The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 8:8
According to the commandment of the lord. The LXX . seems to have read כִדְבַר הַזֶה according to this word. read more
ヨシュア記 8:8-13 Jcb
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 8:9
Between Bethel and Ai. (see above, Joshua 7:2 ). read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 8:10
And numbered the people. Or reviewed, or mustered. The word is frequently translated visited in Scripture. It then came to mean a visit for the sake of inspection. The elders of Israel. Joshua's council, alike of war and of peace. Before the people. Literally, in their sight (ford πρόσωπον , LXX ), i.e; at their head. read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 8:11
And all the people, even the people of war that were with him. Literally, all the people, the war that were with him. Probably the word אִישׁ has been omitted by an early copyist. Implying, no doubt, that the non-warlike portion of the community had been left under a guard at Jericho (see also Joshua 8:1 ). On the north side. Joshua made a detour, and encamped on a hill on the other side of the wady. Now there was a valley. Literally, and the valley was. This valley, the Wady... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 8:12
And he took about five thousand men (see above, Joshua 8:3 ). We must translate had taken. The repetition is quite in the manner of the Hebrew writers. This passage is of course, according to the Jehovist and Elohist theory, "quite irreconeilable" with the rest of the narrative. So we are told that this is a Jehovistic interpolation (Knobel). Of the city. The Masorites and LXX . prefer the reading Ai ( i.e; עַי for עִיר ), in the margin of our Bibles, to that in the text,... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 8:13
And when they had set. This may mean the leaders of the detachment of 30,000. Joshua does not appear to have been with them, for he is not mentioned till the latter part of the verse (see note on verse 3). Joshua went that night. Having made all his dispositions, he descended in the evening from his vantage ground on the hill into the plain, so as to invite attack in the morning, a stratagem which (see next verse) was completely successful. Some MSS ; however, have וַיָּלֶן "and he... read more
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joshua 8:10
Numbered the people - Rather, perhaps, “mustered” or “arrayed” them for their march. The distance from the camp at Gilgal to Ai is about fifteen miles. In the evening of the day after the despatch of the 5,000 liers in wait, Joshua and the host might make their appearance in the neighborhood of the city. read more
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joshua 8:12
He took - Rather “had taken;” the words refer to the ambuscade which Joshua had detached during the previous night. read more
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joshua 8:13
Joshua went down by night into the valley where He would be seen at daylight by the men of Ai, and was accompanied no doubt by a picked body of troops. The king of Ai, in the morning, would see neither the ambush in his rear, nor the whole of the great host of Israel among the hills away to the north on his left; but supposing, as it appears, that the Israelites before him were a body detached as on the former occasion to assail his city, he sallied out promptly to attack them. read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 8:1-29
Renewed effort after disaster. The Christian warfare, whether from an individual or from a general point of view, is no record of invariable success. The career of each Christian, as of the Christian Church, is a chequered course. It has its periods of triumph and its moments of disaster. We learn here many valuable lessons as to our conduct under adverse circumstances. I. WE ARE NOT TO INDULGE DESPONDENCY . II. WE MUST GIVE HONOUR WHERE HONOUR IS DUE .... read more