Now Jericho was shut up and was barred, because of the children of Israel none went out, and none came in.
Israel's first battle in the promised land begins at a locked gate. Jericho has sealed itself in because of Israel. The verse says nothing about Israel's plan and everything about Jericho's fear. It also raises the question the rest of the chapter answers: what does God do with a world that shuts its doors against Him?
Jericho's answer was military. It locked its gates and prepared for the war it understood.
God had fully prepared Joshua and Israel, and now their conquest of Canaan begins. Jericho, with its thick walls, was shut up tight (v.1). It was ready for a long siege, but not at all ready for what happened! Joshua did not lean on his own military wisdom. He took his orders from God, who tells him He has given Jericho, its king and its mighty men into Joshua's hand (v.2).
Verse 1 states the problem. The answer that follows was God's own plan, not Israel's.
Joshua, like the priests and the warriors of Israel, had only to carry out the instructions that God gave. The people were not left to their own resources. No man had suggested the plan for the overthrow of Jericho, and no man would ever have thought of suggesting it. The plan was God's, and He gave it to Joshua Himself, down to every detail.
Commentators see more in this shut city than one enemy town.
In Joshua it is the standing picture of the power of Satan in the world... But remember: this is the power of Satan used by the world to stop us entering into our heavenly blessings. It is not simply the world trying to drag us back to Egypt; that is not the point here. Satan brings out new traps to match each blessing God gives. He now throws all his force behind anything that would stop the progress of the saints altogether. He backs anything that hinders them from setting their mind and their affection on things above.
The height of the wall only matters if you compare it to the wrong thing.
Jericho looked like a fortress no one could take, and it was no doubt the stronghold of Canaan. Its people seemed safe behind that high, strong wall. But it was here that God was about to break the enemy's power. What were massive walls of stone and lime to the God who had opened a way for His people through the Red Sea and the Jordan? He was about to teach His people that the conflict was His. They had no power of their own. They had to rely on Him and on the ark of His strength.
This sentence about Jericho's gates is an aside dropped into the story. Where it stands matters.
The whole passage gives us God's mind about the sword, the end of Jericho, and His way of bringing about its overthrow. The parenthesis states what Jericho's condition was. It comes between the account of Joshua worshipping on the holy ground of God's presence and the revelation about Jericho's end. That is full of meaning. We learn God's mind in the sanctuary of His presence... The history of evil, dark and dreadful as it is, is only a brief parenthesis in the purposes of God. A rebellious life is a thing of a moment, seen in the light of eternal ages. So is the life of a rebellious world that keeps on its course in determined opposition to God.
One writer brings the shut city into the present.
There was no escape except through the house of faith. Every gate was closed, none went out, and none came in. It is so now; every gate is closed — law-gate, ritual-gate, works-gate, merit-gate — all are closed. Man is a sinner without strength. There is only one way of escape.
One house inside those walls was different. It belonged to a woman named Rahab.
Her home was on the wall, as far from the centre of the city as possible — just the place for a believer who is in the world but not of it. Her house was the only place in the city of destruction where salvation could be had... Her window faced out of Jericho, and she tied the scarlet cord in it. That should be true of the outlook of every house where Christ is known: its windows should not look towards the world, but towards the Coming One. Her door was open to Jericho, to bring people into the place of safety.
- Shut — Jericho locked itself in because of Israel. It was ready for a long siege, not for what God did.
- Stated — verse 1 gives the problem, verse 2 gives God's answer. The plan was His in every detail, not man's.
- Symbol — the barred city pictures Satan's power used by the world to stop believers taking hold of their heavenly blessings.
- Small — walls of stone meant nothing to the God who had already opened the Red Sea and the Jordan; the conflict was His.
- Saved — the gates of law, ritual, works and merit are all shut. The one way out of a doomed city was a house with a scarlet cord in its window.
And Jehovah said to Joshua, See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, [and] the valiant men.
Israel faces a sealed city with no siege equipment, yet God speaks of Jericho, its king and its fighting men as already handed over. If God has already given the city away, what is left for the people to do?
The promise about Jericho did not come in a council of war. It came to a man standing on holy ground, in front of the Captain of the Lord's host.
To Joshua, the Lord revealed Himself in Christ, as the prince of all power, as the Captain of the host of heaven, on behalf of Israel, His army. With bare feet, on the holy ground of the presence of the Lord, Joshua learned how Jericho was to be overthrown. There he learned too that the Lord had given over to Israel the city, its king, and all its men of war.
The same writer notes what Joshua was looking at moments before, and what he turned his eyes to instead.
Joshua was by Jericho, looking at its walls rising up to heaven and its bronze gates; and since Israel had no weapons to throw down these defences, how was this stronghold to be won? Reason might suggest a thousand difficulties. God shows us the man of faith alone with Himself, learning His mind about victory. The forces of the world are to us what the defences of Jericho were to the wandering tribes of Israel. In ourselves we are helpless before them. With divine power all things are possible.
Commentators see more in Jericho than a military target.
In Joshua it is the standing picture of the power of Satan in the world… But remember that the world puts forth this power of Satan to stop us entering into our heavenly blessings. It is not simply the world as a means of dragging us back to Egypt; that is not the point here. But Satan adopts fresh traps according to the blessing that God gives.
Another writer brings that down to the shape it takes in an ordinary life.
Every Christian has to face at some time or other his stronghold of Jericho. I need not list here the difficulties of each soul; they vary, but they can be summed up in one word — an obstacle. If I set my face heavenwards, what will happen? I shall lose my position; I shall be cut short in my career; my friends will leave me; my parents will never allow it; I would have to give up all I love.
God speaks in the past tense about a city still standing. What answers such a word is not strength but reliance.
Faith is simple confidence in Another, in the Lord, and at the same time the complete absence of self-confidence, for these two things go together. The obstacle yields to faith. What does it matter if the walls reach up to heaven? What are they to faith? Faith counts on the power of God, and this, dear friends, is the first great mark of faith. "So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:5). The fight needs a fully divine power, and that power alone can overthrow the obstacle. Faith rests on it alone.
The promise does not stand alone. Instructions follow at once, and God left Israel no say in the method.
The Captain of the Lord's host, who talks with Joshua, does not give them the choice of weapons or ways of fighting. They are not to make any plan or arrangement; they are not to discuss the means of gaining the victory. God Himself has ordered everything, and faith submits to the order God has set up, uses the means He points out, and does not invent others.
A given city still had to be walked around. God did not act in Israel's place.
Here the people must fight; they must each have their portion; they must take an active and personal part in the war with the Canaanites. "You shall march around the city, all the men of war, going around the city once." It was a strong, well-walled city, and Israel had only poor equipment for a siege or an assault. Yet never did a city fall so easily since the world began… The city was to be taken, and it would surely be taken. But this could only happen in God's way.
And the marching had to continue while nothing appeared to happen.
What could the blowing of rams' horns do towards throwing down the walls of Jericho? What could look more pointless and ridiculous to human eyes?… The seventh day brought its terrible reality — sudden and irreversible destruction… There was the patience of faith during the six days and the triumph of faith on the seventh. God crowns it all by showing His power, greater than man and not dependent on him.
- Given first. God names the city, its king and its soldiers as already handed over. The promise comes before the fight, not after it.
- Given in His presence. Joshua learned both the promise and the plan on holy ground, in front of the Captain of the Lord's host.
- Given against a real enemy. Jericho pictures the power that blocks people from their heavenly blessing. Every believer meets it as some obstacle.
- Given with God's own means. God offered no choice of weapons. Faith uses what He points out and invents nothing else.
- Given, yet marched for. All the men of war still had to march around the city. When the walls fell, the power on show was God's, not theirs.
And ye shall go round the city, all the men of war, encompassing the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
God speaks to Joshua before a single soldier moves. He gives no battle plan — only a route. Walk around the city once a day, for six days. Two questions follow. Why march at all if the city is already given? And what is faith to do while nothing seems to happen?
God hands over the city, its king and its fighting men first. Only then does He set the people walking:
Faith marches forward in dependence on God, who says: "I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor." Then it is put to the test. There must be patience. The people had to march like this for six days. Then patience must do its full work: "On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times."
Commentators read Jericho as more than a walled town. It pictures what blocks a believer from enjoying what God has given:
In Joshua, Jericho is the constant picture of the power of Satan in the world… But remember: it is the power of Satan, used by the world to stop us entering into our heavenly blessings. It is not simply the world trying to drag us back to Egypt; that is not the point here. But Satan adopts fresh snares according to the blessing that God gives.
Israel is not left standing still to watch:
God does not do the work single-handed. It is not as it was once with Pharaoh's army. Here the people must fight; each must have his own share; each must take an active part, in person, in the war with the Canaanites. "You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once." It was a strong city with good walls, and Israel had only poor equipment for a siege or an assault. Yet no city has ever fallen so easily since the world began.
Israel gets no say in the tactics. No council of war decides how many laps to walk, or with what weapons. God hands the plan down ready-made:
The commander of the Lord's army, who talks with Joshua, does not let them choose the weapons or the way to fight. They are not to make any plan or arrangement. They are not to discuss how to gain the victory. God Himself has ordered everything. Faith submits to the order God has set, uses the means He points out, and does not invent others.
The book of Joshua asks for that same obedience all the way through:
No book in Scripture demands obedience more strictly than the Book of Joshua. It shows the people entering into their heavenly portion now by faith… So Joshua directs the priests and the people, and they carry out the Lord's instructions with the most careful obedience, whatever those instructions looked like to others.
The command builds in delay. Day after day the walls stand, and both Israel and the watching city have time to draw conclusions:
Some in Israel may well have despised their own silent march round the walls of Jericho for six days… The people of Jericho, except for one person singled out by grace, may have been amazed on the first day, and trembled at what would follow. By the sixth day they had learned to mock a march that looked foolish to them. The seventh day brought its terrible reality — sudden destruction, with no way back. So it will be with the world, which is now hardening itself against the warnings of God. In a moment the walls of this world will fall, and judgment will fall on the scoffers… Faith was patient through the six days, and it triumphed on the seventh. God crowns it all by displaying His power, which is greater than man and does not depend on him.
One writer draws the line between the method and the power behind it:
Israel used a way of besieging a city that no one had ever heard of. But it was not simply walking round the city for seven days that brought the walls down. It was faith that obeyed God's Word.
- Given — God hands over the city, its king and its soldiers before anyone takes a step.
- Ordered — Israel picks no weapons and no tactics. God fixes the means, and faith uses them and invents no others.
- All — every fighting man walks round the city. The victory belongs to God, yet He leaves no one out.
- Patient — six days bring no visible result. The delay is the test, and mockery is part of its cost.
- Faith — the walking did not topple the walls. Obedience to God's word did, and the seventh day showed whose power it was.
And seven priests shall carry before the ark seven blast-trumpets; and on the seventh day ye shall go round the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
Jericho is the first city Israel must take inside the promised land. The orders here sound less like a battle plan than a parade: priests, horns, an ark, and a week of walking. Why seven of everything, and why should marching and blowing bring down a fortified wall?
The plan looks far too complicated for a battle. One writer asks that very question.
But, it may be said, why not simplify the path? Why all these complications? Why go round the city every day, and seven times on the seventh day? Why this procession with the ark and trumpets? Faith does not ask why. It does not reason about the means God chooses to use. It accepts them, enters into them, and gains the victory instead of being beaten by the enemy… Faith will tell you the reason for the seven days, the ark, the procession, the trumpets, and the shouts of joy. But it will only tell you after you have submitted to them. Otherwise it would be intelligence and not faith.
The same number shapes every part of the plan.
Seven days Israel had to march around the walls. Seven priests with seven trumpets were there. On the seventh day they had to march around seven times and blow the seven trumpets. Note the number "seven." It stands for divine completion. How it all reminds us of the last book of the Bible with its seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls. The trumpets in Joshua, however, are the trumpets of jubilee. The great jubilee, the time of blessing for this earth, comes when God carries out judgment.
