Ep. 51 - Ai Falls

Last we left the Israelites they had just destroyed Jericho.  The Israelites were just beginning their invasion of the Promised Land.  They had crossed the Jordan River, and then they had run into Jericho…one of the biggest, strongest, and best fortified cities in Canaan.  But then they had just marched around it a few times…and the walls fell down…which let them go right up into the city and destroy it.  It had been a huge victory.  And the Israelites…well it seems they were kinda getting a bit confident.  Maybe even a bit over-confident.  I mean, if Jericho had fallen so easily, then the rest of Canaan would be a piece of cake, right?  If Jericho couldn’t stand against the Israelites, then who could?  And with this new confidence, the Israelites began to march further into Canaan.

But this confidence would not last very long.  The next city that the Israelites would run into was called Ai.  And Joshua…same as what he’d done with Jericho…sent spies to check out the city.  And as it turned out, Ai was a small city…almost not worth talking about as compared to the huge city Jericho which they’d just destroyed.  So, when the spies came back, they confidently said to Joshua, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” (Josh. 7:3) So basically, the spies were saying, “Don’t worry Joshua, Ai is tiny.  Don’t bother too much with it.  Just send a few thousand soldiers…that should be more than enough for such a small city.”  The spies thought that Ai was more of an annoyance rather than something they really needed to worry about.  Now, if you kidzos will remember, before the Israelites had attacked Jericho, Joshua had snuck out of the camp to pray for God’s direction.  But since Ai was so small, and since they were riding super high after Jericho, Joshua skipped praying for God’s direction.  And so, without a second thought, Joshua sent the requested three thousand men to take care of Ai. 

But it didn’t take too long for Joshua to regret his decision.  The three thousand soldiers indeed went out to attack Ai, but then the Bible says that they, “fled before the men of Ai.  (5)  And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent;” (7:4-5) Even though Ai was a small city, it still had walls around it, and it was on top of a hill.  And it seems that the over-confident Israelites just went right up to the front gate and tried to barge their way in.  When things didn’t go well, and the Israelites realized they wouldn’t be able to take the city, they turned around and ran back down the hill away from the city.  At this point, it seems that the Ai-ites came out of the city and attacked the Israelites while they were running away…killing 36 men.  (BTW kidzos, back in ancient times, most of the deaths in these big ancient battles were not actually from the head-to-head, sword-to-sword, shield-to-shield fighting.  Most of the deaths happened when the soldiers on one side or the other realized…uh oh…we’re gonna lose…let’s get outta here…and tried to run away in a panic.  It’s when the panicking soldiers turned their backs to the enemy and were scrambling to get away that the winning army would rush forward and kill as many of the panicking soldiers as they could.  This is how most soldiers died in these battles.  Now try to remember this little detail, because it will come up later in the story.)

And how did the Israelites react to the news of the defeat at Ai?  Well, not that good.  Even though losing just 36 men wasn’t all that bad all things considered, as soon as they found out about the defeat, the Bible says that “the hearts of the people melted and became like water.” (7:5) And not only that, but the Bible also says that Joshua “tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.” (7:6) And then Joshua said (and BTW kidzos your uncle Paul is going to help with the voice of Joshua in this story, ok?), “Lord GOD, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan!  (8)  O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies?  (9)  For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth.” (7:7-9) Once the Israelites realized that they couldn’t even defeat this little city, they got scared.  I mean, they were in the middle of enemy territory, surrounded by people who wanted to kill them.  And at the moment, all the people in Canaan were scared of the Israelites and were either holed up in their cities or were busy running away (them being the smart ones).  What would happen if the surrounding nations heard that Israel couldn’t even defeat a small city like Ai?  What would happen if the people around them realized that Israel was vulnerable?  Well, it’s like what Joshua said…their enemies would surround them on all sides, and it would be over.  And this is why Joshua had torn his clothes, put dust on his head, and was lying on the ground in front of the ark…because they were in big trouble. 

But Joshua didn’t understand why they were in big trouble.  This whole situation made no sense to him.  Why had God given them the victory over Jericho but not over Ai?  What had gone wrong?  What was the problem?  Well, Joshua didn’t have to wait very long to get answers to his questions.  Because God spoke to Joshua and said, “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?  (11)  Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.  (12)  Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.” (7:10-12) Ok, so it sounds like at least one of the Israelites had stolen something important.  What exactly it was and when it had happened, Joshua had no idea.  But in any case, he needed to fix this problem as soon as possible. 

