The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 196

1\fu:;oritPs ClllTert here agnin into "Ai."'' 37, e.nd especially the dual, ns here, in Gen. But the LXX. and Vnlgntc render as the xxxiv. 21; Isa. xxxi;i. 21. Eni!Yish translation. Ver. 22.-So that they let none of them Yer. 17.-0r Bethel These words are remain or escape. Literally, until thae nol in the LXX .. and they may possibly have r~mained to them ncitha rern:iindanorfngi- b,•cn a marginal gloss, for the intervention tive. of the people of Bethel in this battle is very Ver. 24.-In the wtldemess. The LXX.. tmintelligible. See note on eh. ,ii. 2. On must have read i11t!l:; in the going down, or the other hnnd, it is quite possible that the descent. Returned unto Ai and smote it. difficulty inrnl1·ed in their retention may According to God's comu11tnd the defence- harn caused their omission from the LXX., less inhabitants must share the fate of the and it may perhaps be thought possible that, army (see Deut. xx. 17). on the capture of Ai, the Bethelites returned Ver. 25.-All the men of Ai. Clearly all with all speed to their city, and that Joshua the population, as the context shows. postponed its capture in consequence of the Ver. 26.-lJtterly destroyed. Hebrew, formidable confederac~· (eh. ix. 1, 2), which tl'iQQ (see note on eh. vi. 17). his success had called into existence, or, Ver. 27.-0nly the cattle (see ver. 2). perhaps. by a desire to signalise at once the 1ictory e.t Ai by the ceremony (vers. 30-35) Ver. 28.-And Joshua burnt Ai He con- at Ge1izim. We read in eh. xii. 16 that tinued the work of destruction which the Bethel was taken. In Judg. i. 22 we read 9:111bush had begun, until the city was en- that it was not (see note on eh. xii. 16). t1rely destroyed. The word in ver. 19 (rl'J;') has rather the sense of kindlin" a fire • the , er. 18.-The spear. j'M':;l, a kind of long word here (:,"1b), more the sens~ of de;truc- and Blender lance, probably, like those of our lancers, with a flag attached. It is thns de- tion by fire. A heap for ever. o,1v·',r;., a scribed qy lumchi. Jahn, in his • Archieo- heap of etemi~y; i.e., a he;p for Tever, •at logia Biblica,' takes this new (sec. 276). But least up to the time of our writer.. But the Ai the , ulgate here, followed apparently by n:ientio~ed in Ezra ii. 28 may have. been a Grotins and Masius, suppose it to be a shield, city built, not o!1 precisely_ the same spot, but though the LXX. render by yaiuo,. In 1 near enough to it to take its name. And if Sam. :s:m. 6 the LXX. render by au,r,~, and Ai signifies ruins, and Dean Stanley be right our version by target. It is to be distin- in regarding it as referring to ruins in the guished from the lighter n•)n or flexible days of the Philistines, the name would be javelin (see, for instance, 1 Sam. xiii. 22, particularly suitable to this particular city. xii.ii. 10, which was thrown at the adversary, Travellers have identified th~ place with whereas the j'M''.;I was used to transfix him Tel-e!.Hajar, immediately to the south of in close combat. the Wady Mutyab. But see note·on eh. vii. 2 for Robinson's conclusion, which is con- >er. 20.-And they had no power. Lite- firmed by Canon Tristram, from the belief rally, no hands. Our version here follows that Tel-el-Hajar does not answer to the the Arabic, Syriac, and Chaldee versions. description of Ai in the Scripture narrative. The LXX. and Vulgate render no direction Banged on a tree. Literally," on the tree." in which to fly. But in this case o;i', would Perhaps after his death. But see Gen. x.l. seem preferable to OQ;J- The Va.lg~~ trans- 22; Deut. xri. 22. lJntU eventide. We lates the last clause of the verse ." Prmser- find here a remarkable coincidence with the tim cum hi, qui simulaverint fngam . , . precept in Deut. xxi. 23. The fact that no fortissime restitissent." They could not flee notice is here taken of that passage is con- back to the city, for it was in flames. They clusive against its having been inserted with could. not advance northward, because the a view to that precept in later times, and Israelites had faced abo~t and were coming this affords a strong presumption against to meet them. To flee m any other direc- the Elobist and J ehovist theory. Heap. t10n would be to cut off the last hope of Here ',I, an expressiol). usually applied to a sa,ing the city. For ,, in the sense of side heap of stones, a cairn, though not nlways or direction, howel'er, se~ Exod. ii. 5; Deut. ii. in precisely this sense (see Jer. ix. 10). en. vm. 1--29.) THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 1:35