יהושע ח׳:א׳-י״ז

תבוזו לכם. ואל תחרימו השלל עוד:

Take for yourselves as booty. You shall no longer consecrate the spoils.

התיקנו אותם. לשון תיק, שנוציאם מתיק העיר, דישפורי"ר בלעז ויש לפותרו לשון נתיקה, כמו (ירמיהו יב ג): התיקם כצאן לטבחה:

Until we have drawn them. הַתִּיקֵנוּ is an expression of תִּיק, a pocket, i.e., until we have drawn them from the pocket of the city.¹The city provided them with protection, as a pocket protects its contents. Defaurer in old french. We may also explain it as an expression of נְתִּיקָה, drawing out similar to ‘Draw them out like sheep to the slaughter.’²Yirmiahu 12:3.

והורשתם. ותתרכון:

And drive out.³This is translated according to the Targum who renders the word הוֹרַשְׁתֶם as תְתַרְכוּן which means to drive out.

מים לעי. שהעי מקדם לבית אל, ובית אל מים לעי:

To the west of Ai. Ai was east of Beis-eil and Beis-eil was west of Ai.

וילן יהושע בתוך העם. להיות נכון בהשכמת הבקר:

And Yehoshua rested—in the midst of the people. To be ready early in the morning.

ויעל הוא. כמו שאמר לו המקום, אם הוא עובר לפניהם עוברין, ואם לאו אין עוברין:

And he went up. He fulfilled that which God had said to him, “If he goes at their head, they will cross, and if not, they will not cross.”

ויקח כחמשת אלפים איש. אורב אחר אורב, אחד קרוב לעיר מחבירו:

He took about five thousand men. One ambush contingent following the other each approaching nearer to the city than its fellow.⁴The question is, what was the purpose of this second ambush party? Some suggest that these five thousand men were not to enter the city. Their task was to attack the army of Ai from behind, as they were pursuing the main army of Bnei Yisroel. When Yehoshua and his army would turn and attack, the army of Ai would be caught between them.

וישימו העם. שימה זו לשון הזמנה סמוך לחומה להלחם, כמו שנאמר בבן הדד (מלכים א כ ל): שימו על העיר, וישימו:

The people positioned. This positioning expresses readiness to wage war near the [city] wall. This is similar to what is said regarding Ben-Hadad, in I Melachim 20:12, (who said to his servants:) “Position yourselves against the city and they positioned themselves.”

ואת עקבו. ואת ארבו, כמו (בראשית כז לו) ויעקבני:

And their ambush party their ambushers this word עַקֵבוֹ is similar to וַיעֲקְבֵנִי.⁵Bereishis 27:36. Eisov said regarding Yaakov, וַיַעְקְבֵנִי זֶה פַּעֲמַיִם “He has deceived me twice.” An ambush implies cunning and trickery.

וילך יהושע בלילה ההוא בתוך העמק. אמרו רבותינו (סנהדרין מד ב): שלן בעומקה של הלכה:

That night, Yehoshua walked through the valley Our Sages have said that he lodged in the depth of the law.⁶Our Sages interpreted the word עֵמֶק as an expression of depth, and they say he spent the night studying Torah. After all the preparations were made and orders given, Yehoshua had time to return to the study of Torah, which is the real protection in time of crisis. He remembered the rebuke of the angel on the night before the fall of Yericho.

למועד. לזמן היום שנועצו יחד מאתמול, באותה שעה נצא, שהיו מנחשים ומעוננים:

At the appointed time. At the time of day they had astrologically predicted previously, saying “at that time we will go out,” for they were sorcerers and diviners.

וינגעו. לשון נגע (כתרגומו:) ואתברו, הראו עצמן כאלו הם נגפים לפניהם:

Pretended to be stricken. This is an expression of נֶגַע, plague, or beating. They gave the appearance of being beaten before them.