Question IV. How did Joshua place the ambushes so secretly that they were neither perceived nor detected by the men of Ai?

Calvin — the very apex, forsooth, of human prudence — attacks in this place the imprudence of Joshua himself in composing and placing the ambushes. “It seems, indeed,” he says, “little prudently [done] to send off so great a crowd, [to expect] that it should arrive by hidden routes at a place fit for ambush. For, though they proceeded silently, in best-composed columns, yet it was necessary that a noise be raised by the mere movement of feet. Now if someone should say [that] no one met them, because all the inhabitants of the region had fled from the deserted fields into the city — surely a little after it will be narrated [that], before the Israelites approached nearest to the city, their arrival was known by the King of Ai: which could scarcely have been done without scouts. Now, [even] granting that no one met [them] in the fields — yet it was difficult to pass by, and by night to place ambushes in an opportune place, and to sit there, without betraying themselves by some indication.” But I judge everything [to have been] done most prudently by Joshua: and this I gather not only from the rest of his prudence, but also from those [things] which I see here. He had before sent scouts toward Ai (ch. 7, v. 2); these without doubt saw, and reported to Joshua, the situation of the places. It [the region] was mountainous, and hindered by the windings of valleys. Joshua could, therefore, hide his men in them, and contrive the ambush. Then he could send them thither not by the straight [way], past the city, but by a circuit, and by some windings of the road. Thirdly: “The outcome proves the deeds.” If Joshua had not done everything most prudently and skillfully, surely either the Bethelites or the men of Ai would have perceived and detected the ambushes. But they neither perceived nor detected [them]. Besides, there was now, on account of the previous little-victory, such elation and security of the men of Ai, that they exceedingly despised the Israelites, over-confidently trusted in themselves, [and] relaxed [their] more intent watches and reconnaissances. For [as to] what Calvin says — [that] “Joshua’s arrival at the city could scarcely have been known by the King of Ai without scouts” — [this] is refuted from v. 13, where it is said [that] Joshua came into the valley nearest the city, which stood in a high place, and [was] thus seen by the King of Ai. Finally, [He] was present who had promised a sure victory — God. “I will not contend,” says Masius, “if anyone here, more religiously insisting on the very sacred words, should say [that] both the eyes and the minds of the men of Ai were so blinded by God, that they did not, by any sense, perceive so great an army lying hidden behind the city, for so many hours”: and Calvin himself [says], “A wonderful favor [of God] appears especially in this, that he blinds all, lest they get any scent of the ambush.”