Joshua 8:1

CAPTURE OF AI, Joshua 8:1-29.

1. Fear not Joshua had need of reassurance and encouragement after the disasters and humiliation which Israel had suffered for the sin of Achan. As shines the sun emerging from behind a thunder cloud, so the returning mercy of Jehovah upon the camp of Israel.

Take all the people of war with thee How different from the counsel of the spies, (Joshua 7:3,) “Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up.” The Lord could, indeed, have given Ai into the hands of two or three thousand as easily as to all, but he would not encourage Israel in a rash, imprudent dependence on Omnipotence. It appears from Joshua 8:3 that the expression all the people of war, like the oft-recurring phrase, “all Israel,” is not to be taken in its widest import. It is probable that the whole camp was put in preparation, and the whole force was reviewed, and thirty thousand of the most suitable were detached for this expedition, while the rest of the army was held in reserve.

Go up to Ai The march from Jericho to Ai was actually an ascent, but the term go up is often used in a military sense of an advance against a city or nation where the advance is not an actual ascent.

Have given The conquest of Ai was a foregone conclusion in the Divine mind. Compare Joshua 6:2, note.