The Fall of Jericho – Joshua 6

[Music] we come now to Joshua chap 6 in our verse by verse study through this really wonderful book of the Old Testament. This transitional book between the five books of Moses and the rest of the historical books of the Old Testament. And in Joshua chapter 6, we have the remarkable account of the fall of the city of Jericho.

You see, Joshua chapter 5 ended with this unique meeting between Joshua and the commander of the armies of the Lord, whom we found out was nothing less than a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, before he ever added humanity to his deity, true humanity to his deity. Here, he just simply appeared in human form as the commander of the Lord's armies. That was at the end of Joshua chap 5. And we would presume that there's some that's not recorded there. And this is what I would presume: that part of what the commander of the Lord's army did was not only what is recorded there in the text of Joshua chapter 5, but but I don't think it's crazy to imagine here that the commander of the armies of the Lord, that Jesus Christ, their appearing, in a pre-incarnate appearance here, he gave to Joshua the plan, the strategy for the conquest of the fall of Jericho. Because that's what chapter six leads off with, with Joshua declaring to the priests and the army and the people of Israel, "This is what we're going to do." And I don't think Joshua just thought this up. I think he received this from the Lord. And it could very well have been, we can't be certain, but it could very well have been in that conference he had, so to speak, with the Lord, with the leader of the Lord's armies, with Jesus Christ himself, at the end of Joshua chapter 5.

So here we come, the first couple verses of Joshua chapter 6. "Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and the mighty men of valor.'" We can take as true what it says there in verse one, that Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. If you recall a few chapters before, where Joshua sent two spies into the city of Jericho to see what the morale of the city was like, to see if there was useful information. We find in the Providence of God, the real purpose in the sending of those two spies was to arrange the rescue of a woman, a prostitute named Rahab, in the city of Jericho, and her family.

But we learned in that chapter in the book of Joshua that when the spies went in there, that the city of Jericho was already on alert. They saw the children of Israel across the Jordan River and believed, no doubt, that when the swell of the flood seas in Jordan sort of narrowed down and the river became easier to cross, then Israel would cross. And so Jericho was already preparing for an Israeli invasion. But what happened was, by the miracle and Providence of God, he parted the Jordan River and they came through much sooner than any of the people of Canaan expected the children of Israel to come through. What I'm just trying to say is this: if Jericho was on alert when the armies and the people of Israel were on the other side of the Jordan, just think of the level of alert they're on now that Israel is on their side of the Jordan River. They know attack is coming. So it's probably an understatement to say, as it says in verse one, "Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel."

Now, Jericho was already regarded as perhaps the best defended city of Canaan, probably the most difficult to conquer. And now the city was on the absolute highest alert because thousands upon thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Israelites camped nearby. Again, already in Joshua chapter 2, we saw that the Canaanites were terrified of the Israelites. Now they're on an even higher alert. The city is securely shut up. Now, almost 40 years before this, about 38 years to be exact, Israelite spies surveyed the land of Canaan, and they were afraid of the fortified walls of Canaan's cities. Specific mention of that is made in Numbers 13:28. And Jericho, among the fortified walled cities of Canaan, Jericho was one of the most fortified and most strongly defended cities of the region.

Now, I remember years ago when I would teach through the Book of Joshua, I would talk about Jericho being a large, influential city. Actually, that's not correct. Jericho was not a big city. According to most accounts, it was only about seven acres in its entirety. Now, I know it's a little bit hard to get a visual representation, especially if you're not used to the measurement that we in the American world call an acre, but it's not a very large area. It was a small city that was basically a fortress city. And because it was small and compact and had such good walls, it was a fortress that was ready to resist siege. Jericho, in the minds of most any military man, would have been a very difficult city to conquer because all they would do was retreat behind those very secure walls and wait out any invader.

However, the Lord said to Joshua, "Did you see that in verse two? 'I have given Jericho into your hand.'" Now, again, I believe the Lord said this to Joshua at the end of Joshua chapter 5, in this conference that Joshua had with the commander of the armies of the Lord. But this was the promise: "I have given Jericho into your hand." Despite all the defensive measures taken by Jericho, God boldly told Joshua that the battle was as good as over. And matter of fact, speaking in the past tense, God did not say to Joshua, "I will give Jericho into your hand." He puts it in the past tense: "I have done it. It's done." As far as God was concerned, Jericho already belonged to Israel.

