Charles Ellicott Commentary Joshua 8:1

"And Jehovah said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land;" — Joshua 8:1 (ASV)

Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. —See Joshua 1:9; Joshua 10:25. In Joshua 1:9, For the Lord thy God is with thee. These words indicate the return of Jehovah to the host of Israel, for the prosecution of the war.

Take all the people. —Not merely “two or three thousand,” as before.

Ai. —In Hebrew, Hâ-ai. Ai is intended for one syllable, not two as it is often pronounced in English. It means “the heap” (of ruins, apparently). In Joshua 8:28, we read that Joshua made it an heap for ever (Tel-ôlâm in Hebrew). Thus its first and last names agree.

It is remarked that while Palestine is full of “Tels” with other names appended to them (such as Tell-es Sultan, and some ten others near Jericho alone), the place called et-Tel near Bethel has no other appendage.

It is not the heap of anything, but simply the heap, to this day; and this fact, which is apparently without parallel, seems to fix the site of Ai at et-Tel. (See Note on Joshua 7:2.)

And his land. —The capture of Ai was not simply the capture of a town or fortress, but of the chief town of a territory, the extent of which we are not told. If we knew the circumstances of the time more precisely, we might understand the strategic reasons which made it desirable to obtain possession of Ai in particular at this stage of the campaign.