One Hebrew word lies behind both "rams' horns" here and "jubilee" elsewhere. Writers dispute its root.
Except in Leviticus 25:9 (where the Hebrew word is teruah, "loud of sound," as in the margin) the word is yobel. It is translated "trumpet" in Exodus 19:13, "rams' horn" in Joshua 6:4-6, 8, 13, and "Jubilee" in Leviticus 25:10-15, 28-54… Fürst traces the word from yabal, "strong": so "a he-goat, ram," then "a ram's horn," and so "a cry of joy, a joyful noise," a name for the great Jubilee feast.
Commentators differ on the translation. Some keep "rams' horns"; others argue the text says jubilee.
Note, too, that they are "trumpets of jubilee." The word used here is the regular word for that, and there is no real warrant for "rams' horns"… The trumpet was, no doubt, a cornet or horn. Verse 5 even calls it a "horn" ("horn of jubilee"). But that very verse proves jobel does not mean "ram's horn," since "horn of ram's horn" would not work.
The priests walk ahead of the ark. That order carries its own message.
The seven priests doubtless stand for the perfect testimony the Lord gave through those who were nearest to Him. They were not drawing attention to the Lord's army, or to themselves, but to the ark right behind them. The ark was to hold every eye, whether of Israel or of their enemies.
The people inside Jericho heard the horns day after day, while the wall still stood.
It was a testimony which grew in intensity and earnestness as the carrying out of judgment came near. It produced no visible results. But we may well believe that its repetition drew out ridicule and abuse, and made the guilty citizens of Jericho bolder in their senseless opposition to God and His people. Every trumpet blast shortened the time of respite and brought judgment nearer… God showed mercy to Rahab and her family. We cannot doubt that He would have shown the same mercy to anyone who submitted to His righteous judgment.
The method looks absurd. That is the point.
And this is always God's way, that "no human being might boast in the presence of God"… It was by the foolishness of blowing rams' horns around a powerful fortress that "the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days." It was by the weakness of Shamgar's ox-goad, Gideon's three hundred, Samson's jawbone, that Israel was delivered.
Six days end with the wall standing. Then the pace changes.
Faith marches forward in dependence on God, who says, "I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor." Then comes the test. There must be patience. The people had to march like this for six days. Then their patience had to do its complete work: "On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times."
- God's terms. The city was already promised, but Israel had to take it His way — faith submits to the means before it understands them.
- God's number. Priests, trumpets, days and circuits all come in sevens — the number of divine completion.
- God's trumpet. The Hebrew yobel covers both "rams' horn" and "jubilee"; writers differ on which the verse means.
- God's testimony. The priests blew in front of the ark to fix every eye on it. Each blast also shortened Jericho's time while mercy was still open.
- God's victory. Horns against walls looked foolish. Six days of patience, then seven circuits — and the credit could go to no one but God.
And it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the blast-horn, that all the people on hearing the sound of the trumpet shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall flat, and the people shall go up, each one straight before him.
This is a promise, not a battle plan. Israel's part was to obey orders that had no power in themselves.
There is the greatest care to insist upon the word of Jehovah. God meant them to take the city, and take it they surely would — but only in His way. No book in Scripture demands obedience more strictly than the Book of Joshua. It shows the people entering their heavenly portion now by faith... So Joshua and the people do. He directs the priests and the people, and they carry out the instructions of Jehovah with the most careful obedience, whatever those orders might look like to others.
Commentators differ over the instrument. Some read it as a ram's horn. Others say it is the horn of jubilee, whose notes announced liberty.
The character of the praise is significant. Each priest had the trumpet of gladness, the cornet of jubilee (not a ram's horn). Its notes proclaimed freedom — liberty — the acceptable year of the Lord. These joyful sounds were to fall continually on the ears of the men of Jericho, as the armed men encircled the city.
Another writer builds the case from the wording of this verse, which calls the instrument a "horn."
They are "trumpets of jubilee." The word used here is the regular word for that, and there is no real warrant for "rams' horns"... The trumpet was, no doubt, a cornet or horn. The fifth verse plainly calls it a "horn" ("horn of jubilee"). But this very verse proves that jobel does not mean "ram's horn," since "horn of ram's horn" would hardly do.
Marching and noise are not weapons. That was the point: the orders left no room for a human explanation of what followed.
Israel was entering the promised land, and one lesson mattered most. They might have to fight, but victory depended on Jehovah. Their place was full obedience to His word, with confidence in His power. So the directions tested the faith of His people and threw them wholly on His action. No one could invent anything less reasonable to human eyes or mind... Who ever heard of a siege conducted like that? Yet above all it would impress both Israel and their enemies that He was there to make them more than conquerors.
Faith accepts such orders before it can explain them.
Faith does not ask why. It does not argue about the means God chooses. It accepts them, enters into them, and wins the victory instead of being beaten by the enemy... Faith will tell you the reason for the seven days, the ark, the procession, the trumpets, and the shouts of joy. But it will only tell you after you have submitted. Otherwise it would be intelligence and not faith.
Israel shouts and the wall falls. The order of events is not a statement of cause.
Only then did Israel raise their voices, and at Joshua's command they gave a shout. The wall did not fall because of the shout. But God, in grace, let His people share the triumph over the power of the enemy. It was His almighty power that made the wall fall flat down... The same ark that had brought His people safely through the waters of the Jordan now brought down the strong walls their enemies trusted in.
The promise ends with each man walking in from where he stood — no gate, no detour.
This does not mean the walls toppled over. They were wide enough to hold houses, and the soldiers went in straight ahead. But recent reports from digs at the site show that the walls sank into the ground. That explains the words "fell down flat." The Israelites could then walk straight in, with no rubble to climb over... The one exception would be that area of the wall where Rahab and her relatives were gathered.
Six days of marching changed nothing anyone could see. The delay was an offer of mercy.
It produced no visible result. Yet we may well believe that repeating it drew out ridicule and abuse... Every trumpet blast shortened the time of respite, and brought judgment nearer. That testimony spoke for the rights of Jehovah over all the earth. When it sounded for the last time, every barrier to judgment came down... The mercy shown to Rahab and her family, we cannot doubt, would have been shown to anyone at all who bowed to the righteous judgment of God.
- Given — the city was to be taken, but only in God's way; Israel's part was to obey, not to plan.
- Sounded — the horn of jubilee announced liberty in the ears of the doomed city while its time ran out.
- Absurd — nothing could look less reasonable to human eyes, so no soldier could claim the credit.
- Shared — the shout did not topple the wall; God let His people join the triumph His power alone produced.
- Straight — the wall went down flat and each man walked in from where he stood, except where Rahab and her family sheltered.
And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, Carry the ark of the covenant, and seven priests shall carry seven blast-trumpets before the ark of Jehovah.
Jericho falls by a message, not by weapons. Joshua passes on the orders he has just received, word for word. Everything that follows turns on whether Israel will take the city God's way.
Joshua repeats the orders he received, and one writer notes how much weight this book puts on obedience.
There is the greatest care to insist on the word of the LORD. The city was to be taken, and it certainly would be taken — but only in God's way. No book in Scripture demands obedience more strictly than the Book of Joshua, which shows the people entering their heavenly portion now by faith… He directs the priests and the people, and they carry out the LORD's instructions with the most careful obedience, whatever those instructions may have looked like to others.
Joshua acts the moment he hears, and his word to the priests is short.
It seems Joshua gave his orders to Israel as soon as he received them from the Captain of the Lord's host. Faith holds energy and patience in even balance, because faith is simply carrying out the mind of God. To the priests the command was, "Take up the ark."
Priests carry the ark here, and the horns in front of it sound unlike anything Israel had marched to before.
This is clearly priestly work that has to be done. By this time the people knew the sound of the silver trumpets, which sounded the alarm each time they set out. But here trumpets of rams' horns are used for the first time, and they must have made a very different sound from the bright call of the silver horns.
The ark stood at the centre of the whole army, and one writer takes that place as a picture of Christ among His people.
Being linked with Christ never aims at making man great, and never has that result; it lifts up Christ and makes much of Him. The ark itself was the true body of the army — the centre they could not do without, the main force — and the way the people stood around it proclaimed this plainly. Without the ark there could be no war and no victory.
God gives Israel a set order to follow, not a choice of tactics. One writer turns that against the way believers organise their work.
The Captain of the Lord's host, who speaks with Joshua, does not let them choose their weapons or their way of fighting. They are not to make any plan or arrangement. They are not to discuss how to win the victory. God Himself has ordered everything. Faith bows to the order God has set, uses the means He points out, and does not invent others. People often say we must have societies, committees, conferences, money, and so on. Man must have them, but faith needs nothing of the kind. God has His own means.
Commentators differ over how to translate the Hebrew word behind "rams' horns." One says it is the ordinary word for jubilee:
Note, too, that they are "trumpets of jubilee." The word used here is the regular word for jubilee, and there is no real ground for "rams' horns," though the revisers of the common version kept it. The trumpet was no doubt a cornet or horn, and verse five calls it plainly a "horn" ("horn of jubilee")… A horn is a recognised picture of power, so calling it a "horn" may point us to the Word of God. Whether men recognise it or not, God's Word is what governs all events.
He is using an older translation: where it reads "horn of jubilee" in verse 5, the ESV has "ram's horn." Others keep the older wording and hear something else in that flat, tuneless note:
The blowing of the rams' horns, with their tuneless and monotonous notes, suggests true prayer, which is always the expression of dependence.
The seven horns sounded a full witness, and the people inside Jericho still had time to answer it.
Here, then, was a perfect testimony, in the full power of consecration (the seven trumpets of rams' horns), to the right of the LORD, as "Lord of all the earth," to give the land of Canaan to anyone He chose… It seemed to produce no results, and we may well believe that repeating it drew out mockery and abuse… Every trumpet blast shortened the time of reprieve and brought judgment nearer… We cannot doubt that the mercy shown to Rahab and her family would also have been shown to anyone who submitted to the righteous judgment of God.
- Word. Joshua passes on God's orders without changing them. No book in Scripture demands obedience more strictly.
- Ark. The priests take it up first; this is priestly work. The ark is the centre of the army, and without it there is no war and no victory.
- Means. Israel does not choose its own weapons or plan. Faith uses the means God points out and invents no others.
- Sound. The seven horns are jubilee trumpets, carried by priests; their tuneless, unchanging note fits prayer, which is always the expression of dependence.
- Result. Every blast was a full testimony to God's right over the earth, and it shortened Jericho's reprieve. Mercy stayed open, as Rahab found, until it closed.
And he said to the people, Pass on, go round the city, and they that are armed shall pass on before the ark of Jehovah.
God gave Joshua the strangest battle plan in Scripture: armed men in front, the ark of the LORD behind them, and a city to circle instead of storm. Here Joshua passes it on to the people word for word. Why does the order of the march matter, and what does an army gain by walking?
Joshua repeats the plan he was given. He does not improve on it.
Notice the greatest care to insist on the word of Jehovah. Israel would take the city, and would certainly take it; but only in God's way. No book in Scripture demands obedience more strictly than the Book of Joshua. It shows the people entering their heavenly portion now by faith… Joshua directs the priests and the people, and they carry out the instructions of Jehovah with the most careful obedience, whatever those orders might look like to others.
Joshua acts at once. Two groups each receive their own short order.
It seems Joshua gave his orders to Israel as soon as he received them from the Captain of the Lord's army. Faith keeps energy and patience in balance, for faith is simply carrying out the mind of God. To the priests the command was, "Take up the ark"; to the armed men, "Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the LORD."
Joshua does not lay out the whole week to the people. He tells them what to do today.
Joshua gave orders for that day only… So all work of faith is day by day work, step by step progress; and this is the only true and happy way of living for God. Israel's first day ended in the happy satisfaction that they had obeyed God. We trust that comfort may be ours each day too; and as for the rest, let the men of Jericho think what they please.
