How beautiful to observe piety blended with valor. No doubt, after Joshua had arranged and formed the disposition of his army, according to the command of God, he retired to this valley, where he lodged that night among the people, to enjoy communion with God in prayer. Like another Jacob, who, when he had sent his little army over the brook, stayed to wrestle with his Covenant-head and God in prayer: or, like a greater than Jacob, and of whom Joshua was a type, after he had sent the multitudes away, went up into a mountain apart to pray. See Genesis 32:23-24; Matthew 14:23.
Joshua 8:3-9
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
5 And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,
6 (For they will come out after us) till we have drawna them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.
7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9 Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.