The Lord gave Joshua a plan for taking Ai and Joshua laid out these instructions for the men to follow. After telling thirty thousand men where to set up their ambush behind Ai, the Bible says, "Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai---but Joshua spent the night with the people." (Joshua 8:9) We were told in yesterday's passage that these thirty thousand men were the best fighting men in the army. They are so fierce in body and in spirit that they don't need the visible presence of Joshua with them during the night. But the rest of the soldiers and their families need the comfort of Joshua's presence among them so he spends the night in camp with them.
"Early the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai. The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. So the soldiers took up their positions---with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of tit. That night Joshua went into the valley." (Joshua 8:10-13) The majority of Joshua's troops are camped with him but he has five thousand stationed between Bethel and Ai and thirty thousand stationed behind Ai. He's setting a trap and at the proper moment he will close it upon the pursuing soldiers of Ai.
Just as the Lord said it would happen, when the men of Ai realize Joshua and his troops are coming toward the city, they all go out to fight them. "When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel." (Joshua 8:14-17) This is exactly what the Lord said the men of Ai would do. This is why it was so important for Israel to follow His instructions to the letter.
"Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.' So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand. As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire." (Joshua 8:18-19) Many scholars believe the holding out of the javelin was a prearranged sign---that while giving the battle plan the Lord commanded Joshua to wait for the moment when He would tell him to hold out the javelin and that would be the sign that it was time for the men to rush into the city. From Joshua's vantage point he could tell whether all the men of Ai had rushed out of the city, but the men in ambush behind the city could not see the men of Ai pouring out of its front gates.
When the thirty thousand men enter the unprotected city, I imagine the citizens simply surrendered. Those remaining in the city would have been women, children, and men too old or too physically infirm to fight. As soon as this takes place the Israelite soldiers set a fire. Since the Lord previously told them they would be able to plunder the city, it goes without saying that these soldiers are not burning up valuable items. They probably kindled a bonfire in the city square. The smoke rising from this fire will be the sign that the remainder of Israel's troops are to attack Ai's troops. The trap Israel set for the soldiers of Ai is about to snap shut. "The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. Those in ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua." (Joshua 8:20-23)
"When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed all those who were in it. Twelve thousand men and women fell that day---all the people of Ai. For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua." (Joshua 8:24-27) Just as at Jericho, the Israelites kill all the citizens of Ai. But unlike with Jericho, the Israelites are allowed to carry away plunder for themselves. Earlier in the Old Testament we discussed in detail how and why the Lord commanded the destruction of the wicked, idolatrous cities of the promised land and their citizens so we will not go back over the moral/spiritual justification for the Lord's instructions again today.
"So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance to the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day." (Joshua 8:28-29) The king was not impaled on the pole while still alive. We know this because, for one thing, the Bible says "the body of the king of Ai" was impaled on a pole. The phrasing indicates he was already dead. When we get to Chapter 10 we'll find Joshua putting some kings to death and then hanging their bodies on poles. Displaying the body of a vanquished enemy like this was common in ancient times but it was not customary to hang a person on a pole while still alive. The Israelites weren't in the business of torturing people; they were simply making a public statement that the enemy was vanquished. It was also a sign to the other heathen nations surrounding the defeated city of Ai that the God of Israel is powerful and that the army of Israel is powerful and that no one should attempt to stand against soldiers who love and serve the Lord.
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