Ethan: Welcome to Immerse: the daily bible reading experience.
Day 100 and 66
but Israel violated the instructions about the things set apart for the Lord.
A man named Aiken had stolen some of these dedicated things, so the Lord
was very angry with the Israelites.
Aiken was the son of Carmine, a descendant of Zimri, son of
zero of the tribe of Judah.
Joshua sent some of his men from Jericho to spy out the town of ai,
east of Bethel, near Beth Haven.
When they returned, they told Joshua, there's no need for
all of us to go up there.
It won't take more than two or 3000 men to attack ai since there are so few of them.
Don't make all our people struggle to go up there.
So approximately 3000 warriors were sent, but they were soundly defeated.
The men of AI chased the Israelites from the town gate as far as the
quarries, and they killed about 36 who were retreating down the slope.
The Israelites were paralyzed with fear at this turn of events,
and their courage melted away.
Joshua and the elders of Israel tore their clothing in dismay, threw dust on their
heads, and bowed face down to the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening.
Then Joshua cried out, oh, sovereign Lord.
Why did you bring us across the Jordan River?
If you are going to let the Amorites kill us, if only we had been
content to stay on the other side.
Lord, what can I say?
Now that Israel has fled from its enemies for when the Canaanites and all the
other people living in the land hear about it, they will surround us and
wipe our name off the face of the Earth.
And then what will happen To the honor of your great name, but
the Lord said to Joshua, get up.
Why are you lying on your face like this?
Israel has sinned and broken my covenant.
They have stolen some of the things that I commanded must be set apart
from me, and they have not only stolen them, but have lied about it and hidden
the things among their own belongings.
That is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat.
For now, Israel itself has been set apart for destruction.
I will not remain with you any longer unless you destroy the things among you
that were set apart for destruction.
Get up.
Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow.
For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, hidden among you.
Oh, Israel are things set apart for the Lord.
You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.
In the morning, you must present yourselves by tribes and the
Lord will point out the tribe to which the guilty man belongs.
That tribe must come forward with its clans and the Lord
will point out the guilty clan.
That clan will then come forward and the Lord will point out the guilty family.
Finally, each member of the guilty family must come forward one by
one, the one who has stolen what was set apart for destruction.
Will himself be burned with fire along with everything he has for, he has
broken the covenant of the Lord and has done a horrible thing in Israel.
Early the next morning, Joshua brought the tribes of Israel before the Lord
and the tribe of Judah was singled out.
Then the clans of Judah came forward and the clan of Zera was singled out.
Then the families of Zera came forward and the family of Zimri was singled out.
Every member of Zimm RA's family was brought forward, person by
person, and Acan was singled out.
Then Joshua said to Acan, my son, give glory to the Lord, the God
of Israel by telling the truth.
Make your confession and tell me what you have done.
Don't hide it from me.
AAN replied, it is true.
I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel.
Among the plunder, I saw a beautiful robe from Babylon, 200 silver coins, and a
bar of gold weighing more than a pound.
I wanted them so much that I took them, they are hidden in the
ground beneath my tent with the silver buried deeper than the rest.
So Joshua sent some men to make a search.
They ran to the tent and found the stolen goods hidden there,
just as Aiken had said, with the silver buried beneath the rest.
They took the things from the tent and brought them to
Joshua and all the Israelites.
Then they laid them on the ground in the presence of the Lord.
Then Joshua and all the Israelites took Aiken, the
silver, the robe, the bar of gold.
His sons daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats.
Tent and everything he had and they brought them to the valley of aor.
Then Joshua said to Aiken, why have you brought trouble on us?
The Lord will now bring trouble on you.
And all the Israelites, stoned Aiken and his family and burned their bodies.
They piled a great heap of stones over Acan, which remains to this day.
That is why the place has been called the Valley of Trouble ever since.
So the Lord was no longer angry.
Then the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid or discouraged.
Take all your fighting men and attack ai for I have given you the king of
ai, his people, his town, and his land.
You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king.
But this time you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves.
Set an ambush behind the town.
So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack ai.
Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night with these
orders, hide in ambush close behind the town, and be ready for action.
When our main army attacks, the men of AI will come out to fight as they did
before, and we will run away from them.
We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town
for they will say, The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.
Then while we are running from them, you will jump up from your ambush and
take possession of the town for the Lord your God will give it to you.
Set the town on fire as the Lord has commanded you have your orders.
So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west
side of ai, but Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.
Early the next morning, Joshua aroused his men and started toward ai
accompanied by the elders of Israel.
All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town
and camped on the north side of AI with a valley between them and the town.
That night, Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel
and AI on the west side of the town.
So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town.
Joshua himself spent that night in the valley when the king of AI saw
the Israelites across the valley.
He and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the
Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley, but he didn't realize
there was an ambush behind the town.
Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as
though they were badly beaten.
Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them.
In this way, they were lured away from the town.
There was not a man left in AI or Bethel who did not chase After the
Israelites and the town was left wide open, then the Lord said to Joshua
Point the spear in your hand toward ai for I will hand the town over to you.
Joshua did as he was commanded.
As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from
their position and poured into the town.
They quickly captured it and set it on fire.
When the men of AI looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling
the sky and they had nowhere to go.
For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness
now turned on their pursuers.
When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and
that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of ai.
Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and
attacked the enemy from the rear.
So the men of AI were caught in the middle with Israelite fighters on both sides.
Israel attacked them and not a single person survived or escaped.
Only the king of AI was taken alive and brought to Joshua.
When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of
AI in the open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside.
So the entire population of ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day.
12,000 in all for Joshua, kept holding out his spear until everyone who had
lived in AI was completely destroyed.
Only the livestock and the treasures of the town were not destroyed for.
The Israelites kept these as plunder for themselves as the
Lord had commanded Joshua.
So Joshua burned the town of AI and it became a permanent mound of
ruins desolate to this very day.
Joshua impaled the king of AI on a sharpened pole and
left him there until evening.
At sunset, the Israelites took down the body as Joshua commanded and
threw it in front of the town gate.
They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today.
This concludes today's immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.