But not one mention of the word 'desert', so we will pass right over those chapters and land on Joshua 8, which is another key battle in the military campaign to possess the Promised Land, but it doesn't get nearly as much press as the previous battle.
See, they had attacked Ai once before, on the heels of their victory at Jericho, without any directive from God to do so and been soundly defeated (Josh.7:1-8). By all human reasoning, it should have been an easy victory. But, there was a problem that they had not identified or dealt with and, because they elected to attack Ai without consulting the Lord for a strategy, they were ignorant of their vulnerability and it cost them. THEN they sought God's counsel, rooted out and dealt with the issue, and when it was done God said 'Don't be afraid or distressed; I will give you the victory. Go set an ambush behind the city. Oh, and THIS time...you can keep the plunder.' (highly paraphrased Josh 8:1 - 2)
Also, this time, apparently the fighting men of Bethel, the next little town up the road, joined the Ai army as well (8: 17): this means the defeat of Ai was also the defeat of Bethel.
The strategy God gave Joshua was a pincer ambush movement. Joshua sent 30,000 prime fighters under cover of darkness to camp out covertly between Ai and Bethel. Then, the next morning, Joshua and about 5,000 fighting men made a big show of marching off to battle Ai and set up camp just north of the city, then moved into the valley near they city during the following night. The king of Ai, apparently thinking he would catch Israel in battle preparations and not quite ready, led an attack early the next morning.
Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the desert. (verse 15)
The men of Ai and Bethel, thinking this was a repeat of the previous battle, gleefully pursued the 'fleeing' Israelites. According to verse 17, they completely emptied the city of all fighting men to join the pursuit.
Bad move.
Once they were away from the city, God told Joshua that it was time to turn the battle, and Joshua stopped and clearly pointed his javelin back toward Ai. That was the signal for the men who were camped between Ai and Bethel, and all 30,000 of them stormed the now defenseless city; they quickly captured it and 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. (v. 20).
Now the opposing armies of Ai and Bethel were trapped between the troops coming out of the defeated city and the troops who had turned back towards them. They didn't have a chance.
When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the desert where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. (v.24)
After the battle was over and the king executed, Ai was left as a heap of ruins, with rocks piled on the body of the king in front of what was the gate. Which, the chronicler of the events noted, was still there when the record was written down (8:29).
Here's why I think it was a key battle...1) it reaffirmed to the Israelites that, when they do things the way God instructs, they win; and 2) it created such an atmosphere of fear in the surrounding cities that they began to band together to do battle against the Israelites. Israel rarely fought a single enemy in a battle...they fought alliances, so one battle defeated multiple armies. The next mention of the word 'desert' is in 12:8, which is in a description of all the territory the Israelites had conquered in these battles --
The hill country, the western foothills, the Arabah, the mountain slopes, the desert and the Negev -- the lands of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites
It is true that all these references are purely geographical, but if you consider the desert to be the location of Israel's testing, which it was, the inclusion of it takes on a little more significance. The Israelites appeared to run back towards where they came from...but they turned around. The desert at their back became a part of the strategy. Then, when their enemies fled toward the desert; Israel chased them into the desert and slaughtered them there. The Israelites had been tested in the desert and come through it; now it was their ally. Israel could face, and conquer, enemies who tried to flee to the environment they had survived. The desert had no power over them any longer, but instead became part of their strength.
That's a lesson that we all could ponder right now...
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