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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 brought 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: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down 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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[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Joshua 8:1-8
Inasmuch as God ordered Joshua to plant an ambush in their rear, that is, to plant warriors in hiding to ambush the enemy, we can learn that such treachery is not unjustly carried out by those who wage a just war. Thus, a just man, if he wishes to undertake a just war, ought to think chiefly in these matters about nothing else than whether it is right for him to do so, for it is not lawful for everyone to wage war. However, once he has undertaken a just war, it makes no difference to the justice of the war whether he wins in open warfare or by treachery. However, those just wars ought to be defined as those which avenge injuries, if the tribe or state which is about to be sought in war, either neglected to punish a crime improperly committed by its own countrymen or neglected to repay what had been lost through those injuries. Moreover, without doubt that type of war is just which God commands, since there is no iniquity in him and he knows what ought to be done to each person. In this type of war the general of the army or the people themselves are not to be deemed so much the instigator of the war as much as its agent.Joshua sent thirty thousand warriors to vanquish Ai.… We must consider whether every attempt at deception ought to be reckoned as a lie and, if so, whether a lie can be just, when someone who should be deceived is deceived. And if not even this kind of a lie is found to be just, we must still relate what transpired with the ambush to the truth with some other meaning.

Source: QUESTIONS ON JOSHUA 10-11
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:10-17
At first, we were overcome because of sins, and those who were living in Ai destroyed very many of us. Ai means chaos. But we know chaos to be the place or habitation of opposing powers, of which the devil is the king and chief. Against him, as Jesus [Joshua] comes, he divides the people into two parts; he stations some in the front and others in the rear, so they may come behind the enemies unexpectedly. Consider if the first part is not about the people of whom he says, “I came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” and of whom the apostle says, “But grace and peace to every person who does good, to the Jew first, then also to the Greek,” that is, the later Gentile. Those are the people, therefore, who are stationed in the front and seem to flee with Jesus. But the people in back are the ones who are gathered from the nations and who come unexpectedly. For who expected the nations to be saved? They strike more keenly behind the adversaries, and thus both people together overthrow and conquer the throng of demons confined in the middle.

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.2
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:10-17
But perhaps you say to me, “In what manner are the people in front placed as though fleeing?” In a most suitable manner. For truly, those who follow Jesus seem to flee from legal burdens and precepts, from the observation of the sabbath, from the circumcision of the flesh, and from cutting the throats of enemies. But on the other hand, the one who has followed Christ, the fulfillment and fullness of the law, does not flee.

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.2
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:10-17
But another thing occurs to me in this place as I consider Jesus [Joshua] fleeing before the face of the army of Ai. Why do you think it is that Jesus [Joshua] is described as fleeing? Let us consider whether perhaps there may be something that we may conquer by fleeing, and that there is some perfect virtue in flight. Paul the apostle teaches us saying, “Flee fornication.” You see therefore that there is a certain “spirit of fornication” that we ought to flee, all who wish to remain chastely and piously and modestly in Christ. Thus this flight is that which holds salvation; this flight is of power; this flight confers blessedness. And not only must the spirit of fornication be fled, but in like manner, just as it is said, “Flee fornication,” let us hear it said to us: “Flee wrath, flee avarice, flee greed and envy, flee detractions and slanders.” Yet I do not know if anyone may flee these things; I do not know if anyone may escape them.Such was that army of Ai that Jesus [Joshua] instructed his soldiers to flee, and perhaps concerning these things he charged his disciples, saying, “If they persecute you in this city, flee into another one; but if in that one also, flee into another.” For he wants us to flee from enemies of this kind; he wants us to be put out of reach of this kind of evil. If we are able in the meantime to escape the contagions of these evils by fleeing, then, seeing the devotion and intention of our heart, all those holy powers—those perhaps about which the apostle Paul says, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent into the ministry for the sake of those who will receive the inheritance of salvation?”9—who perhaps are holy angels who, seeing us exposed to pursuing demons, rise up against those who pursue us and, striking from behind, destroy them all. For Jesus is with those who are exposed to the ones pursuing, more than with those who follow after. And justly, because Jesus loves to be with those who flee fornication, those who flee pride, those who flee deceit, and those who flee falsehood.

