Joshua 8

And his sons, and his daughters. This seems very hard, that they should bo executed in such a terrible manner, as here follows, for their father’s fault. But tho Jews in Pirke Eliezer say, they were punished becauso they were privy to their father’s stealth, and concealed it. Others think this was a necessary severity in the beginning of a new empire, and of a plentiful fortune, upon which they now entered; that they might not wantonly abuse it. But there are those who think this is but a seeming difficulty; Achan alone being stoned (as we read in the next verse, all Israel stoned him with stones), and his children brought forth to be spectators of it. And when it is said, in the eonclusion of the next verse, they stoned them with stones, it relates to his oxen, and asses, and sheep, which were stoned with him. (See Guil. Vorstius, in his annotations on Pirke Eliezer, p. 224.) And his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had.] This was done, to represent to the people the heinousness of this offence; and to strike such a terror into them, that they should not dare to commit the like. And they brought them unto the valley ofAchor.] Which had its name from him, ver. 26. (See there.) but only from the east, whence they knew the Israelites were to march.

Joshua 8:1

jljLND the Lord said unto Joshua. Who, it is likely, now consulted God about their progress in this war: which he had not dono before, (vii. 2.) being sufficiently authorized by what God had often said to him, and by their success against Jericho: but this late defeat before Ai, might make him think it necessary to take advice of tho Divine Majesty, before he attempted any thing farther. Fear not, neither be dismayed.] Because of the late ill success; of which he now knew the cause; which was removed. Take all the people of war with thee.] This order may seem strange, since the people themselves thought two or three thousand were sufficient, if God were with them. But God would have them all to share in the spoil of Ai; that they who had obeyed him in abstaining from laying their hands on any thing in Jericho, might be now rewarded for it, by the prey of this city; as it follows in the next verse. And arise, go up to Ai.] Which it appears by this was in the hill country.’ I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.] He bids him be confident of a complete victory, as if he had already won it.

Joshua 8:2

And thou shall do to Ai and her king as thou didst to Jericho aud her king. Only with such difference, as follows in the next words. • Only the spoil thereof, aud thecattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves.] None of the silver or gold, or any thing else, was separated to God’s use, nor ordered to be destroyed; but they were to enjoy it all entirely themselves. Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.] On the west of it; for they were now in Gilgal, which lay eastward.

Joshua 8:3

So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai. In obedience to the Divine direction, (ver. 1.) Microsoft® CHAP. VIII.] UPON JOSHUA. And Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.] When they were less liable to be observed.

Joshua 8:4

And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall tie in tvait against the city, even behind the city. Like a great general, he assigns their post to every part of the army. Go not very far from the city.] Lie as close to it as you can, without being discovered. But be ye all ready.] To seize upon the city, when all the people were drawn out of it.

Joshua 8:5

And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto tJte city. As if they intended to assault it* And it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first.] Which he rationally presumed they would, being flushed with such good success. That we will flee before them.] Counterfeit a flight, as soon as they appeared. Ver. G. For they will come out after us, till we have drawn them from the city.] Pursue them, with all their force. For they icillsay, Tliey flee before ns, as at the first: there* fore we will flee before them.] He gives the reason of their flight, without striking of a stroke (as we now speak), that all the people might be enticed out of the city, in pursuit of them, as he concluded they would be; because now there was a greater number of the Israelites than before; which would require their whole power to deal withal.

Joshua 8:7

Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city. Upon the signal given, mentioned ver. 18. For the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.] He would not have them fear to enter the city; which he assured them God would put into their possession.

Joshua 8:8

And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire. The gate where they entered,’ or some of the skirts of the city; as a token they were possessed of it. For they were to take the spoil of the city before they burnt it, (ver. 28.). According to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do.] And not transgress, as Achan did. See, I have commanded yoa.] Acquainted them with the will of God; in the observance of which they might be confident of success.

Joshua 8:9

Joshua therefore sent them forth, and they went io lie in ambush. He selected these thirty thousand men out of the rest of the army; and when it was dark they went upon the forenamed design. And Joshua lodged that night among the people.] The forenamed detachment (as we now speak) was commanded by some great officer, in whom Joshua confided; but he himself lay all night in the body of the army; that he might be ready in the morning to give the necessary orders.

