Transcendence 4

Two: Ai Destroyed

A defeat! After all they had been through, a defeat was humbling, but also discouraging. Fear abound. Joshua was heartbroken about the defeat, about the deaths, and about the sin among them. But God showed up. God encouraged Joshua after the defeat and told him not to be afraid. He told Joshua to take courage, take control, and move forward. He was to take the whole army up and attack Ai. God would deliver the king of Ai, deliver his people, his city, and his land unto the Israelite army. Joshua was to do to Ai what he had done to Jericho, except this time they were allowed to carry off the plunder and livestock for themselves. He was to set an ambush behind the city.

Joshua mustered up the nerve, gathered his entire army and moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand fighting men. He gave them the orders to set up an ambush behind the city. Joshua planned to take some men with him and make advance on the city, but when the men of Ai come out  to fight Joshua and his men planned to flee. Ai's army will believe they are running away and they will pursue them. Once Joshua and his men lured them out from the city the other men who were waiting behind the city were to ambush from behind and take the city. The Lord had already said He would give it into their hands.

When Ai's army came out as expected and left the city in pursuit of Israel the Lord told Joshua to hold his javelin in his hand out toward the city. As soon as Joshua 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.

The men of Ai who were in pursuit paused long enough to look back and they saw the smoke of the city rising against the sky. At that moment they had no chance to escape for the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the desert had turned back against them. The men from the city also came out against them, so they were caught in the middle with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down leaving no survivors nor fugitives. But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

Twelve thousand men and women fell that day - all the people of Ai. Israel carried off the plunder of the city, including the livestock, as the Lord has instructed. The city of Ai was burned and became a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place. Joshua hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset Joshua ordered them to take down his body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. There they piled up a large heap of rocks over the body which remains to this day.

Joshua then built an altar to the Lord on Mount Ebal. He built it according to the law of Moses - an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool had been used. They offered burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it. There in the presence of the Israelites Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses. (This chiseling of the laws on rock probably took a long time. But Joshua knew it was necessary for them to be reminded constantly what God's expectations were, so that they could continue to win battles and have protection!)

All Israel were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord facing those who carried it - which were the Levite priests. Half were standing in front of Mount Gerizim and half were in front of Mount Ebal. There Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses - just as it is written in the Book of the Law. The women, children, aliens, judges, and everyone was present to hear every word of the law Moses had written. (This scene, which describes the carrying out of Moses' instructions in Deuteronomy, was a profoundly symbolic event. They reviewed what would happen if they obeyed the covenant and if they disobeyed. The reading was profoundly clear and precise. The two mountains , Ebal and Gerizim, formed a natural amphitheater idea for such a public ceremony. From their peaks much of the promised land could be seen. Mount Gerizim eventually became the seat of worship for the Samaritans.)

(Life Question: How do you handle it when someone else causes you to get into trouble?  It's sometimes inevitable in group settings that everyone gets punished for one person's actions. What is the purpose of this? Why isn't the one called out and punished separately? God knew what it was like to treat a group like a team, and when everyone was accountable for everyone else it made them act together, make decisions together and really think before they made bad decisions since it affected the entire group. In this way everyone would react to the punishment and encourage each other to avoid disobeying. )