John Gill Commentary Joshua 7

But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the
accursed thing
Or concerning it, with respect to it, by taking part of what was devoted to another use, and forbidden theirs: this was done, not by the whole body of the people, only by one of them; but it not being discovered who it was, it was imputed to the whole, on whom it lay to find out the guilty person and punish him, or else the whole must suffer for it: this chapter begins with a "but", and draws a veil over the fame and glory of Joshua, observed in (Joshua 6:27);

for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of
the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing ;
of what was devoted to the Lord and to sacred uses; this he had taken to himself out of the spoil of the city of Jericho, for his own use, contrary to the command of God: his descent is particularly described, that it might be known of what family and tribe he was; and it is traced up to Zerah, who was a son of Judah, (Genesis 38:30);

and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel ;
because of the sin of Achan.

And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai
Which was the next city of importance, though not so large as Jericho, and was, as the Jews say ^F12, three miles distant from it; Abarbinel says ^F13 four miles, and so Bunting ^F14; Jerom ^F15 says, that in his times very few ruins of it appeared, only the place was shown where it stood:

which [is] beside Bethaven;
a name by which Bethel in later times was called, (Hosea 4:15); but here it is manifestly a distinct place from it; just hard by or near to this place, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it, was the city of Ai: Bethaven seems to have been the suburbs of it, or however was very near unto it:

on the east side of Bethel;
near to which Abraham built an altar, as did Jacob also, and which in former times was called Luz, (Genesis 12:8) (Genesis 35:1Genesis 35:3Genesis 35:6Genesis 35:7); and was well known in later ages by the name of Bethel; it was reckoned about a mile from Ai: the situation of this city is so particularly described to distinguish it from another city of this name, Ai of the Amorites, (Jeremiah 49:3); and is here called "that Ai", that well known Ai, as Kimchi observes:

and spoke unto them;
at the time he sent them, when he gave them their orders to go thither:

saying, go up and view the country;
the mountainous part of it; for they were now in a plain, where Jericho was seated; and observe what place was most proper to attack next, and which the best way of coming at it:

and the men went up and viewed Ai;
what a sort of a city it was, how large, and what its fortifications, and what avenues were to it: by this it appears that Ai was built upon a hill, or at least was higher than Jericho and its plains; and with this agrees what a traveller says^F16

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: Shemoth Rabba, sect. 32. fol. 185. 2.
• F13: In Josh. xx. fol. 34. 1.
• F14: Travels Of the Patriarchs p. 95.
• F15: De loc. Heb. fol. 87. E.
• F16: of it, it is a village full of large ruins (in this he differs from Jerom) and from hence are seen the valley of Jericho, the dead sea, Gilgal, and Mount Quarantania, and many other places towards the east.

And they returned unto Joshua, and said unto him, let not all the people go up After they had reconnoitred the place, they came back to their general, and gave it as their opinion, that there was no need for the whole army to go up against the city:

but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai ; such a number they judged were sufficient to take it:

[and] make not all the people to labour thither ; carrying their tents, bearing their armour, and going up hill:

for they [are but] few ; the inhabitants of Ai, men and women making but twelve thousand; (Joshua 8:25) .

So there went up thither of the people about three thousand
men
Joshua detached from the army the largest number proposed, that there might be strength enough to take the place; and those he sent under proper officers to Ai, who went up to the very gate of the city, as appears from (Joshua 7:5) :

and they fled before the men of Ai ;
for upon their appearing at the gate of their city, they came out with all their forces against them, and as soon as they did, the children of Israel durst not face them, but without engaging with them fled at once: God having forsaken them, their courage failed, the dread of their enemies falling on them.

And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men
In the pursuit of them, which were but few, but a sufficient rebuke of Providence; their loss was but small, but their shame and disgrace great:

for they chased them [from] before the gate ;
the gate of the city of Ai:

[even] unto Shebarim ;
not that there was a place of this name before, but it was so called from hence, because there they were broken, as Kimchi observes; and the Targum and Jarchi render it, ``until they were broken,'' their lines broken, not being able to retreat in order, but were scattered, and fled to their camp as they could: Gussetius ^F17 thinks it was the name of a place, but not so called for the above reason, but because there lay broken pieces of the rock scattered about:

and smote them in the going down ;
the hill from Ai; "Morad", rendered "going down", may be taken for the proper name of a place, and which, Kimchi says, was a place before Ai, in which there was a declivity and descent, and in that place they smote them when they fled:

wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water ;
that is, the whole body of the people, when this little army returned defeated, their spirits failed them, their courage was lost, their nerves were loosed, and they became languid, faint, and feeble; not that their loss was so great, but that they perceived God had forsaken them, and what the issue of this would be they dreaded.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Comment. Ebr. p. 825.