“Not a man was left in ‘Ai or Beit-El who had not gone after Israel; pursuing Israel, they left the city wide open.”-Joshua 8:17
So yesterday I mentioned there are some scholars out there who make the claim that Ai and Beit-el were one and the same city, just with different names.
However, take a look at verse 17 copied above.
It says…“Not a man was left in Ai or Beit-El“.
Well, well, well…
…so much for the theory that these two cities were the same place with just two different names.
Verse 17 clearly indicates that Ai and Beit-el were two different cities that had established a military alliance for mutual protection and fought together as one group of soldiers.
This was actually a normal thing in those days as it is today.
Nations will often form alliances with each other promising to band together if one of them is attacked.
In the narrative here, we’re told that both Ai and Beit-el who had formed an alliance were defeated and that “not one man” was left in either location.
They were BOTH conquered by Israel.
And incidentally, when it says “not one man was left”, it’s only referring to the soldiers of Ai and Beit-El, not the common citizens.
As mentioned earlier, the battle plan executed by Joshua was an ambush.
Joshua sent about 5000 of his men into hiding and had the remaining 25,000 men attack the front gates of the city as if this was the primary and only means of attack that Joshua planned on using.
The ploy obviously worked since he was able successfully draw the fighting men out of Ai like moths to a flame resulting in the city of Ai (and Beit-el) being left totally unprotected.
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