The instruction places the fighting men ahead of everyone else, and the rest of the nation behind.
In Christian conflict, the armed men always go in front, and the gathering crowd makes up the rear. God has always His front-rank men — men able to use the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; men, too, who expose themselves to Satan's attacks.
The armed men march before the ark. So the ark travels in the middle of the column, where the enemy can see it.
The ark among them was a visible sign of their faith in Jehovah. For a week they marched round the walls of Jericho each day, and the ark stood out for all to see. The ark of God went behind the advance guard and in front of the rear guard. It was the very centre of their daily parade in front of their enemies. Everyone in Jericho could see that Israel looked to the ark for guidance, and depended on it for victory.
Israel marched in the open, where the whole city could watch. Commentators read the scene as a picture of Christian witness today.
The people of Jericho, watching from the walls, must have found the sight astonishing. The quiet, orderly march, with only the rams' horns sounding, pictures the proper testimony of believers today before a world heading for judgment. When believers walk in order with Christ (the ark) at their centre, that walk is a witness of moral character before the world. The blowing of the rams' horns is the spoken witness — the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God.
The armed men led the march, but they did not bring the wall down.
Note here that the walls of Jericho did not fall by strategy, or by the strength of the armed men. They fell "before the ark of the covenant, and the priests who bore it" — and even then not by sword or spear, but when the priests blew the rams' horns… Overlooking this, and the ark's right to the front place and the first place in Israel, may have caused Joshua's sad defeat. Two or three thousand armed men boasted they were enough, went up against Ai, and were driven back.
- Obeyed — God promised the city, but Israel could take it only in God's way. Joshua repeats the plan exactly.
- Divided — Two commands go out: the priests take up the ark, the armed men pass on before it.
- Daily — Joshua orders only that day's march. The work of faith goes step by step, and the first day ends in the joy of having obeyed.
- Centred — Soldiers in front, rear guard behind, the ark in the middle. Jericho could see that Israel depended on it for victory.
- Credited — The wall fell before the ark, at the sound of the horns — not by strategy or by the strength of the armed men. Forgetting that led to the defeat at Ai.
And it came to pass when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests carrying the seven blast-trumpets before Jehovah passed on and blew with the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went after them.
Jericho's walls still stand when the march begins, and Israel's only visible weapons are seven ram's horns and the ark. Here Joshua's orders turn into action — but why this method, and why in this order?
Every step of the march follows the pattern God gave. Israel would take Jericho, but not by improving on that plan.
The city was to be taken, and it surely would be taken; but only in God's way. No book in Scripture demands obedience more strictly than the Book of Joshua, which shows the people entering their heavenly portion now by faith… They are found carrying out the Lord's instructions with the most careful obedience, whatever those instructions might look like to other people.
The trumpets go first, but the whole formation exists to carry the ark.
Being joined to Christ never lifts up man or makes man important. It lifts up Christ and makes much of Him. The ark itself was the body of the army — the centre they could not do without, the main force… Without the ark there could be no warfare and no victory.
The number seven and the choice of priests both carry meaning. Notice too where the marchers were meant to look.
The seven priests surely stand for the perfect testimony the Lord gave through those who were nearest to Him. They were not calling attention to the army of the Lord, or to themselves, but to the ark right behind them. Every eye, whether of Israel or of their enemies, was to focus on the ark. It was God's presence, seen in the ark of His strength, that had taken up the challenge of the enemy, seen in the mighty walls of Jericho.
Commentators differ on the note these instruments made. One writer takes the instrument as the cornet of jubilee, and hears joy in it rather than a war signal.
Praise went before the ark — the seven priests; and it is true that in Christian warfare, sevenfold praise is at the front. The kind of praise matters too. Each priest had the trumpet of gladness, the cornet of jubilee (not a ram's horn). Its notes announced freedom — liberty — the acceptable year of the Lord.
Picture the scene from inside Jericho. An army marches and blows horns instead of building siege works.
Think how this looked to the men of Jericho, shut in and feeling safe behind their defences. This way of making war, this constant trumpeting, was as complete a folly to them as the joy of the gospel is to the unbelieving world… No piling up of earth ramps, no building of battering rams, no scaling ladders — nothing but the trumpets of jubilee!
A full week passes between the first blast and the fall of the wall. That week was mercy, and Rahab was not the only person who could have used it.
Every trumpet blast shortened the time of respite, and brought judgment nearer. When that full and perfect testimony to the rights of the Lord over all the earth had sounded for the last time, every barrier holding back judgment was removed… We cannot doubt that the mercy shown to Rahab and her family would have been shown to anyone at all who bowed to the righteous judgment of God. At any moment during that solemn week, a person could submit to Israel's God and find mercy at His hands.
One writer brings the scene forward to Christians today. It has two parts — how they walk, and what they say.
The quiet, ordered marching, with only the rams' horns sounding, pictures the right testimony of believers today before a world that is heading for judgment. The ordered walk of believers with Christ (the ark) as their Center is a witness of moral character before the world. The blowing of the rams' horns is the spoken witness — the proclaiming of the gospel of the grace of God.
- Order — the priests go first, the ark follows; the arrangement is God's, and Israel copies it exactly.
- Centre — the ark is the real army; strip it out and there is neither warfare nor victory.
- Sound — seven priests blow a testimony that points away from themselves to the ark behind them.
- Mercy — every blast is both a warning of coming judgment and an open door, as Rahab proved.
- Witness — the same pair still stands: a walk with Christ at the centre, and a gospel announced out loud.
And the armed men went before the priests who blew with the trumpets, and the rearguard came after the ark; they blew with the trumpets in marching.
This verse stops to describe the marching order at Jericho. Armed men go first, then the priests with their trumpets, then the ark, and a rear guard closes the line. Why did God put the ark in the middle, and why were the soldiers not the point?
The order is not random. The ark stands in the middle of the column, and everything else takes its place from there.
The arrangement of Israel is also suggestive. The ark that had brought them into Canaan was the centre of the armed host (v. 9). So Christ is the centre of the army of God's people. Before the ark went praise — the seven priests. And it is true that in Christian warfare, sevenfold praise is in the front. The character of the praise matters too. Each priest carried the trumpet of gladness, the cornet of jubilee (not a ram's horn), and its notes proclaimed freedom — liberty — the acceptable year of the Lord. These joyful sounds were to fall without stopping on the ears of the men of Jericho, while the armed men circled the city.
That centre is not decoration.
Being joined with Christ never aims at making man great, and never has that result. It exalts Christ and makes much of Him. The ark itself was the body of the army — the centre they could not do without, the real strength. The whole attitude of the people around it made that plain. Without the ark there could be neither warfare nor victory.
At the Jordan the people went after the ark. Here the ark comes last. One writer sees in that change the mark of people who are already in the land.
I am struck by the position of the ark. Before they crossed the Jordan they were to go after the ark... But now they are in the land, blowing the rams' horns, and the ark must be behind them. They must be in the land to surround Jericho and sound the trumpet. No one can sound the true gospel of God to a lost world until he knows where he stands through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus... Redemption is no longer something ahead of him. Once it was, when he was a seeking soul. Now it is behind him, finished once and for ever.
The armed men lead and the mass of the people follow. The same two ranks, Witherby suggests, still exist among God's people.
In Christian conflict, the armed men always go on in the front, and the gathering host make up the rear. God always has His front-rank men. They can use the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. They also expose themselves to Satan's attacks.
The march itself was quiet; only the horns sounded. Two things were on display to the watchers on the wall, and Grant reads them as two halves of one witness.
The sight of this must have been astonishing to the people of Jericho watching from the walls. The quiet, orderly marching, with only the rams' horns sounding, pictures the proper testimony of believers today before a world that God will judge. Believers who walk in that order, with Christ (the ark) as their Centre, are a witness of moral character before the world. The blowing of the rams' horns is the announced witness — the proclaiming of the gospel of the grace of God.
Commentators differ over the instruments. Grant and others call them rams' horns; Witherby hears the cornet of jubilee, sounding liberty.
The soldiers marched first, but the victory did not come from them. Forgetting that cost Israel later.
We may note here that the walls of Jericho did not fall by strategy, nor by the strength of the armed men. They fell "before the ark of the covenant, and the priests who bore it." And even then they did not fall by sword or spear, but when the priests blew the rams' horns... Perhaps Israel overlooked this, and overlooked the ark's right to the front place and the first place in Israel. That may be what caused Joshua's sad defeats. Two or three thousand armed men were counted enough to take Ai. They went up, they were driven back, and the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
- Centre. The ark stood in the middle of the marching army. Christ holds that place among His people, and without Him there is no warfare and no victory.
- Behind. At the Jordan the ark went first; now it comes last. Redemption is finished behind you before you sound the trumpet to others.
- Front. Armed men led and the gathering host came after. God still has front-rank people who use the word of God and face the enemy's attacks.
- Sound. The quiet march was the witness of character. The unbroken trumpets were the witness announced — the gospel proclaimed to a world under judgment.
- Result. The walls fell to neither strategy nor soldiers. When Israel forgot that at Ai, brave hearts melted like water.
And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, Shout; then shall ye shout.
Joshua tells Israel to march around a walled city in complete silence — no war cry, no talk, not one word — until he gives the signal. Why must an armed nation say nothing at all? And what could a shout do that swords could not?
The order to stay quiet was a lesson in waiting. Israel was in the land at last, but the army could not move until God gave the word.
Now that they were in the land, the sword had to wait on the word. "You shall not shout … until the day I tell you to shout." Patience must have its perfect work. Israel had to learn that power belongs to God. Moses in Deuteronomy had warned them again and again about that spirit of self-confidence. He knew they were prone to it.
The silence told the soldiers what their part was not.
Joshua fully realised that the warriors were to have no part in the actual overthrow of the enemy's power represented by the wall of the city. So he commanded them to make no shout, no noise with their voice, not one word out of their mouth, until the day he told them to shout.
The shout came at last. It did not knock the wall over.
The falling down of the wall was not the result of the shout, but God, in grace, allowed His people to share the triumph over the power of the enemy. It was His almighty power that made the wall fall flat… The same ark that had brought His people safely through the Jordan River brought down the strong walls their enemies trusted in.
The way Jericho fell says something about how God works. There was nothing to see and, from Israel, nothing to hear.
Notice what a testimony the LORD gave to His thoughts and ways in the way Jericho was surrounded and captured. There was no visible display of power at all. Instead there was the thing that always goes with real power: quiet composure. (Joshua 6:10.)
The people had no voice, but the trumpets did. One writer sees a picture of Christian witness here: a quiet life, and a spoken message.
The quiet, orderly marching, with only the rams' horns sounding, pictures the proper testimony of believers today. They live before a world that is heading for judgment. Their orderly walk with Christ (the ark) as their Centre is a witness of moral character before the world. The blowing of the rams' horns is the announced witness — the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God.
Obeying meant taking mockery in silence. Some of the contempt came from inside Israel.
Some in Israel may have thought with contempt of their silent march round the walls of Jericho for six days. Achan's later conduct showed that he, for one, had no proper sense of the presence of the LORD among them… The seventh day brought its awful reality — sudden and final destruction. So it will be with the world, which now hardens itself against the warnings of God. In a moment the walls of this world will fall… This is the obedience of faith, and the world calls it foolishness. Faith was patient through the six days, and it triumphed on the seventh. God crowns it all by displaying His power as greater than man, and not dependent on man. Faith was the means, and the clear note of the rams' horns matched it: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts."
The silence ends when Joshua speaks. He speaks with certainty about a wall that is still standing.
The means Joshua used were clearly useless on human grounds. Yet he calls the people to a settled and complete assurance of what is going to happen to Jericho, before it happens. Can anything be more remarkable? There is communion with the mind of God. It is as fully set out before Joshua and all the people as if the city already lay in ruins. And so it should be with us.
- Word first. The sword had to wait on the word; Israel could not act until God set the moment.
