Joshua 7:2

2. [ From Jericho to Ai A distance of about fifteen miles, and an ascent of more than 3,000 feet above the plain of the Jordan valley. See map below. Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel This precise statement, together with that of Joshua 8:11-12, that there was a valley on the north, and another on the west, capable of concealing five thousand men, would seem to have been sufficient to enable travelers easily to identify the precise location of Ai. But after all their search such men as Robinson, Stanley, and Tristram failed to reach any satisfactory conclusion. Robinson and Tristram assigned as the probable site a place with ruins just south of Deir Duwan, and about an hour distant (south-east) from Bethel; but in the spring of 1866 Captain Wilson and Lieutenant Anderson spent several days in examining every hill-top and almost every acre of ground for several miles east, north, and south of Bethel, and the result was the identification, beyond any reasonable doubt, of Ai with Et-Tel, an eminence a little south-east of Bethel, covered with heaps of stones and ruins. In Joshua 8:28, where it is said, “Joshua made it a heap forever,” the Hebrew word for heap is Tel, ( תל ,) which strikingly confirms this identification. See further notes on Joshua 8:11-12; Joshua 8:28. Whether Ai was rebuilt or not, the name occurs again in the history of Israel. “Men of Ai” returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, (Ezra 2:28,) and the name is probably to be recognized in the Aiath of Isaiah 10:38, and Aija of Nehemiah 11:31.]

Bethel house of God was a well-known city and holy place in Central Palestine, and was originally called Luz. It was named by Jacob on awakening from that sleep in which he had a vision of the opened heavens. Genesis 28:19, note. Here also God blessed him when he had returned from Padan-aram. After the conquest Bethel was the gathering place of the people to ask counsel of God. Here was an altar for sacrifices. Jeroboam chose Bethel as one of the seats of the false worship which he instituted. It is about twelve miles north of Jerusalem, and its ruins are still pointed out under the scarcely altered name of Beitin. [ Bethaven was in the mountains of Benjamin, east of Bethel, and westward from Michmash. 1 Samuel 13:5. The name means house of nothingness, or vanity, and was, perhaps, so called from the idolatry practised there. Its site has not been discovered, but Capt. Wilson suggests its identity with the ruins called Khur-bet An, westward from Michmash, and not far from Et-Tel.]

Go up and view the country As in the case of Jericho, spies were probably, sent to reconnoitre Ai, and not an armed company.