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Ai

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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A royal Canaanitish town, eastward from Beth-el in the northern part of the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, the seat of a king, destroyed by Joshua (Joshua 8) after one unsuccessful attack (Joshua 7). In Joshua 8:28 it is described as "a ruin unto this day." It must have been rebuilt before the time of Isaiah, as it is mentioned in Isaiah 10:28, where the name is given as Aiath. "Men of Beth-el and Ai" are mentioned after the Exile (Ezra, 2:28); Aija and Beth-el were peopled by Benjamites (Nehemiah 11:31). Ayya (as in many Hebrew manuscripts and the better Septuagint manuscripts, instead of Azzah-Gaza), in the latter passage, is a border city of Ephraim, 1 Chronicles 7:28. Aiath may be understood thus or as the northernmost city of Judea. According to Genesis 12:8, 13:3, Abraham encamped on a mountain between Ai and Beth-el; and in Joshua 7:11 Joshua's army is said to have pitched on the north side of Ai with a valley between that place and Ai. Ai is generally identified, according to Van de Velde, with the modern Tell el-Hajar, between Betin and Där Diwan; and, according to Robinson, with Khirbet Ḥayan, directly south of the latter.