Ambush

Ambush as a military tactic — the concealment of troops to surprise an enemy — appears several times in the Old Testament as a legitimate and divinely directed strategy of warfare. The most detailed example is Joshua's capture of Ai (Josh. 8), where God instructed Joshua to place thirty thousand soldiers in ambush behind the city while a smaller force feigned retreat, drawing out the defenders before the concealed troops seized and burned the undefended city. Judges records Abimelech's use of ambush against Shechem (Judg. 9:30–45), and Jeremiah employs the imagery of ambush in his oracle against Babylon (Jer. 51:12).