Now, I want you to consider for a moment where Israel is, sort of in their thinking, their psychology, up to this point regarding the conquest of Canaan. Everything to this point had been preliminary, you might say, preparatory. Coming out of Egypt, being at Mount Sinai, receiving the law, building the tabernacle, establishing the priesthood, the disaster at Kadesh Barnea where they refused to take the land by faith, 38 years of wandering in the wilderness until the generation of unbelief died. The new generation comes up, they boldly cross into the promised land into Canaan because of a miracle of God who stops the flow of the Jordan River and dries the riverbed so that they can go across. And then once they're on the other side, they radically obey God. They build a memorial with great trust in God. They carry out circumcision on almost their entire male adult population and child population, for that matter. And then they remember the Passover. Now, all those things were wonderful, beautiful, powerful. But I'm just going to say, the fighting hasn't begun yet. There were actual physical, literal battles to fight for Israel to take the promised land, the land of Canaan. You see, now the real task before Israel had to be faced, and it had to be successfully accomplished if Israel was to occupy what God promised them. They had to dispossess the Canaanites. And God was going to use that as a war of judgment against the Canaanite people. And Jericho was the place it would begin.

Now, again, Jericho was not a large city, but it was an important and formidable fortress city. If Israel could conquer Jericho, they could defeat any other enemy facing them in Canaan. And in God's wisdom, he gave Israel what might have been their single most difficult city to conquer first. There are going to be greater battles that Israel fights other than this battle for the city of Jericho, but as far as a city that they have to confront and conquer, Jericho might have been the toughest nut to crack, so to speak, among all the Canaanite cities.

Now, let's start at verses 3, 4, and 5, where Joshua is going to relay the instructions that I believe he received from the Lord at the end of chapter 5. Verses 3, 4, and 5 are going to be the instructions for the action against Jericho. "Ready? This is the battle plan. Here we go: You shall march around the city, all you men of war. You shall go all around the city once. This you shall do for six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. But on the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout, then the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight before him."

Look, folks, we've got to admit, as a military plan, this makes no sense whatsoever. God's commanded plan against Jericho made no military sense. It completely depended upon God, upon God working a miracle. It didn't depend on brilliant strategy, military might. This is what would happen: the soldiers and priests of Israel would march around Jericho. They would make the approximately, now check this out, seven acres. My brother, who is a retired math teacher, a really good math teacher, I had him figure out how long would be the distance to march around a seven-acre city if you had something walled around seven acres worth. How long would be the distance? And you know, allowing for taking a little bit away from the wall, you wouldn't march around right up next to the wall, but some distance around it. It would be about a half-mile or one kilometer walk to circle a seven-acre city. That's not very far. We're not talking about a large city, but it was a strong city. The soldiers and the priests of Israel would march around Jericho, walking the half-mile or one kilometer distance several times over several days.

Now, look, that wasn't the normal military strategy in those days for conquering a city. Obviously, back then, there were two basic strategies for defeating a strongly defended walled city. One was to attack the walls by digging under, punching through, or climbing over the walls. That was one. Confront the walls, go under them, through them, over them, do whatever you've got to do. But the other strategy, and I think this was probably more often used, was to circle the city with your army, and a small city like this wouldn't be difficult to circle, and then launch a siege and then wait for the city to surrender because of starvation and a lack of resupply. And sometimes ancient cities in a siege battle were surrounded and laid under siege for years before either the surrounding army gave up or the city surrendered. One was a long-term wait it out, the other one was an aggressive try to punch through the walls strategy. But neither one of those strategies was used at Jericho. The commander of the Lord's armies gave a completely different way to conquer this city.

And let's just sort of review what the instructions were in the previous verses. This is what they were to do: Israel was to march around Jericho once a day for six days with the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant and other priests carrying trumpets made of ram's horns, what we would call the shofar. Each day, the priests were to sound their horns while marching, but the people marching with them were to remain silent. On the seventh day, after marching around the city seven times in that day, the previous six days they just went around the city once. And again, you just imagine what a strange procession this would be. All these people marching on the city just once. And you can imagine what the sight would have been from the city walls. They're carrying this Ark of the Covenant, the priests are blowing the horns, the other people aren't making a sound. And here they are going around the city.

Now, on the seventh day, you do that seven times. Then the priests were to make a long blast with the trumpet made from a ram's horn, the shofar. And then at that signal, the people of Israel, who on the previous six days had remained silent, then all the people were to loudly shout. And God promised that then the formidable walls of Jericho would collapse. Israel could rush in, conquer the city that could be no longer defended by its walls.

