Matthew Poole and continuators on Joshua 8:2

2 And thou shall do to Ai and her King, as thou didst unto Jericho and her King : only the spoil thereof, and the cattel thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto your selves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.

i. e. The City and people of Ai.

i. e. Overcome and destroy them. This was enjoyned partly to chastise their last Insolence, and the Triumphs and Blasphemies which doubtless their success produced: and partly to revive the dread and terrour which had been impressed upon the Canaanites by Iericho's ruine, and had been much abated by the late success of Ai, and their confidence and expectation of further and greater success.

Marginal references: Chap. 6. 21.; Deut. 20. 14.