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The Reality: The name Ai means “ruin.” Archaeological evidence indicates that the city had been a pile of rubble for over a thousand years before the time of Joshua.

After the battle of Jericho, Joshua set his sights on the city of Ai, a name that translates as “Ruin.” The story places “Ruin” between Bethel ( “House of God” ) and Bethaven ( “House of Evil” ) an image that already suggests an allegorical framework.

As at Jericho, Joshua dispatched some spies and they came back with reports of an easy victory requiring only a small force. Joshua marshaled a modest contingent and sent them towards Ai. There, unfortunately, they suffered a major defeat and Joshua became wracked with despair. Israel’s leader conferred with God and learned that one of the Israelites had held back some of the LORD’s booty and Joshua would have to uncover the scoundrel and engage in a purification ritual.

Joshua made some inquiries and a man named Achan confessed to the deed. After the traditional stoning and immolation, Joshua buried Achan (henceforth known as “The Troubler of Israel” ) under a pile of rocks. This sacred execution brought about the necessary purification and on God’s word Joshua renewed plans for an attack on Ai.

This time, he had a new stratagem. Again he sent out a small force, but, assuming that the soldiers of Ai would be emboldened by their earlier victory, he figured they would come out from behind the city walls and attack. The small invasion force had been instructed to withdraw at this point and lure the defending army after them. Joshua had an ambush set up down the road to trap the soldiers with a second division poised to attack the now defenseless city. The plan worked like a charm. Ai was captured and destroyed, and the citizens all duly butchered.

As with Jericho, archaeological data presents a different picture. The site of Ai once hosted a major fortified city, but it was destroyed sometime around 2400 B.C. It remained unoccupied until about the twelfth century B.C., at which time evidence indicates the presence of a small village built over the ruins. As noted above, Ai is the Hebrew word for “ruin” and given the state of the site after 2400, Ai was probably the name applied to the remains of what had once been a famous old fortification. When Joshua attacked “Ruin,” it had already been deserted for over a millennium and it had no fortified walls.

Here, too, the author of Joshua borrowed from another text that told a similar story about different events. The Book of Judges describes a battle almost identical in form to the one at Ai. In the Judges account, some Benjaminites raped and killed the concubine of a traveling priest. When the other tribes demanded that Benjamin turn over the evildoers, it refused and Israel declared war on the reprobates.

What seemed like an easy victory at first turned into a route, just as at Ai, but here no explanation is given for the defeat. At Ai, a wicked Israelite caused the defeat; here the wicked Israelite was the enemy. Nevertheless, after some ritual prayer at the cult site of Bethel, God urged the Israelites forward and promised victory. The Israelites followed the same strategy used by Joshua at Ai. A small force approached the enemy and led them away from the city fortress, after which they were ambushed while a second force attacked the defenseless city. Israel killed almost all of the Benjaminites.

In both stories, Bethel is close by; some Israelite does great evil; an easy victory is lost; God urged a second attack; and the Hebrews followed the same deceptive battle strategy.

Coupled with the symbolic names “House of God,” House of Evil,” and “Ruin,” it’s not difficult to see the existence of some earlier legend about a confrontation between the inhabitants in the city of God and the inhabitants in the city of “Evil” going to war. Initially, due to a betrayal of God’s commandments, the righteous suffered a major setback, engaged in purification rituals, and resumed the battle, using the strategy of luring the enemy out of the city and into an ambush. The House of God triumphed. The House of Evil suffered a horrible defeat with its citizens utterly destroyed before the LORD.