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God's victory

After such a humiliating defeat and tragic end to many men of Israel we are right back were we started. One little city in the way and a whole host of Israelites unable to defeat it. If I were Joshua I would want to sit down and give up right there as he was probably thinking about doing. However, God said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city." Notice that this time God is on their side whereas the last time they tried to defeat Ai there is no reference to God speaking to Joshua about the matter.

With this assurance Joshua begins to create a brillant plan of attack. Joshua stations 5,000 men behind the city to form an ambush. Then he takes over 10,000 men with him and they face the city, hiding in the valley in front of the city. Of course it is difficult to hid that many men for long and soon the people inside Ai discovered their presence. They were probably feeling extremely confident as a result of their last victory and so set out to face their foes. As planned, Joshua and his men pretended to run away in fear and of course their enemies pursued them with confidence. I like to imagine that they were thinking, "Joshua though he was so smart bringing thousands more men to try and defeat us but he is still so afraid of our might that even with all of these men he runs away in fear."

Little did these men know, behind their now unprotected city lay 5,000 might Israelites awaiting Joshua's command. When Joshua raised his javelin as God commanded him to do (see how God is involved with this battle) these men raided the city and quickly set it to fire just as they had planned to do. Now, lets stop and picture this for a minute. Joshua and his army of several thousand men are fleeing a tiny army of about 6,000 men. These men were most likely skipping behind in joyful ignorance when someone suddenly stops thinking he sees something out of the corner of his eye. Much to their dismay they find their city burning before their eyes and with a rush of terror, realize they were duped. Before they know how to react the army they were so esthetically pursuing just minutes ago turns on them as men come from inside or outside of their own city rush to attack them as well. All the while their women and children are stuck in the burning city with no one to help them because of their rash pride.

So after a complete victory and destruction of yet another city, the Israelites are left to enjoy the spoils God so graciously allowed them to take after this battle. However, just in case anyone started to become proud as the people in Ai did Joshua turned the focus on God. He set up an alter, wrote on it the commandments from Moses and sacrificed to God on it. Then all of the people stood on the either side of the arc and listened as Joshua read ALL of the words that Moses had commanded them and had written down.

I want to leave you with this one thought that sums up the chapter, turn to God and He will not desert you.

~Elisabeth


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