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.6
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Joshua 8:12
Five thousand: These were part of the thirty thousand mentioned above, ver. 3.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:22
You will read in the Holy Scriptures about the battles of the just ones, about the slaughter and carnage of murderers, and that the saints spare none of their deeply rooted enemies. If they do spare them, they are even charged with sin, just as Saul was charged because he had preserved the life of Agag king of Amalek. You should understand the wars of the just by the method I set forth above, that these wars are waged by them against sin. But how will the just ones endure if they reserve even a little bit of sin? Therefore, this is said of them: “They did not leave behind even one who might be saved or might escape.”Do you perhaps not believe me that the battle is joined against our sin? Then believe Paul as he says, “Not yet to the shedding of blood have you resisted against sin.” Do you see that the fight proposed for you is against sin and that you must complete the battle even to the shedding of blood? Is it not evident that the divine Scripture indicates these things, even as it habitually says, “Sanctify war,” and, “You will fight the battle of the Lord”?

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.7
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:22
When the Jews read these things, they become cruel and thirst after human blood, thinking that even holy persons so struck those who were living in Ai that not one of them was left “who might be saved or who might escape.” They do not understand that mysteries are dimly shadowed in these words and that they more truly indicate to us that we ought not to leave any of those demons deeply within, whose dwelling place is chaos and who rule in the abyss, but to destroy them all. We slay demons, but we do not annihilate their essence. For their work and endeavor is to cause persons to sin. If we sin, they have life; but if we do not sin, they are destroyed. Therefore, all holy persons kill the inhabitants of Ai; they both annihilate and do not release any of them. These are doubtless those who guard their heart with all diligence so that evil thoughts do not proceed from it, and those who heed their mouth, so that “no evil word” proceeds from it. Not to leave any who flee means this: when no evil word escapes them.

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.7
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:28
You see that these things that follow truly pertain more to the truth of a mystery than that of history. For it is not so much that a piece of land is forever uninhabitable, but that the place of demons will be uninhabitable when no one will sin and sin will not rule in anyone. Then the devil and his angels will be consigned to the eternal fire with our Lord Jesus Christ sitting as ruler and judge and saying to those who overcame before and afterwards, “Come, blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom that was created for you by my Father.” But to the others he will say, “Go into the eternal fire that God prepared for the devil and his angels.” until he takes care of every soul with the remedies he himself knows and “all Israel may be saved.”

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.5
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:31
Who do you think those whole stones are? The conscience of everyone knows who is whole, who is uncorrupted, unpolluted, unstained in flesh and in spirit. This is the one in whom iron has not been set, that is, who did not receive “the fiery darts of the evil one,” the darts of lust, but by the shield of faith “quenched and repelled them”; or the one who never assumed the iron of battle, the iron of war, the iron of strife, but was always peaceable, always calm and gentle, formed out of the humility of Christ. Those, therefore, are “the living stones” out of which Jesus our Lord “constructed an altar from whole stones, in which iron had not been set,” so that he might offer upon them “whole burnt offerings and the sacrifice of salvation.”

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.2
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:31
I myself think that perhaps the holy apostles are able to be such whole and undefiled stones, making one altar all together on account of their unanimity and concord. For thus “praying unanimously” and opening their mouths all together, they are reported to have said, “You, Lord, you who know the hearts of all.” Therefore, those of one mind who were able to pray with one voice and one spirit, they are perhaps the worthy ones who all together ought to build one altar, upon which Jesus may offer sacrifices to the Father. Yet may we also try to take care that “we all may speak the same thing” with one accord, “perceiving one thing, doing nothing through contention or through vain glory” but “remaining in one mind and in the same purpose,” if perhaps we ourselves can also be made fit stones for the altar.

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.2
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:32
He wrote, in the way the son of Nun was able at that time, to depict the law upon the stones of the altar; and, to the extent he was capable, he dimly sketched types. Let us see, however, how our Jesus wrote Deuteronomy “on living” and “whole stones.”Deuteronomy is called, so to speak, a “second law.” If therefore you wish to see how, after the first law was annulled, Jesus wrote the second law, hear him saying in the Gospel, “It was said in former times: You shall not kill. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is a murderer.” And again, “It was said in former times: You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, if anyone has looked upon a woman to desire her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” And, “It was said in former times: You shall not swear falsely. But I say to you, do not swear at all.” You see Deuteronomy, which Jesus wrote “on living” and “whole stones; not on stone tablets, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart; not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God.”

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.3
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:32
How was he able to depict so large a book to the sons of Israel—or even to those standing and remaining there—so that they did not disperse until the writing of so many verses was finished? Or even how were the stones of the altar able to bear the contents of such a large book? Such things let those Jewish defenders of the letter who are ignorant of the spirit of the law tell me. In what manner is the truth of the narrative demonstrated in this? Yet among those former ones “to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart.” But for us, “who have turned to the Lord” Jesus, “the veil is taken away” because “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom of understanding.”15Therefore our Lord Jesus does not need much time in order to write Deuteronomy, in order to set up the “second law” in the hearts of believers and imprint the law of the Spirit in the minds of those who are worthy to be chosen for the construction of the altar. For immediately when anyone believes in Jesus Christ, the law of the gospel is written down in that person’s heart and written down “in the sight of the sons of Israel.”

