Chapter 6
Jericho Falls
6:1 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.
Jericho, like most cities in those days, was a walled city where the gates could be closed and since Joshua and the Israelites were a threat outside, the city was closed off. No one was allowed out and no one was allowed to come in. They relied on the strength of the walls and gates for their security.
6:2 And the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days.
Long before any battle, YHWH tells Joshua that victory is assured. When God says something will take place, it will happen as He (and He alone) knows the future. He instructs Joshua to send all of his men of war to go around the city once every day for six days. At the last census recorded in Numbers 26:51, that number was 601,730, over a half of million people marching around this city. Due to the age and the number of settlements, modern archaeology has some difficulty in pinpointing the city’s size. It is believed that at this time the city covered approximately ten acres in area and the longest wall being somewhere around 2,000 feet long, therefore depending on roads, paths, shape, etc., the distance was probably less than a mile around, an easy trek.
6:4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”
God’s plan included seven priests with trumpets (shofars) in front of the ark to lead the procession around Jericho. This may have confused some, as the priests and Levites (and to some degree, the ark of the covenant itself) were not military and were exempt from military duty (see Numbers 1:47-54). Then on the seventh day they were to march around the city seven times. When the priests blow a long blast on their trumpets everyone following was to shout loudly and the walls of the city will come down and the men will have direct access to everyone in the city.
One may wonder what Joshua’s leaders facial expressions were, or their thoughts, when he explained God’s plan to them. We now that God’s ways certainly do not align with ours (see Isaiah 55:8-9), but God is making a point here in this first battle to conquer the Promised Land, it is not by man’s strength, intellect, or any other earthly might, it was God who made this victory possible!
6:6 So 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 rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.” 7 And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the LORD.”
Joshua tells the priests what to do, but now we see that the armed men (possibly those of the tribes of Rueben, Gad, an the half tribe of Manasseh, see Joshua 4:12-13) were to lead followed by the priests and the ark with the remaining men behind them (who were likely armed to some degree as well).
6:8 And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD following them. 9 The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. 10 But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” 11 So he caused the ark of the LORD to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.
Everything went as planned the first day. Joshua made it clear that the people were not to shout until he tells them to.
6:12 Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets blew continually. 14 And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.
Joshua got up early on the second day so it is likely this day’s procession around Jericho was earlier than the first day. Nothing is reported for the next four days other than they successfully marched around the city for six days.
6:15 On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.
On the seventh day everyone rose early at dawn and they began to march around the city as they had done previously, except on that day they marched around Jericho seven times.
6:16 And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city. 17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.”
On the seventh pass Joshua gave the people some last-minute instructions. When they shout they are to proclaim that YHWH has given them the city and that everything in the city is to be destroyed with the exception of Rahab and her family. Joshua then offers the explanation that Rahab, and all who are with her, are to be spared because she helped the messengers by hiding them. It is interesting that in this chapter the spies are referred to as messengers. This further supports the idea that they served more as witnesses to Rahab than spies for any military intelligence, especially in light of God’s plan for the city’s destruction.
Joshua next warns the people to not take anything that was “devoted to destruction” (Hebrew ḥē·rěm, things under ban, cursed, set apart for destruction). The Hebrew wording implies that the destruction is a form of an offering to YHWH, what He says is to be destroyed must be destroyed. If they did keep something for themselves then they too would be destroyed, in addition that action will bring trouble to all of the Israelites. If they come across any silver, gold, or any vessel made if bronze and iron they are to be taken and given to YHWH’s treasury and were to be considered holy to YHWH. This is the first mention in the Bible regarding the “treasury of the LORD,” it is most often applied to ‘facility’ maintenance (see 1 Kings 7:51; Ezra 2:69; Nehemiah 7:70-72; Daniel 1:2) but likely included other priest, Levite, and other Tabernacle related expenses.
6:20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. 21 Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.
Undoubtedly after receiving the cue from Joshua, the Israelites began to shout followed by the trumpets being blown by the priests. Once the people heard the trumpets they shouted loudly and the walls of Jericho fell down flat (Hebrew tǎḥ·tê’, means under, positioned below, in place of, in context it seems to imply the walls fell flat against or below the ground, could that mean there was no rubble?). The Israelites had instant access to all things and the people in the city. Once captured, every thing, every animal, and every person was destroyed.
6:22 But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25 But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Joshua tells the two men who spied the land earlier to go to Rahab’s house and retrieve her and her family. They went and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all who belonged to her, and took them to a place outside the camp of Israel (only those ceremonially clean could be in camp, see Numbers 5:1-2). The Israelites then burned the city and everything that was in it. Only the silver, gold, and the vessels made of bronze and iron were taken out of the city and put in the treasury of YHWH. The text reiterates that Rahab and her father’s household, and all who belonged to her was saved and that she lived in Israel.
6:26 Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. “At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.”
There is no record of God giving Joshua the instruction to curse Jericho, but we know that since curses are meaningless without some supernatural influence, that God must have at least endorsed this curse as we read in 1 Kings 16:34, “In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.” (ESV) We will see that the city was quickly resettled, being close but not on the ruins, (see Joshua 18:21; Judges 3:13–14; 2 Samuel 10:5). The curse was not fulfilled until the time of King Ahab, when Hiel, a resident of Bethel, began to rebuild the wall.
6:27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.
As a result of their victory, Joshua was now firmly established as the leader of the Israelites and that YHWH was with him. His fame spread quickly in all the land.
Considerations
Everything Including Animals and the People
The Old Testament has a reputation of being bloody and murderous, and some might add, by the hands of an angry despot God. While the God of the Old Testament is often portrayed as being angry and the God of the New Testament a being kind and loving, He is the same God. Why the difference? The short answer is sin, and sin is seriously bad, but Jesus conquered sin. The Bible tells us, “he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrews 9:26b, ESV, see also Romans 6:6; 1 Corinthians 15:57; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 3:5) The problem of sin is solved for those who confess their sins and accept Jesus as their Savior.
But these people were innocent! No, they weren’t, first, all are guilty of sin (see Romans 6:23). Second, when God made a covenant with Abram as recorded in Genesis, He told him, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.” (Genesis 15:13, ESV) Knowing the location of the Promised Land, Satan knew he had 400 years while the Israelites were in Egypt, to spiritually pollute and desecrate the land by creating some of the most vile and wicked belief systems in the world, many of which required human sacrifices. To say these practices and every person and animal associated with them were an abomination to God would be an understatement. All pagan idolatry was unacceptable, but some of the Canaanite rituals were especially wicked. God devoted them to destruction, that may sound hyperviolent to us, but the spiritual pollution of the land had to be purged. There was no other way.
Possible Contradiction
In Matthew 20:29-34 we read about two blind men who were healed as Jesus was leaving Jericho and in Mark’s account he only recorded one blind man being healed (see Mark 10:46-52). Then in Luke’s account we read that Jesus was approaching Jericho when He healed a blind man. Some use this as an example of contradictions in the Bible. Regarding the entry verses the leaving of Jericho there were two cities named Jericho that were next to each other, one being a relatively new garden city built around a royal estate (during the late Hasmonean and early Herodian periods), and the other being essentially the abandoned ruins of the old city. When Jesus went from one city to the other, Matthew and Mark recorded that they were leaving Jericho, while Luke recorded that they were entering Jericho. There are other issues regarding these three accounts, click here for more information.