The Javelin and the Judgment Text: Joshua 8:18-23
Introduction: The God of Second Chances
We come now to the second assault on Ai, and we must remember what occasioned this second attempt. The first attempt was a miserable failure. It was a failure born of presumption, pride, and hidden sin in the camp. Israel went up against a small town, a veritable postage stamp on the map of Canaan, and was soundly thrashed and sent packing with their tails between their legs. Thirty six men died, and the hearts of the people melted and became like water. Why? Because Achan coveted, Achan stole, and Achan hid the accursed thing under the floor of his tent. One man's private sin resulted in a very public, corporate humiliation.
But after the sin was dealt with, after Achan and his household were stoned and burned in the valley of Achor, the valley of trouble, God speaks to Joshua again. And what He says is glorious. He does not say, "Well, Joshua, you had your chance." He does not say, "Too bad, so sad, the conquest is cancelled." No, He says, "Do not fear and do not 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" (Josh. 8:1). Our God is the God of second chances. But notice that the second chance is not a lowering of the standard. It is a renewal of the command, this time with the full backing of divine power because the sin has been judged and put away. This is the gospel pattern. We fail, we sin, we fall short. But when we confess and repent, when the sin is dealt with through the blood of Christ, God does not discard us. He cleanses us, He restores us, and He sends us back into the fight, this time with His power and His strategy.
The first battle was man's idea, based on faulty intelligence and carnal confidence. The second battle is God's idea, based on His sovereign decree and His detailed battle plan. This is the difference between all humanistic endeavors and true Christian warfare. We do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. And the victory is the Lord's.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that is in his hand toward the city.
Then the men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire.
Then the men of Ai turned back and looked, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers.
But Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended. So they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.
And the others came out from the city to meet them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they struck them down until there was no one remaining for him who survived or escaped.
But they seized the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
(Joshua 8:18-23 LSB)
The Signal of Sovereign Grace (v. 18)
We begin with the divine command that triggers the entire engagement.
"Then Yahweh said to Joshua, 'Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.' So Joshua stretched out the javelin that is in his hand toward the city." (Joshua 8:18)
Here we see the perfect interplay of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. God tells Joshua to stretch out the javelin, and as the reason, He says, "for I will give it into your hand." The victory is already accomplished in the heavenlies. God has already decreed it. But this divine decree does not negate Joshua's action; it necessitates it. Joshua's obedience is the instrument through which God's sovereign will is enacted on the battlefield. This is a principle that runs through all of Scripture. God ordains the ends, and He also ordains the means to those ends. He ordained that Israel would take Ai, and He ordained that they would do it through a feigned retreat, an ambush, and the signal of a stretched-out javelin.
This is a profound encouragement for us. We are not to sit back and wait for God to do everything. We are to act, to obey, to stretch out our hands in the work He has given us, precisely because He has promised to give us the victory. We pray as though it all depends on God, and we work as though it all depends on us. This is not a contradiction; it is covenant faithfulness.
The javelin itself is significant. This is not a magic wand. It is an instrument of war. Joshua is a military commander, a type of Christ as the Captain of our salvation. And this action echoes Moses. Remember when Israel fought the Amalekites? Moses stood on the hill with the staff of God in his hand. As long as he held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed (Exodus 17:11). Joshua was down in the valley fighting that day, and he learned the lesson well. Victory comes from the Lord, and it is mediated through the faithful obedience of His appointed leaders. The stretched-out javelin is a visible symbol of God's authority, His judgment against the wicked, and His promise of victory for His people. It is a declaration that this is not just a skirmish between two tribes over a piece of real estate. This is holy war. This is Yahweh's judgment falling on the Amorites, whose iniquity is now full (Gen. 15:16).
The Perfect Execution (v. 19-20)
The moment the signal is given, the plan unfolds with divine precision.
"Then the men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. Then the men of Ai turned back and looked, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that..." (Joshua 8:19-20)
Notice the speed and coordination. They rose "quickly," they "ran," and they "quickly" set the city on fire. This is the fruit of careful planning and disciplined obedience. God gave the strategy, but the men had to execute it. This was not a chaotic free-for-all. Every man knew his place and his role. The main army had to feign retreat convincingly enough to draw the entire army of Ai out of the city. The ambush force had to remain hidden and disciplined, waiting for the one signal from their commander. It was a beautiful piece of military choreography, all conducted under the sovereign hand of God.
