Joshua 8:15

And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them ,.... Or smitten, as some of them might be in the pursuit:

and fled by the way of the wilderness ; not a barren desert, but, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, a place for the pasture of cattle; though perhaps it is the same with the wilderness of Bethaven, Joshua 18:12 . Epiphanius F23 Contr. Haeres. l. 1. tom. 2. makes mention of the wilderness of Bethel and Ephraim as near Jericho.