- Word withheld. Silence kept the fighting men from any share in bringing the wall down. Power belongs to God.
- Word sounding. Only the trumpets sounded before the ark: a quiet, orderly walk and a spoken message.
- Word tested. Six days of marching under mockery was the patience of faith. Obedience looked foolish until the seventh day came.
- Word released. When Joshua said "shout," he spoke of the city as already fallen. God let His people share a victory He alone won.
And the ark of Jehovah went round the city, encompassing [it] once; and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
The first day of the siege of Jericho ends with nothing to show for it. Israel circles the walls once and walks back to camp. So what was happening while Israel marched? And why did God choose a method that showed no result at all?
The march was not a show of military strength. Israel walked around the ark, the gold-covered chest that travelled with them. One writer links the ark to Christ, and says the people's place around it showed where the real force lay.
The aim and result of association with Christ is never to exalt man or attach importance to him; it exalts Christ and makes much of Him. The ark itself was the real body of the army — the essential centre, the main force. The whole attitude of the people around it made that plain. Without the ark there could be neither warfare nor victory.
The verse does not say Israel circled the city. It says the ark of the LORD did. Another writer notes that the ark stands out here again:
Their means looked inadequate — and would have been inadequate if God had not been in them. More than that, His ark is again prominent.
To anyone watching from the walls, a lap around the city and a retreat to camp was not a siege at all. One writer pictures how the whole scene looked to those watching, inside the city and out.
What could the blowing of rams' horns do towards throwing down the walls of Jericho? What could look more pointless and ridiculous to human eyes? Possibly some in Israel thought with contempt of their silent march around the walls of Jericho for six days... The people of Jericho, apart from the one singled out by grace, may have been amazed on the first day and trembled at what would follow. By the sixth day they had learned to mock a procession that seemed foolish to them. The seventh day brought its dreadful reality — sudden and final destruction. So it will be with the world, which is now hardening itself against the warnings of God. In a moment the walls of this world will fall, and judgment will fall on the scoffers.
Joshua's orders covered one march only. He said nothing yet about day six or day seven. One writer takes that limit as the pattern for daily Christian living.
Joshua gave orders for the day only: "Go forward. March around the city, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the LORD." So all work of faith is day by day work, step by step progress. This is the only true and happy way of living for God. In the happy satisfaction that they had obeyed God, Israel's first day ended — a comfort we trust may be ours daily. As for the rest, let the men of Jericho think what they please.
God gave Israel no reason for the circuit, the trumpets or the waiting. One writer asks why the path had to be so complicated, and answers from what faith is.
But, it may be said, why not simplify the path? Why all these complications? Why go around the city every day, and seven times on the seventh day? Why this procession with the ark and trumpets? Faith does not ask why. It does not reason about the means God chooses to use. It accepts them, enters into them, and gains the victory instead of being beaten by the enemy... Is faith then without intelligence? Not at all: it first submits, and then it understands. Faith will tell you the reason for the seven days, the ark, the procession, the trumpets and the shouts of joy. But it will only tell you after it has submitted to them. Otherwise it would be intelligence and not faith.
One circuit became six, and each day looked like the last. One writer says the repetition proved Israel's faith, and God watched it.
The faith of the people was well proved. Each day of that week the procession set out on time. Their faith was maintained, and it reached maturity. For seven days the city walls saw their faith. God saw it too. God does not commend an intermittent faith — a faith that is bright on the Lord's day, for instance, but fades away from the first day of the week to the seventh.
- Ark first. The verse names the ark, not the army, as what went round the city. Commentators call it the true body of the army — without it there could be neither warfare nor victory.
- Weak means. To human eyes, horns and marching looked pointless and ridiculous. The means would have been useless if God had not been in them.
- Daily orders. Joshua ordered one day's march at a time. All work of faith is day by day work, and each day ends in the satisfaction of having obeyed.
- No explanations. Faith does not ask why God chose this method; it submits first and understands afterwards.
- Proved daily. The same circuit each day matured Israel's faith, and God saw it. He does not commend a faith that is bright one day and fades by the next.
And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests carried the ark of Jehovah.
Joshua 6:12 opens the second day of the siege of Jericho — the same men, the same ark, the same silent circuit as the day before. Day one had changed nothing anyone could see. The verse shows what faith does when God's promise has not yet cracked the wall: it gets up early and does it all again.
The early start marks a man eager for the work God has given him. One writer points out that the rest of Israel soon did the same.
Faith is zealous to exalt and give testimony to Christ, zealous for that service which is also conflict. "Joshua rose early in the morning" (v. 12). "They rose early about the dawning of the day" (v. 15). See how zeal in one stirs up and encourages it in others.
Joshua never handed Israel a seven-day schedule. Each morning brought its own command, and that shapes how believers are meant to live.
Joshua gave orders for the day only: "Pass on, and march around the city, and let him who is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD." So all work of faith is day by day work, step by step progress. This is the only true and happy way of living for God. Israel's first day ended in the happy satisfaction that they had obeyed God. We trust that comfort may be ours each day too. And as for the rest, let the men of Jericho think what they please.
From inside the walls, day two looked like day one: a marching army making noise and doing nothing.
Early in the morning of the second day Joshua arose, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD... The men of Jericho were shut up safe behind their defences. It is fair to assume that such a way of making war, such continual trumpeting, was to them as much nonsense as the joy of the gospel is to an unbelieving world. A huge army marching round a strong city and always giving out such joyful sounds looked and sounded like fanaticism. No building of siege mounds, no battering rams, no scaling ladders — nothing but the trumpets of jubilee! The men of Jericho understood what those blasts meant no better than the world today understands the joy of the Lord's year of favour, and of the coming kingdom of Christ.
The priests lift the ark again at the head of the second day. It is the chest that marked God's presence among His people, and Israel had already seen what God did through it.
The attention of all was on the ark, which the Levites carried round the city each day. Israel had already learned something of the divine power connected with the ark of God. They watched it go into the Jordan, and they saw the overflowing waters driven back before it. Then they saw the ark coming out of the river, and once it was out they saw the waters return in their power. Here was another lesson for them to learn, so God concentrates their attention afresh on His holy ark.
These middle days repeat, and the repetition is the test. God wants a steady faith, not a flickering one.
God is not pleased with a faith which is active only when the sun shines. He wants our faith in times of wind and storm, fog and darkness. Faith, like patience, must have its perfect, unbroken exercise. The seven days' trial of the people's faith proved its worth. Then the victory came, the walls fell, and Jericho was in the hands of the children of Israel.
Marching cannot topple stone. That was the design — a battle plan that left no room for anyone to claim the credit.
When it is a question of fighting, Christians are usually ready to admit that the power is of God. But they do not consent to the complete setting aside of self. So they are not rewarded with a complete victory as at Jericho, where God claimed this honour for Himself. Not that He refused to use human instruments, but it must be He who uses them, so that man may not be exalted in his own eyes.
- Rise — the day begins with Joshua up early; zeal in one leader stirred the same zeal in the whole nation.
- Take up — the priests lift the ark again, and God turns His people's eyes back to the one place where their power lay.
- Repeat — Joshua gave orders for that day alone, because the work of faith is day-by-day work, step by step.
- Endure — God does not commend a faith bright one day and faded the next. The seven days tested Israel until their faith proved genuine.
- Receive — when the victory came, no marching, weapon or plan could claim it. God arranged the siege so the honour would be His alone.
And the seven priests carrying the seven blast-trumpets before the ark of Jehovah went on and blew continually with the trumpets; and the armed men went before them, and the rearguard went after the ark of Jehovah; they blew with the trumpets in marching.
Day two of the siege looks just like day one, and so do the days after it. Scripture keeps repeating the same details: armed men in front, priests with horns, the ark, the rear guard. Why a week of marching, and what were the trumpets saying?
The ark marched in the middle of the column, where Jericho could see it.
The ark in their midst was a visible token of their faith in Jehovah. In their daily processions for a week round the walls of Jericho, the ark was a conspicuous feature. The ark of God was behind the advance guard, and before the rear guard. It was evident to all in Jericho that Israel looked to the ark for guidance, and depended upon it for victory.
That arrangement was not a matter of convenience. One writer reads the shape of the column as the army's confession of where its strength lay:
The ark itself formed the body of the army, properly speaking, the indispensable centre, the main force; and the whole attitude of the people around it plainly proclaimed it. Without the ark there could be neither warfare nor victory.
The verse says twice that the priests blew the trumpets continually. That made for a strange siege.
The seven priests "walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually." Israel spoke no word. The only sounds the army gave out were the steady tramp of its many feet and the loud, piercing blast of its trumpets — the grand herald notes of the Kingdom of God. The men of Jericho sat shut up and secure behind their defences. We may well assume that this way of making war, this endless trumpeting, seemed to them as complete a folly as the joy of the gospel seems to the unbelieving world. No casting up of mounds, no building of battering rams, no scaling ladders, nothing but the trumpets of jubilee!
Commentators differ over the instrument itself. The Hebrew word is the same one used for the year of release, when debts were cancelled and property returned:
In Leviticus 25:9 the Hebrew word is teruah, "loud of sound." Everywhere else the word is yobel, translated "trumpet" in Exodus 19:13, "ram's horn" in Joshua 6:4-6, 8, 13, and "Jubilee" in Leviticus 25:10-15. Fürst traces the word back to yabal, "strong": so "a he-goat, ram," then "a ram's horn," and so "a cry of joy, a joyful noise," a name for the great Jubilee feast.
One writer draws out what those notes announced, and where in the line they sounded:
Before the ark went praise — the seven priests; and it is true that in Christian warfare, sevenfold praise is in the front. The character of the praise matters too. Each priest had the trumpet of gladness, the jubilee horn. Its notes proclaimed freedom, liberty, the acceptable year of the Lord. These joyful sounds were to fall continually on the ears of the men of Jericho as the armed men encircled the city.
Israel was not to shout yet. One writer hears the horns of those quiet days as God holding the door open:
Another day that ark of the Lord, with its covering of blue, and those seven trumpets sweetly sounding, must surround the doomed city. Oh, how our God delights in mercy! Blow, you priests, blow softly and sweetly; it is our God who welcomes the sinner in. Do not shout or make a noise yet, these are days of mercy.
That same testimony was also a clock running down:
This testimony produced no apparent results. But we may well believe that repeating it drew out ridicule and abuse, and made the guilty citizens of Jericho bolder in their senseless opposition to God and His people. Every trumpet blast shortened the time of respite and brought judgment nearer. God showed mercy to Rahab and her family. We cannot doubt He would have shown the same mercy to anyone who submitted to His righteous judgment.
The orders came one morning at a time, and one writer draws a rule for living from that:
Joshua gave orders for the day only: march around the city, with the armed men going before the ark of the Lord. So all work of faith is day by day work, step by step progress; and this is the only true and happy way of living for God. Israel's first day ended in the happy satisfaction that they had obeyed God — and as for the rest, let the men of Jericho think as they please.
The repetition is what tested them, and the test is the lesson:
Each day of that week, the procession set out on time. They kept their faith up, and it grew to maturity. For seven days the city walls saw their faith. God saw it too. God does not commend an on-and-off faith: bright on the Lord's day, for instance, but fading away as the week runs from the first day to the seventh.
- Centre. The ark marched between the advance guard and the rear guard, so the column itself said that Israel leaned on God for victory, not on its soldiers.
- Sound. No one spoke. Marching feet and priestly horns were the army's only voice, and to Jericho it all looked like folly.
- Jubilee. The horn named here is the word for Jubilee, so its notes proclaimed freedom and the acceptable year of the Lord.
- Mercy. Each circuit kept the door open to anyone in Jericho who would submit, and each blast brought judgment one step nearer.
- Patience. Joshua gave orders one day at a time, and the faith God commends is the faith that marches out again on day six, unchanged.
And on the second day they went round the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days.
