35.

The Ai Massacre

After stoning and burning to death Achan and his family (34), Joshua was back in the genocide business.

God told Joshua to do unto Ai as they did unto Jericho, except that this time the Israelites could keep some of the loot for themselves (instead of giving it all to him).

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. Joshua 8:2

So that's what they did.

They killed the soldiers,

Joshua and all Israel ... slew the men of Ai ... so that they let none of them remain or escape. 8.21-22

murdered all the women and children,

Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 8:26

burned the city,

Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever. 8:28

killed the King of Ai, and hung his dead body on a tree.

The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide. 8:29

Just like God told them to do.

And, finally, after they were done killing all the people, Joshua killed some animals as a "peace offering" to his bloody god of war.

Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD ... and ... offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. 8:30-31

One thing I really like about this story (What's not to like?) is that this time I don't have to guess the number of victims. The Bible tells us how many were killed: 12,000.

And ... all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand. 8:25