Joshua 8:10

And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people. He first gave orders to the officers (for he could not do it himself alone) to see that none of the people were wanting. And went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.] And when he commanded them to march, he was attended by the elders of Israel, leading them on towards Ai. But it is uncertain who are here meant by the elders of Israel. Some think, the chief commanders in the army; but they are never called elders, much less the elders of Israel. But tho rulers and judges are called by this name, who, I suppose, waited upon Joshua as a council of war: being men authorized by God to assist the supreme governor, (Numb. xi. 16. 24, 25.)

Joshua 8:11

And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up and drew nigh, and came before /fte city. The distance between Gilgal and Ai being but three leagues, it is likely, the people being mustered early in the morning, they got thither before noon. Those words, even the men of war that were with him, seem to be opposed to the thirty thousand, whom he had sent before to lie in ambush, (ver. 3.) And pitched on the north side ofAi.] Here the main body of the army lay, behind the hills, it is likely, so that they were not discovered till the evening, or the next day. Noiv there was a valley between them and Ai.] Where they of Ai, I suppose, drew up; when they resolved to engage them.

Joshua 8:12

And took about five thousand, and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai. Which places were but a league distant one from the other. (See vii. 2.) On the west side of the city.] Where the former detachment was ordered to lie, ver. 4. But these seem to have been a distinct party from them, and sent, it is likely, for another purpose; to intercept all those that might think to save themselves, by flying through by-ways, which they were to guard. There are those, indeed, who think that there were but thirty thousand men in all employed in this expedition against Ai; and out of them these five thousand men were sent to lie in ambush, that they might, in convenient time, set fire to the city. (See Masius.) But this is so directly contraryto God’s command, to take all the people of war with him, ver. 1. and to what is said ver. 3. 11. that I cannot think it to be true. One had better say, this party was added to strengthen the thirty thousand men in their undertaking.

Joshua 8:13

And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liersin wait on the west side of the city. That is, when things were thus disposed about the evening. Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.] To pray to God,* it is likely, for a blessing upon their enterprise.

Joshua 8:14

And it came to pass, when the king ofAisaw it. That is, was informed of their investing the city on the north side of it; which, it is likely, was in the evening, or late that night. That they hasted.] He called a council, and they speedily resolved to dislodge the Israelites. And rose np early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people.] The meaning is, all that could fight went out, and their king at the head of them. At a time appointed.] They had agreed all to issue out at several gates (it is likely) at a certain hour. Before the plain.] He means, perhaps, the valley which lay between Ai and the camp of Israel; before which they drew up their army to engage the Israelites. But he wist not that there were Hers in ambush against him behind the city.] The king had no intelligence of that strong party, which Joshua had sent to lie behind the city; they keeping, I suppose, their gates shut, (as they did at Jericho, that none could get in or go out, vi. 1.) and suspecting no danger from the western coast where they lay,

Joshua 8:15

And Joshua, and all Israel, made as if they were beaten before them. At the first onset, Joshua himself turned his hack, and all the rest of his army; as if they durst not stand before them.. And fled by the way of the wilderness.’] Which lay between Jericho and Ai.. Ver. 1G. And all the people that were in At.] Who were able to fight. Were called together to pursue them.] I suppose some of the men of war might be left in the city till they saw the Israelites fly, and then they were all called out (as ver. 14. is to be understood) together with those of Beth-el, who were come to their assistance; being near neighbours, and both under the same king. And they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.] They were so eager in their pursuit, that they were drawn to a greater distance from Ai than they would have been, it they had considered the danger of leaving it naked. They counterfeited a flight no longer, but now boldly looked their enemies in the face.

Joshua 8:17

And there was not a man left in AL. None that were able to fight. Or Beth-el, that went not out after Israel.] For they of Beth-el, it appears by these words, were come to the assistance of Ai, before any of the army of Israel arrived: for afterward they could not, because the ambush lay bejtween Beth-el and Ai, (ver. 9.) And they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.] There w T as not so much as a man left to guard the gates; but all were engaged in the pursuit.

