The Battle of 'Ai'

The Lord has been inspiring me to write a post on the battle of Ai. So here it is. I am recording this as not only to learn battle and leadership strategies but to remember things that God is teaching me in this time.  Joshua's life is a life full of battles, battles against Hittities, Jebusites, Amorites, Anakites, Girgashites etc (all the 'ites' you can think of in the people groups that occupied Canan). Among these were the children of giants. We read their cities were urban civilizations with fortified cities and superior weapons and superior methods of warfare.  Yet Joshua and the children of Israel are given the chrage to take these cities down, conquer, destroy and annihilate the memory of these races from the face of the earth. A nomadic group of priests and sheperds are now warriors on an assignment from God, promised by God that their God is going before them as a devouring fire and yet they are given the mandate to STAND & FIGHT!.

The batte of Ai is interesting to me because just before this there is an interesting story of Achan's sin being dealt with and sin being removed from the camp. You can read an account of it in Joshua chapter 7. In the account Joshua is on his face asking Yehovah the reason for their defeat on Ai...at which God answers him saying "Stand Up! What are you doing down on your face?" (Joshua 7:6). Basically the story reveals later..God was asking him to get up and address the sin, purge it and be prepared to take down Ai, the resulting battle which is mentioned in Chapter 8.

Just before the battle The Lord gives Joshua the strategy to set an ambush behind the city and draw out the army in Ai from the front. The battle enuses Joshua's troops draw out the army out of the city and are being pursued by the enemy, the fight deepens and Joshua raises his javelin as the signal and the army on the hills descend and burn down the city. The army of AI that is outside the city fighting look back and see the ruins and smoke rising up in the city, they are terrified and are defeated. The account reveals that Joshua doesn't lower his javelin till the enemy is completely destoryed.

Why am I sharing this with you? The morning I read this in my quiet time, an hour later I get an email from a prayer warrior who covers me in prayers and in the email he mentioned signal the armies on the hills to descend, he didn't know that I had read this but God was confirming in spiritual light that it was time to signal the armies to descend from the hills and annihilate the enemies that stand before us. Let me remember this for the days to come:

So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city." (Joshua 8)

Blessings & Shalom,

Sam Kurien