Joshua 8:3-8: Joshua and all his soldiers got ready to march on Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, tough, seasoned fighters, and sent them off at night with these orders: “Pay me all of your attention now. Lie in ambush behind the city. Get as close as you can. Stay alert. I and the troops with me will approach the city head-on."
Joshua 8:1 - 35
NASB - 1 Now the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. 2 "You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it."
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By my reading of the earlier chapters of Joshua, even though the walls of Jericho had previously fallen without effort on the part of Joshua's army, it had still been necessary for the members of the army to engage in active fighting in order to slay the inhabitants of the city, as Joshua had directed them, based on the city having been declared as accursed (Joshua 6:17). This would have given the Israelite fighters the opportunity to distinguish themselves in preparation for future combat, such as at Ai (as noted in the question), and also provided Joshua a basis for selecting the best among them for that siege.
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