Yahweh said to Joshua, Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed: take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai; behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land;
Every student of this chapter is at once confronted with what is alleged to be a contradiction between the number of 30,000 chosen for the ambush in  Joshua 8:3, and the number 5,000 mentioned allegedly for the same ambush in  Joshua 8:12.  We have read several explanations of this: (1) Keil and other very dependable scholars affirm that a scribal error is responsible, and that the number 5,000 is correct.[1]  It is evident that the expedient of finding a scribal error here does not solve the problem, for Cook asserted that, "The error would have been in writing 30,000 instead of 5,000,"[2] but Holmes said, "the error would have been in writing 30,000 for 3,000."[3] (2) Woudstra mentioned the possibility that the 30,000 included the 5,000 later detached for the ambush, but mentioned earlier in  Joshua 8:3, as the principal feature of the attack.[4] Holmes, and nearly all critical assailants against the Bible declare unequivocally, "That two accounts have been combined is obvious."[5] Of course, in this explanation, the great hoax of all allegedly higher criticism, the ubiquitous "editor," or the ever-ready "redactor," is identified as responsible for "combining" these allegedly different accounts!  But, if any such person combined two accounts to give us this record, what an incredibly stupid, egregious person he must have been!  The impossibility of even imagining such a character outlaws this explanation as absolutely untenable!  We shall refrain from comment on those "scholars" who are constantly appealing to this very class of "editors" and "redactors." Could anyone in his right mind mention a group of people as being 30,000 in number, and then ten seconds later state that they numbered 5,000?