The signal, by which those who were in the ambush were called forth from their hiding-place, the Rabbis, Theodoret, Josephus, and Abulensis (q. 10) think to have been that [shield] which [was] raised by Joshua — because it is written (v. 19), “And when he had raised the shield over against the city, the ambush which was lying hidden rose up at once” — just as [one] raised a shield from a ship, in Alexander ab Alexandro (bk. 4, ch. 2); [and] Lysander and others [gave] other signals in the same place. But — that I may not assent — these [reasons] hold me [back]. First: If this signal had been given for calling forth and rousing the ambushers, then, once it was given, Joshua could have let down his hands and done something else. Secondly: Between the ambush and Joshua were interposed Ai, and its valley, and perhaps not a little of other space. How could a signal be given to them, over so trifling a thing, from so distant a place? Thirdly: It had not been agreed between Joshua and the ambushers that, at the raising of such a signal, they should leap out from the ambush. For it was suddenly prescribed to Joshua — and beyond all his own expectation — by God (v. 18). Therefore, even if they had seen this signal, they would not have stirred themselves, nor understood what Joshua wished signified by it. Fourthly: Cajetan, Masius, and others judge [that] this was not the signal for this thing. Fifthly: Joshua saw Ai taken from the ambush and set on fire, [and] the men of Ai pressed from behind and cut down: and yet he remained fixed in the same place, and held [his] hand extended in the same [direction]. He was looking, therefore, at something other than to call the ambush out from [its] hiding-place. I judge, with the already-cited Cajetan and Masius, [that] that raising was a signal and mystery of another thing; but that those who were manning the ambush were roused by other signs to invade the city — [namely] because they heard the shout of battle and the discordant sounds; because they saw the greatest multitude come out of the city, and indeed — toward the end — with the greatest confidence, in no order, and with joyful haste,
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and saw that the walls [were] sufficiently deserted, the gates bare of guards, [and] the city emptied of brave men. Yet if, on account of the authority of Josephus and Theodoret, anyone should wish [to say] the ambushes were roused to the irruption by this raising [of the shield] — not exclusively, provided only that raising be not said to have been made for this alone — [I do not object].