Thursday, September 23, 2010

NIPTO, Day 228

Hey-o blog readers!

Todayyyy I did a little school, went driving for 2 hours (/did maneuverability), came home, ate lunch/watched Music&Lyrics (LOVE!), annnnnd did school stuff, babysat/did homework/helped with homework, came home, bummed around a bit, ate dinner, did Physics and LIT, put my laundry away, and now I'm blogging. And we're about to watch the Glee season premier if it works...
Yupppp. After I finish blogging and watching Glee, I'm going to bed. And I'm going to sleep in tomorrow! (Watch, I'll probably wake up at like, 5 am and won't be able to go back to sleep... It would happen to me, ladies and gentlemen.)

Today for NIPTO, Joshua 8:1-29

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city."

God told Joshua again to not be afraid. To not be discouraged. He told him to take the whole army and go to attack Ai.  God assured him that he would deliver the king of Ai, the people of Ai, and the city and land to Joshua/the Israelites. He told them to do the same thing they did to Jericho, except that they could take plunder and livestock from the city.


3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4 with these orders: "Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don't go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, 'They are running away from us as they did before.' So when we flee from them, 7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give it into your hand. 8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See to it; you have my orders."

Joshua told them what to do: set an ambush behind the city, not too far away. Be alert. Then the people with Joshua were going to "charge" the city and then turn back to draw the people out of the city. The people were going to think that they were running away from them like they did before. But in actuality they were going to amush the city.
Set the city on fire and then wait for further instruction. It's almost like a secret mission like on Chuck... :)

9 Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai—but Joshua spent that night with the people.

Joshua sent them to their places and they wait...

10 Early the next morning Joshua mustered his men, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai. 11 The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12 Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 They had the soldiers take up their positions—all those in the camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.

The next morning they set off and went to Ai. They set up camp. And then they went to set up their ambush.


14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the desert. 16 All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. 17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.

Eek. I wouldn't want to be in Ai.... heh.
The king saw what they were doing and assumed that they were doing what they did before. But he didn't know about the ambush. And the ambush worked like God said it would, because God doesn't break his promises.
No one was left in Ai who did not go after Israel. They left the city an open target. Oops.

18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city." So Joshua held out his javelin toward Ai. 19 As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.
.
plan. But if God tells you the whole plan, you'll probably mess it up. He just reveals a small portion of the plan.


20 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. 21 For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from the city, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. 22 The men of the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. 23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

The guys of Ai looked back and saw smoke. Because the Israelites set the city on fire. And they didn't have any chance to escape. Because then Joshua and the other people of Israel saw that there was smoke, they knew the ambush had been successful and turned around and attacked. The Ai-ites were caught in th emiddle. Israleites on both sides. *gulp*

24 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. 25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. 27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the LORD had instructed Joshua.

They killed a lot of people. And the women were repping! Kinda. Just kidding. Maybe not. I think they were just killed. Joshua kept that javelin held up in his hand until everyone had been killed. Israel listened to God and took livestock and plunder But it was okay, because God told them they could.


28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. 29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take his body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.

Joshua burned Ai down. It stayed in ruins. And he hung the king of Ai. Ew. That's all.

Annnnnnd now I'm going to go to bed. (I wasted a little bit of time while writing this by writing with the pen&touch screen on my Dad's laptop... it's fun/facinating. I'm sooooo easily amused!)
G'night all! (Or good morning if you're reading this Friday morning ;)

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