And Joshua rose early in the morning, and inspected the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
Israel had just judged the hidden sin in their camp, and now they march back to the small town that once beat them. The verse marks a fresh start, and it raises the question of what changes when God restores a people after failure — and what still costs them.
The first attempt on Ai used a few thousand men because scouts judged the town too small to be worth the trouble. Now Joshua musters the entire fighting force. One commentator sets the two orders side by side:
But this battle would be fought very differently from the way Israel had first proposed to overthrow the "heap of ruins," Ai! They had said, "Do not make the whole people toil up there." The Lord said, "Take all the fighting men." Israel's strength and courage came from the Lord alone. So as the thousands rose to battle, every soldier had to remember that small enemies must never be taken lightly.
Being told to bring everyone was no compliment. The size of the force humbled Israel, and the same writer then sets Ai beside Jericho:
In Joshua 7 the spies reported: "Let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai, for they are few." Now about thirty thousand chosen, brave fighting men are required. What a humiliation, and how it lowered Israel in their own estimation! They had to go up by night, and while some hid, others pretended to flee before the enemy. What room for boasting after this? … In truth, the means used at Ai are no more human than the means used at Jericho. The difference is this: at Jericho God arranged things so that Israel might learn His power, while at Ai His aim was to teach them their own weakness.
Joshua's early start fits a people who now weigh every word from the Lord. One writer sums up the change:
They felt now how vital it was to heed the Lord and His word. Recovery after acting in haste must be humbling, however sure it is.
Joshua does not send the army; he goes up before it, with the elders. That pattern runs through the whole chapter, and one commentator traces it verse by verse:
Israel is now restored to communion with God. Throughout this scene the presence of Joshua puts a blessed mark on everything the people do. When they were going to war, we read: "Joshua arose, and all the people" (v. 3). On the eve of battle: "Joshua lodged that night among the people" (v. 9). When the march was about to begin: "Joshua went that night into the middle of the valley" (v. 13). When it was a question of luring the enemy: "Joshua and all Israel acted as if they were beaten" (v. 15). When they had put the enemy to flight: "Joshua and all Israel … killed the men of Ai" (v. 21).
None of this could happen if Israel had left the sin buried. Their confidence to go up a second time rests on what happened in the previous chapter:
Sin confessed, judged and put away restored communion with the Lord. If any burden remained on Joshua's mind, the repeated words of comfort and cheer removed it: "Do not fear and do not be dismayed." The failure never comes up again. Instead there is comfort, assurance and a promise of victory. He deals in the same gracious way with us whenever we have failed and humbled ourselves before Him in self-judgment.
The word the scouts used was "toil" — they wanted the nation spared it. In the end everyone toiled. One commentator reads this as God's way of teaching a lesson they had skipped:
"Toil up there" all Israel did — some to the ambush, others to the front. For when we make careless mistakes, and sin on purpose in our service, God presses on us by toil and labour those lessons we neglected. He does this even though He has shown us our errors and pardoned our ways.
Yet the delay did not wreck God's plan. Another writer looks back on the whole episode and finds the fault not only punished but blotted out:
We may note here that, as God's dealings worked out, the fault committed before the attack on Ai seems blotted out, and had even contributed to the unfolding of His purposes. At the time it had held them back, and it was punished. But God set Himself to restore Israel morally, back to the confidence of faith. Nothing hindered the great object of His dealings. This is no excuse; but it is a sweet and strong consolation.
- Cleared — Israel confessed the sin, judged it and put it away. Only then could the camp move, and God stopped mentioning the failure.
- Counted — scouts once spared the nation the trouble. Now Joshua musters every fighting man, because small enemies are never safe to take lightly.
- Early — the dawn start matches the new temper of the camp, which now weighs every word from the Lord.
- Costly — the toil they tried to avoid became the lesson they had to learn, and the humbling left no room for boasting.
- Restored — Joshua goes up at the head of his people, and God blots out the earlier fault without letting it hinder His purpose.
And all the people of war that were with him went up, and drew near, and came before the city; and they encamped on the north of Ai; and the valley was between them and Ai.
Israel returns to the small town that had beaten them. This time the whole army marches up and camps in full view, with a ravine between them and the city. Why does a place so small now need every soldier and a hidden ambush?
Israel had first planned to spare most of the people the climb. God told Joshua to take the whole fighting force instead, and the camp on the north side is the result.
The Lord had turned from the fierceness of His anger against His people Israel. Now He encouraged Joshua to go forward: "Do not be afraid, and do not be discouraged. Take all the people of war with you, and go up to Ai." God's words gave real reassurance. They recalled His first gracious call and encouragement. Victory was certain. But this battle would be fought very differently from the plan Israel first proposed for destroying Ai, that "heap of ruins"! They had said, "Do not make all the people toil up there." The Lord said, "Take all the people of war." As the thousands of Israel rose to battle, each soldier had to remember never to make light of a small foe, for Israel's strength and courage came from the LORD alone.
Calling out the entire fighting force was not overkill. It was Israel's normal pattern, and the one time they broke it, they lost.
In the days of the nation's moral prosperity under Joshua, all Israel went up to battle whenever war came. This showed the unity of the people in a striking way. The first conflict at Ai (Joshua 7:1-5) was the only exception to this rule, and it ended in the defeat of those who took part in it.
That oneness runs through the whole story, not just the winning part of it.
The people were one. They were one in their victory, one in their failure, one in their defeat, one in the judgment of the evil, one in their restoration.
Jericho fell without any of this. Here the army must split in two and take up positions, and commentators read that added complication as a lasting cost of the earlier sin.
Notice how complicated everything becomes in Joshua 8, because Israel did not follow the simple path of faith. The humbled soul finds itself with God again, and His presence with it. But the consequences of walking in the flesh remain. God can use them for blessing in the end, yet the path no longer has the simplicity of the early days of faith. That path is very simple: the believer who follows God's guidance in dependence on His word is sure of victory. It was so at Jericho. The same power that brought down the walls of that accursed city is with Israel at Ai. It has not changed, even though the army must now manoeuvre and split into two forces — five thousand men lying in ambush, while the rest draw the defenders of Ai out of their stronghold.
Rossier raises the objection himself, then answers it.
You may say: you have shown us that at Jericho human means were not the question, and now here are all sorts of devices for beating the enemy. I reply: if you are content to use means that show up your own incapacity, all well and good. Such means leave on man the mark of his total weakness, and humble him until his only resource is to run from the enemy. But it is not in your power to do this. In truth, at Ai they are no more human means than at Jericho. The difference is this. At Jericho God arranged things so that Israel might learn His power. At Ai His aim was to teach them their own weakness.
The whole nation now labours over one small town. That labour is itself part of God's discipline.
Their former presumption still needs rebuke, and so God makes them labour to capture the city, small as it is. All the people take part in it. They set an ambush behind the city, and God makes them pretend to flee, just as they had fled before. All this humbles their pride. How much in the work we do for God has to shape itself to the need there is in us! God shapes His instruments, even while He works with them.
- Sin costs. The complications of this second campaign — a divided army, a staged retreat, hard labour for a small town — trace back to the simple path of faith that Israel left.
- Restoration is real. God's presence and power are with Israel at Ai just as at Jericho. Only the simplicity of the road changed, not the strength behind it.
- All are called. A town once thought easy now needs every fighting man. No enemy is small enough to make light of.
- Unity holds. Israel is one in victory, failure, defeat, judgment of evil, and recovery. The one time part of the nation acted alone, it lost.
- Weakness is the lesson. Jericho taught Israel God's power. Ai taught them their own weakness. God shapes His instruments even while He uses them.