Episode 81: The Ai Massacre

(Joshua 8-9)

The Ai Massacre

¹ God said to Joshua,

Go up to Ai. I've given into your hand the king of Ai, its people, city, and land.

² Do to Ai like you did to Jericho. Only this time, you can keep all the prey for yourselves.

³ So Joshua and 30,000 soldiers went to Ai.

¹⁸ God said to Joshua,

Stretch out your spear toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.

And Joshua stretched out his spear toward Ai.

¹⁹ As soon as Joshua stretched out his hand, his men entered the city and set it on fire.

²¹ Then Joshua and the Israelites killed the men of Ai.

²² They killed everyone in Ai, except for the king, who they brought to Joshua.

²⁵ They killed 12,000 men and women of Ai in one day.

²⁶ Joshua didn't hold his hand back until he had killed everyone in Ai.

²⁷ But Joshua kept the animals and the spoil, as God commanded.

²⁸ Then he burned Ai and destroyed it forever. It is a desolation to this day.

²⁹ Joshua hung the king of Ai on a tree until the evening.

After sunset, Joshua took the carcass down, left it at the gate of the city, and put up a pile of stones. It's still there today.

^30-31 Then Joshua built an altar and offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings to God.

³² At the altar, Joshua wrote the entire law of Moses on stones, while all of the Israelites watched. ³⁴ After writing the law on stones, Joshua read every commandment of Moses to the people, along with all the blessings and curses. ³⁵ There wasn't a single word that Moses commanded that Joshua didn't read to the people.

Joshua enslaves the Gibeonites

9 ³ The Gibeonites heard about the massacres at Jericho and Ai, and they wanted to avoid becoming Joshua's next genocide victims. So they came up with a plan.

^4-5 They pretended to be travelers from afar by dressing in old clothes, with old bread and wine.

⁶ Then they went to Joshua and said to him,

We are from a faraway country.

Make a treaty with us.

¹⁵ Joshua made peace with them and agreed to let them live.

¹⁶ Three days later, the Israelites found out that the Gibeonites were their neighbors.

²² Joshua called the Gibeonites and said to them,

Why did you lie to us? You said you were from a faraway country.

23So now you are cursed. You will be slaves and never be free.

You'll chop our wood and fetch water for God's house.

²⁷ So Joshua made them choppers of wood and fetchers of water. They are still doing that to this day.