Bible Commentaries

And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:

Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. — For I have found an atonement, as Job 33:24 . And as a bone once broken is stronger after setting: as lovers are never greater friends than after a falling out: so is it betwixt God and his offending servants.

Take all the people. — That all may partake of the spoil.

See, I have given it into thine hand. — Thine it is assuredly; but by my free gift, not by thine own prowess or policy.

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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 behind it.

Lay thee an ambush behind it. — Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat? If the war be just, the use of stratagems is unquestionably warrantable. Of Decebalus, king of Dacians, in Domitian’s time, a valiant and wise warrior, it is thus storied, Noverat optime insidias faeere, proelium committere, optime uti victoria, et acceptam cladem ferre moderate; He well knew how to lay an ambush, pitch a field, use a victory, take a defeat. Dio, in Dom.

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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.

And Joshua chose out thirty thousand. — Whom he commanded to lay some in ambush, to wit the five thousand mentioned in Joshua 8:12 .

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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:

Ye shall lie in wait. — See Joshua 8:2 .

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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,

We will flee before them. — God also hath his stratagems; he seemeth sometimes to retire, that he may come upon his enemies with the greater advantage. The end of all the present troubles will be the ruin of the Antichristian faction, and we shall see the Church in her more perfect beauty, when the enemies shall be in that place that is fittest for them, the lowest, that is the footstool of Christ.

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(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.

Till we have drawn them from the city. — Heb., Pulled them. Saith Bristow in his "Motives," Pull the heretics but out of their stronghold of Scripture proofs, into the open field of fathers and councils, and then you may deal well enough with them.

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Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

For the Lord your God will deliver it, … — Thus, "through faith they subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Hebrews 11:33-34

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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.

Ye shall set the city on fire. — Of this fire we may say, as Herodotus doth of Troy, set on fire by the Greeks, that the cinders and ashes thereof were set before the eyes of men, as an example of that sure rule. Great sins have great punishments from God; Tων μεγαλων αδικηματων μεγαλαι εισι και αι πιμωριαι παρα του Yεου . - Herod. like whereunto is that of Job, "Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?" Job 31:3

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