Joshua 8:23

Joshua 8:1 INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 8 Joshua is encouraged to go up and take Ai, and is directed what method to make use of, Joshua 8:1; accordingly he set an ambush on the west side of it, and, he and the rest of the army went up before it, Joshua 8:3; which, when the king of Ai saw, he and all his forces came cut against them, and the Israelites making a feint as if they were beaten, drew on the men of Ai to pursue them, upon which the ambush arose and entered the city and set fire to it, Joshua 8:14; the smoke of which being observed by Joshua and Israel, they turned back upon the pursuers, and the ambush sallying out of the city behind them, made an entire destruction of them, then slew all the inhabitants, took the spoil, burnt the city, and hanged the king of it, Joshua 8:20; after this Joshua built an altar at Ebal, wrote the law on stones, and read the blessings and curses in it before all Israel, Joshua 8:30. Ver. 1. And the Lord said unto Joshua,....

. And the other issued out of the city against them,.... That is, the ambush, or at least a part of them: so that they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side; or, as we commonly say, they were between two fires, the ambush on one side, the army of Israel on the other: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape; not one was saved alive, excepting their king, as in Joshua 8:23; no quarter was given them, nor any suffered to make their escape. Joshua 8:23 Ver. 23. And the king of Ai they took alive,.... They spared him, and reserved him for a more shameful death: and brought him to Joshua; their general; delivering him into his hands as his prisoner, to do will, him as seemed good in his sight. Joshua 8:24 Ver. 24. And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai,....

8:23-29 God, the righteous Judge, had sentenced the Canaanites for their wickedness; the Israelites only executed his doom. None of their conduct can be drawn into an example for others. Especial reason no doubt there was for this severity to the king of Ai; it is likely he had been notoriously wicked and vile, and a blasphemer of the God of Israel.

No doubt Joshua had ascended the heights, most likely those to the north of the valley, so as to separate himself from the flying Israelites on the lower ground, and to be visible to the men in ambush behind the city. He now, at the command of God, gives the appointed signal to the ambush.

35 . of this evil generation ] Omit of ; the clause being in apposition to these men . It is not in the LXX and is generally taken as a later explanation that these men are not merely the spies but the whole adult generation (Dillm). Whether a gloss or not the explanation is correct. the good land ] JE, Numbers 14:23 ; Exodus 3:8 , a good land ; cp. Numbers 13:19 , whether good or bad ; P, Numbers 14:7 , a very, very good land . Contrast the frequency of the phrase in D and deuteronomic passages, Deuteronomy 3:25 , Deuteronomy 4:21 f., Deuteronomy 6:18 , Deuteronomy 8:7 ; Deuteronomy 8:10 , Deuteronomy 9:6 , Deuteronomy 11:17 ; Joshua 23:16 : a good soil , Joshua 23:13 ; Joshua 23:15 . to give ] Sam. and LXX omit.

[Reformed Biblical] And for the burning of Achan, commanded #Joshua 7:15 , it seems not likely to be meant of his burning alive, because that burning is common to him, and all that he hath , as is there expressed; but of the burning of his dead carcass, and other lifeless things, as the manner was with accursed things, #Deuteronomy 13:16 . ## Ver. 26. A great heap of stones; as a monument of the sin and judgment here mentioned, that others might be instructed and warned by the example; and as a brand of infamy, as #Joshua 8:29 2 Samuel 18:17 . ## The valley of Achor; or, the valley of trouble, from the double trouble expressed #Joshua 7:25 . ## JOSHUA CHAPTER 8 God puts new courage into Joshua; commands him to go and besiege Ai, promising he should take it, #Joshua 8:1,2 . The stratagem whereby it is taken; it is burnt, #Joshua 8:3-22 . The king is taken prisoner; the inhabitants are put to the sword; the cattle and goods spoiled; the king is hanged, #Joshua 8:23-29 . Joshua builds an altar, #Joshua 8:30 ; offers thereon, #Joshua 8:31 ; writes the law on stones, ## #Joshua 8:32 . It and its blessings and curses are read before the people, #Joshua 8:33-35 . ## Ver. 1. Take all the people of war with thee; partly to strengthen them against those fears which their late defeat had wrought in them; and partly that all of them might be partakers of this first spoil, and thereby be encouraged to proceed in their work.

Verse 23. - He that is hanged is accursed of God ; literally, a curse of God . Some take this as meaning an insult to God, a contemning of him, "since man his image is thus given up to scorn and insult" (Rashi). But the more probable meaning is "a curse inflicted by God," which the transgressor is made to endure (cf. Galatians 3:13 ). That thy land be not defiled. The land was defiled, not only by sins committed by its inhabitants, but also by the public exposure of criminals who had been put to death for their sins (cf. Leviticus 18:24, 25 ; Numbers 35:33, 34 ). On this law Joshua acted (cf. Joshua 8:29 ; Joshua 10:26, 27 ). Deuteronomy 21:23