Now, one thing you've got to say about this plan, it took a lot of faith, didn't it? It took a lot of faith from Israel and her soldiers. They had to believe, "Hey, we've got to do this." It takes great faith from Israel and its soldiers because, militarily speaking, it's a crazy plan. I think it took great faith from Joshua himself. He's the one who had to explain and lead the nation according to this plan. I can just imagine the looks on the faces of Joshua's military leaders, those under his leadership, when he explained this plan to them. They had to think, "You've got to be kidding. This is no way to conquer a city." So it required faith from the people and the soldiers of Israel. It required faith from Joshua. It also required faith from the elders and the people of Israel because they had to follow Joshua in this plan.

In these verses that I just read to you, verses 3, 4, and 5, Joshua did address all you men of war. In verse 3, I do need to note that it's quite unlikely that the entire army of Israel participated in this. The fighting men of Israel numbered more than 600,000 people, according to Numbers 26:51. And again, Jericho is only about seven acres in size. In the metric world, that's about three hectares. Again, it's only about a kilometer distance around the city of Jericho, half a mile. And so, what? There were no doubt representative soldiers from each tribe. And I don't know the exact number of Israelites that marched around the city. It couldn't have been the whole population. It couldn't have been the whole army. Maybe it was several hundred. I don't know for sure. But this procession had in its order, soldiers in the front, priests with trumpets and the Ark of the Covenant in the middle, and then soldiers in the back. The soldiers in the back is indicated in verse 9, later on in this chapter. Mention hasn't been made of that.

And then God said, "You do what I tell you to do. March around the city once for six days. On the seventh day, do it seven times. Then at the signal of blowing trumpets, everybody shouts." This is what God says will happen in verse 5: "The wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight before him." Now, you've got to admit, if Israel succeeded in conquering Jericho by this plan, this crazy plan, it would clearly be the work of the Lord. But I want to understand, God did not send an angelic army against Jericho. He could have. God did not send fire from heaven against Jericho. He could have. God could have done his work while Israel stood aside and did nothing, only watched. God didn't choose to do it that way. God's plan required the active participation of his people.

I want you to think about this point just for a moment. God could have conquered Jericho and defeated the city for Israel without any participation on the part of his people. But God said, "No. Even though I'm going to do the work, I'm going to do what only I can do, I'm going to knock down the walls of that formidable city. God said, 'I'm going to do it using the participation of my people.'" Now, look, sometimes God works in a way where he says to his people, "You step aside, do absolutely nothing, and I'm going to do it all." Sometimes God works that way. But he didn't work that way on that occasion. And I could say, God's normal way of working is to invite, and in some sense, even wait upon the participation of his people to see his work done. God often chooses to wait for the active participation of his people before he decisively acts.

Friends, I want to make it clear, it's not because God can't work without the active participation of his people. Of course, he can't. God's God, he can do whatever he wants. But God often chooses to hold back what he alone can do until his people get on board and work together with him. Before we go on to verse 6, I just want to press that point home. Maybe there are great things that God, so to speak, is waiting to do in your life until you do what he's told you to do. And again, I want to stress, it's not that God can't do those things until you do what he's told you to do, but God has chosen, in his wisdom, in his Providence, to hold back until you or other of his people participate with him. It's sobering and something for us to think about. So often we think, "Okay, well, either it's God's work or it's my work. Tell me which. If it's God's work, then he's going to do it all and I don't have to participate. If it's my work, well, then I'll do it all and maybe God will help me a little bit." No, that's not often how God does his work. God does his work in and through and with the active participation of his people.

All right, now we come to verse 6. Joshua is going to talk to the priests and the people. Previous verses, he spoke mostly to the military men. Now, in verse 6: "Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, 'Take up the Ark of the Covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord.' And he said to the people, 'Proceed and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the Ark of the Lord.'"

So we see in these verses that Joshua communicated this unusual plan to the priests of Israel. Friends, it was not normal practice to carry the Ark of the Covenant in battle. To the best of my recollection, maybe as we go through the Book of Joshua, I'll be corrected on this, but to the best of my recollection, there's no record elsewhere than this in the Book of Joshua that the Ark of the Covenant was a part of a battle that Israel fought. This was a unique, an unusual situation. This was not normal practice. But you could say this, in some sense, this wasn't a battle. There really wasn't a battle for Jericho. God defeated the city by knocking the walls down, and the people just went in to conquer. This, more than being a battle, was a declaration of God's authority over Jericho. It was a declaration of God's coming triumph, not just over Jericho, but over all the land of Canaan that over the next 20 years or so, Israel would conquer. What a test this would be for the people of God. You know, circling the city walls of Jericho over seven days, as God commanded, would speak to Israel. It would say something like this to Israel: "Trust in God, even when it doesn't seem to make sense. Put him first. Exalt him. And trust that the Lord will do his work." Like what Charles Spurgeon, that great preacher of Victorian England, said about this passage. He noted how this plan might have challenged the faith of some people in Israel. He said this, quoting Spurgeon: "Now, the fool might have said, 'You're doing nothing. You're not loosening a single stone.' And at the end of the fifth or sixth day, I suppose it was suggested by many, 'What's the good of it all?'" Oh, make no doubt about it, this plan was a test of faith for the people of Israel.

