Early the next
morning Joshua mustered his men, and he and the leaders of Israel marched
before them to Ai. The entire force that was with him marched up and approached
the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the
valley between them and the city. Joshua had taken about five thousand men and
set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. They had the
soldiers take up their positions—all those in the camp to the north of the city
and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.
When the king of Ai
saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to
meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not
know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. Joshua and all
Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the
desert. All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua
and were lured away from the city. Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did
not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.
Then
the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out
toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver
the city.” So Joshua held out his javelin toward Ai.
As soon as he did this, the men in the
ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the
city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.
The men of Ai looked
back and saw the smoke of the city rising against the sky, but they had no
chance to escape in any direction, for the Israelites who had been fleeing
toward the desert had turned back against their pursuers. For when Joshua and
all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up
from the city, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. The men of the ambush
also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle,
with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither
survivors nor fugitives. (Joshua 8:10-22)
The
king of Ai gathered all his men and rushed out, apparently thinking of an easy
victory and the possibility of spoils of war. I have to wonder about his
intelligence network. I can understand his thinking that the force in sight was
easy pickings, but Jericho had heard of Israel's God. Jericho had recently
fallen. There were millions of people who had moved into their territory.
Shouldn't that have set off a few alarms. For me, it brings to mind a hike I
took with my parents in the Great Smoky Mountains. Dad noticed a couple
"black squirrels" in a tree. I announced that they weren't squirrels,
they were bear cubs. Wisely, we started looking for "Momma Bear." Why
didn't the king of Ai think to look for Israel's "Momma Bear"?
He seems to have been distracted. This
looked like a perfect opportunity to strike. I have to wonder if he knew that
Joshua - "the Joshua" was in that little force. Keeping in mind the
idea that the army of Ai and its king represent sin. There are times when you
just know that the temptation to sin is going to attack. You can set yourself
up to fall victim to it as the Israelites has the day before. You can also set
sin up by laying an ambush. Have something to replace the sinful activity, then
put yourself in a situation in which you will experience the temptation, and
respond by doing the other - the good thing. Pray, exercise, craft, call an
accountability partner or read a book. Do something positive in place of the
sin. Use the power of new habits to overcome the old, bad habits keeping in
mind that it takes about three weeks to establish a habit under general
circumstances. It may take a month or more to establish one when it has
competition.
Of course, as was mentioned yesterday, using the same strategy for every
enemy isn't wise. This is just one available for us to prayerfully use.
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On the Calendar:
First Day of Sukkot
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