The Book of Joshua - Jericho
The Gates of Jericho is a familiar story, but the challenge with it is that if we go out and march around the nearest city, it’s probably not going to fall over.
So, how do we make this story relatable?
It shows us how God works, as opposed to how we can get God to do what we want. And there’s a way God works that requires something from us.
Joshua 6
Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.
Jericho was the most heavily fortified of the cities and the most difficult to conquer. It was 7 acres, so it wasn’t a huge city, but it was a fortress. The Canaanites are fearful, but they’re on alert, and they’re behind walls. These are probably the same walls that discouraged the Israelite spies 30 years before.
The chapter picks up where the last left off – a meeting of the “commander of the Lord’s armies.” God says, “it’s a done deal – I have already given you the city.”
There are two ways you would assault this kind of city. Either attack the walls (under, over, through) or blockade by encircling the city and waiting them out, and Israel was strong enough to wage a conventional war on a city in one of these ways.
God’s Strategy
Joshua 6
3 March around the city once with all the armed men. (actually a select group from the 12 tribes) Do this for six days.4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
From a military standpoint, this is the worst plan ever.
Soldiers in the front, priests in the middle, and soldiers in the back. The trumpets blow, and they do this in silence while all the people in Jericho are watching. It’s about a half-mile walk every day for 6 days. How humiliating and exposing.
We love it when God promises us something. We tend to be far less enthusiastic when He shows us how He intends to do it.
Fight – but on your knees. Put on the armor of God, but so you can stand. History is littered with the fallout of people who tried to do God’s work in their own ways. Why do we fall into this?
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” 7 And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”
Joshua is a new, inexperienced leader. Can you imagine how things went when he tried to explain this to his experienced military leaders?
God’s Promise
It’s out of the ordinary that the ark, or God’s presence, of the covenant, would be in this procession. God promised them the city, but how did He accomplish it? He could have used an angelic army or rained fire from heaven, but He didn’t.
God’s normal way of working seems to be inviting the active participation of His people – What if God is waiting to do great things in your life, but you aren’t participating?
We want to fight the battle. Israel could have fought a bloody battle. God wants to fight the battle, but He invites us to participate not from our place of strength but from a place of vulnerability. The people here aren’t fighting a battle – they’re walking and waiting.
There’s no dramatic attack on the walls or surrounding of the city. They just go out for a walk. God’s plan always tests our faith, and they follow the plan exactly.
Joshua 6
8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” 11 So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there. 12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
Up until now, imagine how embarrassing the silence of the army, priests, and trumpets who had no business in a fighting formation and the taunts from the people in Jericho were. The walls probably looked so imposing day after day.
It’s like when you try to get your kids to do something that makes no sense to them. There’s discouragement, eye-rolling, and probably a lot of questions. But real faith never closes or rolls its eyes to the difficulty around us. It makes a different decision amid that difficulty.
Being obedient isn’t about what we get.
Joshua 6
15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord.
Seven is the biblical number of completion or perfections. Shout in the original language means a war cry or an exclamation of praise – in advance of God’s miraculous work. We give praise to God for what He’s done when we clearly can see it, and we ought to.
But what if we worshipped not just in response to God, but in anticipation of God?
God’s Judgement
Besides testing the Israelites’ faith, what if this 6-day heads up was God giving the people of Jericho one last chance to repent, like Rahab?
This wasn’t just because they were a military obstacle – the Canaanites did detestable things that invited God’s judgment. Judgment came not because the Canaanites were an inconvenience but because they were depraved; their worship of their gods was demonic.
God warned of judgment for hundreds of years, and still, the Canaanites didn’t listen. They didn’t take advantage of the many opportunities to repent.
Joshua 6
Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”
20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
The victory is impressive, the judgment is heavy. We have to open our eyes to God’s judgment, but we should never celebrate it. It should sober us, make us mourn. This seems harsh because it is.
Sometimes, we’re a little too happy about what seems like judgment happening to people who don’t believe like us, and we want it to happen as soon as possible. Look at how long God dragged things out before judgment.
Joshua 6
22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
Rahab was as Canaanite as anyone else, but there’s a difference. She repented. She ceased to be a Canaanite. God’s not just throwing out random judgment. It’s because of willful rebellion. But not Rahab.
She started outside God’s people, then outside their camp, and eventually became part of the people of God, ultimately being included in the genealogy of Jesus because of her faith.
Joshua 6
26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.
So, there are 2 things in this story that seem in conflict with each other. God gives. We need to receive, but we also need to stand up and take hold of it in faith.
God does the work, but He requires our active participation.
And when we follow Him exactly, even if obedience doesn’t give us what we want the way we want it, God is waiting for us with great things.
Want to play catch-up, or are you looking for a specific topic? Check out our collection of sermons and Season 2 of our podcast, LHC Unplugged!
For more LHC content, subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram.
So, how do we make this story relatable?