But it wasn't only a test of faith. It would also speak to the priests. Circling the city walls of Jericho over seven days, as God commanded, would indeed speak to the priests. This is what it would say to them: "This isn't a normal battle. Here, the Ark of the Covenant is going to be prominent, and you're going to carry it. You're going to need to trust the Lord, even as you did in the crossing of the Jordan River." But I would say that circling the city walls of Jericho would not only speak to the people of Israel, not only speak to the priests of Israel, it would also speak to Jericho. You could almost say that those six days of marching around Jericho before the seventh and final day, those were six days of a last chance to Jericho for surrender, repentance, and allegiance to the God of Israel, an invitation they refused. You see, it spoke to Jericho. This is what it said to them: "Israel, the covenant people of Yahweh, are not afraid of you. They run circles around you, proclaiming the greatness of their God. Your judgment is coming soon." And that would have been a final warning, a final opportunity to see if there was anybody else in the city of Jericho who was like Rahab, who turned her back on the gods of Canaan, turned her back on the kings of Jericho, and said, "I want to be aligned with Yahweh and the people of God." Well, there were no others. Rahab and her family, as we'll see before the chapter's done, were the only ones rescued. But it could be said that those six days of marching gave the people of Jericho one last chance.

I like how John Trapp noticed the prompt response of Joshua to this plan. Sometimes I like reading John Trapp just because he uses this Old English phrasing that's kind of quaint and interesting to me. At least, this is what John Trapp said of Joshua: "He yielded prompt and present obedience, ready and speedy, without shucking or hucking, without delays and consults, leaving us therein an excellent precedent." Friends, as the people of God, we do indeed have an excellent precedent in the person of Joshua. That when God tells us to do something, even if it seems crazy, even if it seems counterproductive, we get up and we do it.

So here was the command, verse 6: "Take up the Ark of the Covenant." Curiously, the Ark of the Covenant would be very prominent in this victory, even as it was to the crossing of the Jordan River. Israel had to keep their hearts and minds on the Lord who was present with them. That's what the Ark of the Covenant symbolized. They understood that the Ark wasn't God with them, but it symbolized, it pointed to, as an emblem of the presence of Yahweh with them. You see, as they marched around those walls, they had a lot of time to look at those walls. "Man, this is a strong city. Man, this thing is compact. It would be hard to storm these walls. I don't know if we could ever do it. What a tough city." They could either look at the walls or they could look at the Ark of the Covenant and say, "The Lord is with us. And God is with us. He'll fulfill his word."

So Joshua told the people this, that's what it says in verse 7. And he said to the people, you know, Joshua had to tell the people this. What they were asked to do was going to be unusual. This was not the customary way to conquer a walled, fortified city. There was not going to be any dramatic attack of the walls. There was not going to be any long, drawn-out siege of Jericho. In seven days, the battle would be over. Now, when it says there in verse 7 that he spoke to the people and told them to march around, I think this was only the soldiers and the priests. There may have been some Israelites among the people who were there to walk around the city, but since these were the same ones who later attacked and took the city, we're going to see that in verse 20 later on, it's likely mostly soldiers again. It's not a big city. With a half-mile or one kilometer, you could make a circle around the city of Jericho. This wasn't hundreds of thousands of people marching around the city.

All right, starting now, verse 8. We're going to read through verse 14 and take a look at the march of the first six days. Here we go: "So it was, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the Ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, 'You shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, "Shout!" Then you shall shout.' So he had the Ark of the Lord circle the city, going around at once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the Ark of the Lord. Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets, and the armed men went before them, but the rear guard came after the Ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days."

