The Strategic

Destruction Of Ai

By

Holy Caleb De Warrior

Date: Seventhday, 24th September 2022

Event: Sabbath prayer and worship

Repentance, Prayer And Sanctification

It was not immediately Achan was killed that God told Joshua to rise against Ai. First, the Israelites went into prayers for one month. And everybody observed the rites of holiness to make himself clean, pure and holy.

If there is any nation that provoked the anger and wrath of God, His anger does not subside immediately, as humanity do think or see. If the anger and wrath of God fall upon a city, and the city turn around, repent, to do what God wants, the anger of God shall be subsiding. The more the city is moving forward, doing what God wants, the more His anger subsides. But if they remain disobedient and stubborn, even so the anger and wrath of God shall increase, multiply and intensify. That was why the Israelites did what God wants, and made themselves holy and went into prayers, for one month, before God told Joshua to rise against Ai.

The Lord Commands Joshua

Now the Lord said to Joshua: “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. 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."

Strategic Plans

We divided ourselves into four groups. Some went very close to Ai, while others stayed behind at our camp. Some other groups laid ambush in various places. It was Joshua, 5000 men and Israelites that went near to Ai …

One group went to the northern side of Ai. The third group laid ambush. The fourth group went to the western side of Ai. And the last and fourth group were led by Joshua and myself. The group on the west, on the north, ambush group and ourselves.

The ambush group created alarm. The people of Ai saw them and started to pursue them. Majority of the soldiers of Ai followed in the pursuit, because they were prepared and battle-ready. They thought that the Israelites were afraid of them. They did not know that the Israelites soldiers were against them, on the northern and western sides.

So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. And he commanded them, saying: "Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them. For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, 'They are fleeing before us as at the first.' Therefore we will flee before them. Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the Lord you shall do. See, I have commanded you."

Joshua therefore sent them out; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people. Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near; and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a valley lay between them and Ai. So he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

Offensive Operations

Now it happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against them behind the city. And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. So all the strong and mighty men of Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. So they left the city open and pursued Israel.

When Joshua blew his trumpet, the Israelites soldiers on the northern and western sides rose against the city. All the guards of Ai had gone out with their soldiers against the fleeing Israelites led by Joshua.

The soldiers and guards of Ai heard a great shout in their city, and knew that the Israelites had captured their city. When they turned round, they saw their city on fire and smokes rising. All things were destroyed.

By the time the soldiers and guards of Ai turned back, they saw that all of the city of Ai was being consumed by fire. The city had being destroyed. Even their various idols and shrines had even smashed and destroyed by the Israelites soldiers. Many of the people of Ai were killed, massacred, including their heads and men of great wisdom…

Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand." And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. 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, and hurried to set the city on fire. And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven.

Before they could return to their city, ourselves the group led by Joshua fought against them.

So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.

Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. Then the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And the Israelites struck them down, so that the Israelites let none of them remain or escape. But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all the soldiers of Ai had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand — majority of the people of Ai. For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until his destruction overwhelmed the people of Ai and they surrendered. Joshua 8:1-26

Surrender

The Israelites did not kill all the soldiers and guards, because the people of Ai surrendered, when they saw that Joshua and Israelites have conquered them. They surrendered by keeping all their weapons on the ground, in front of the Israelites. Soldiers surrender by doing this. Next, they bow down and raise their hands up, and denounce their nation, and become slaves to the conquering nation.

It was not all the people of Ai that pursued the Israelites. It was only the strong and able bodied men. Their noble and rich men, as well as their women, young girls and children, did not engage in the battle. Their king did not go into the battle. Usually a king sits in his throne, receiving information, often planning operations, strategies and supplies. The surrendered soldiers were not killed. Instead, they became captives and slaves.

Selective Mercy

It is not all the nations defeated in battle that you shall show mercy to. Much of what is done depends on what God the Father wants or says. When we defeated the people of Jericho, none of them was left alive, except Rahab family. But in the battle against Ai, it was not everybody that was killed. Some of them were left alive.

Booty

Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. Joshua 8:27,28

Death Of The King Of Ai

And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Joshua 8:29

Why di Joshua give such orders?

Number 1, all thing have their respective processes and procedures.

Number 2, all that we do are rites of holiness.

What Joshua said was true and what was recorded was true, before 4:00pm. Every day begins and ends at 4;00pm evening, as created by God Almighty, and not at 12:00midnight. If the corpse remained until the following day, it shall become defiled. Immediately he died, the body of the king was removed.

The Reasons For Removing The Crown

What law governs the killing of a king?

There were many kings that were killed by the Israelites. Many kings, many kings and many kings.

Number 1, the kings have their laws. Ourselves also have our own laws. During our time, ourselves know the customs and traditions. The laws of the nations are different from one another.

For example, the King of Ai, the crown shall not be on his head when he is killed. The crown is removed because it means power and dominion. If you kill a king with the crown on his head, the spirit, power and dominion remains, because nations have their respective spirits. The Israelites have God that protects them through the Hosts of Angels and Saints of Heaven. The people of Jericho had their own spirit.

Son of man, what do these spirits do in their respective nations?

The spirits protect and direct the people, and the spirit make them to increase and multiply. As they are increasing and multiplying, even so their evils and abominations are multiplying. Their culture and conditions continue to exist and to enlarge. Their foundation remains and consolidates.

If their God were God the father in heaven, the angel of God will be in their midst. But if the spirit of the nation were Baal or idol, an evil spirit will be in their midst. That is why such people are a nation. The same spirit is in the crown of their king. That is why the crown is removed before the king is killed.

Some kings were asked by God to bow down before they were killed. Themselves shall wore off their crowns, kept the crowns on the ground, before they were killed. Some have their crowns removed, before they were hung on a tree.

Number 1, their genealogy, future generations, matter a lot. As the crown is removed, even so is power and dominion removed from that nation and their future generations.