Joshua 8:24

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Joshua 8:24-25. The Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it — That is, the inhabitants of it, the men who, through age and infirmity, were unfit for war, and the women, Joshua 8:25. Twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai — Not strictly, but largely so called; all who were now in Ai, either as constant and settled inhabitants, or as sojourners, and such as came to them for their help.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:23-29 God, the righteous Judge, had sentenced the Canaanites for their wickedness; the Israelites only executed his doom. None of their conduct can be drawn into an example for others. Especial reason no doubt there was for this severity to the king of Ai; it is likely he had been notoriously wicked and vile, and a blasphemer of the God of Israel.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

No doubt Joshua had ascended the heights, most likely those to the north of the valley, so as to separate himself from the flying Israelites on the lower ground, and to be visible to the men in ambush behind the city. He now, at the command of God, gives the appointed signal to the ambush.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword—the women, children, and old persons left behind, amounting, in all, to twelve thousand people [Jos 8:25].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e. The inhabitants of it, the men, who through age or infirmity were unfit for war, and the women, Joshua 8:25.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai,.... That came out against them:

in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them; both in the arable lands that were sown with corn, and now clothed with it, the wheat especially, not being gathered in, as not yet ripe, and in the pasture ground, designed by the wilderness, see Joshua 8:15; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it:

and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword; and were slain by it:

until they were consumed; and not one left:

that all the Israelites returned unto Ai; both the ambush that came out of it, and the army that came against it:

and smote it with the edge of the sword; that is, the inhabitants that were left in it unfit for war, as old men, infirm persons, women and children, as follows.

Geneva Study Bible

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 {k} smote it with the edge of the sword.

(k) For the fire, which they had before set in the city, was not to consume it, but to signify to Joshua that they had entered.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - In the wilderness. The LXX. must have read בַמּורָד 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 20:17). Joshua 8:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When all the men of Ai, who had come out to pursue the Israelites, had been slain upon the field (namely) in the desert, all Israel returned to Ai and smote it (the town, i.e., the inhabitants), so that on that day there fell of men and women, 12,000, all the people of Ai: for Joshua did not draw back his hand, which had been stretched out with the javelin, till all the inhabitants of Ai were smitten with the ban, i.e., put to death; according to the common custom of war, that the general did not lower the war-signal till the conflict was to cease (see Suidas in Σημεῖα, and Lipsius de militia, Rom. iv. dial. 12).