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.4
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:33
But how shall we ourselves apply this narration of history to mystic discernment so that we may make known who they are who go near Mount Gerizim and who they are who go near Mount Ebal?As I myself see, there are two species of those who through faith hasten and go quickly toward salvation. One of them are those who, kindled by the longing for the promise of heaven, press forward with the greatest zeal and diligence so that not even the least happiness may pass them by. They have the desire not only to lay hold of blessings and to be made “to have a share in the lot of the saints” but also to station themselves in the sight of God and to be always with the Lord. There are others, however, who also reach toward salvation, but they are not inflamed so much by the love of blessings or by the desires for the promises. Instead their view is much more like this, as they say, “It is enough for me not to go into Gehenna, it is enough for me not to be sent into eternal fire, it is enough for me not to be expelled ‘into outer darkness.’ ”18
Since there is such a variety of aims among individual ones of the faithful, it seems to me that what is designated in this place is this. The half who go near Mount Gerizim, those who have been chosen for blessings, indicate figuratively the ones who come to salvation not by fear of punishment but by desire of blessings and renewed promises. But the half who go near Mount Ebal, where curses were produced, indicate those others who, by fulfilling what was written in the law, attain salvation by fear of evil things and dread of torments.

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.7
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:33
Now it is for God alone to know who of all of us sons of Israel is kindled by desire of the good itself to do what is good, and who of us, out of fear of Gehenna and the terror of eternal fire, strives toward the good and is diligent and hastens to fulfill the things that have been written. It is certain that the nobler ones are those who do what is good by the desire of the good itself and by the love of blessings, rather than those who run after the good through the fear of evil. Therefore, Jesus alone is the one who is able to distinguish the minds and spirits of all such people, and to station some on Mount Gerizim for blessings and others on Mount Ebal for cursings. Not so that they may receive curses but that they may guard against incurring them by gazing at the curses prescribed and punishments set down for sinners.

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.7
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:34
I certainly think that whenever “Moses is read” to us and through the grace of the Lord “the veil of the letter is removed.” and we begin to understand that “the law is spiritual,” then the Lord Jesus reads that law to us.… The law, which Paul names “spiritual,” is thus understood and Jesus himself is the one who recites these things in the ears of all the people, admonishing us that we not follow “the letter that kills” but that we hold fast “the life-giving spirit.”24Therefore, Jesus reads the law to us when he reveals the secret things of the law. For we who are of the catholic church do not reject the law of Moses, but we accept it if Jesus reads it to us. For thus we shall be able to understand the law correctly, if Jesus reads it to us, so that when he reads we may grasp his mind and understanding. Therefore, should we not think that he had understood this mind who said, “And we have the mind of Christ, so that we may know those things that have been given to us by God, those things that also we speak”? Also, those who were saying, “Was not our heart burning within us, when he laid bare the Scriptures to us along the way?” when “beginning from the law of Moses up to the prophets he read all things to us and revealed those things that were written concerning him”?

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.8
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 8:35
But also even “women and infants and proselytes” are joined to the church of the Lord. If we understand women and infants and proselytes separately and consider each of them to be as though a certain follower of the church—because “in a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wood and earthen”—we say that to strong men, indeed strong food is delivered. This is clearly to those of whom the apostle says, “Solid food is for the mature,” out of whom he prepares for himself a church “not having spot or wrinkle or anything of these.” But those whom he sets apart by the name of “women or infants or proselytes,” let us understand them to be persons who still “need milk” or as though “weak,” since they are women, “they feed upon vegetables.” But if everyone together is accepted to be the church, the “men,” indeed, are understood to be those who, perfect among all these, know to stand “armed against the wiles of the devil”;34 but the “women” are those who do not yet produce from themselves the things that are useful, but from imitating the men and following their example. They are even said to have their head from them: “For the head of a woman is man.” But the “infants” will be those who with the faith newly received are nourished by the gospel milk. “Proselytes” seem to be the catechumens, or those who now are eager to be associated with the faith. Even John, perceiving similar things about these separate groups, writes and determines in his epistle which deeds are peculiar to which individual ages. …For divine Scripture does not know how to make a separation of men and women according to sex. For indeed sex is no distinction in the presence of God, but a person is designated either a man or woman according to the diversity of spirit.

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.9