‘ And so it was that when the king of Ai saw it, they hastily stirred themselves and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time (or place') appointed, before the Arabah. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.'
The king of Ai responded as expected. Becoming aware of their movement into the valley during the night, he and his officers roused his troops and came out to battle. After his previous victory he was full of confidence. ‘At the place appointed' may mean the place that Joshua had selected for battle, a place suitable for carrying out Joshua's plans. Or it may mean the time that Joshua had expected and arranged for.
“Before the Arabah.” It is difficult to know what this means. The Arabah is the Jordan rift valley. Thus it may have been a point from which the rift valley could be seen, or from where the way down to it could easily be reached. In his confidence the king may have been seeking to ensure that he could prevent escape that way.
This was probably a preliminary sortie to test out the now much larger enemy forces. As we have suggested earlier, and as appears from what follows, he now also had troops from Bethel to call on, as yet hidden from the eyes of Joshua. But the king was not aware of Joshua's trap and made no provision for it.