Origen, on Josh 8:12

“And he had chosen five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the same city:”

“At first, we were overcome because of sins, and those who were living in Ai destroyed very many of us. Ai means chaos. But we know chaos to be the place or habitation of opposing powers, of which the devil is the king and chief. Against him, as Jesus [Joshua] comes, he divides the people into two parts; he stations some in the front and others in the rear, so they may come behind the enemies unexpectedly. Consider if the first part is not about the people of whom he says, "I came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and of whom the apostle says, "But grace and peace to every person who does good, to the Jew first, then also to the Greek," that is, the later Gentile. Those are the people, therefore, who are stationed in the front and seem to flee with Jesus. But the people in back are the ones who are gathered from the nations and who come unexpectedly. For who expected the nations to be saved? They strike more keenly behind the adversaries, and thus both people together overthrow and conquer the throng of demons confined in the middle.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.