The second day's march repeated the first: one circuit of Jericho, then back to camp. Israel did this for six days, and the wall never cracked — so what is God doing when obedience shows no result?
Israel chose nothing — not the route, not the number of days, not the instruments. Every order came from God.
The Captain of the Lord's host, who talks with Joshua, does not give them the choice of arms or means of warfare. They are not to make any plan or arrangement; they are not to work out among themselves how to gain the victory. God Himself has ordered everything. Faith submits to the order God has established, uses the means He points out, and does not invent others.
Israel never got the whole week's plan in advance. Each morning brought one order, and the day ended with it done.
Joshua gave orders for the day only: "Pass on, and go around the city, and let the armed man pass on before the ark of the Lord." So all work of faith is day by day work, step by step progress. This is the only true and happy way of living for God. Israel's first day ended in the happy satisfaction that they had obeyed God. We trust that comfort may be ours each day too. As for the rest, let the men of Jericho think as they please.
The verse records the same day again and again. God was watching for a faith that held all week, not one brave day.
The faith of the people was well proved. On each day of the week, the procession set out on time. They kept their faith up, and it reached maturity. For seven days the city walls saw their faith. God saw it, too. God does not commend a faith that comes and goes. Think of a faith that is bright on the Lord's day but fades away between the first day of the week and the seventh.
God had already promised Jericho to Israel. The six days of marching stood between that promise and the fall of the city.
Faith marches forward in dependence on God, who says: "I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valour." Then comes the test. There must be patience. The people had to march like this for six days. Then patience must have her perfect work: "On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times."
From inside the walls, this looked like no siege at all. Israel brought no weapons of attack, only noise.
The men of Jericho sat shut up and secure behind their defences. To them, we may assume, such a way of making war, such constant trumpeting, was complete folly. The joy of the gospel is the same kind of folly to an unbelieving world. A huge army marched round a strong city, giving out joyful sounds the whole time. To the eye and ear, that was fanaticism. They threw up no siege mounds, they built no battering rams, they raised no ladders — nothing but the trumpets of jubilee!
Six days of this changed the watchers inside the city, and their story carries a warning for the world.
One person in Jericho was singled out by grace. The rest may have been amazed on the first day and trembled at what would follow. By the sixth day they may have learned to mock the procession that seemed so foolish to them. The seventh day brought its awful reality — sudden and final destruction. So it will be with the world, which is now hardening itself against the warnings of God. In a moment the walls of this world will fall, and judgment will come upon the scoffers.
One object stood at the centre of every circuit. The people marched around the ark.
The aim and result of being joined to Christ is never to exalt man or give him importance. It exalts Christ and makes much of Him. Strictly speaking, the ark itself formed the body of the army — the indispensable centre, the main force. The whole attitude of the people around it proclaimed that. Without the ark there could be neither warfare nor victory.
- Day one: God's order. God gave the plan; Israel did not invent it. Faith uses the means He points out and looks for no others.
- Day two: daily obedience. Orders came for one day at a time, so the work of faith is day by day work, step by step progress.
- Days three to six: unbroken faith. The procession set out on time each morning. God does not commend a faith that fades as the week goes on.
- All six days: patient testimony. From inside the walls the marching looked like fanaticism. The mockery grew as the days passed.
- Day seven: God's victory. The ark was the centre of every circuit, and without it there could be neither warfare nor victory.
And it was so that on the seventh day they rose early, about the morning-dawn, and went round the city after the same manner seven times; only on that day they went round the city seven times.
The seventh day breaks the pattern: the people are up before daylight, and one circuit of the city becomes seven. Six days of marching have changed nothing at Jericho, yet this is the day God has set for the walls to fall.
The chapter notes the hour twice: Joshua rose early on the first day, the people on the last. One writer sees zeal spreading from one to others, and still gives the victory to God alone.
Faith is zealous to exalt and give testimony to Christ, zealous for that service which is also conflict. "Joshua rose early in the morning" (v. 12). "They rose early, at the dawn of day" (v. 15). See how zeal in one stirs and encourages it in others... In short, we see that it is God alone who wins the victory, though at the same time He associates us with Christ in it. Of what use would weapons of war have been against Jericho? None at all. God does it all.
Six circuits, then a seventh: the count came from God, not from Israel. Israel followed it to the letter, and one writer makes such obedience the mark of the whole book.
The city was to be taken, and would surely be taken; but this could only be in God's way. No book in Scripture demands obedience more strictly than the Book of Joshua. It shows the people entering on their heavenly portion now by faith... they are found carrying out the instructions of Jehovah, whatever they might appear to the eyes of others, with the most careful obedience. They kept to all of it exactly through the whole time of waiting.
The delay itself did work. God had already given the city, but faith still had to wait a week for it.
Faith marches forward in dependence on God, who says: "I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor." Then it is put to the test. There must be patience. The people had to march like this for six days. Then patience must have its perfect work: "On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times."
One writer sees the final day's extra circuits as a picture of the end, and as a call to keep going until it comes.
The seventh day was marked by special zeal and sevenfold energy... We cannot doubt that this scene looks on to the end, to Israel's future, and the world-kingdom of our Lord. It takes us on to the circumstances of the Book of Revelation — to the approaching end. But in view of that we may well stir our souls to renewed zeal and fresh patience. Patience is stamped on the manner of Israel's warfare — that particular patience which goes on until God's time of victory arrives. "Persistency" is a word every Christian needs written on his banner. There is a sevenfold — a perfect — trial of faith for the soldiers of Christ in the path of obedience. The nearer the end, the more call for diligence.
One writer hears mercy in the last day's circuits, not judgment only.
But this is not enough. The mercy of God must be shown to the utmost. That seventh day was the last day of long-suffering, forbearance, and mercy. On it those trumpets must sound the blasts of judgment and the strains of mercy seven times around the city.
One writer turns that final day into a question about our own time.
Each day for six days this continued (v. 14), but on the seventh day they rose early and marched around the city seven times (v. 15). Does this not show that God's testimony grows stronger as judgment draws near? In our own day the gospel is preached more urgently than ever, while the world still rebels and refuses the message of grace.
Commentators differ on how far the seventh day pictures the end and how far it pictures Christian endurance now. One writer keeps it simple: God tests faith to see if it holds.
God is not pleased with a faith which is active only when the sun shines. He wants our faith in times of wind and storm, fog and darkness. Faith, like patience, must have its perfect, unbroken exercise. The seven days' testing proved how precious the people's faith was. Then the victory came, the walls fell, and Jericho was in the hands of the children of Israel.
- Zeal — day seven starts before dawn; zeal spread from Joshua to the people, yet God alone won the victory.
- Obedience — God set the count of days and circuits; Israel's part was to obey it exactly, however odd it looked to watchers.
- Patience — God gave the promise before the march began, so the week of waiting brought patience to its perfect work.
- Mercy — the seven rounds of the last day sound both judgment and mercy, God's forbearance stretched to the utmost before the walls fell.
- Persistency — a faith bright one day and faded the next proves nothing; the walls fell only after the full seven days of testing.
And it came to pass the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, Shout; for Jehovah has given you the city.
The seventh day came. The priests finished the seventh circuit and blew their trumpets. Not one stone had moved, yet Joshua told the people the city was already theirs. His order to shout raises the question of the whole chapter: who takes Jericho, and what part does the shouting army play?
Joshua announces the outcome while the walls still stand. One writer sees in this the mark of a man in step with God's thinking.
At last comes the crisis when faith had its answer: "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.'" Can anything be more remarkable? Joshua calls the people to a settled and thorough assurance of what will happen to Jericho before it happens. And the means he uses are, on human grounds, clearly not enough. There is communion with the mind of God. It is as fully set out before Joshua and all the people as if the city already lay in ruins.
Israel marched for six days without a shout. The waiting was itself the training.
Day after day they circled the doomed city. In this procession God was teaching His people faith, endurance, and dependence on Himself... Now that they were at last in the land, the sword must wait on the word. "You shall not shout… until the day I tell you to shout." Patience must have its perfect work. Israel must learn that power belongs to God.
The people shout, and the wall falls — but the order of events is not the same as cause and effect.
Only then were the voices of Israel to be heard. At Joshua's command they gave a shout. The wall did not fall as a result of the shout. But God, in grace, allowed His people to share the triumph over the power of the enemy. It was His almighty power that made the wall fall flat. That same power made His people strong in the Lord, so that they overcame their foes. The ark that had brought His people safely through the waters of the Jordan River was the means of bringing down the strong walls their enemies trusted in.
The same conclusion is drawn from the sheer uselessness of the equipment they carried.
In short, we see that it is God alone who wins the victory, though at the same time He associates us with Christ in it. What use would weapons of war have been against Jericho? None at all. God does it all. He wants the power and the victory to come entirely from Him, with no mixture of human importance.
Another writer retells the seventh morning and names what brought the stronghold down.
The seventh morning dawned. The besiegers used the same tactics, but instead of one circuit they made seven... The walls fell down flat, so that the people went up, each man straight ahead, and took the city. The enemy's stronghold gave way before the presence of God. The Lord with His people, and for them — Jericho fell. With the captain of salvation, victory was certain.
Another writer reads the sevenfold march as a test of faith, with a lesson for anyone waiting on God.
Patience marks the way Israel made war — the patience that keeps going until God's time of victory arrives. "Persistence" is a word every Christian needs written on his banner. There is a sevenfold, a perfect trial of faith for the soldiers of Christ in the path of obedience. The nearer the day, the more we need to work hard for the Lord.
One writer reads Jericho's fall as a picture of something still ahead: the day when God brings every high thing down.
Jericho is a picture of the world ripe for judgment. The high walls picture the walls of unbelief, apostasy, wickedness and self-security... On the seventh day they had to march around seven times and blow the seven trumpets. Note the number seven — it stands for divine completion. The trumpets in Joshua are the trumpets of jubilee. The great jubilee, the time of blessing for this earth, comes when judgment is carried out. As the walls of Jericho fell, so the day comes when all the high and exalted things will be laid low.
That coming day makes a personal demand now.
Soon we will hear the shout of victory! The Lord will give the word, and then the defences of evil will fall before Him... In view of that day, let every man go up straight before Him. Among the soldiers of Jesus Christ there is too much following of leaders, and too little simple obedience to the Lord.
- Given — Joshua does not promise a victory; he announces a gift already made. Assurance came before the evidence.
- Silent — six days without a shout taught Israel that the sword must wait on God's word, and that power belongs to Him.
- Shout — the cry did not topple the wall; God let His people share a triumph that was entirely His.
- Ark — the ark that carried them through the Jordan River brought the walls down; the stronghold gave way before God's presence.
- Straight ahead — each man went up alone before God; He asks the same obedience of us while a greater shout is still coming.
And the city shall be accursed, it and all that is in it, to Jehovah; only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But in any wise keep from the accursed thing, lest ye make [yourselves] accursed in taking of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
Israel's greatest victory came with a warning. The danger was not the enemy outside the walls but the appetite inside the camp. Joshua warns that taking what God has doomed will not ruin one man only. It will drag the whole nation into the doom of the city they just destroyed.
Older translations read "accursed" here. The word means devoted — handed over to God alone, out of ordinary human use. Jericho and everything in it was His, and Israel could spend none of it.
Joshua told them that Jericho and everything in it was accursed. It was all devoted to God alone. Israel had to destroy the city completely and burn away its defilement. The silver and the gold survived the fire, and they had to go into the treasury of the LORD, because He had said, "The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine." He claimed the metals that fire cannot destroy as His own share (Joshua 6:17-19).
That claim was total. Jericho gave Israel no profit at all.
Not a shred nor a shekel from Jericho did God allow Israel for their personal glory or wealth. Those called to carry out God's ban on the Canaanites were to take nothing for themselves.
The ban was about fellowship, not money. To pocket part of Jericho would leave God's people owing something to the world God had condemned.