Again, we've got to say, isn't it wonderful how promptly Joshua obeys? He didn't hesitate in doing what the Lord told him to do. Friends, delayed obedience is often caused by a lack of faith, and Joshua was full of faith. So he told them, "This is what you're going to do. You're going to advance and blow the trumpets." God told Joshua to have the seven priests carry the trumpets that were made of ram's horns, and here we learn that they sounded the horns as the processions walked around the city. Now, again, Jericho is not a large city. It would not take very long, even at a slow pace, to march around the walls of the city in a day. And that's all they were going to do, one day, one march, one circle around. Can you imagine what it would be like to be one of the people of Jericho, watching all this from the city walls? There you are, perched up high on one of the city walls of Jericho, looking down on the Israelite soldiers and priests, and maybe a few common people there in the midst of them. And there they are, hundreds, maybe a thousand or two, not very many of them, but enough, making a circle around the city. Friends, if you were in Jericho and saw that, you should have understood that the judgment you dreaded, remember way back in Joshua chapter 2, the people of Jericho and of Canaan were dreading the judgment of Yahweh against them. This is your notice. The judgment you dread is soon going to come against you. You see it in the Ark of the Covenant circling around you. You see it in all those different things following around. You see this happening right there in your very midst.

So verse 14 says, "They did this six days." It took faith. My, also say it took courage for Israel to do this. That procession was vulnerable to attack from the city walls. People could have shot arrows, they could have thrown rocks. I think they were more stunned than anything. They couldn't believe what they saw happening before their eyes. "This is no way to attack a city. If this is going to be the strategy of Israel against us, we're going to be all right." But Israel's obedience to God made them at least seem vulnerable to the Canaanites, to the people of Jericho. Yet they trusted God to protect them. It took faith, it took courage, it took endurance. You know, even though it wasn't a long walk around the city of Jericho, to do the same thing daily for six days with no immediate result, well, that takes at least some endurance. And during those six days, the people of Israel, soldiers, maybe a few others, they were silent except for the sound of the trumpets that were blown by the priests. You can just imagine the silence of the army, the sound of the trumpets, the taunts of the people of Jericho who watched from on top of the walls or behind the walls as the people of Israel walked around. Six days, as I said before, walking around. They got a close look at Jericho's impressive walls. They saw how difficult it would be to conquer the city through either a direct attack or a siege. They realized that the traditional ways of conquest against Jericho left them hopeless. But that sense of hopelessness increased their sense of dependence on God, because God was going to do the work. Friend, they saw the difficulty of the task ahead, but they realized that God was greater than that difficulty. Real faith never closes its eyes to the difficulty, but what it does is it puts a greater focus upon the Lord and his promise and his word than it ever does upon the difficulty itself.

Okay, we've had day one, day two, day three, day four, day five, day six. Coming now to verse 15, we come to the march of the seventh day. Verses 15 and 16. Are you ready for this? "And it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only, they marched around the city seven times. And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, 'Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.'"

God commanded that the processions around Jericho take place every day over seven days. By the way, this means that they marched around the city on the Sabbath. That broke normal Sabbath keeping custom. You could even say that what we have here is a reversing of God's order at creation. Think about this with me for a minute. When God created the Earth and all that's in it, that's in Genesis chapter 1, he worked over six days. He moved the universe from chaos to order, and then he rested the seventh day. At Jericho, God commanded his people to do the most strenuous work on the seventh day as he completed his work of judgment. So at the end of the seven, at the end of the seven times around on the seventh day, this is what Joshua said to the people circling the city of Jericho: "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city." And then Joshua and the rest of them said, "Okay, Lord, let's see what you're going to do." After those days of silence, six days of not saying anything, they recognized that God would now give Israel what he had promised. God would conquer the city. And you could say that that shout had a double meaning. You see, that word "shout" is sometimes used in the Old Testament of a war cry or a shout of alarm. I could show you examples in Judges, 1 Samuel, Isaiah, 2 Chronicles. But that word for "shout" is also used in the Old Testament as an exclamation of enthusiastic praise to God. Ezra 3, Psalm 95, Psalm 98, Psalm 100. I think it's both a war cry and an exclamation of praise.

Verse 17, preparing us for what's going to happen now. "Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, this is what Joshua is saying to the people. Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you, by all means, abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord."

