23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. 24 And it came to pass when Israel had ended slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they had chased them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned to Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. 25 And so it was, that all who fell that day, men as well as women, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai. 26 And Joshua did not draw back his hand, which he had stretched out with the javelin, until they had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only, the cattle and the spoil of the city Israel took as prey to themselves, according to the word of Jehovah which he had commanded Joshua. 28 And Joshua burned Ai, and made it an everlasting heap of desolation to this day. 29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the evening; and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his carcase down from the tree, and threw it down at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised upon it a great heap of stones, [which remains] to this day.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Joshua 8:23-29
Commentary on Joshua 8:23-29
(Read Joshua 8:23-29)
God, the righteous Judge, had sentenced the Canaanites for their wickedness; the Israelites only executed his doom. None of their conduct can be drawn into an example for others. Especial reason no doubt there was for this severity to the king of Ai; it is likely he had been notoriously wicked and vile, and a blasphemer of the God of Israel.