Jos 8:2
8:2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto
    Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle
    thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee
    an ambush for the city {a} behind it.

    (a) Meaning on the west side, as in @Jos 8:9.

Jos 8:4
8:4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye {b} shall lie in
    wait against the city, [even] behind the city: go not very
    far from the city, but be ye all ready:

    (b) God would not destroy Ai by a miracle, as Jericho, so
        that other nations would fear the power and policy of
        his people.

Jos 8:9
8:9 Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in
    ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of
    Ai: but Joshua lodged that night {c} among the people.

    (c) With the rest of the army.

Jos 8:10
8:10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and {d} numbered
     the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel,
     before the people to Ai.

     (d) That is, viewed or mustered them and set them in array.

Jos 8:12
8:12 And he took about five thousand men, {e} and set them to
     lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of
     the city.

     (e) He sent these few, that the others who lay in ambush
         might not be discovered.

Jos 8:13
8:13 And when they had set the people, [even] all the host that
     [was] on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on
     the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the {f}
     midst of the valley.

     (f) To the intent that they in the city more easily
         discover his army.

Jos 8:15
8:15 And Joshua and all Israel {g} made as if they were beaten
     before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.

     (g) As they who pretended to flee for fear.

Jos 8:18
8:18 And the LORD said unto Joshua, {h} Stretch out the spear
     that [is] in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into
     thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that [he
     had] in his hand toward the city.

     (h) Or, lift up the banner to signify when they should
         invade the city.

Jos 8:22
8:22 And the {i} 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.

     (i) Who came out of the ambush.

Jos 8:24
8:24 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 {k} smote it with the
     edge of the sword.

     (k) For the fire, which they had before set in the city,
         was not to consume it, but to signify to Joshua that
         they had entered.

Jos 8:28
8:28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for {l} ever,
     [even] a desolation unto this day.

     (l) That it could never be built again.

Jos 8:29
8:29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and
     as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded {m} 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.

     (m) According as it was commanded, @De 21:23.

Jos 8:32
8:32 And he wrote there upon the stones a {n} copy of the law of
     Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of
     Israel.

     (n) Meaning, the ten commandments, which are the sum of the
         whole Law.

Jos 8:35
8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which
     Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with
     the {o} women, and the little ones, and the strangers that
     were conversant among them.

     (o) So neither young nor old, man nor woman, were exempted
         from hearing the word of the Lord.



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