II. The direction he gives him in attacking Ai. It must not be such a work of time as the taking of Jericho was, that would have prolonged the war too much; they that had patiently waited seven days for Jericho, shall have Ai given them in one day. Nor was it, as that, to be taken by miracle, and purely by the act of God, but now their own conduct and courage must be exercised; having seen God work for them, they must now bestir themselves. God directs him, 1. To take all the people, that they might all be spectators of the action, and sharers in the spoil. Hereby God gave him a tacit rebuke for sending so small a detachment against Ai, in the former attempt upon it, ch. 7. 4. 2. To lay an ambush behind the city; this was a method which Joshua would not have thought of at this time, if God had not directed him to it; and though now we are not to expect direction, as here, by visions, voices, or oracles, yet whenever those who are instructed with public counsels, take prudent measures for the public good, it must be acknowledged that God puts it into their hearts; he that teaches the husbandman discretion, no doubt, teaches the statesman and general.
3. So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night. 4. And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready: 5. And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them, 6. (For they will come out after us,) till we have drawn them from the city: for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them. 7. Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. 8. And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. See, I have commanded you. 9. Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people. 10. And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11. And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai. 12. And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city. 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 midst of the valley. 14. And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city. 15. And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16. And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. 17. And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel. 18. And the Lord said unto Joshua, 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. 19. And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand; and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted, and set the city on fire. 20. And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. 21. And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai. 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.
We have here an account of the taking of Ai by stratagem. The stratagem here used, we are sure, was lawful and good: God himself appointed it, and we have no reason to think, but that the like is lawful and good in other wars. Here was no league broken, no oath or promise violated, nor any thing like it; it was not by the pretence of a parley, or treaty of peace, that the advantage was gained, no, these are sacred things, and not to be jested with, nor used to serve a turn; truth, when once plighted, becomes a debt even to the enemy. But in this stratagem here was no untruth told; nothing was concealed but their own counsels, which no enemy ever pretended a right to be entrusted with; nothing was dissembled, nothing counterfeited but a retreat, which was no natural or necessary indication at all of their inability to maintain their onset, or of any design not to renew it; the enemy ought to have been upon their guard, and to have kept within the defence of their own walls; common prudence, had they been governed by it, would have directed
