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E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S., ON 



the land, and to bring the people to a solemn reading of the Law 

 upon the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. This involved that 

 he had to undertake a military duty : he must force his way up 

 the heights that rose some 3500 feet above him, and win a foot- 

 hold upon the Great Ridge. We may take it, therefore, jbhat 

 Joshua, after the destruction of Jericho, lost no time in sending 

 out scouts to reconnoitre the road by which he should gain the 

 central plateau. 



It must have been, therefore, quite early in the second month 

 that Joshua's scouts returned to him with the report that the 

 fortress which commanded the upper end of the valley of Achor 

 — the ravine which of!ered the best route for the highlands — 

 was a small town named Ai, and they suggested that quite a 

 small force would be sufhcient for its conquest. Obviously this 

 advice would appear to be sound from the military point of view : 

 the ascent up the ravine was very difficult, and the Israelites 

 would have a very poor chance of forcing their way upwards in 

 the face of a resolute resistance vmless they could surprise the 

 enemy that held the heights. Ai was only a small city, so that 

 a large army seemed unnecessary, and to be much more likely 

 to be detected in its approach. But the result of the expedition 

 was a disheartening defeat. The 3000 men despatched to seize 

 the pass were detected before they gained the heights, and fell 

 back in confusion and dismay after they had suffered a small 

 loss. 



We must not condemn the Israehtes as being too fainthearted. 

 What happened was probably this : they were climbing up as 

 quickly as they could in companies or half -companies (" hundreds" 

 or " fifties ") and the first " fifty " or half-com.pany was assailed 

 by stones slung or boulders rolled down upon them from above, 

 and was practically wiped out in a moment. The Israelites 

 could see that each succeeding fifty must share the same fate 

 without being able to retaliate. Now, Orientals in such an 

 extremity are very apt to give up the contest, and the Israelites 

 at Ai followed the ordinary rule. 



To Joshua this meant far more than a military defeat : it 

 meant that the Lord had shown that He was wroth with Israel, 

 and had withdrawn His help and guidance from the nation. In 

 deep distress, Joshua prostrated himself before the Lord, Who 

 revealed to him that a trespass had been committed in Israel 

 against His express command respecting the spoil of Jericho. 

 The criminal was detected, tried and executed, and when the 