Another principle is this: there must be no fellowship at all with what makes up the power of God's enemy — the world and its strength. All is accursed. It is the same for us in this world. If the world of Sodom had made Abraham rich, he would have depended on that world. He would have owed it something. He would not have been free from it to belong entirely to God. "But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction" [the older translation the writer used reads on: "lest you make yourselves accursed"]. God may use these things by consecrating them to Himself, if He will. But if man, if the Christian, meddles with them, the Lord must judge him... But holiness, complete separation from the world because power belongs to God — that is the condition of strength.
The danger was not the enemy's strength. It was appetite.
Here is also a solemn word of warning against lust and covetousness, for traps surround us on every side. One of those who had professed faithfulness to God saw a Babylonian garment and a wedge of gold, and coveted them. So he took them and hid them in his house; but God saw him, and His judgment fell heavily as a result. We all know Satan's common baits for professing Christians today: love of dress — "the Babylonian garment" — and the possession of wealth — "the wedge of gold."
Joshua does not say the thief will trouble himself. He says the trouble will fall on the whole camp. That is what happened: one man stole, and the whole nation stood guilty.
The whole assembly shared in the evil. How was this? God's presence made the whole assembly one. It bound them together so closely that the sin of one man touched them all. They were one assembly, so no one could stand apart on his own. The sin of each was the sin of all, because God was among them, and He could not tolerate evil that went unjudged.
The reversal is complete. The people who had just carried out judgment on a doomed city would carry the doom themselves.
Israel later met with disaster. This verse had already named the reason.
From Joshua 6:18 he ought to have known where the cause of this disaster lay... Instead of the victories of Israel, the purification of Israel must take place... If we do not judge ourselves, the Lord will, so that we may not be condemned with the world... The camp of Israel will not become a Canaanite nation, though for a moment it may become like Jericho... But it is only delay. Discipline does not cancel grace; it only keeps holiness. The valley of Achor is a door of hope (Hosea 2:15).
- Devoted. What is devoted belongs to God alone. Jericho's metals went to His treasury, and Israel kept not a shred or a shekel.
- Debt. A share of the spoil would leave God's people owing something to the world He had condemned. Abraham refused Sodom's wealth for the same reason.
- Desire. The real trap was covetousness: a fine garment and a wedge of gold, love of dress and love of wealth.
- Defilement. God warns the whole nation, not just the thief. His presence bound the camp into one, so one man's hidden theft made them all share the curse.
- Discipline. Joshua had already been told where defeat would come from. Once Israel judged the evil, they moved on again. Discipline delays; it does not cancel grace.
And all the silver, and gold, and vessels of copper and iron, shall be holy to Jehovah; they shall come into the treasury of Jehovah.
Jericho falls without a siege, and before a single Israelite steps inside, God has already decided who owns the plunder. Everything that burns must burn, while the metals fire cannot destroy belong to Him and go into His treasury — so why did the winners get nothing from their first battle in the land?
Joshua told the people what God required, and what He kept back for Himself.
Joshua told them that Jericho and everything in it lay under God's curse. It all belonged to God alone. The city had to be destroyed completely, and its defilement burned away by fire. Whatever survived the fire — the silver and the gold — had to go into the treasury of Jehovah, because He had said that the silver and the gold are His. He claimed the metals that fire cannot destroy as His own share.
The treasury was a real place in the temple, and it turns up again in the Gospels.
One part of the temple was called "the treasury." It held the things set apart for Jehovah, such as the gold, silver, and vessels of bronze and iron captured from Jericho (Joshua 6:19). The people also handed in their freewill offerings at "the treasury" (Mark 12:41, 43). On one occasion the Lord spoke to the people "in the treasury, as He taught in the temple." He was no doubt in the outer part, where He could watch the people bringing in their gifts (Luke 21:1; John 8:20).
The walls fell without a blow struck. The rule about the plunder matched the way God gave the victory, and it held for this city, not for every battle after it.
At the taking of Jericho, Jehovah had already shown that His might alone gave the victory. Or rather, His might alone made everything fall before Israel, for the prince of this world had no power against Him. He had also shown that the gold and silver were His. So the people were not to seek the treasures of the conquered world, or enrich themselves with its spoils. As a rule, though, once Israel had wiped out their enemies, they took possession of everything, just as they took the promised land.
Everything else in Jericho went up in flames. The verse names four materials that come through fire, and one writer reads them as pictures of things too valuable to burn with the city.
These were things that could stand up to the fire of God's judgment. Fire would only purify them, not destroy them. They all picture spiritual things that, used rightly, bring glory to God and blessing to the whole congregation. Gold, for instance, speaks of the glory of God. But people who only profess religion, people Satan has deceived, badly abuse that glory. We see it in Revelation 18:12, where the false church trades in gold — that is, it trades in what is only rightly used for God's glory. The same is true of silver, which speaks of redemption, and men's religions misuse that too. Bronze is named in the same verse as well. Bronze pictures the holiness of God, yet in their profitable religion it becomes merchandise too. How important to have these things rescued from unholy hands and given back to God!
The same distinction is drawn more briefly elsewhere, and applied to the believer's own dealings with the world.
The city and everything in it lay under the curse, and had to be completely destroyed, apart from the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, which were set apart for the Lord. This pictures the power of Satan in the world that stops the Christian's progress. The Christian must count it all as under the curse, though God may use such things by setting them apart for Himself.
This command becomes the measuring rod for the disaster in the next chapter.
God allowed Israel not a shred or a shekel from Jericho for their own glory or wealth. The men He called to carry out His sentence on the Canaanites were to take nothing for themselves. Yet Achan laid hands on both the garment and the gold — on what was cursed and doomed to the fire, and on what was set apart for Jehovah's treasury. Achan was a prince in Israel, and sin and sorrow often come in through the leaders rather than through the ordinary soldiers of God's army.
- His power — the walls fell by God's might alone, so the victory was never Israel's to cash in.
- His claim — He kept the metals that survive fire as His own share, because the silver and the gold are His.
- His treasury — they went to the temple treasury, the same place that later took in the people's freewill gifts.
- His use — gold, silver, bronze and iron picture what fire only purifies; men abuse them, but God can take them back for Himself.
- His line — God allowed not a shred or a shekel for personal gain. Achan grabbed the doomed garment and the devoted gold, and sin and sorrow came in through a leader.
And the people shouted, and they blew with the trumpets. And it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpets, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat; and the people went up into the city, each one straight before him, and they took the city.
On the seventh day, one command and one shout bring down a walled city — no battering ram, no ladder. Commentators ask two questions here: why did God choose this method, and who brought the wall down?
Joshua told the people to shout while the wall was still standing. One writer notes what lay behind that assurance.
At last comes the crisis when faith had its answer… Can anything be more remarkable than the way Joshua calls the people to a settled and thorough assurance of what is going to happen to Jericho before it takes place? The means used were plainly not enough on human grounds. There is communion with the mind of God. It is as fully laid out before Joshua and all the people as if the city already lay in ruins.
Six days of marching, then seven circuits on the last day — the plan invites objection. One writer answers that faith obeys first and understands later.
But, someone may say, why not make the path simpler? Why all these complications? Why go round the city every day, and seven times on the seventh day? Why this procession with the ark and trumpets? Faith does not ask why. It does not reason about the means God chooses to use. It accepts them, enters into them, and gains the victory instead of being beaten by the enemy… Faith will tell you the reason for the seven days, the ark, the procession, the trumpets, and the shouts of joy. But it will only tell you after you submit to them. Otherwise it would be intelligence and not faith.
The watching city saw only a pointless parade.
What could the blowing of rams' horns do towards throwing down the walls of Jericho? What could be more meaningless and ridiculous in the eyes of man?… The people of Jericho, apart from one singled out by grace, may have watched in amazement on the first day and trembled at what would follow. By the sixth day they had learned to mock the procession that seemed so foolish to them. The seventh day brought its dreadful reality — sudden and unrecoverable destruction… Faith was patient through the six days and triumphed on the seventh. God crowns it all by displaying His power as greater than man and independent of him.
The shout and the collapse come in the same sentence, so it is easy to treat one as the cause of the other.
Only then were the people of Israel to raise their voices, and at Joshua's command they gave a shout. The shout did not bring the wall down. But God, in grace, allowed His people to share the triumph over the power of the enemy. His almighty power made the wall fall flat. That power also made His people strong in the Lord, so they overcame their enemies.
Another writer pictures the alternative.
Suppose Israel had said: Very well, let the power be God's, but let us work together to find the means to overthrow the walls of Jericho — what would have happened on the seventh day? Not a single stone of the wall would have fallen!
No one crowded through a gate. Each man went up where he stood, and one writer draws a warning from that.
The shout of victory will soon sound! The Lord will give the word, and then the defences of evil will fall before Him… In view of that day, let every man go up straight before Him. Among the soldiers of Jesus Christ there is too much following of leaders, and too little simple obedience to the Lord. Men crowd on one another's steps, and the nobility of individuality is missing. Few dare to face the sneer of being odd by doing their own duty in obedience to the word of the Lord.
The captured city was then destroyed. One writer explains why.
The battle was now the Lord's, so it did not matter what the weapons of war were… And so the shout of the soldiers and the blast of a ram's horn trumpet are enough. The walls of Jericho fall, and Israel takes that city as the firstfruits of the land. Faith did it and not force (Heb. 11:30) — faith which brings God in… But the world must be judged… Jericho is given over to the sword. It stood out as the sample of what was to be judged. Everyone in it, or belonging to it, was to be cut off — except the household of faith sheltered under the scarlet line.
- Given, then taken. Joshua shouts because the city is already given; the wall falls after the word, not before it.
- Given, so obey. Faith accepts the strange method first and understands the reason later.
- Given, so wait. Six days of patience precede one moment of power; the mockery of onlookers is part of the test.
- Given, not earned. The shout did not topple the wall. God did, and in grace let His people share the triumph. Human plans added to His would have left every stone standing.
- Given, and answered one by one. Each man went up straight in front of him: obedience to the Lord, not to the crowd. Inside the doomed city, God spared one household under the scarlet line.
And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city; both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
The fall of Jericho ends with a verdict that troubles many readers: every living thing in the city put to the sword. Commentators do not read this as a war story gone too far. They read it as God's own sentence, carried out by human hands.
The order makes sense only when you see what these cities had become, and how long God waited before acting.
Many people have found a problem in these extreme measures of Joshua, taken as the Lord's will. The total destruction carried out in the land of Canaan shocks them. But they forget, or do not know, that these Canaanites were the boldest enemies against God, the most openly depraved and shameless people on earth... They could have fled elsewhere if they would not repent of their sins. God had said long before that He meant to bring His people to Canaan, so it was rebellious unbelief on their part not to expect it. While God waited for His people to go through the discipline they needed in slavery and sorrow, Satan was working the Amorites up to terrible extremes of evil. Their cup of sin was full at the very time God's dealings with Israel were ripe enough to bring His people in.
Others add that this long delay was itself an act of grace, and that the wickedness was bound up with worship.
Already in Genesis 15:16 God had said to Abraham: "For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." The Amorites were one of the main nations of Canaan.
Some defend the killing by saying it was just how ancient armies behaved. Commentators reject that. The order came from above the army.
Unbelievers have made the most of it, attacking these records and blaspheming the righteous and holy God. Others have tried to excuse the Israelites by saying that treating conquered nations this way was simply the custom 1,500 years before Christ. But it was God Himself who commanded their extermination. Joshua and Israel had no choice at all in the matter. They acted in obedience to God's will. God's time to carry out His righteous judgments had come, and He used Israel as His instrument.
Writers do not hide that children died. They ask what those children would have grown into.
This may seem appalling to us today. But we must remember that the people of the land, Jericho included, had given themselves up completely to demon worship. At least the little children were not yet responsible for this wickedness. They would go to heaven, which is far better than staying on earth to follow the ways of their parents.
The word behind the destruction is a legal one: the city was handed over to God entirely, so that no Israelite could profit from its fall. Even the city's name carried an irony.