Joshua 8:18

And the Lord said unto Joshua. God secretly suggested to him, that now was the time for the ambush to fall upon the city; when their army was drawn so far from it, that they could not return soon enough to relieve it. Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand towards Ai,] He bids him face about (as we now speak) and stop the flight of the Israelites* It is much disputed what the Hebrew word chidon signifies; which the Vulgar Latin translates a shield. But Bochartus hath taken a great deal of pains to shew, that it every where signifies in Scripture a spear (as we translate it), or a * lance s or some kind of such-like offensive weapon; especially in this place, he thinks, there can be no doubt of it: for it was a weapon he had in his hand, and was to stretch forth towards the city; that it might be a signal to those in ambush to rise and enter the city; and to those who fled to make a stand, and encounter the enemy. To which purpose, nothing could be more proper than a spear, with a flag, it is highly probable, at the end of it (like to our ensigns), which made it more visible. (See Hierozoicon, par. i. lib. ii. cap. 8. p. 135, &c.) The LXX. here translate it yaiaov, which Suidas says signifies a kind of weapon, olov Soparoc, like to a spear.’ See the same most learned author, in his Canaan, lib. i. cap. 42. p. 744. For I will give it into thy hand.] As he promised, ver. 1. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand towards the city.] That all Israel might sec it; as they did the rod of Moses, when they fought against Amalek.

Joshua 8:19

And the ambush rose quickly out of their place. Being admonished by some Divine suggestion (as Masius thinks) as well as by the signal, that now was the time to execute their design. And they came as soon as he h id stretched out his hand.] Which they might sec from some of the hills, at the back of which they lay. But why they should watch for this sign, or understand what it meant, unless Joshua had received this order, and told it them before they went, cannot bo conceived. And they entered into tlie city, and took it.] For there was nobody to oppose them. Andhasted and set the city on fire.] In one place; which, it is likely, was on the north side of the city; that both the Israelites and the people of Ai might see the smoke. This the Lord had strictly commanded, (see ver. 8.) which made them make such haste, as soon as they had possessed themselves of the city, to set fire to it.

Joshua 8:20

Andtvhen the men ofAi looked behind them. I suppose there was a great shout made by all the Israelites, when they saw tbesmoke ascend; which made the men of Ai look about them. They saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven.] The firing of any out*houses, or barns, was sufficient to make such a smoke; for it is certain the city was not yet burnt. (See ver. 28.) And they had no power to flee this way or that way.] Either they were so dismayed, that they stood stock-still (as we speak), or found themselves so environed, that they could no way escape. For on the north and east sides, the great army came upon them; and on the west the ambush issued forth against them; and the other five thousand men blocked up their way on the south: which could not but very much amaze and perplex their minds; and the more, to see all their vain-glorious hopes vanished, which their king no doubt had entertained, of stopping the progress of the Israelites, and being the deliverer of his country. And the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.]

Joshua 8:21

And when Joshua and all Israel saiv. By this it is plain the whole body of the men were here; and not only three thousand of them, as some suppose. (See ver. 12.) That the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended.] Whereby they understood it was taken. Then they turned again, and slew the men ofAi.] After they had made a stand awhile, and rallied, they fell upon the men ofAi, and made a great slaughter of them.

Joshua 8:22

And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.] By this stratagem they were all entirely cut off.

Joshua 8:23

And the king ofAi they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. Perhaps they were ordered so to do, that he might be jnade a public spectacle of the Divine vengeance.

Joshua 8:24

And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai. That is, the men of war. In the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them.] By this it appears, that they fled before the Israelites as zed by Microsoft ® CHAP. VIII.] UPON JOSHUA. soon as they turned upon them, having no heart to fight them, (ver. 20.) And when they were all fallen by the edge of the sivord until they were consumed.] This is repeated to express a complete victory. That all the Israelites returned.unto Ai.] From whence they counterfeited a flight. And smote it tvith the edge of the sivord.] All the people that were left in it, as every one was that was not able to go to w r ar.

