Joshua 8

There are two mounds of ruins that scholars pitch as contenders for Ai: et-Tel and el-Maqatir. They’re both about a 10-mile (16 km) walk uphill from Jericho—about a half-day march. The walk is almost a one-mile climb, more than a kilometer. Jericho’s elevation is -846 feet (-258 m). The area around the possible sites of Ai are more than 3,000 feet above sea level (one km).

The law of Moses demanded that Israelites kill them all. “When the LORD your God gives them to you, you’ll need to finish them off. After you defeat them in battle, wipe them out by killing them all. Don’t make any peace treaty with them. Don’t show them mercy” (Deuteronomy 7:2). Also: “They promised the LORD, ‘If you will let us defeat those people, we will annihilate all Canaanites and decimate their cities” (Numbers 21:2). The Hebrew word for “annihilate” is herem.

This may have been a second ambush located in the same general area as the ambush with 30,000 men (8:3, 9). Or perhaps only 5,000 of that 30,000 remained in hiding there. The other 25,000 may have joined forces with Joshua, to make Israel’s second attack on the city look serious and not a trick to lure Ai’s defenders away.

Joshua’s strike force running away from of the men of Ai suddenly stopped retreating. They started fighting and killing the Ai defenders. Behind Ai’s army were more Israelites: the ambushing strike force. They captured and burned the city and were now charging toward Ai rear guard.

Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are two mountains side-by-side, separated by a valley that provided a popular route for travelers in Bible times. The mountains were near the center of Canaan. Today, they’re in the Occupied West Bank, which is Palestinian Territory patrolled and increasingly settled by Israelis. In the time of Moses, the area was already sacred to the Israelites. That’s because Abraham, father of what became the Jewish people, camped near there, close to the city of Shechem. And this is where God told Abraham, “I’m going to give this land to you and your family” (Genesis 12:7).

The Law of Moses may refer to the Book of Deuteronomy. That book preserves a series of speeches Moses made to the people summing up what became the Jewish laws from Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, along with teachings from Genesis. The law mentioned here may refer to these instructions of Moses: “When you cross the Jordan River and step onto the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up a stone marker. Use large stones and coat them in plaster. Write on that monument every word of this law” (Deuteronomy 27:2-3).

This was the most common animal sacrifice. Worshipers burned the entire animal. See Leviticus 1.

A peace offering, described in Leviticus 3, is one of several prescribed offerings in Jewish tradition. When Jewish people wanted to give thanks to God for something, such as good health or safety, they would sacrifice a sheep, goat, cow, or bull. They would burn part of the animal, including the kidneys and fat covering the intestines. They would eat the rest in celebration, often with family and friends. It takes a fair number of hungry people to eat a cow. But people were eager to eat meat because it was rare in Bible times for common folks to eat meat, many Bible scholars say.

What “Law of Moses” did Joshua write onto the stones? Scholars don’t agree. The Hebrew word for “law” is tora. Today, Jews call their code of laws the Torah. These are the laws in the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. That would be a lot of words to write onto the plaster-covered monument. Perhaps the law Moses spoke about was the law he outlined in Deuteronomy chapters 12-26. Still, that’s a lot of words for a stone monument. Another possibility might be the foundation of all the laws for the Torah: The Ten Commandments.

Also known as the Ark of the Covenant, a gold-plated box that held the Ten Commandments. It represented the presence of God among the Israelites, traveling with them.

“When you cross the Jordan River, go to the twin mountains of Gerizim and Ebal. Have these six tribes stand on Mount Gerizim and recite God’s blessings for following the law: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. Have these six tribes stand on Mount Ebal and recite the painful consequences of breaking the law: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali” (Deuteronomy 27:12-13).

Deuteronomy 28:2-14.

Deuteronomy 27:14-26; 28:15-68.