But how would they find who had stolen these “accursed things”?  Well, God had an answer for that too.  And God told Joshua that, first, God wanted all the leaders of the tribes to line up, and then God would show them in which tribe the stealing had happened.  After the tribe and been picked, all the heads of the family groups of that tribe would line up, and God would show them in which family group the stealing had happened.  And this would go on until God had shown exactly who had done the stealing.  (BTW the Bible doesn’t say how God showed Joshua who was to be picked at each step, but most likely, it was something like drawing lots.). And so, the next morning, Joshua got things started.  Someone from each of the 12 tribes came to Joshua, and as it turned out, the tribe of Judah was picked.  So then the family groups of the tribe of Judah came to Joshua, and a family group called the Zarhites was picked.  Then the individual households of the Zarhite family came to Joshua, and then the household of Zabdi was picked.  Then each individual man in the Zabdi household came to Joshua, and (as it turned out) a man named Achan was finally picked.  Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, had apparently stolen something important.  And all eyes were on Achan…what had Achan stolen?

And so, Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” (7:19) And Achan answered Joshua, and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done:  (21)  When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.” (7:20-21) So what had Achan done?  Well, it seems that Achan had been one of the soldiers that had gone in to destroy Jericho.  And while Achan was busy destroying Jericho he spied a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver (worth about $1,300 USD today), and a wedge of gold (worth about $30,000 USD today).  Now, just before the soldiers had gone into Jericho, Joshua had given the soldiers some important instructions…including saying, “By all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.  But all of the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.” (6:18-19) So Achan knew that he wasn’t supposed to take anything out of Jericho, and he knew that if he did that not only would he be cursed…but the entire Israelite camp would be cursed.  But Achan had looked at the beautiful garment, and looked at the silver and the gold, and he just couldn’t help himself…he wanted it so bad…he just had to have it.  And so, apparently while no one was looking, he snuck his treasure out of the city and buried it in the ground underneath his tent.  And now here they all were, 36 dead soldiers later, stuck at the small city of Ai. 

To make sure that Achan was telling them the truth, Joshua sent messengers to Achan’s tent.  And indeed, once they had dug around a little bit, they found Achan’s forbidden treasure exactly like he’d said, and they took it back to Joshua.  And Joshua took action immediately.  God had already said the Israelites needed to destroy the accursed thing causing them so much trouble.  But not only that, God had also said that both the accursed thing and the man responsible for stealing it (along with all his stuff) were to be burned.  So, obeying God’s direction, Joshua took the Babylonian garment, the silver, the gold, Achan, and all Achan’s stuff over to a nearby valley.  Then Joshua turned to Achan and said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” (7:25) And with that, the Israelites stoned Achan to death, and then burned him and all his stuff in the valley.  After everything had burned up, the Israelites made a big hill of stones on top of everything and then named the place the Valley of Achor…which literally means Valley of Trouble. 

With this very unfortunate and very sad business out of the way, it was time to move on.  But this time, Joshua was going to be a bit more careful, and so he waited for God’s direction.  And sure enough, God did come to Joshua and said, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.  (2)  And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.” (8:1-2) So, just like with Jericho, God was guaranteeing success in an attack on Ai.  And also, just like with Jericho, all the soldiers would be coming out for this one…no more of this only sending three thousand soldiers thing that Joshua had done last time. What was different about this time, was that instead of marching around the city a bunch of times, they were to find a way to ambush (or surprise attack) the city from behind. 

And this is exactly what Joshua and the Israelites did.  The Bible says that Joshua, “chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night.” (8:3) While it was dark, these thirty thousand men were to sneak around to the other side of Ai and hide.  These men would be the ambush.  Then in the morning, Joshua took the rest of the army to attack the city from the front.  The plan was to make Ai think that the Israelites were attacking the exact same way as last time…going right up to the front gate…only this time with more soldiers.  Once the attack started, the Israelites would pretend to lose, and start running away…turning their backs and pretending to be panicking just like last time.  Now do kidzos remember what we talked about before that most of the soldiers who died in these battles were soldiers who turned their backs and ran away?  Well, the soldiers in Ai knew this too.  And so the idea was that when the soldiers in Ai would see the Israelites panicking and running away, they would say to themselves…it’s time to kill as many Israelites as we can…and rush out of the city.  Once that happened, Ai would be undefended.  Then Joshua would give the signal, and the thirty thousand soldiers hiding on the other side of Ai would come out of their hiding spot and burn the city to the ground. 

