Under the watch of a HOLY God (Part II.b)

Defeat is a hard experience. Israel as a whole faced defeat before Ai with Achan's disobedience. It was trying time indeed. But was God still sovereign? Why, you ask, would the God of Isreal allow His people to experience such pain?

Return the question to yourself. What child, although dearly loved and cared for by their parents, lives a life free from pain? Do not children exercise choice in their activities, even choices that may lead to pain? Well, are we kept devoid of choice before God? Surely not. Therefore, pain is something we face . . . ever since the choice Adam and Eve made. Nevertheless, God is sovereign during all times. Israel served a Holy God who gave them real choices with real consequences. Yet, as Israel saw at the 2nd Battle of Ai, this Holy God remained sovereign. The battle was not won by Israel's might or morale (they lost the first time). No, the battle was won by God's hand.

"God of the Hills and Valleys" by Tauren Wells

Facts, Traditions, and Widespread Beliefs regarding the Valley of Achor and Ai: (continued)

• Geographical City of Ai:
• Genesis 12:7-9, "So he [Abram] built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD."
• Joshua 7:2-5, "Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, 'Go up and spy out the land.' So the men went up and spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said to him, 'Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few.' So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water."
• Ezra 2:1-29, "Now these are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city . . . the sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah and Beeroth, 743; the sons of Ramah and Geba, 621; the men of Michmas, 122; the men of Bethel and Ai, 223 . . ."
• Ai lay above Jericho in altitude (Joshua 7:2-5)
• Ai lay close to Beth-aven and just east of Bethel (Gen. 12:7-9; Joshua 7:2-5)
• A mountain lay between Bethel and Abram's Ai (Gen. 12:7-9)
• Ai was walled with a city gate (Joshua 7:2-5)
• Ai apparently lay west of a place called Shebarim (assuming the men of Israel fled back eastward to camp at Gilgal--see following passages), which was close to a descending slope (Joshua 7:2-5)
• Ai was repopulated by Israelites sometime after Joshua's conquest and prior to Babylonian captivity (Ezra 2:1-29)
• Joshua 8:10-29, "he [Joshua] went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city, and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city . . . and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley. It came about when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness . . . When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and slew the men of Ai. The others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they slew them until no one was left of those who survived or escaped . . . All who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000—all the people of Ai . . . Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap . . ."
• A large valley lay on the north side of Ai.
• The valley north of Ai led to a desert plain.
• Concealing terrain lay on the west of Ai.
• Cattle were taken alive from Ai.
• The ruins of Ai were plundered.
• Ai's city gate was on the north side.
• Ai was burned.
• Both men and women lived at Ai
• Encyclopaedia Britannica - Modern archaeology associates ancient Ai with et-Tell. But those ruins appear to only be from before and after Israelite conquest. Thus many archaeologists assume that Ai was identified by the Israelites with Bethel, placing Bethel-Ai at Beitin 1.5 miles west of et-Tell. This does not cohere with Joshua identifying Ai to lie east of Bethel).
• Dr. David Livingston - considers the Biblical account to be historical and favors Khirbet Nisya (Kh. Nisya) as site of ancient Ai:
• Kh. Nisya was ~5 acres in size, compared to the 11 acre size of "greater" Gibeon (Joshua 10:2)
• Kh. Nisya appears to be a reasonable topographical fit for Joshua's Ai.
• Kh. Nisya also reveals evidence of Israelite resettlement just prior and immediately after the Babylonian Captivity, which Bryant Wood's Kh. el- Maqatir does not show thus far. Upcoming website on Kh. Nisya dig site: "Ai Archaeological Park"
• However, Kh. Nisya shows no sign of walls and a gate at time of Joshua
• Dr. Livingston originally placed Beth-aven at Beitin, but now places Beth-aven at Kh. el-Maqatir. This would still hardly make Ai (if Ai was at Kh. Nisya) close to Beth-aven compared to Bethel (at el-Bireh), as mapped below. So, placement of Beth-aven at Kh. el-Maqatir and Ai at Kh. Nisya does not seem to fit the description in Joshua 7:2
• Also, Dr. Livingston does not mention evidence of Kh. Nisya having been burned.



Region of et-Tell, Kh. Nisya, and Kh. el-Maqatir (Biblicalarcheology.org).
Land elevation can be checked by clicking on terrain on elevationmap.net maps.

• Dr. Bryant Wood - places Ai at Khirbet el-Maqatir. The Bryant Wood team has found:
• Remains of a gate facing north at this site

Gate Socket Stones at Kh. el-Maqatir (Answers in Genesis)

• Pottery from the time of Joshua
• A prominent hill north of Kh. Maqatir called Jebel Abu Ammar (appears to rise to ~908 m on the elevationmap.net map) that is comparable in elevation to Mt. Gerizim, also in Canaan, which rises to 881 m above sea level.
• A concealing valley on the west of Kh. el-Maqatir called Wadi Sheban
• Signs of conflagration
• A shallow valley north of Ai called Wadi el-Gayeh/Wadi al-Jayah
• Kh. el-Maqatir is just 1 mile southeast of Beitin/Baytin, making Beitin a good candidate for Beth-aven
• El-Bireh, considered the best candidate for Bethel, is slightly further away but still nearby at 2 miles southwest of Kh. el-Maqatir.
• Kh. el-Maqatir was just ~7 acres in size during the time of Joshua, comparing well to greater Gibeon (Joshua 10:2)

Infant burial jar found at Kh. el-Maqatir (Biblearchaeology.org)

• Infant burial jar found at Kh. el-Maqatir affirms that both men and women were living there.
• Kh. el-Maqatir remained a desolate ruin after destruction by fire in the time of Joshua.
• This site fits the Joshua account well. The mountain between Ai and Bethel noted in Genesis may be explained by an earlier Ai ("Getting Archaeology Right at Ai", Footnote 2) being located at et-Tell. This would leave the sites of either Baytin/Beitin or Kh. el-Maqatir as the mountain Abram stood on with Ai on the east and Bethel on the west.