with all the people. When they come out against us the same way as before, we will flee from them. They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city. They will think, They are fleeing from us as before. So we will flee from them. But you will rise up from the ambush and take over the city. The Lord your God will give it into your power. As soon as you seize the city, set it on fire. Act according to the Lord’s word. Indeed, I have given you an order!” Joshua sent them off, and they went to set the ambush. They stayed between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent that night among the people. (Joshua 8:3-9 CEB)

How did Joshua plan the surprise attack for the following day?

Early the next morning he got his troops ready to move out, and he and the other leaders of Israel led them to Ai. They set up camp in full view of the town, across the valley to the north. Joshua had already sent 5,000 soldiers to the west side of the town to hide and wait to attack. Now all his troops were in place. Part of the army was in the camp to the north of Ai, and the others were hiding to the west, ready to make a surprise attack. That night, Joshua went into the valley. (Joshua 8:10-13 CEV)

Did the ambush work? Did all the defenders leave the city?

And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city. Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel. (Joshua 8:14-17 ESV)

What was the signal to close the trap and ambush the men of Ai? Was it successful?

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold out the sword in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the city over to you.” So Joshua held out his sword toward it. When he held out his hand, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They ran, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire. The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers. When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. Then men in ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces, some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained, but they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. (Joshua 8:18-23 HCSB)

What did Israel do to all the inhabitants of the city of Ai? What did they take from the city?

When Israel had completed executing all of the residents of Ai in the open wilderness where they had chased them, and after all of them—to the very last of them—had been killed by swords, the entire fighting force of Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with swords. The total of all who fell that day, including men and women, was 12,000—the entire population of Ai. Joshua did not cease his attack until he had completely destroyed every inhabitant of Ai. Israel took only the livestock and the spoil of that city as their war booty, in accordance with what the Lord had commanded to Joshua. Joshua burned Ai, turning it into a permanent mound of ruins, and it remains so to this day. He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until dusk, and at sunset Joshua ordered his body brought down from the tree and laid at the entrance to the gate of the town. There he raised over it a large mound of stones, which stands there to this day. (Joshua 8:24-29 ISV)