Thematic Bible: Decoy

And he commanded them, saying, "Look, you are to lay an ambush against the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city and be ready. Then I and all of the people who [are] with me will approach the city. And when they go out to meet us {as before}, we will flee from them. They will come out after us until we draw them away from the city, because they will think, '[They are] fleeing from us {as before}.' So we will flee from them. read more.
Then you will rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh your God will give it into your hand. And when you capture the city you will set it on fire as Yahweh commanded. Look, I have commanded you." So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the [place of the] ambush, and they sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent the night {with the people}. Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up [with] the elders of Israel before the people of Ai. {All the fighting men} who [were] with him {went up and drew near before the city} and camped north of Ai; [there was] a valley between him and Ai. And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. So they stationed the forces; all the army [was] north of the city while {the rear guard was west}. But Joshua went that night to the middle of the valley. When the king of Ai saw [this], the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel for battle--he and all his army--to the meeting place before the Arabah. He did not know that [there was] an ambush for him behind the city. Then Joshua and all Israel acted like they were beaten before them, and they fled {in the direction of the wilderness}. All of the people who [were] in the city were called to pursue after them. As they pursued after Joshua, they were drawn away from the city. Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel; they left the city open and pursued after Israel. And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stretch out the sword that is in your hand to Ai, because I will give it into your hand." And Joshua stretched out the sword that was in his hand to the city. The moment he stretched out his hand, those in the ambush stood up quickly from their place and ran. And they went [into] the city and captured it, quickly setting the city ablaze with fire. Then the men of Ai looked behind them, and they saw smoke from the city rising to the sky; {they had no power to flee this way or that}, and the people fleeing the wilderness turned around to the pursuers. And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was rising; they returned and struck down the men of Ai. Then the others from the city came out to meet them, {and they found themselves surrounded by Israel}, {some on one side, and others on the other side}. And they struck them down until no survivor or fugitive [was] left.

So Israel stationed an ambush all around Gibeah. And the {Israelites} went up against the descendants of Benjamin on the third day, and they took up positions against Gibeah as before. The descendants of Benjamin went out to meet the troops, and they lured [them] away from the city and began to inflict casualties on the troops as before, on the main road, one of which goes up [to] Bethel, the other to Gibeah; [and] in the field [there were] about thirty men of Israel. read more.
And the descendants of Benjamin thought, "They [are] being defeated before us {as previously}," and the {Israelites} said, "Let us flee and lure them away from the city to the main roads." And all the men of Israel got up from their places and took up positions in Baal Tamar; and the ambush of Israel charged from their places, from the vicinity of Gibeah. Then ten thousand well-trained men from all Israel came out against Gibeah, and the battle became fierce; they did not know that disaster [was about to] {close in} on them. And Yahweh defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and the {Israelites} destroyed on that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them {sword-wielding}. The descendants of Benjamin saw that they were defeated, and the men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin because they trusted the ambush that they had set against Gibeah. And the ambush came quickly and advanced against Gibeah, and it {put the whole city to the sword}. Now the appointed time for the men of Israel with the ambush was that they sent up for them a great amount of smoke from the city. And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to inflict casualties on about thirty men of Israel because they thought, "They will be completely defeated before us as in the first battle." And the cloud of smoke began to go up from the city in a column of smoke, and Benjamin turned backward, and behold, the whole city was going up {in smoke}! And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed because they saw that disaster was {closing in} on them. And they retreated from before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness, but the battle caught up to them, and [those] who [came] from the cities destroyed them in the midst of them. They surrounded Benjamin; they pursued them without rest [and] trod them down opposite Gibeah to the east.