It shows us how God works, as opposed to how we can get God to do what we want. And there’s a way God works that requires something from us.
Joshua 6
Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.
Jericho was the most heavily fortified of the cities and the most difficult to conquer. It was 7 acres, so it wasn’t a huge city, but it was a fortress. The Canaanites are fearful, but they’re on alert, and they’re behind walls. These are probably the same walls that discouraged the Israelite spies 30 years before.
The chapter picks up where the last left off – a meeting of the “commander of the Lord’s armies.” God says, “it’s a done deal – I have already given you the city.”
There are two ways you would assault this kind of city. Either attack the walls (under, over, through) or blockade by encircling the city and waiting them out, and Israel was strong enough to wage a conventional war on a city in one of these ways.
God’s Strategy
Joshua 6
3 March around the city once with all the armed men. (actually a select group from the 12 tribes) Do this for six days.4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
From a military standpoint, this is the worst plan ever.
Soldiers in the front, priests in the middle, and soldiers in the back. The trumpets blow, and they do this in silence while all the people in Jericho are watching. It’s about a half-mile walk every day for 6 days. How humiliating and exposing.
We love it when God promises us something. We tend to be far less enthusiastic when He shows us how He intends to do it.
Fight – but on your knees. Put on the armor of God, but so you can stand. History is littered with the fallout of people who tried to do God’s work in their own ways. Why do we fall into this?
- The strength we bring and the strength we want to lean on is probably not the strength God is going to use most powerfully. The Israelites were a formidable army at this point, and Jericho was intimidated by them.
- This is both a ridiculous act and adds up to ridiculousness over time. It’s an absurd way of living and fighting.
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” 7 And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”
Joshua is a new, inexperienced leader. Can you imagine how things went when he tried to explain this to his experienced military leaders?
God’s Promise
It’s out of the ordinary that the ark, or God’s presence, of the covenant, would be in this procession. God promised them the city, but how did He accomplish it? He could have used an angelic army or rained fire from heaven, but He didn’t.
God’s normal way of working seems to be inviting the active participation of His people – What if God is waiting to do great things in your life, but you aren’t participating?
We want to fight the battle. Israel could have fought a bloody battle. God wants to fight the battle, but He invites us to participate not from our place of strength but from a place of vulnerability. The people here aren’t fighting a battle – they’re walking and waiting.
There’s no dramatic attack on the walls or surrounding of the city. They just go out for a walk. God’s plan always tests our faith, and they follow the plan exactly.
Joshua 6
8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” 11 So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there. 12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
Up until now, imagine how embarrassing the silence of the army, priests, and trumpets who had no business in a fighting formation and the taunts from the people in Jericho were. The walls probably looked so imposing day after day.
It’s like when you try to get your kids to do something that makes no sense to them. There’s discouragement, eye-rolling, and probably a lot of questions. But real faith never closes or rolls its eyes to the difficulty around us. It makes a different decision amid that difficulty.
Being obedient isn’t about what we get.
Joshua 6
15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord.
Seven is the biblical number of completion or perfections. Shout in the original language means a war cry or an exclamation of praise – in advance of God’s miraculous work. We give praise to God for what He’s done when we clearly can see it, and we ought to.
But what if we worshipped not just in response to God, but in anticipation of God?
God’s Judgement
Besides testing the Israelites’ faith, what if this 6-day heads up was God giving the people of Jericho one last chance to repent, like Rahab?
This wasn’t just because they were a military obstacle – the Canaanites did detestable things that invited God’s judgment. Judgment came not because the Canaanites were an inconvenience but because they were depraved; their worship of their gods was demonic.
God warned of judgment for hundreds of years, and still, the Canaanites didn’t listen. They didn’t take advantage of the many opportunities to repent.
Joshua 6
Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”
20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
The victory is impressive, the judgment is heavy. We have to open our eyes to God’s judgment, but we should never celebrate it. It should sober us, make us mourn. This seems harsh because it is.
Sometimes, we’re a little too happy about what seems like judgment happening to people who don’t believe like us, and we want it to happen as soon as possible. Look at how long God dragged things out before judgment.
Joshua 6
22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
Rahab was as Canaanite as anyone else, but there’s a difference. She repented. She ceased to be a Canaanite. God’s not just throwing out random judgment. It’s because of willful rebellion. But not Rahab.
She started outside God’s people, then outside their camp, and eventually became part of the people of God, ultimately being included in the genealogy of Jesus because of her faith.
Joshua 6
26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.
So, there are 2 things in this story that seem in conflict with each other. God gives. We need to receive, but we also need to stand up and take hold of it in faith.
God does the work, but He requires our active participation.
And when we follow Him exactly, even if obedience doesn’t give us what we want the way we want it, God is waiting for us with great things.
Want to play catch-up, or are you looking for a specific topic? Check out our collection of sermons and Season 2 of our podcast, LHC Unplugged!
For more LHC content, subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram.
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