Iyyar 4 – Go and Spy Out Ai – Today in the Bible

Iyyar 4, 5786; from sunset April 20, 2026, to sunset April 21, 2026

(The fourth day of the second month)

This is the name Yehoshua (Joshua); Joshua means “The LORD Saves.” The top image was written ~2,000 years ago and was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The bottom image was written ~1,000 years ago and is from the Aleppo Codex (the Crown of Aleppo). The top image was written on a scroll, possibly in Qumran, near the Dead Sea. The bottom is in a bound manuscript, written in Tiberias, near the Sea of Galilee, which later made its way to Aleppo (Syria). The Aleppo Codex is now housed in the Shrine of the Book alongside the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Right after the fall of Jericho, the Bible records the next target for defeating the people of the Land — Ai. There is no date listed for today’s events, but it likely would have been around this time of year.

In today’s text, Joshua sends out spies who return and say that the people of Ai are few – we don’t need to take a lot of men with us. However, Achan, the son of Carmi, had taken the accursed things from Jericho; things which the LORD had forbidden. In our upcoming posts, we’ll play out the story of how the Israelites turned “Ai” into a “heap of ruins,” even after Achan’s disobedience to the word of the LORD.

But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel.

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.”

So the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” – Joshua 7:1-3 (NKJ)

The name “Ai” in Hebrew actually means, “heap of ruins!” We hope you’ll stick with us as we follow the story of Israel’s defeat of Ai.

To read all of our posts about Joshua, please click on the image above.