Before the shout, before the walls fell down, Joshua gives another important instruction to the people. "Destroy the city," verse 17. "Only Rahab the harlot shall live." Joshua was very careful to protect Rahab, according to the promises that were made to her back in chapter 2. God's people were going to honor Rahab's faith in the living God. And Joshua warned them again. Okay, protect Rahab. But number two, in verse 18, "By all means, abstain from the accursed things." Joshua had to command the people of Israel to stay away from the accursed things. And that phrase covers a broad category that includes the idols and the things associated with the demonic and depraved worship of the people of Canaan. Friends, the Canaanites were depraved. Their worship was demonic, filled with human sacrifice, even the sacrifice of children. And God did not want his people to imitate their practices at all. And so, even though you might see an attractive idol, or article of clothing, or something valuable in a monetary sense, gold or silver, God said to the people, "Don't you take any of it. Burn it all." And the metals that can't be burned, gold, silver, whatever, you bring that into the treasury of the Lord. They can't be burned, so they're going to go into the Lord's treasury. But nothing goes to anybody's personal profit.

Friends, this is going to be a severe judgment. All of Jericho, with the exception of Rahab and her family, were going to die in judgment. God gave them many opportunities to repent, and only Rahab and her family took those opportunities. The severe judgment that came against Jericho and all the rest of Canaan, for that matter, that severe judgment did not come because they were an obstacle or an inconvenience for Israel. Judgment came because the Canaanites were a people in total rebellion against God and in league with the occult and the demonic. As artifacts recovered from this period in Canaan demonstrate, God held back his judgment against the Canaanites a long time. God warned of the judgment 400 years previously, 500 years previously. God gave them a lot of time to repent. But because they did not repent, judgment would come through the armies of Israel. Now, that warning, "Don't take any of the accursed things," keep that in mind. We're going to get to it in future chapters. There was one man of Israel who didn't listen to what Joshua said, and it's going to cause a lot of trouble for Israel. But again, verse 19 says, "All the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord." All the valuables belong to God. Jericho was the first city to fall in Israel's conquest of Canaan, and so the valuables of Jericho were set apart for the treasury of the Lord. They couldn't be burned, so they would be consecrated as a first fruits offering.

All right, you ready for it? Here we go. Verses 20 and 21. "So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword."

You can see that I read that with mixed feelings. The victory for the people of God, worked through their faith, it's glorious, it's impressive. The judgment that came against the people of Jericho, it's heavy. But friends, they were warned. A few among them, Rahab and her family, repented, surrendered to Yahweh and the people of Yahweh, the people of Israel, and they were rescued. The rest not, and they suffered under the judgment of God. Anyway, back to verse 20. It says that the people shouted with a great shout, and this was the first time that the voice of the people was heard. Over the seven days circling Jericho, the trumpets had been sounding over all seven days, but the people were silent until this moment on the seventh day. And a glorious shout of praise and victory went up from the people of God. And in response, verse 20, the wall fell down flat.

Now, God didn't really detail much of what would happen about this. This was a clear miracle. Hebrews 11:30 describes it that way. The whole manner and having it happened right in front of your eyes must have been shocking to everybody involved. It would have been a glorious surprise to the people of Israel, and it would have been a terrifying event to the people of Israel. Now, look, there have been a lot of people through the years, well, how did this happen? Was it an earthquake? That's what many people say. It's an earthquake because earthquakes have toppled city walls. And in that area, and perhaps even in Jericho's past, before Jericho is a city that's been built and rebuilt for centuries. Other people say, well, it had something to do with the sonar pitch of the people's shout and the vibration of the walls. And there are elaborate schemes offered forth. I like what Adam Clarke said about such theories. He said this, quoting: "There has been much learned labor spent to prove that the shouting of the people might be the natural cause that the wall fell down." To wait here either to detail or refute such arguments would be lost time. Clarke says, "Look, I'm not even going to deal with it. It would be a waste of time." I think so too. We don't know how the walls fell down. God could have sent an invisible angel to knock them down. God could have spoken a word. God could have sent an earthquake. If he used the shout of the people, we don't know. But the walls fell down.

And verse 21 says, "They utterly destroyed all that was in the city." God commanded such complete destruction of Jericho because these were unique wars of judgment against the Canaanites. Deuteronomy 18:9-14, among other passages, explains that the spiritual corruption of the Canaanites was significant. And I'm going to admit, to the modern reader, to you and I, this sounds harsh because it is harsh. Modern readers must recognize that at unique times, God has commanded such harsh judgments, and those judgments may happen either through an army that God has used, as he did here, or sometimes God brings such harsh judgments through actions that he directly brings, such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis chapter 19.

"They took the city," verse 20 says. I like this. In verse 2, God told Joshua that he had given him the city. Here in verse 20, it says that they took the city. Israel took it after God had given it. It was clear that God gave, but it was also true that Israel had to take it by obedient, persistent faith. You know, the same principle is true regarding the blessings that believers have in Jesus Christ. God has given us these blessings in Christ. God gives, but believers must take them by faith. One does not contradict the other.

