'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎336] (445/496)

336
which the name of the ruins has been merely an oral tradition, handed
down from father to son among the Bedouins, who are now the sole fre
quenters of this out-of-the way and desolate tract, in the table land
overlooking the Jordan. The Arab Sheikh could not write, but I made
him pronounce the name distinctly several times in presence of Mr. Ni-
colayson, and the result was invariably the strongly aspirated “ Hai”
^ Khirhet-el-Hai, ^ ^ Enins of Hai. The hill on which
part of the ruins stand is called Bas-el-Hai, \
Uni next makes its appearance in the book of Joshua, about B. C.,
1451, (vii, 2 &c.) as Ai, without the aspirate *V, and as Tai in the Sep-
tuagint version,* but appears again in Isaiah as Ayycu. Prior to the Is
raelites crossing the Jordan after their wanderings in the wilderness, Ai
was the capital of a Canaanitish King ; and the first city, after the fall of
Jericho, captured by Joshua within the borders of the Promised Land.
“ And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-
Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke unto them, saying—Go up
and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. ’
This passage decisively proves the identity of the Hai of Genesis and
the Ai of Joshua. Beth-Aven was not only a name applied to Bethel
itself, after it became a place of worship of the golden calves in the time of
Jeroboam, (whence the modern name of Bethel, “ Betin,”) but from this
passage, and another in Samuel, j it was evidently a place nigh unto, but
quite distinct from, Bethel, with which the Talmudists have confound
ed it.
I shall now proceed with the history of Ai. Joshua’s spies, having re-
connoitered the city, returned to Jericho, and advised the Israelitish lead
er not to permit all the people to go up against it; and saul L e ^
about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai.” “ So there went
up thither of the people about three thousand men : and they fled before
the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six
men ; for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim,
and smote them in the going down ; wherefore the hearts of the peop
melted, and became as water.”
Joshua, on this defeat, encouraged by God, went up himself by mg
* Kaf dnecr reiXev 'Itjgtovs 3 'avdpas Tai rj' gcttl Kara BcllStjX,
t I. Sam. xiii., 2, 5.