Joshua 8:25

And Joshua said. He was the sole judge, as the Jews think, in this matter.’ And whereas, by the law, none might be condemned out of the mouth of one witness, norwas any judge to sit alone without assistants (according to their doctors), nor any man’s testimony to be admitted against himself (because, in a mad fit, he might undo himself), yet their king had this singular prerogative, that he might try a man alone by himself, and condemn him out of the mouth of one witness, nay, from his own confession; as Joshua did here (who was their king or supreme governor) in Achan’s case; and as David did afterward in the case of the Amalekite, 2 Sam. i. i5. (See G. Schickard, in his Jus Regium, cap. 4. Theor. 14.) But Joshua is impertinently alleged as a proof of this extraordinary power; for it was God who convicted Achan, and pronounced this sentence; which Joshua only put in execution. Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord sliall trouble thee this day.’] The doctors in the Jerusalem Talmud, in the treatise Sanhedrin, cap. 6. fancy there is a peculiar emphasis in these words, this day. As if he had said, In this day thou shalt be troubled, but thou shall not be troubled in the world to come. For they think that he having given glory to God, by confessing his sin, had all his punishment here. All agree Joshua alludes to his name; the word Achar signifying to trouble or disturb. Or rather, his name was changed from Achan unto Achar, because of this disturbance which he gave to all Israel. And alt Israel stoned him with stones.’] Which was a punishment of great crimes, as I have observed elsewhere. See Lev. xx. 9. 11 — 13, &c. as I remember. This is said to be done by all Israel; because they were all present, and consenting to it. And burnt them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.] Burnt their dead carcasses. Why they were both stoned and also burnt, Eliezer in his Pirke, and Vorstius upon him, gives a reason in the place abovenamed. And so itivas, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand.] By which it appears this was no great city; and that they who were sent to view the country had reason to think a small party sufficient to subdue it, (vii. 2, 3.) For the men of Beth-el seem to be included also in this number, being mixed with those of Ai, from whom the Israelites could not distinguish them. Even all the men ofAL] The inhabitants of the city (as it follows in the next verse) and the territory about it, great and small, men and women.

Joshua 8:26

And they raised over him a great heap of stones’J 9 IffcU V# unto this day.* As a monument of his sin, and of God’s judgment upon him. Thus they did with Absalom, 2 Sam. xviii. 17. And houses or cities *vhich were destroyed, are said to bo turned into a heap, (Isa. xxv. 2.) or heaps, (Jer. ix. 11.) as a token of their utter ruin. And the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.] Was reconciled to his people, after they had executed his sentence against him, that provoked his anger. So the Samaritan Chronicle: Thus the anger of God was removed from the children of Israel, and he was pleased with what they had done. (See Deut. xiii. 17.) Wherefore the nameofthat place.] Where he was stoned and burnt. Was called TJte Valley of Achor, unto this day.] From that time all the people called this place by that name, in memory of this execution done upon Achar: so he was also called ever after this. For though his name was Achan, yet from henceforward they called him Achar, the troubler of Israel. And so he is here called in the Syriac version, and by Josephus, Athanasius, Basil, and others mentioned by Bochartus; as Ezra himself also calls him, 1 Chron. ii. 7. See Hierozoicon, par. i. lib. ii. cap. 31. in the latter end. And Joshua drew not his liand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.] But kept his arm extended with the spear in it, as Moses’s rod was lifted up during the fight with Amalek. Or, the meaning maybe, that he himself charged them, and continued to fight as long as there was a man left.

Joshua 8:27

Only the cattle, and the spoil of the city. i, e. Their silver and gold, and household-stuff, &c. Israel took for a prey unto themselves according unto the word of the Lord, &c] Who was so far from reserving any of these things to himself, that he made an express grant of them to the Israelites, (ver. 2.)

Joshua 8:28

And Joshua burnt AL. After they had gotten all the spoil of it, which had been lost if it had been burnt before by the Hers in ambush. (See ver. 8. 19.) And made it a heap, even a desolation, unto this day.] Laid it waste, so that it was known only by its ruins for a long time after, as it was at the time when this was written. (Sec ver. 11. 26.) -

Joshua 8:29

And the king ofAi he hanged on a tree. Being the head of a very wicked people, who was fit to be made a public spectacle of God’s displeasure. Lipsius, in his book dc Crucc, lib. i. cap. 11. produces this as an ancient instance of crucifying notorious malefactors. But that is a great mistake, crucifixion being no Jewish, but a Roman punishment. Nor were crucified persons hanged and strangled, as the king of Ai and Haman were, but fastened alive to a cross, with nails struck into their hands and feet. Tho LXX. indeed here expound it, he teas hanged, bn %vkov Si- Sifiov, wherein they seem to have respect to the figure of the cross; but there is no such thing in the Hebrew. (Sec Numb. xxv. 4.) Until the even-tide; and as soon as the sun went doivn, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree.] For so God had commanded, Dcut. xxi.22, 23. (See there.) And cast it at the entering of the gate of the city.] Where he was wont to sit in judgment; and, in all probability, had exercised a great deal of injustice and cruelty. And raised thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.] As they did upon Achan, vii. 2G. and for the same end, to be a monument of his being hanged near to this place. -1,