Verses 22 through 25 is going to describe the rescue of Rahab. Let's take a look at those verses. "But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, 'Go into the harlot's house and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.' And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho."

Rahab and her household were rescued as promised. Rahab and her family coupled their faith in the God of Israel with a willingness to follow through on what God's messengers told them to do. They were to stay at the house with the scarlet cord hanging from the window, and they did so. In response, verse 24 says, "They burned the city and all that was in it with fire." Yet, verse 25 says, "Joshua spared Rahab the harlot." Do you see the contrast? The city judged, Rahab and her family rescued. Friends, that is a contrast between judgment and salvation. All Jericho heard about the God of Israel. Rahab said so in Joshua 2:8-11. What she had heard, all Jericho had heard, but only Rahab responded positively in faith towards God, and with that knowledge, she repented. The rest of the city was destroyed, with only certain unburnable treasures brought to the house of the Lord.

Now, I want to make clear that the rescue of Rahab and her family was not a contradiction to the command that everything in Jericho had to be destroyed, to be devoted to the Lord. I like what the commentator Hess says about this. He says, "Those who ceased to be Canaanites and devoted themselves to the God of Israel were already devoted, therefore they escaped the terrible destruction of the ban." That is, the command to destroy all things. So what did they do with Rahab and her family? Well, verse 23 says, "They put her in a place outside the camp," probably sort of a ritual quarantine. The camp of Israel was holy, and they had to make sure that they were clean, ceremonially. Probably they probably did a new believer's interview with them. "Do you really trust in the God of Israel? Have you really converted? Do you really turn your back on the Canaanite gods?" And after the passage of time, the confirmation of their faith, the observance of probably certain cleansing rituals, they were received into the congregation. So much so that Rahab becomes part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Isn't that glorious?

Hebrews 11:31 notes Rahab's faith and sets her in contrast with the unbelieving in Jericho and Canaan. Let me read to you Hebrews 11:31: "By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace." You see that? That was all the rest of Jericho, all the rest of Canaan, virtually. They did not believe. If they would have believed, they could have been rescued the way that Rahab was. But they would not believe, and so they fell under the judgment of God. Rahab demonstrated her faith in many ways, and James uses her as an example of demonstrated faith. Let me just list to you some of the ways that I can think of that Rahab demonstrated her faith. She did it by believing the reports of what God did for Israel and through Israel. She heard him and she believed him. That's faith. Rahab declared the truth about God. I'm referencing back to what we read about her in Joshua chapter 2. Rahab demonstrated her faith by seeing the greatness of the God of Israel and choosing Yahweh over the gods of the Canaanites. She demonstrated her faith by forsaking the gods and the values of her culture. She demonstrated her faith by receiving the Israelite spies with peace. She demonstrated her faith by hiding the Israelite spies and refusing to turn them over to the Canaanites. She demonstrated her faith by asking for the salvation of her family, by persuading her family to also trust in the God of Israel. And Rahab demonstrated her faith by marking her home as a place of faith with a scarlet cord, as instructed to in Joshua chapter 2. And finally, she demonstrated her faith by leaving Jericho behind and becoming a part of the people of God. That sums up in the wonderful statement in verse 25. "So she dwells in Israel to this day." Isn't that amazing? The Book of Joshua is written while Rahab was still alive. This shows that the Book of Joshua was written at the time of Joshua. This is not the fanciful reconstruction of an imaginative writing working centuries after the fact. No, she dwells in Israel. She's part of Israel. She ceased to be a Canaanite. Now she's an Israelite. She's one of the people of God.

You know, you could say by application, and one commentator, Hess, makes this point, that the story of Rahab is the story of the shepherd's search for the one lost sheep, of the concern of Jesus for the despised of the world. Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute, despised by the world, cherished by the Lord. She turned her back on Canaan and became part of Israel, and even part of the genealogy of the Messiah.

All right, let's take a look now, verses 26 and 27. This final little section where Joshua is going to curse the man who would re-fortify Jericho. Here we go. "Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, 'Cursed..."

be the man before the Lord who Rises up and builds this city Jericho. He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn and with his youngest he shall set up its Gates. So the Lord was with Joshua and his Fame spread throughout all the country.

It's an interesting curse that God spoke through Joshua. Joshua here is serving something as a prophet. "Cursed be the man before the Lord who Rises up and builds this city Jericho." As the most formidable city of Canaan and the first city to fall under the Judgment of God through the workings of Israel, there would be a special curse set on the man who dared to build Jericho again. And we find this fulfilled later on in First Kings 16:34 where a man named Hiel built Jericho again. His firstborn son and his youngest son did not survive the building in fulfillment of this curse.