Jericho is a striking type of the world under the curse, as we see here, devoted by God to utter destruction (as we know the world is), seated, however fair its surroundings, by the "river of death," Jordan, very near to the Salt Sea, the sea of judgment, into which it flows. The word Jericho means "Sweet Savour," in striking contrast with what it was to God. The whole land really stank before God. And this city of Jericho was branded with His special curse.
The verse lists the whole population, yet one household survived. Rahab, a prostitute of the doomed city, had asked for mercy before the walls fell.
And so it was done: grace exempted before judgment... And the word of mercy was not forgotten in the hour of victory: "Joshua saved Rahab the prostitute alive, and her father's household, and all that she had. She has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho."
One writer takes this further, from Jericho to the world today.
No message of mercy came to Jericho, and it is written, "Now is the judgment of this world" (John 12:31)... All who believe are delivered from the doom of this present evil world, saved from its end, and rescued from the wrath to come. A false gospel turns this truth upside down. It cries, "Make the world good, improve society, educate people up to holiness." It refuses to admit that sinners need salvation out of this world, just as Rahab needed saving out of Jericho.
Jericho was never to be rebuilt. One writer makes that ruin a picture for the believer.
As Jericho falls and lies in ruins as soon as Israel is in the land, so the world lies in ruins for the believer who grasps his position in Christ. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world... The world must stay in ruins for the believer who walks in the Spirit, just as Jericho was not to be rebuilt.
- Devoted, after patience — God waited more than four hundred years while these nations filled up their guilt. The sword fell only when the cup was full.
- Devoted, by God's word — Israel did not invent this. They carried out God's own sentence, as His instrument of righteous judgment.
- Devoted, even the young — commentators do not soften the children's deaths. They hold that heaven was better for them than growing up in their parents' worship.
- Devoted — except one house — Rahab asked for mercy before judgment came, and she received it. Grace exempted before judgment.
- Devoted, and left in ruins — Jericho was never to be rebuilt. The believer sees the world the same way: already judged, and not to be built up again.
And Joshua said to the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman, and all that she has, as ye swore unto her.
Jericho's walls have fallen and Israel is destroying the city. In the middle of that scene, Joshua stops to keep a promise made to a woman inside those walls. His order raises one question. Can a single household survive a judgment that spares nothing else?
The two men had first entered Jericho to gather military information. Joshua now sends them back on a different errand.
Was it to do what they could to improve Jericho? Was it to try to lift up the masses of people in this strongly fortified, well-built city? Was it to tell them that the world was getting better? Certainly not, because none of these things would be true. It was to save sinners out of this already doomed city. God's testimony had gone out against it. The city, the king, and all its fighting men were given to Joshua for destruction. But there were some to rescue out of it — some who would not come into judgment. The faithful servants of God were intent on saving them.
Joshua's reason for the rescue is not Rahab's worth but a promise. The spies had given her one sign: a scarlet cord in her window. Now the city was falling, and that word faced its test.
Attackers rarely take care when they capture a city. Yet she proved, and all with her proved, that there was salvation for them, because the scarlet line was in the window. No one in that house had a hair of their head hurt, and Rahab did not lose one thing she had owned. They "brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her." The word of the spies was true. The token was all that was needed. What a thing it is to be safe from judgment in the very place where judgment is falling.
Rahab's house stood on the city wall — the same wall that had just collapsed.
How wonderfully the promise was kept to Rahab and her house! No doubt Jericho laughed at that scarlet line. She alone and her house escaped the dreadful judgment. The whole wall fell; but one small section stayed standing — the section her house stood on.
The rescue is not of one woman. Her father, mother, brothers and all her relatives walk out of the ruins with her.
The men gave her this secret, and it changed Rahab's life. Whatever she had been busy with before, two things now pressed her to use the little time left well: the terror of the coming judgment, and the assurance of salvation for everyone under that God-given token. The Lord worked with her, and her father, her mother, her brothers, and all her relatives came out safe. How simple the way of their salvation — faith in God about this secret, "the scarlet line!"
The woman Joshua names is a Canaanite and is described by her trade. Writers press how far down grace had to reach to find her.
In Rahab we find a third group of people. They are Gentiles who by faith share the enjoyment of the promises along with God's ancient people. Rahab was a Gentile. More than that, she was a degraded person even among the Gentiles themselves.
One writer points to what she had already done before Joshua gave the order.
A prostitute was among them; but she was a woman of faith. She had shown it by befriending the people of God, and she openly confessed her faith by putting the scarlet line in the window.
Coming out of Jericho was only half of her story.
So she was brought out, and so she was brought in. Saved out of the doom of Jericho, and brought into all the royal privileges of Israel. Grace lifted the prostitute of Jericho into the place of the most honoured mother in Israel. She became a mother in that royal line from which David, and David's greater son, came. She became the wife of Salmon, the father of Boaz. God dealt kindly and truly with her, and with everyone in that wicked city who believed the word of the Lord.
- Sworn. Joshua's reason for the rescue is a promise given, not a merit found: "as you swore to her" is the whole ground of her safety.
- Marked. She confessed her faith by hanging out the scarlet cord. Jericho laughed at it, but that token was all that was needed.
- Standing. The wall fell flat. The one section holding her house stayed up. She was safe in the very place where judgment fell.
- Widened. The promise reached her father, mother, brothers and all her relatives. She gathered them in while there was still time.
- Brought in. She was carried out of a doomed city and set inside Israel's privileges — and into the family line of David.
And the young men, the spies, went in and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had all her kindred did they bring out, and they left them outside the camp of Israel.
Jericho has fallen and its destruction has begun, yet two young men walk back into the city to rescue rather than destroy. They are keeping a promise made to a woman with no claim on Israel — a promise that reaches her whole family, and still leaves them outside the camp.
Rahab's house had one mark on it — a scarlet line in the window. Here is what that mark was worth on the day the city fell.
At such a moment as the capture of a city, the attackers are not usually careful in what they do. Yet she proved, and all with her, that there was salvation for them, because the scarlet line was in the window. No one in that house had a hair of their head hurt, and Rahab did not lose one thing she had owned. "They brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her" (6:23). The word of the spies was true. The token was all that was needed. What a thing it is to be safe from judgment in the very place where it is being carried out.
Rahab had used the word "household" when she asked for her family. The spies could have argued over how many people that word covered.
No. The spies went to bring Rahab out of the doomed city, out of that house sheltered by the scarlet line in the window. There they found "her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had; and they brought out all her families, and left them outside the camp of Israel" (Joshua 6:23, margin). They did not say, "Rahab, you have taken this word 'household' to mean too many." On the contrary, the Lord delights to record the breadth of Rahab's faith, and He honours it to the full.
That older translation's margin reads "all her families"; the ESV says "all her relatives." What makes the case unusual is her position in the family. She is a daughter, not a father — the parents she saves are her own.
There is this difference between Rahab and the other cases we have considered: she is not the head of a family. That is exactly why her case displays the family principle even more remarkably — the unity of the household before God.
The closing phrase is easy to read as a slight. It simply describes where the rescued family was set down at that moment.
At Joshua's instructions, the young men who had been spies went to Rahab's house and brought her out, together with her father, mother, brothers and all she had, to the area near the camp of Israel, though not into the camp (vv. 22-23).
Two verses later the record says she lived in Israel from then on, and the New Testament traces her line further still.
So she was brought out, and so she was brought in. Saved out of the doom of Jericho, into all the royal privileges of Israel. Grace moved the harlot of Jericho and made her the most honoured mother in Israel. She became a mother in that royal line from which David, and David's greater son, came. She became the wife of Salmon, the father of Boaz (Matt. 1:5). God dealt kindly and truly with her, and with everyone in that wicked city who believed the word of the Lord.
The city was doomed. That fact shapes what these two men were sent into it to do.
But it was to save sinners out of this already doomed city. God's testimony had gone out against it. The city, the king, and all the men of valour were given to Joshua for destruction. But there were some to be saved out of it — some who would not come into judgment. God's faithful servants were intent on saving them.
Joshua never told the spies to promise anything to anyone in Jericho. They made the promise themselves, and God stood behind it.
They were not entrusted with such a task, and were under no orders about it. Yet they carry it out at once, without holding back. They have no doubt about their right to do so, and they act with full confidence and decision. This is more precious than we can think! They had heard nothing from their captain about such a thing. Yet they pledge deliverance to Rahab. They make the safety of that Canaanite as full and as perfect as that of any Israelite in the camp — as rich and complete even as their own.
- Brought out — she was safe from judgment in the very place where judgment was falling.
- Brought out whole — no one in that house lost a hair, and Rahab lost nothing she owned. The token in the window was enough.
- Brought out together — her faith covered her parents, her brothers and all her relatives. God records its full width.
- Brought out, then in — outside the camp at first, she ends up inside Israel's royal privileges and in David's family line.
- Brought out by grace — no one ordered the spies to promise deliverance. They gave this Canaanite a safety as complete as their own.
And they burned the city with fire, and all that was therein; only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of copper and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah.
Jericho falls, and Israel burns it — everything except the metals, which go straight into God's treasury. That raises two questions: why do God's people gain nothing from their first victory, and why does God keep the silver and gold?
Commentators read Jericho as a picture of the world that God has already sentenced. The city's own name works against it.
Jericho is a striking picture of the world under the curse. God devoted it to complete destruction, just as we know He has done with the world. However pleasant its surroundings, the city sat by Jordan, the "river of death," very close to the Salt Sea, the sea of judgment, into which that river flows. The name Jericho means "Sweet Savor," in striking contrast with what the city was to God. The whole land really stank before God, and God branded this city of Jericho with His special curse.
The order of events matters. Mercy reached Rahab and her family first, and the fire came after. One writer sums it up in a phrase.
And so it was done: grace spared before judgment... The word of mercy was not forgotten in the hour of victory: "Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive... because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho."
The silver, gold, bronze and iron did not survive the fire by accident. God had spoken about them in advance, and He kept them because they were already His.
Joshua told them that Jericho and everything in it lay under God's curse. It all belonged to God alone. Israel had to destroy the city completely, and fire had to burn away its defilement. Whatever survived the fire, the silver and the gold, the people were to bring into the treasury of Jehovah, because He had said, "The silver and the gold are Mine." He claimed the metals that fire cannot destroy as His own.
The place they went to had a settled use in Israel's worship:
One part of the temple was called 'the treasury.' It held the things set apart for Jehovah, such as the gold, silver, and vessels of brass and iron captured from Jericho (Joshua 6:19). The people also brought their free-will offerings there (Mark 12:41, 43).
The choice of materials carries meaning. These metals pass through fire instead of perishing in it.
These were things that could resist the fire of God's judgment. Fire would only purify them, not destroy them. They all picture spiritual things that, used rightly, bring glory to God and blessing to the whole congregation. Gold, for instance, speaks of the glory of God. But people who only claim to be religious, deceived by Satan's attractions, badly abuse that glory... The same is true of silver, which speaks of redemption, and which men's religions also misuse. Bronze, or copper, pictures the holiness of God, but in a profitable religion it also becomes mere merchandise.
The victors walk away from the ruins with nothing. One writer ties this to how faith treats the world.
Faith makes no compromise with the world, receives and takes nothing from it. God forbids the people to touch the spoil of Jericho; it is accursed. Jehovah can claim these things and glorify Himself by them; they belong to Him, but not to the children of Israel, who can only touch them to put them into "the treasury of the house of the Lord."
Later campaigns went differently, which makes this first one a special case:
In the taking of Jericho, Jehovah had already shown that His might alone gave the victory... The gold and silver were Jehovah's, so the people were not to seek the treasures of the conquered world, or enrich themselves with its spoils. As a rule, though, once Israel had destroyed their enemies, they took everything, just as they took the promised land.
The next chapter tells of Achan's theft. This verse marks the line he crossed.