The smoke is the turning point. For the men of Ai, it is the signal of their utter doom. They look back and see their city, their homes, their security, going up in flames. At that moment, their morale shatters. The text says "they had no place to flee this way or that." The Hebrew is literally that they had no "hands" to flee. They were utterly demoralized and paralyzed. Their strength was gone. They were caught in a divine pincer movement. Their place of refuge was now a beacon of their destruction. This is what judgment looks like. It is the removal of every false refuge, every idol, every ounce of self-reliance, until the sinner stands naked and helpless before the righteous judgment of God.
The Jaws of the Trap (v. 21-22)
What was a signal of doom for Ai becomes a signal of triumph for Israel.
"But Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended. So they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. And the others came out from the city to meet them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they struck them down until there was no one remaining for him who survived or escaped." (Joshua 8:21-22)
The feigned retreat now becomes a furious assault. The pursued become the pursuers. The men of Ai, who just moments before were confident in their victory, chasing a fleeing enemy, now find that same enemy turning on them with the fury of lions. And to make matters worse, the ambush force, their work in the city done, now comes out to meet them from behind. They are trapped. They are surrounded. There is no escape.
The text is emphatic: "they struck them down until there was no one remaining for him who survived or escaped." This is the language of herem warfare, the war of utter devotion to God. This is not ethnic cleansing, as our squeamish modern critics would have it. This is divine judgment. God is using Israel as His scalpel to cut out a cancerous tumor from the land. The Canaanites were not innocent farmers. They were a culture steeped in idolatry, child sacrifice, and sexual perversion of the foulest kinds. God had given them centuries to repent, and now the time for judgment had come. Israel was not to profit from this. They were not to take slaves or plunder (except as God explicitly permitted). They were to be the instruments of a holy execution.
This should be a sobering thought for us. God is patient, but His patience has a limit. There comes a time when judgment is the only option left. And when that judgment falls, it is total and inescapable. For those outside of Christ, this is a terrifying reality. They are trapped between the holy law of God which they have broken, and the coming judgment of God which they cannot escape. There is nowhere to run.
The Federal Head on Display (v. 23)
The passage concludes with the capture of the king.
"But they seized the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua." (Joshua 8:23)
Why is the king taken alive? He is not spared for mercy. He is spared to be made a public spectacle of God's victory. The king is the federal head of his people. He represents them. In his capture and subsequent execution, the entire city-state of Ai is judged. This is the principle of federal headship, which is central to the entire biblical narrative. Adam was our federal head, and in his sin, we all sinned and fell. The king of Ai is the head of his people, and in his humiliation and death, they are utterly defeated.
But thank God, there is another federal head. Jesus Christ is the King, the new Adam, the head of His people. And just as the king of Ai was brought before Joshua to face judgment, so our King was brought before the powers of this world. He was seized, judged, and executed. He was hung on a tree, just as the king of Ai would later be hung on a tree (v. 29). But here is the glorious reversal. The king of Ai was hung as a representative of his people in their guilt. Jesus was hung as a representative of His people, bearing their guilt. He took the curse for us. He faced the full, unmitigated wrath of God that was reserved for us, so that we, who were trapped with no place to flee, could find our refuge in Him.
Conclusion: From Achor to Ai
The story of Ai is the story of the gospel in miniature. It begins in the valley of Achor, the valley of trouble, where sin is exposed and judged without mercy. If the story ended there, we would all be lost. But it does not end there. Because the sin is dealt with, God provides a way forward. He gives the victory. He provides the strategy. He turns the symbol of our failure into the staging ground for His triumph.
The prophet Hosea picks up on this very theme. He says that God will allure His people and bring them into the wilderness, and there He will give her "the Valley of Achor as a door of hope" (Hosea 2:15). The place of our greatest failure, the place where our sin was judged, becomes the very doorway to renewed fellowship and victory. This is what Christ did for us on the cross. He went into the ultimate valley of trouble. He became sin for us. He was made a curse for us. And because He did, that place of judgment has become for us a door of hope.
The battle for Ai teaches us that our victory is not won through our own cleverness or strength. It is won through repentance from sin and radical obedience to the battle plan laid out in God's Word. When we fight on His terms, according to His strategy, with the javelin of His authority extended over us, the enemy is thrown into confusion, his strongholds are burned, and he is utterly defeated. The smoke of our victory ascends to heaven, a pleasing aroma to the God who gave it.