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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:1-29
Renewed effort after disaster. The Christian warfare, whether from an individual or from a general point of view, is no record of invariable success. The career of each Christian, as of the Christian Church, is a cheque…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:1
Fear not. Joshua was down cast at his former failure, and well he might. "Treacherous Israelites are to be dreaded more than malicious Canaanites" (Matthew Henry). Take all the people of wax with thee. Not, as has been…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:2
Only the spoil thereof. Ai was not solemnly devoted, like Jericho, though (see Deuteronomy 20:16, Deuteronomy 20:17) the Canaanitish people were. Behind it. Joshua was advancing from the southeast. The ambush ( אֹרֵב li…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:3
Thirty thousand. In Joshua 8:12 we read 5,000, and this must be the true reading. Thirty thousand men could hardly have been posted, without detection, in the ravines around Ai, whereas we are informed by travellers tha…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:5
We will flee before them. A common expedient of a sagacious general when contending with undisciplined troops is a strong position. Many instances will occur to the student of history, and among others the celebrated fe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:6
For they will come. Literally, "and they will come." We have drawn. Literally, caused to pluck away (see note on Joshua 4:18). Luther translates well by reissen, and the LXX. by ἀποσπάσωμεν.
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:8
According to the commandment of the lord. The LXX. seems to have read כִדְבַר הַזֶה according to this word.
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:9
Between Bethel and Ai. (see above, Joshua 7:2).
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:10
And numbered the people. Or reviewed, or mustered. The word is frequently translated visited in Scripture. It then came to mean a visit for the sake of inspection. The elders of Israel. Joshua's council, alike of war an…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:11
And all the people, even the people of war that were with him. Literally, all the people, the war that were with him. Probably the word אִישׁ has been omitted by an early copyist. Implying, no doubt, that the non-warlik…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:12
And he took about five thousand men (see above, Joshua 8:3). We must translate had taken. The repetition is quite in the manner of the Hebrew writers. This passage is of course, according to the Jehovist and Elohist the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:13
And when they had set. This may mean the leaders of the detachment of 30,000. Joshua does not appear to have been with them, for he is not mentioned till the latter part of the verse (see note on verse 3). Joshua went t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:14
When the king of Ai saw it. The particle כְ here employed signifies immediate action. At a time appointed. Or, at the signal. Keil, following Luther, would prefer at the place appointed, which seems to agree best with w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:15
Made as though they were beaten. "Joshua conquered by yielding. So our Lord Jesus Christ, when He bowed His head and gave up the ghost, seemed as if death had triumphed over Him; but in His resurrection He rallied again…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:16
Were called together. So the Masorites. Perhaps it would be better to translate, raised a cry ("at illi vociferantes." Vulgate. "Da schrie das ganze Volk." Luther). This gives us the scene in all its picturesque detail.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:17
Or Bethel. These words are not in the LXX; and they may possibly have been a marginal gloss, for the intervention of the people of Bethel in this battle is very unintelligible. See note on Joshua 7:2. On the other hand,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:18
The spear. כִידוֹן, a kind of long and slender lance, probably, like those of our lancers, with a flag attached. It is thus described by Kimchi. Jahn, in his 'Archesologia Biblica,' takes this view. But the Vulgate here…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:19
On trying again. A Jewish proverb says there are three men who get no pity—an unsecured creditor, a henpecked husband, and a man that does not try again. This faculty of trying again is one of the qualities of noble nat…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:20
And they had no power. Literally, no hands. Our version here follows the Arabic, Syriac, and Chaldee versions. The LXX. and Vulgate render no direction in which to fly. But in this case לָהֶם would seem preferable to בָ…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:22
So that they let none of them remain or escape. Literally, until there remained to them neither remainder nor fugitive.
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:24
In the wilderness. The LXX. must have read בַמּוֹרָד in the going down, or descent. Returned unto Ai and smote it. According to God's command, the defenceless inhabitants must share the fate of the army (see Deuteronomy…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:25
All the men of Ai. Clearly all the population, as the context shows.
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:26
Utterly destroyed. Hebrew, הֶחֶרִים (see note on Joshua 6:17).
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 8:27
Only the cattle (see Joshua 8:2).