So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.
We have here an account of the taking of Ai by stratagem. The stratagem here used, we are sure, was lawful and good; God himself appointed it, and we have no reason to think but that the like is lawful and good in other wars.
Commenting on Joshua 8:3-22
Joshua therefore sent them forth,.... The thirty thousand chosen men: and they went to lie in ambush; as they were ordered, Jos 8:2, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; for as Ai was on the east of Bethel, Jos 7:2.
between Beth-el and Ai--Beth-el, though lying quite near in the direction of west by north, cannot be seen from Tell-el-hajar; two rocky heights rise between both places, in the wady El-Murogede, just as the laying of an ambush to the west of Ai would require [VAN DE VELDE; ROBINSON].