Not a shred nor a shekel from Jericho did God allow Israel for their personal glory or wealth. Those called to carry out God's judgment on the Canaanites were to take nothing for themselves. Yet Achan laid hands on both the garment and the gold. He took what was cursed and doomed to the fire, and what was set apart for Jehovah's treasury.
- Doomed — Jericho pictures the world under God's curse. Its pleasant name hid what the city really was to Him, and it burned with everything in it.
- Delivered — grace worked before judgment. Joshua saved Rahab and her household alive, and then the fire fell.
- Distinguished — the fire destroyed all that could burn, but it only purified the metals. Gold and silver picture God's glory and redemption, which men misuse.
- Deposited — the metals that survived went where consecrated gifts belonged. God had already said the silver and the gold were His.
- Denied — Israel gained nothing from this first victory. Later cities were different, and Achan's grab at the devoted gold shows how serious the line was.
And Joshua saved alive Rahab the harlot, and her father's household, and all that she had, and she dwelt in the midst of Israel to this day; because she hid the messengers whom Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho.
The fall of Jericho ends with fire and total destruction — and with one household walking out alive. Why was this one woman spared? And how did she come to live among the people who destroyed her city?
God had sentenced the whole city, yet the record keeps coming back to the one exception.
This exception is mentioned a few times. It is meant to impress on us the reality of the grace of God, and His willingness to save souls, even though God had decreed the destruction of the city and the entire country. In the same way, today God has decreed the judgment of the world (Acts 17:31). Yet in grace He is saving souls out of the world when in faith they receive the Lord Jesus as Savior.
The two men who entered Jericho are called spies. One writer asks what they really came for.
They found a poor sinner who trembled at God's word. They showed her the way of salvation. She believed, and did not perish with those who did not believe. And this was the reason why spies entered Jericho. The Commander of the LORD's army needed no spies. He could look over the walls and highest towers of the city. He could search every man's heart.
The verse does not stop at Rahab. It lists her father's household and everyone who belonged to her. One writer asks whether her faith saved only herself.
Was she the only exception in the destruction of Jericho and its inhabitants? Did her faith count only for herself? Not at all.
The test came at the worst hour — the moment the city fell.
When an army captures a city, the attackers are not usually careful in what they do. Yet she proved, and all with her, that there was salvation for them, because the scarlet line was in the window. No one in that house had a hair of their head hurt. Rahab did not lose one thing she had owned… What a thing it is to be safe from judgment in the very place where judgment falls.
Rahab did not just survive. The verse says she made her home among Israel.
In God's kind and true dealing with her, two things must be noticed. She was brought out; and she was brought in. Out from the city of destruction — in to the privileges of Israel.
Her name carries a meaning that fits her story.
"Rahab" means "enlargement." As the psalmist says, "You have set my feet in a broad place," so this Canaanite woman could say. Not just as a picture, but in fact, she is a sinner saved from coming judgment. Her nation had filled up the measure of its sins, and the curse on it had already been announced. Among them she was a prostitute, a sinner among sinners. Yet she is a witness that from whatever "end of the earth" a soul looks to God, there is salvation for it.
The verse gives a reason for her rescue: she hid the men. The whole city had heard the same news about Israel's God.
The rest of the people had heard no less than Rahab. But the report did them no good, because those who heard it did not mix it with faith. It reached Rahab's conscience, and she bowed to God in the face of every natural reason and feeling… So she hid the two spies. They stood for the people to whom God gave the land by promise and oath.
To her own city, hiding them was betrayal. God read the same act differently.
What men would count an act of treason, the Searcher of hearts sees in its true light — as an act of faith.
Living in Israel "to this day" was not the end of her story. She married into Israel and appears in the line that leads to the Messiah.
Grace moved the prostitute of Jericho into the most honoured motherhood in Israel. She became a mother in that royal line — the line that gave birth to David, and to David's greater son. She became the wife of Salmon, the father of Boaz (Matt. 1:5).
One writer traces her place in that line back to one thing.
Who can doubt it was Rahab's faith that brought her into the family line? … Without faith, she would have died with those shut up in Jericho, a cursed woman of a cursed race. Faith removed that curse from her.
- Doomed — Jericho was under a settled sentence, and Rahab belonged to it as fully as anyone else in the city.
- Spared — grace saved her while judgment fell, and kept her safe in the very place where judgment landed.
- Household — the rescue reached her father, mother, brothers and all her relatives. She lost nothing she owned.
- Dwelling — grace brought her out of the doomed city and in to the privileges of Israel, and she still lived there long afterwards.
- Line — faith was the reason, and it showed itself when she hid the messengers. Faith carried her from a cursed city into the family of the Messiah.
And Joshua swore at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before Jehovah who shall rise up and build this city Jericho! In his first-born shall he lay its foundation, and in his youngest son shall he set up its gates.
Jericho has fallen, Rahab and her family are safe, and fire has taken the city. Before Joshua leaves the ruins, he puts the people under oath: this site must never rise again, and any man who tries will pay with his sons.
Joshua did not simply warn the people. He bound them by oath, and named the price in advance.
Joshua pronounced the curse of God on anyone who dared to rebuild it, and he charged the people with an oath at that time. Five hundred years passed between Joshua and Ahab. During all that time the people of Israel often turned aside into paths of disobedience, yet no one was bold enough to brave the curse. Its terms were serious. The daring builder, whoever he might be, would pay for his disregard of God with the death of his firstborn son when he started the work, and the death of his youngest son when he finished it.
The city's very name was attractive. God's verdict on it ran the other way, and it was final.
Jericho means "fragrant" and speaks of the character of the world in its condition of self satisfaction and natural attraction. It is the world in its basic principle of refusing God's rights. So it was devoted to complete destruction, with no right at all ever to be revived.
The city was the first obstacle Israel met in the land, and the ban on rebuilding carries no end date.
Jericho represents the enemy's power and means of defence, since it was the first city standing as a barrier to stop the progress of God's people. It is put under a curse for ever, and sentence falls on anyone who rebuilds it.
Rebuilding would not just be a bad business decision. It would openly contradict a verdict God had already carried out.
To mark it, like Sodom, for perpetual burning, Joshua bound the camp by an oath at that time... For that would indeed be a defiance of the God of judgment. It would be acting again the part of Cain in Genesis 4: going back to the earth which God had cursed, and reviving what God had sentenced and doomed to destruction.
Centuries later, in the reign of Ahab, one man tested those words. The long delay is the point.
Five hundred and thirty-two years had passed, and the Lord had not forgotten His word. That detail is all the more remarkable because it is meant to prove to men the infallible authority of every word God has spoken... Why did God not intervene? Why did He not crush this ungodly one? It is because He is a God of infinite patience and He proves this. He fulfills His word after five centuries, when man might have thought — and no doubt did think — that He was no longer paying attention. One act of disobedience brings on the judgment foretold, down to the very letter.
The builder's own name sharpens the lesson.
Hiel presumed to fortify the city — for this is what "build" means here — for his master Ahab. For that trespass and disregard of God's word, the threatened judgment fell on his firstborn and his youngest son. His name Hiel means "God lives." That presumptuous man discovered to his sorrow that the LORD was the living God, whose word will stand, and none can break it and go free. Every transgressor... will find that He is always true to His word.
Jericho still has a meaning for us today. The curse rules out one ambition and leaves another wide open.
The whole system, the world, is the judged or cursed thing now. It is the Jericho. While the camp is still in the wilderness, we may spend money and labour on a mission to draw out the Rahabs. But we cannot work to improve Jericho, or show off the resources and abilities of the world.
Jericho's story does not stop at the ruin. One writer reads its whole history in Scripture as a picture on a much larger scale.
If this is not too bold a thought, I would suggest, from the history we are given of it in Scripture, that Jericho may be seen as a sample of the whole earth. The curse was pronounced on that city at the beginning. That curse was carried out on it. But in the end it becomes a healed place, fit again to be the home and joy of God and man. Is not this the parable of the earth?
- Sentence. Joshua bound the people with an oath. He named the price a rebuilder would pay: his firstborn at the foundation, his youngest at the gates.
- Sample. Jericho, fragrant and attractive, stands for the world refusing God's rights. It was devoted to destruction, with no right ever to be revived.
- Sin. To rebuild it would repeat the act of Cain — going back to ground God had already cursed and judged.
- Stands. Five hundred years of silence looked like God had forgotten. Hiel proved instead that God is patient, and that He keeps His word to the letter.
- Salvation. The curse did not have the last word. Rahab came out of the doomed city alive, and the cursed place becomes a healed place at the end.
And Jehovah was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.
Jericho has fallen and Rahab is safe, yet the chapter ends not with what Joshua achieved but with who was with him. If the victory was all God's work, why does a man's name spread through the land?
The fall of Jericho owed nothing to military skill.
In Joshua 6 we find the principles that all of Israel's conquests rest on. The work is altogether God's. He may indeed exercise His people in conflict, but it is He who does all. "They went up every man straight before him." Their use of these means showed submission. They were ready to follow a course that the world sees as absurd and pointless. Yet that course proclaims aloud the presence of the Lord among His people.
The verse holds two things together: the Lord was with Joshua, and Joshua's name became known.
As a rule, when it comes to fighting, Christians are ready to admit that the power is of God. But they will not consent to the absolute exclusion of self. The result is that they do not receive a complete victory like the one at Jericho, where God claimed this honour for Himself. He did not refuse to use human instruments. But it must be He who uses them, so that man may not be exalted in his own eyes.
Joshua's fame grew out of a conquest that was the Lord's. And what fitted him to lead was not ability.
The Lord's conquest of Jericho by Joshua and Israel's armies resulted in Joshua's fame spreading throughout the country. Because Joshua had a character of faith and subjection to the word of God, he was a fit leader for Israel.
One writer makes the Lord's presence the deciding factor in every piece of service and every conflict.
We are taught that in all our service and conflicts it is useless — worse than useless — to go forward unless the Lord is with us. We can trace all the defeats of the people of God back to the lack of this one thing that makes for success. We can say with confidence: when the Lord is with His people, success is sure. So let us heed the lesson well. The Lord cannot be with us unless we are in the right state and condition, and unless His will is governing our movements and activities.
Commentators differ on where to place the emphasis. Some read the verse as being about Joshua's own standing. Others read the news that spread as news about God. Israel's later defeat at the town of Ai shows the difference.
He turned from the plight of his people to the honour of Jehovah's name. He looked no longer at the defeat of Israel as they fled from the warriors of Ai. He looked at what that defeat did in the eyes of the Canaanites. It dishonoured Jehovah's name in front of their enemies. When the fortified city of Jericho fell, the fame of Jehovah spread all over the land. But Ai dragged His name down into the dust.
The news that ran through the land was not just reputation. In the same chapter a woman is brought out of the doomed city.
Here the power of the enemy gives way, and the people destroy the accursed city. More than this, their faith and activity in testimony and victory set other souls free. That is always the result when we fight the Lord's battles. Rahab, still a prisoner, is set free and brought in among God's people. From now on she can enjoy the same privileges as the victors.
The name in the verse carries weight of its own.
Joshua's name is the same as Jesus in the Greek language. It means "Jehovah is Savior." Writers have seen Moses as a picture of Christ as ruler, leading His people through the wilderness with the promised land in view. But Joshua is a picture of Christ in resurrection, establishing His people in their heavenly inheritance… For spiritual conflict it is not enough to have Christ in us; we must also have Christ in authority over us.
- Presence first. The verse names the cause before the effect. The Lord was with Joshua, and everything else follows.
- Presence given. God does not refuse to use people; He insists on being the one who uses them, so no man is exalted in his own eyes.
- Presence proved. Faith and subjection to God's word are what made Joshua a fit leader — the fame was the by-product, never the aim.
- Presence spreading. The report ran through the whole land, and it carried God's name with it. Rahab proves that such news sets people free.
- Presence lost. Ai stands as the warning. There the name lifted high at Jericho sank into the dust.