Turning Defeat into Victory part 2 (Joshua 8: 14-29)

I. A new victory (Josh. 8:14–29)

A. Ai emptied (Josh. 8:14–17)

14 Now it happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17 There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel.

When morning dawned, the king of Ai saw the army of Israel positioned before the city, ready to attack. Confident of victory, he led his men out of the city and against the Jews.

“They are the most in danger,” said Matthew Henry, “who are least aware of it.” Joshua and his men began to flee, and this gave the men of Ai even more assurance of victory. The men of Bethel were also involved in the attack; but no details are given. Whether they were already in Ai or arrived on the scene just in time, we aren’t told; but their participation led to the defeat of their city (12:16) as well as Ai.

It was careless of the people of Ai to leave their city undefended, but such are the follies of self-confidence. When a small army sees a large army flee without even fighting, it gives them a feeling of superiority that can lead to defeat.

B. Ai captured (Josh. 8:18–20)

18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. 19 So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire. 20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.

Conscious that the battle was the Lord’s Joshua waited for further instructions. God then told him to lift up his spear toward the city.

This was the signal for the other troops to enter the city and burn it, but the signal had to be given at just the right time. The men of Ai and Bethel were trapped, and it was a simple matter for the army of Israel to destroy them. Joshua held up his spear until the victory was won (v. 26), an action that reminds us of the battle Joshua fought against Amalek when Moses held up his hands to the Lord

C. Ai’s army and people destroyed (Josh. 8:21–29)

21 Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 Then the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down, so that they let none of them remain or escape. 23 But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. 24 And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when they all had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. 29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

Seeing the smoke of the city, Joshua’s men stopped fleeing, and they turned and attacked the army of Ai that was pursuing them. After the Jewish soldiers in Ai left the city, they joined in the battle. The enemy was then caught between two armies. “Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. Once the army was annihilated, the rest of the population of the city was destroyed, just as at Jericho. Keep in mind that this was not the “slaughter of innocent people” but the judgment of God on an evil society that had long resisted His grace and truth.

Joshua killed the king with a sword and then ordered that the corpse be humiliated by hanging it on a tree until sundown. The body was then buried under a heap of stones at the entrance of the gate of the ruin that had once been Ai. The previous heap of stones that Israel had raised was a memorial to Achan who had caused their defeat at Ai. But this heap of stones at Ai was a memorial of Israel’s victory over the enemy. By obeying the Word of the Lord, they had organized victory out of mistakes.

D. Ai’s spoils claimed

Since the firstfruits of the spoils of war in Canaan had already been given to God at Jericho, He permitted the army to claim the spoils at Ai. Furthermore, at Jericho, the victory was theirs because of a miracle of God; while at Ai, because the men actually had to fight, they earned their reward.

When at the close of the day the men buried the king of Ai under a heap of stones, there must have been a new sense of faith and courage in Israel; for they had won another victory. The people saw that not one word of God’s promise had failed. The disgrace and defeat caused by Achan had now been erased, and Israel was well on her way to conquering the Promised Land.