‘ And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty six men, for they chased them from in front of the gate even to the quarries (or Shebarim), and smote them on the descent, for which reason the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.'
The men of Israel reached the gates of the city no doubt full of confidence, and probably, after Jericho, expecting some remarkable event in their favour. But they were to receive a dreadful shock. For the armed men of Ai, realising that they would be somewhat exhausted after the hot climb, sallied out in force and smote them, driving them from in front of the entrance to their ‘city' and down the descending way, during which they killed thirty six of them, for they chased them some considerable way. Shebarim means ‘that which is broken', thus possibly quarries. There is probably also a hint here that the men of Israel were ‘broken'.
On hearing of the defeat the hearts of the people of Israel were filled with fear and they lost all courage. So quickly can men's confidence be dented when something goes wrong. They had anticipated an easy victory and had instead lost thirty six men. After the victory of Jericho they could not understand it. Nor could Joshua.
At this point we may stop and ask what the people of Ai would now do. They now knew that it was the intention of Israel to enter the hill country. They also knew that the force that they had defeated was only a small part of Israel's striking force. News would certainly have reached them of the much larger force encamped at Gilgal. They must thus have known that Israel would soon be back in much larger numbers. Contact would certainly be made with Bethel and it would seem from subsequent descriptions that Bethel supplied a large contingent of armed men to assist them. It would be in both their interests. This is the only real explanation of why the king of Ai was willing to leave the city to attack the large force that later arrived in the valley. He would hardly have done it with a ‘few' men unless he was confident of a backup force that he could instantly call on. Without it he would have remained within the walls of Ai.