With one of those dramatic contrasts which are so characteristic of the prophetic narrative, the success at Jericho is followed by the tragedy at Ai-a tragedy deeper than at first they knew; for it was not merely the failure of an attack and the loss of men, but the breach of a great moral law, with the loss of stability and power which such a breach always entails.
1. Fresh from the success at Jericho, the Israelites turned their attention to the city of Ai. Acting upon advice given by spies Joshua sent an attacking force of only three thousand men, while the population of Ai numbered more than twelve thousand, defended by a powerful and well-trained army. The Israelites were repulsed with considerable slaughter, and thrown into the deepest humiliation.
They had expected an easy victory; and now, at the close of the day, we see Joshua and the leaders of Israel prone upon the earth, with dust upon their heads and their clothes rent. Israel had turned their backs upon their enemies, Israel had been defeated; and it seemed to them, as they lay thus in utter distress upon their faces, that God had forsaken them, that destruction lay before them, that they were lost. The leader's courage seemed to have forsaken him. The defeat was so unlooked for, so strange, so unaccountable that it blotted out the victory at Jericho, dimmed the Divine help at Jordan, and clouded the whole horizon of his hopes. He raised up his voice in prayer, and said, “Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!” It is now easily seen why Moses and the Lord particularly charged Joshua to be strong and courageous.
Simple but searching was the answer to his prayer: sin there was somewhere, exposing the people to the wrath of their God; and until the sinful thing was put away, the wrath and defeat would remain. By the divinely-guided lot, the offender was discovered. Urged by Joshua to acknowledge Jehovah as a just and all-seeing God, Achan confessed his sin-the sin of covetousness. He had taken of the precious things already devoted to Jehovah, and so had involved himself and all his people in the doom of things devoted. The “troubler” of Israel was stoned; his family and possessions were burned; and communion between Jehovah and His people was restored.
“A lover of silver,” this latter word being the common and proper word for covetous, in the Gospels and Epistles; as of the Pharisees in Luk_16:14; and associated with the other characters of men in perilous times, 2Ti_3:2, and its relative noun φιλαργυρία given in sum for the root of all evil in 1Ti_6:10, while even the authority of Liddell and Scott in the interpretation of πλεονεξία itself as only the desire of getting more than our share, may perhaps be bettered by the authority of the teacher, who, declining the appeal made to him as an equitable μεριστής (Luk_12:14-46), tells his disciples to beware of covetousness, simply as the desire of getting more than we have got. “For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.”1 [Note: Ruskin, On the Old Road, ii. § 162.]
One act of disobedience led to Adam's expulsion from Paradise. It was one sin which brought darkness and death into our world at first. And even now great mischief, sometimes death, will follow one wrong act. One bar of iron pushed in among the wheels of the most delicate machine will smash and destroy it. One defect in the axle of the locomotive engine is enough to smash it, wreck the train, and hurl death and destruction all round. One leak in the ship is enough to start it on the way to wreckage.2 [Note: Charles Leach, Sermons to Working-Men, 197.]
2. The sin of Achan punished, God now roused Joshua from the dejection into which he had fallen by telling him to go forth, and Ai should be given into his hands. Joshua practised a remarkable stratagem upon his foes, reserving his main force in ambush, while a small detachment attacked the city and drew the defenders out, slaying them to a man, the king himself being slain by Joshua's own hand. At the close of this victorious expedition, Joshua held a service of thanksgiving on Mount Ebal. The altar was in accordance with the Mosaic tradition; no tool was lifted on it. The victorious chief built the altar, the Levites appearing as bearers of the ark, and, as such, being called priests. Joshua, though an Ephraimite, was the principal celebrant. He read the Law. And as he solemnly read, whether the blessing or the curse, each several item was responded to by the Amens that thundered forth from thousands of throats, and rolled in reverberating echoes through the hills.
The following account of the signing of the Scottish Covenant, on Feb. 28th, 1638, in Greyfriars Church and churchyard, is given in Cunningham's Church History of Scotland: “All were invited to come forward and sign. The aged Earl of Sutherland was the first to append his name. He was followed by Sir Andrew Murray, the minister of Abdy, in Fife. Then high-born and low-born together crowded forward to add their signatures. When all in the church had signed the solemn document, it was taken out to the church-yard, and laid upon a flat grave-stone. The enthusiasm of the crowd rose to its greatest height. Men and women were alike ambitious to subscribe their names. Some wrote after their signatures, ‘till death'; others could not restrain their feelings, and wept. This went on for hours, till every part of the parchment was covered, and the subscribers had only room to write their initials; and dark night alone put an end to the scene. Henderson afterwards described it as ‘the day of the Lord's power, wherein they had seen His people most willingly offer themselves in multitudes, like the dew of the morning.' ‘It may well be said of this day,' says another old writer, ‘Great was the day of Jezreel.' It was a day wherein the arm of the Lord was revealed-a day wherein the princes of the people were assembled to swear fealty and allegiance to that great King whose name is the Lord of Hosts.”1 [Note: J. Cunningham, Church History of Scotland, ii. 82.]
