Once they had dealt with the sin question, The LORD assures them that they need not fear; it is quite frightening to realise that one person’s sin can affect the whole nation and the whole church as well as that individual. We must confess our sin to God and once that is done, we can go ahead. It stands to reason that we cannot go in The Name of The LORD if there is sin, which is abhorrent to and totally opposite to Him and His Name.
Joshua had scarcely recovered from the trouble Achan gave them, and could not think, without fear and trembling, of pushing forward, lest there should be another Achan; then God spoke to him.
God tells Joshua that he should “…. not be afraid nor be discouraged”. God encourages Joshua to attack Ai with the assurance of success and directs him what method to take (v. 1, 2).
When we have faithfully put away sin which separates between us and God, then, and not until then, we may expect to hear from God not to be afraid or discouraged and then directing us how to go on in our Christian work and warfare. That is good evidence of our reconciliation with God. The sin of Achan, and the consequences of it, had been a very great discouragement to Joshua.
Corruptions within the church weaken the hands and dampen the spirits more than oppositions from without; treachery among Israelites was to be dreaded more than malicious Canaanites.
We, as Christians and in the Christian church may soon face opposition from without what with same sex marriage legislation and others forms of opposition, but I can tell you that nothing hurts more than opposition from within. At least with opposition from outside we are more likely to stand together and experience true fellowship whereas from within causes divisions.
Joshua gives orders accordingly to the men “Take the whole army with you and attack Ai” (v1). Now he has God’s instructions and that makes all the difference. No sending a small army this time. The number of fighting men amounted to six hundred thousand and everyone had to go and be involved. That is the case with us – we are all gifted at something, and we are all involved. No sitting back and letting the few do it. The importance of Unity cannot be stressed enough.
The rest of the people, including the women and children, remained in the camp at Gilgal in the plains of Jericho.
God assures him of success against Ai, tells him it is all his; but he must take it as God’s gift: “I have given it into your hands”. “You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city”
This time God allows the people to take the spoil to themselves. Here the spoil was not consecrated to God as that of Jericho, and therefore there was no danger of anyone committing such a sin as they had committed there.
If Achan had only waited – he could have had as much as he could carry from Ai. Achan, who took that which was forbidden, lost it all, and his life, but the rest of the people who had refrained from the accursed thing were quickly recompensed for their obedience with the spoils of Ai.
The way to have the blessing of what God allows us is to keep away from what he forbids. No-one loses out by self-denial; let God have his dues first, and then all will be clean to us and sure. Jesus said that we should surrender everything to God – “What shall it profit if we gain the whole world and lose our own soul” “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8v36)
God did not bring them to these places filled with good things, to tantalise them with the sight of things they may not touch; but, having received the first fruits from Jericho, the spoils of Ai were theirs.
I’m sure that Israel was very happy in having Joshua as their commander, but Joshua was even happier in having such a director as God himself.
God gives Joshua directions for attacking Ai. It was different to that of Jericho. They had had to wait patiently for seven days for Jericho, but Ai would be given them in one day. Nor was it to be taken by a miracle and purely by the act of God, but now their own conduct and courage must be put to work; having seen God work for them, they must now do something themselves.
v3. So, “Joshua …. chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour” –Joshua sent these under cover of night, to station themselves at the place appointed for the ambush. Out of this number a detachment of five thousand was sent forward to conceal themselves in the immediate precincts of the town, in order to seize the first opportunity of it.
They were to set a trap – to send men around and behind the city, and Joshua was to attack from the front and then retreat as if in fear and lure the army of Ai out of the city “…. And you are to be on the alert and move in as they move out” to chase the apparently retreating Israelites.
What a brave commander Joshua was. He conquered by yielding, as if he had himself been conquered.
This reminds of our LORD Jesus, when He bowed His head and gave up His spirit on the cross. It seemed as if death had triumphed over Him, and as if all was lost; but in His resurrection, He gave the powers of darkness a total defeat; He broke the serpent’s head, by allowing him to bruise His heel. A glorious plan of God!