And this plan worked even better than they expected.  When the king of Ai saw the Israelites coming to attack the city again, he didn’t just wait behind his walls like the last time.  Instead, feeling somewhat overconfident, he sent most of his soldiers out of the city to fight the Israelites in the plain in front of the city (which actually made things easier for the Israelites).  The Israelites attacked this army, and then, pretending to be beaten, turned their backs and ran away.  And then the Bible says that, “all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.  (17)  There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel.” (8:16-17) The people in Ai wanted to kill as many Israelite soldiers as they could, so they called every single man out of Ai to come help them.  And the city was completely undefended.  And then Joshua gave the signal.  And the Bible says that Joshua, “stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city.  (19)  So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it” (8:18-19) With no one being left in the city, the Israelites who’d been waiting in ambush had no trouble taking it.  And as soon as they had taken the city, they set it on fire. 

When the main Israelite army saw the smoke from Ai, that was their signal.  The fleeing Israelites immediately stopped running, turned around, and started to fight.  The soldiers from Ai were super surprised…what was going on?  And when they looked behind them, they saw their city on fire.  Now there was nowhere for them to go.  And things got even worse for them because once the 30 thousand soldiers who’d been hiding had finished setting fire to Ai, they decided to help with the attack.  And down the hill they went to attack the soldiers from Ai from behind.  The soldiers from Ai were suddenly being attacked from the front and being attacked from behind…and they were completely surrounded.  And the Bible says that they were, “caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they (that is the Israelites) struck them down, so that they let none of them remain or escape.” (8:22) Every single soldier who had come out to fight Israel died on that battlefield.

Once the battle was over, the Israelites turned their attention to the burning city.  And the Bible says that Joshua, “did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.” (8:26) Twelve thousand people, both men and women…anyone who had stayed in city despite knowing that God and the Israelites were coming…died that day.  Joshua also took the king of Ai, hung him from a tree, and then threw his body by the front gate.  Then the Israelites made a huge pile of stones on the body.  With the king dead, the city burned to the ground, and all the people in the city dead…there was no question…Ai had been completely defeated. 

Ok kidzos, so what can we learn from this story.  Well, as usual, all kinds of things…like maybe being careful to ask for God’s blessing even in the seemingly small things…or maybe something about not turning our backs on the enemy.  But, for today let’s talk about Achan.  Achan had gotten the whole Israelite camp in trouble because he took that stuff from Jericho.  Now, Achan knew that he wasn’t supposed to take anything from Jericho…and he knew that if he did that he would be putting the whole camp at risk.  So, why did he do it anyway?  Well, because he coveted.  Achan looked at the Babylon garment…and it just seemed so nice to him…it would look so good on him.  And then Achan looked at the silver and the gold, and boy…look at all that silver…and a whole wedge of gold…it was so much money.  And the more he looked at this stuff…the more he wanted it…until he just couldn’t help himself anymore…he just had to have it…and he took it. 

And you know, we’re not so different from Achan sometimes, are we kidzos?  Because that’s the same feeling…the feeling of coveting…that we are tempted to have when one of our friends gets something nice…like a new bike, or a new remote-control car, or a nice jacket or dress, or maybe a new phone or iPad.  Maybe your friend lets you use their new thing for a bit...and boy, it just feels so good…oh I just have to have it!  And before you know it…you have started to covet.  Now, God told the Israelites on Mt. Sinai…thou shalt not covet.  Because coveting is like a poison in your heart.  The more you let it go, the more unhappy you will be and the more likely you will do something bad to get the thing you are coveting.  Maybe one day I’ll do a bonus episode on this, but believe it or not…the main reason that the devil became the devil was because…you guessed it…he coveted.  You know kidzos, Papa has a trick that he uses.  Whenever I’m tempted to covet, I first pray to God to take it away from me…and then I try to be happy for the person.  Oh my friend got a new bike?  Great, I’m sure he’s going to love it!  Oh my friend got a new remote-control car?  Wonderful, I’m sure that they are going to have a lot of fun!  Oh, my friend got a new iPhone?  Amazing!  I bet that they will have really nice pictures.  It’s important to realize right away that you are starting to covet so that you can nip it in the bud.  Because if you don’t…boy, it can get you into a lot of trouble…just like Achan.