Joshua 8:30

Tfien Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. If this mount lay between Ai and Beth-cl (as GcrardusMercator endeavours to prove bymany arguments), then this altar, we may well think, was built immediately after the taking of Ai, as soon as they came into possession of this mount: for they looked upon themselves, no doubt, as obliged to fulfil the command of God, given them by Moses, as soon as it was possible. But the Scripture plainly describes this Mount Ebal as near Shechem, for there was only a valley between Ebal and Gerizim, from whence Jotham spake to the men of Shechem, (Judg. ix. 7.) which was a great way distant from Ai. And therefore we must suppose that which is here related not to have been done till they had the country about Shechem,

Joshua 8:31

As Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded the children ofJsrael. Deut. xi. 29, 30. xxvii. 2, &c. Sec in those places. As it is written in the book of the law of Moses, An altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron.] The altar was built according to the direction given by God in a foregoing law of his, Exod. xx. 25. and repeated in Deut. xxvii. 5, 6. (See there.) And they offered thereon btirnt-offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace-offerings.] For now they renewed their covenant with God the third time, as I observed upon that chapter in Deuteronomy, ver. 10.

Joshua 8:32

And he wrote there, upon the stones, a copy of the law of Moses, ivhich he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. It is a great question what it was he wrote upon these stones. Some fancy all the five books of Moses; others only the book of Deuteronomy; which is more likely than the other; but too long for these stones to contain, or for him to write, in the presence of all Israel. Others, therefore, think only the ten commandmentsy or a compendium of the law of Moses; or, perhaps, the blessings and cursings: but Fortunatus Scacchus, with some probability, conjectures, that he only wrote the words of the covenant, by which the children of Israel acknowledged they held the land of Canaan of God, as their great Lord; upon condition they observed his laws, to which they and their posterity were obliged. And this he principally grounds upon those words, (Deut. xxvii. 3.) Thou shalt write upon them all the words of this laiv. Where the Hebrew word hazoth (this) he thinks hath a particular respect to what he is speaking of; viz. their going over Jordan to possess the land which God gave them, upon condition they observed his statutes. (See Sacror. Eleeochrysm. Myrothec. lib. ii. cap.’ 57. p. 570, &c. and my notes upon Deuteronomy, xxvii. 3.)

Joshua 8:33

And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark, and on that side. With their faces towards the ark. Before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord.] Who were to pronounce the blessings and the cursings prescribed by the law. (Sec Deut. xxvii. 24.) As well the stranger as he that was born among them.] For the law made no distinction between them, (Levit. xix. 34.) Half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Microsoft® [chap. IX. Lord, had commanded Before.] In Deut. xxvii. 12, 13. (See there.) That they should bless the people of Israel.] There were cursings, as well as blessings pronounced: but the intent of cursing was, that they might avoid thoso sins ngainst which they were denounced; and thereby obtain a blessing.

Joshua 8:34

And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. viz. InDeut. xxvii. ver. 15 — 17, &c. The word afterward is not to be neglected, Svhich imports, that after the building of the altar, and the offering sacrifices thereon, and writing the law on the stones, and disposing the peoplo in their place about the ark, then he read the law to them. Which was likely to be heard with the greater attention, when they were thus prepared to receive it, and had solemnly worshipped God, and owned his authority.

Joshua 8:35

Tliere was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua did not read before all the congregation of Israel. viz. All that Moses directed in Deut. xxvii. or, as others will have it, the whole book of Deuteronomy, wherein these blessings and cursings are contained. (See Deut. xxxi. 13.) JVith the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.] By the strangers here mentioned^ (and in ver. 33.) are to be understood such as were proselytes to their religion: and had undertaken to observe this law, as well as themselves; and therefore were to be made acquainted with it. And that they might be moved to have the greater regard to it, Joshua himself, their chief governor, read it to them. So some of the Jews understand it; after the priests had read the blessings and cursings, then Joshua read all the commanding and forbidding precepts in the law.