But the bottom line is this beautiful summation verse 27: "So the Lord was with Joshua." You could say that that completes the story of Israel's victory at Jericho. And there's a lot to learn from the things that marked Israel's victory at Jericho. It was marked by faith. Joshua and Israel believed the battle plan that was given to them by God. As unusual as it was, they believed it. It was marked by obedience. Were you not impressed at the way that Joshua and Israel followed God's battle plan exactly? Faith, obedience. Thirdly, I would say it was marked by courage. Israel followed God's battle plan despite the danger it posed. Fourthly, it was marked by endurance. Israel followed God's battle plan over a period, even when it seemed like nothing was happening. They they still kept forth. It's not that it was such a long walk around the city of Jericho, but they endured even when it seemed like nothing was happening. And then fifthly, their victory was marked by trust. Israel did not rely on their own wisdom, on their own familiar fighting methods. Their trust was in the Lord, not in human ingenuity.

As for Joshua, you saw that in verse 27, didn't you? His Fame spread throughout all the country. Joshua's leadership at the conquest of Jericho was a further warning to all the people of Canaan that the Judgment of God was coming. Through this, God was serving notice to all the rest of Canaan: surrender, submit to the God of Israel, come under the protective wing of Yahweh and Yahweh's people, just as Rahab did. You can be spared this coming judgment. But if they were not, then they would be judged. You see, they knew it, and they had the the opportunity to be spared judgment by leaving the land or by forsaking their Canaanite gods and practices. They could come under the God of Israel, as Rahab did. The Canaanites, they knew judgment was coming, but very few of them prepared for it.

So Joshua is victorious. What's going to happen next? Well, we'll cover that in the next chapter. We draw, but let me conclude by taking a look at some ways that Joshua chapter 6 points to Jesus Christ. We like to do this at the end of every chapter. Just think about how how does this chapter point to Jesus? And I can think of a few ways. Perhaps you can think of more ways than what I'm going to suggest right here. We'd love to hear your feedback, but here's some ideas on how Joshua 6 points to Jesus Christ.

Number one, like Joshua, Jesus holds the promise to possess all things together with his companions. I'm drawing this from verse two. Let me read verse two of Joshua chapter 6 to you again. Here it is: "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and the Mighty Men of Valor." It's as if Jericho and the rest of Canaan, really. But let's just say Jericho, that Jericho was given to Joshua, and Joshua would hold it and conquer it on behalf of all of Israel, letting them share in it. And you know, Jesus himself holds the promise to possess all things. Jesus is Victor, and we share in his victory. Jesus is Conqueror, we share in his Conquest. Jesus holds all things, and he shares them with his people, with his bride, just like a godly husband will share all things with his bride. So Jesus Christ shares all things with his people. Like Joshua, Jesus holds the promise to possess all things together with his companions, with his people.

Number two, like Joshua, Jesus keeps his promises, especially the promises that he makes to sinners who repent. And that was Rahab right there.

Number three, like Joshua, Jesus rescues those who believe him and put their trust in him. Friends, I've been telling you a lot how the people in Jericho and the rest of the people of Canaan were warned about the judgment to come, and they could have escaped that judgment if they would have surrendered to Yahweh, the Covenant God of Israel, and to the people of Israel. But they did not. What can we say about those people who reject the salvation that's made available to them in Jesus Christ? They know, even if they won't admit it, they know that judgment is out there, that judgment will come, that they will be held to account before their creator one day. And God offers them rescue in Jesus Christ. Yet how many people, like most the people of Canaan, like most the people of Jericho, they ignore it. They won't take it, but it's offered to them. And Jesus will rescue all those who believe in him and put their trust in him.

Then fourth and finally, like the fame of Joshua, the fame of Jesus spreads. Isn't that wonderful? Aren't you happy about that, that the fame of Jesus spreads and never ends? What a beautiful, powerful thing that is, the fame of our Savior. And that he lets his people, his bride, share in some of that glory. Let's thank him for that.

Now, at the end of our study, thank you Lord God. Thank you Jesus that you are the Conqueror, that you are the greater Joshua, and you bring us into God's land of promise and rest, where there are still battles to fight, but under our leader Jesus, Joshua so to speak, we find that we are more than conquerors through him who has already conquered sin and and death by his work at the cross and his glorious resurrection. So we look to you, Lord Jesus, thanking you as our Joshua. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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