What an obedient people Israel was on this occasion. What “Joshua commanded them to do, according to the commandment of the LORD” (v. 8), they did it without murmuring or disputing.
Those that were sent to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai (two cities now mentioned against them) were in a dangerous position, and had they been discovered it might have been fatal, and yet they obeyed and went; v13. “Joshua went that night into the valley” the deep and steep-sided valley to the north of Tell-el-hajar. Joshua himself took up his position on the north side of “the ravine” while it was dark, probably after midnight, or very early in the morning.
v15-17. “Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back as they fell toward the desert“. As planned, Joshua’s men acted as though they were beaten, so they fled toward the wilderness. The people of Ai “took the bait” and followed them, clearly thinking they could defeat Israel like they had the first time.
Note that the men of Bethel joined in the pursuit. Perhaps they had been already in Ai with a treaty or agreement of some kind to join in the defence of Ai. They probably knew they were next if Ai fell. So, they had already entered Ai to join together in the fight. Though they had a king of their own, and were not subjects to the king of Ai (for the king of Beth-el is reckoned among the thirty-one kings that Joshua destroyed), (ch. 12:16 ), yet Ai being a stronger place they threw themselves into that, for their own safety, and the strengthening of their neighbours’ hands.
The King of Ai pursued the Israelites when they appeared to run scared, not knowing of the ambush. He also took all the men with him, v17 “There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel.” Clearly all the men of the city and of Bethel joined in the pursuit of Israel, so no one was left in the city at all. They left the city “wide open” – either undefended or perhaps even with the gates open and their watchmen had not even detected the 30,000-man ambush. No doubt after the beating they had given before to the Israelites they had become confident that they could do it again and became careless. Always remember, like the king of Ai, that those are most in danger that are least aware that they are so.
The church’s enemies often run themselves into destruction by their own anger and rage against the people of God. Pharaoh plunged himself into the Red Sea by the eagerness to pursue Israel. From the killing of 36 men out of 3000, when Israel made the first attack on Ai, the king thought he could easily deal with Israel again. Israel is now coming with 5000, they are easy meat. He thought (v. 6): “They are running away from us as they did before”. (That is exactly what God told Joshua he would think).
“The complacency of fools will destroy them” (Proverbs 1v32). The prosperity of fools destroys them and hardens them to their ruin. What a complete victory Israel obtained over them by the hand of God. AND each did his part in their ordered positions. They understood one another, and everything succeeded according to God’s plan; so that the men of Ai, even when they were most confident of victory, found themselves surrounded, so that they had nowhere to go, but simply had no option but to yield to their destroyers.
“The triumphing of the wicked is short,” (Job. 20:5). “For a little while they are exalted, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.” (Job. 24:24) See how easily and how quickly, the scale turns against those that do not have God on their side.
What an encouragement to us as each of us do our part in the unity which we have in Christ.
The plan of action worked, so it should, because it was God’s plan. The city was plundered and the men of Ai killed, and all the inhabitants – “They let none of the inhabitants remain or escape.” (v22). They set it on fire and having done that, they left the city to attack the people of Ai from the rear.
When the army that had been fleeing with Joshua saw the smoke of the city, they turned back to also attack the enemy. The men of Ai also saw the smoke of the city and realized what had happened. They were encircled by the enemy with nowhere to go.
The result was that the soldiers of Ai were all killed except the king, who was brought to Joshua. All 12,000 inhabitants of Ai were slain that day. (v25). The livestock and spoil the Israelites took as the LORD had commanded (v27), if only Achan had waited God’s time!
Joshua was given the dubious privilege of killing the King of Ai (v23, 29). He hung him and then laid his body at the entrance of the city gate and raised a memorial heap of stones over it.
Fighting over – now Praise God!
