Then Joshua sent scouts to Ai, another city of Canaan. When they came back they told him that it was a small city and not many people lived there, so only part of the Israeli army was needed to capture it. Two or three thousand men would be enough they said.
So Joshua sent about three thousand men. But when the men of Ai came out against them, the Israelis suddenly became afraid and ran, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them.
Joshua didn’t know what to do . Israel had been defeated! He tore his clothes, and he and the elders of Israel lay on the ground praying until the evening. Joshua cried out to the Lord, saying, “All the people of Canaan will hear how the Israeli army has run away from its enemies; and they will gather around us on every side and kill us, until not one of us is left.”
But the Lord said, “Get Up! Why are you lying there? There is sin among the people of Israel; that is why your enemies have defeated you.”
Then the Lord told Joshua that one of the men of Israel had kept some silver and gold taken from the city of Jericho. He had taken it for himself instead of putting it into the treasury of the Lord. The Lord said He would not help the people of Israel anymore unless they punished the man who had done this.
God told Joshua to bring all the people before Him, and He would tell Joshua who the thief was. The man who had done this thing must be burned alive in punishment for stealing from the Lord and for not obeying Him. So Joshua got up early in the morning and brought all the people before the Lord, and the Lord showed him the man who was guilty. His name was Achan.
“Tell me what you have done Achan,” Joshua demanded.
Achan then admitted that he had seen a beautiful garment and some silver and a piece of gold, and that he had taken them and hidden them in the ground beneath his tent.
Joshua sent messengers who ran to Achan’s tent and found the things buried there. They brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel and laid them before the Lord.
Then Joshua and all the people took Achan and the beautiful garment, and the silver and gold, and his sons and daughters, his tent, his cattle, and everything he owned, to a nearby valley. There they were stoned to death and burned. A great heap of stones was piled over Achans dead body to show where it lay. After that the valley was called the valley of Achor, which means “The Valley of Trouble.”
Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Now you can conquer the city of Ai. the Lord commanded Joshua to put all the people of Ai to death for their sins. This time, He said, the Israelis could keep the gold and silver they found, instead of putting it into the treasury of the Lord.
So Joshua and all his army attacked Ai. He sent thirty thousand men around behind the city during the night to hide where the people of Ai couldn’t see them. The rest of the army attacked from the front.
When the men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke rising, they didn’t know which way to go. Joshua and his men were in front of them, and those who had set the city on fire were behind them, so they couldn’t escape.
Then Joshua killed them all, as the Lord had commanded. But the Israelis kept the gold, silver, and cattle for themselves, for God had said that this time it was all right for them to do this.
Joshua then built an altar of great stones on Mount Ebal and wrote God’s law on it, just as Moses’ had told them to.
Questions:
Why did God let the men of Ai kill some of the Israelites?
What sin had Achan committed?
What was Achan’s punishment?
What happened when the Israelis went again to fight Ai?
Joshua Chapter’s 7 & 8
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