DAWN
Daily Arts Web Nucleus
Discover the Arts! Each day a different image from the Literary, Performing, or Visual Arts representing a portion of Scripture plus an explanation with links 2017 July 26
Ai is Taken by Joshua (c. 1896)
James Tissot (1836-1902)
Academic and Impressionist Blended Style
Alternate Classification: French Victorian Neoclassical Style
Jewish Museum, New York, New York, USA
Image Source: Bible Library
SPECIAL NOTE:
[ I will again be working through the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. I will be adding links, resources, images, and the like, upgrading the former work-through which began with the 2013-10-12 posting which can be found, along with the full Genesis to Revelation postings, in the Archive Page. Postings will be at midnight Eastern Time, as I am able. However, no chapters will be skipped, even though a posting may be late. And all postings will be housed in the Archive Page. ]
Explanation: Joshua 8 contains the account of the destruction of Ai and Bethel and the aftermath. The LORD told Joshua not to be afraid or dismayed due to their previous defeat because he was going to give Ai into his hand and give him the spoil of the city. He told him to lay an ambush behind the city. So Joshua told his people to set the ambush with thirty thousand men on the west side of Ai between Bethel and Ai, but Joshua stayed with the main camp that night (1-9).
Early the next morning Joshua took about five thousand men and attacked Ai. As a ruse, they fell back when attacked; and all the warriors of Ai and Bethel left their cities and chased them into the wilderness (10-17).
At the LORD's command, Joshua then signaled the ambush to attack, which they did, setting the cities on fire. Joshua and his force then turned back on the pursuers and caught them in a pincer movement, destroying them. They captured the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua (18-23).
Afterward, the Israelites returned to Ai and killed the remaining inhabitants and took the spoil of the city. Joshua then hanged the king of Ai on a tree (making him accursed -- Deuteronomy 21:22-23). In the evening Joshua commanded his men to take down the body and raise a great heap of stones over it. This heap was still intact at the time this passage was written -- [c. 1380 B.C.] -- see previous discussion (24-29).
Joshua then built an altar in mount Ebal and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD. He also wrote a complete copy of the law of Moses on the stones. Then half the people stood on mount Ebal and the other half across from them on mount Gerizim. And Joshua read all the blessings and the curses of the law to them together with all the rest of the law. This, together with the corporate and the individual curses and the blessings that arose out of the events during the campaigns against Jericho, Ai, and Bethel, would have make a deep and lasting impression on the Israelites concerning the crucial necessity to listen intently to the LORD (30-35).
[ Sermons: William Still. Geoff Thomas. Various. ]
[ Illustration: Today's painting depicts a key subject of today's chapter, the defeat of Ai. Bethel was defeated at the same time. ]
RESOURCES
PLEASE NOTE: Use the resources on this and other sites thoughtfully, particularly the commentaries and encyclopedias. I have attempted to list conservative, scholarly resources. However, some providers use liberal or liberal-influenced commentaries such as the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (in Bible Hub). Such commentaries are undoubtedly included by the provider for the wealth of useful information and comments which they provide. By consulting several commentaries, it should be fairly easy to sort out the wheat from the chaff. If, however, you would like personal assistance, write to me at AD LIB ARTS EMAIL.
[ THEMATICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY RELATED SCRIPTURES: Joshua 8: [1] Joshua 1:9; Joshua 10:25; Joshua 7:2.
[2] Joshua 11:4.
[14] Joshua 7:5.
[17] Joshua 12:16; Judges 1:22.
[29] Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Joshua 8:2; Joshua 10:1; Esther 9:10; Esther 9:13; Joshua 10:27; 2 Samuel 18:17.
[30-31] Joshua 17:18; Deuteronomy 11:26-30; Deuteronomy 27:2; Exodus 19:24. -- From Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers ]
[ CHRONOLOGY: GENERAL. Patriarchs (Traditional). Judges # 1. Judges # 2. Kings # 1. Kings # 2. Prophets # 1. Prophets # 2. NT # 1. NT # 2. NT # 3. ]
[ MAPS: Maps # 1. Maps # 2. Maps # 3. Maps # 4. Maps # 5. ]
[ COMMENTARIES, ETC: GENERAL: Bible Study Tools; Bible Hub: Study Light; Blue Letter Bible // PSALMS: Monergism: Precept Austin: The Treasury of David; John Gill; John Calvin - Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
[ MUSIC: GENERAL: The Cyber Hymnal // PSALMS: Genevan Psalter (Instrumental). VARIOUS ARTISTS: Micha'el Ben David. Sons of Korah. Fernando Ortega. Janet Isaac Morrison. Music of the Bible Revealed - Suzanne Haik-Vantoura. Dr. David Erb. Gregorian Chants. ]
HARMONY OF THE LAW
HEBREW AND GREEK INTERLINEAR BIBLES
Joshua Detailed Outline
Joshua 8
Note: The Book of Joshua teaches the Lord's faithfulness. (The Book of Judges, which follows, teaches Israel's unfaithfulness).
1. The First Phase of the Conquest of Canaan (Joshua 1:1 - 12:24) - 1406 - 1405 B. C. - Israel
A. The Military Campaigns (Joshua 1:1 - 11:23)
1 And the LORD 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:
2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
5 And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,
6 (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.
7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9 Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11 And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai.
12 And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
13 And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city.
15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
16 And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.
19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
22 And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and bought him to Joshua.
24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
25 And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.
26 For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua.
28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide [time of the dusk]: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down [they should take down (this) his carcass] from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
31 As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
33 And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.
34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
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