(v30—35) “Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God, an altar of whole stones–according to the instructions given to Moses. Stones over which no man hath lifted up any iron tool”. (Ex. 20:25) and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings to The LORD. The altar was of rough stone, according to the law. For God is best pleased with that which is most plain and natural. It is when we start to manufacture something, which in our eyes is beautiful, that it can become an idol. Man’s creation can add no beauty to God’s work. Joshua also read to all the people all the law, the blessings and cursings, everything that Moses had received from The LORD and commanded them.
v32. He wrote upon the stones a copy of the law – the blessings and curses.
v35. How awfully solemn must have been the occasion! It was calculated to leave an indelible impression what they heard and saw.
After the taking of Jericho and Ai, we should have expected a flood of victories. But there is another scene; the camp of Israel is drawn out into the field, not to fight the enemy, but to offer sacrifice, to hear the law read, and to say Amen to the blessings and the curses.
The story describes a period of worship and study of the law that Israel conducted at two mountains in central Canaan: Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim. These are twin peaks found near Shechem. This was the place where God promised Abraham that He would give him the land of Canaan. Abraham built an altar there (Genesis 12:6,7). Since the Israelites had now entered the land in fulfilment of that promise God made to Abraham at Shechem, it was appropriate for God to choose this as the place for the people to spend a special time of worship. This altar was erected on Mount Ebal, where, in Deuteronomy 11 we read that Mount Ebal was to be cursed.
Never forget that as sinners we were under a curse but by Christ’s sacrifice of Himself for us, we have peace with God; He has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made “a curse for us”, Galatians. 3:13 .
Talk about Family Church? v35 tells us that men, women, children and strangers were present when they sacrificed to God, and Joshua reminded them of God’s words to them. Might have been long and boring for kids but they were there. God’s Word needed to be stated, and they needed to hear it, it was relevant to all of them.
Notice that none were excused. v33 all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side – One half of Israel was arranged on Gerizim, and the other half on Ebal – along the sides and base of each mountain before the priests and the Levites – in full view.
The poorest stranger was not excluded. The ark of the covenant (presence of God) was in the midst of the valley between them. Every Israelite was present that all might know and do their duty.
The way to prosper is to begin with God. Matthew. 6:33 “Seek first….” Though they were in enemy country, yet in the service of God they were safe, as Jacob was when, in this very country, he was going to Beth-el to pay his vows: “the terror of God was upon the cities round about”, Genesis. 35:5. When we are walking in His way God takes us under his special protection. Now that doesn’t mean that nothing can happen to us, but we are secure if in God’s will.
And they also asked for their future success, for requests as well as thanksgivings were intended in their peace-offerings. The way to prosper in all that we do is to take God along with us, and in all our ways to acknowledge him in our prayer, our praise, trust and dependence.
If they fell under the curse, it was their own fault. And it was really a blessing to the people that they had this matter laid so plainly before them, life and death, good and evil.
Note that the people had been given the land because God had promised it to their fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.). But whether or not they remained in the land would depend on the nation itself, whether or not they were faithful to God’s covenant. This was made clear in the law that was read to them, even in the blessings and the curse. See Deuteronomy 4:25-27,40; 5:33; 28:36,37; 29:22-28. They were reminded of this even as they were taking possession of the land.
Every word was read; none was omitted, and therefore none was skipped over, no suggestion that there wasn’t time, or that any part was needless or not proper to be read. It was not many weeks since Moses had preached the whole book of Deuteronomy to them, yet Joshua must now read it all over again; it is good to hear over and over what God has spoken and to review it, or to have it repeated, that we may not let it slip.
Peter says in 1 Peter 1:12 “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them…. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live…”
Paul said to the Ephesians, (Acts 20:27) “I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.” Why would we ever hesitate to declare the “Whole counsel of God?” Because some of it is not very popular, some of it requires a change in our behaviour, some of it is inconvenient – but to avoid it leads to destruction. (Charles Stanley)
Every word of God is precious and important and worthy of our attention.
