Joshua 6

[alon]

Joshua 6

Joshua 6:1-5 (ESV) Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. and when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”

The mighty walled city of Jericho was shut and the guards posted on the city walls. Yehoshua is given specific instructions on how the city is to be taken. The method of breaching the walls will leave no doubt as to Who this victory belongs. God institutes the “herem,” total annihilation of the town and all in it as they belong to the Lord. Only Rachav and her family are spared, as promised. And only items of precious metals were to be brought out for service to the Lord.

Numbers 10:9 (ESV) And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.

It is said that the sound of a shofar can drive away demons. It certainly gets the attention of the One who makes demons tremble! And all those horns, blown by men practiced at their task must have gotten everyone’s attention at the time. We think it strange, looking back, that when the entire land was fearful of El Elyon- The Most High God; even so the inhabitants still tried to defend Yericho. However we ourselves build up walls between us and others, and us and HaShem; and do we not defend these walls and all the fears we’ve hoarded inside them right up to the end? We need to hear the sound of the shofar every time it is blown in synagogue or in worship for those having no local congregation. Every Shabbat and every feast day we need to hear the shofar blown and then hear the word of YHVH Elohe Yeshuathi- Lord God of My Salvation.

There was also the pagan belief that every god has a special place or area of expertise for which it is responsible. They had seen that El Elohe Yisro’el was God of nature and God of war- but could He prevail against their gods in taking a mighty fortress? Men get so obsessed with keeping what they have from God that we still try to defend our fortresses, even knowing the probable outcome. We are willing to risk everything; what we know in our hearts it will cost us, just to hang onto the sins with which we’ve become familiar, comfortable.

The number seven occurs fourteen times in this chapter. It is an idiom for completeness and may denote the complete destruction of Yericho, or also the completeness of the conquest to come and the complete ownership of the land by HaShem and the Hebrews. There is also the cherem,  the complete dedication of the city and all in it to Hashem. Complete obedience to instructions, complete trust in Hashem; completeness is a major theme in this chapter.

Verse five has been the center of much controversy. Many say this is a fable, and it could not have happened as the Bible says. However archeological evidence says it did! The first major excavation of Yericho was a German team, 1907 to 1909. They found piles of mud bricks at the base of the tell on which the city was built.

In the 1950s British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon re-excavated the site with more modern methods and determined these piles of bricks were from the collapsed city wall. In her excavation report Kenyon wrote “The destruction was complete. Walls and floors were blackened or reddened by fire, and every room was filled with fallen bricks, timbers, and household utensils; in most rooms the fallen debris was heavily burnt.” However a portion of the city wall on the north side of the site to was still standing.

In 1997 Nigro and Marchetti, Italian archaeologists working under support and patronage of the new Palestinian Department of Archaeology, excavated for just one month on the fringes of Kenyon's west and south trenches. This was the first foreign expedition in Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank since self-rule was instituted in 1994. These pettifogging minions then announced they found no evidence for destruction from the time of Yehoshua. That their excavation was conducted to disprove the Biblical account, probably at the behest of the Palestinian Authority in order to disprove any Jewish connection to the site is self evident.

Dr. Bryant Wood, Director of the Associates for Biblical Research and one of the leading experts on the archaeology of Jericho, recently responded: “It matters little what the Italian archaeologists did not find in their month-long dig. The evidence is already in. Three major expeditions to the site over the past 90 years uncovered abundant evidence to support the Biblical account.” Wood went on to point out, John Garstang and Kathleen Kenyon both dug at Jericho for six seasons, and Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger dug for three. All found abundant evidence of the city's destruction on about the Biblical date of 1400 BCE.

Dr. Wood visited Yericho later that same year. He examined the results of the Italian excavation first hand, and found the Italians had uncovered the stone outer revetment wall at the base of the tell. Part of the mudbrick wall on top was still intact, and he saw the remains of the collapsed city walls which had fallen. Wood reported: “The Italian excavation actually uncovered most of the critical evidence relating to the Biblical story. But even more exciting is the fact that all the evidence from the earlier digs has disappeared [ed note: been destroyed by Islamic radicals] over time. We only have records, drawing and photos. But the Italians uncovered a completely new section of the wall which we did not know still existed.”

For more reading on how archaeology has supported the biblical account, read “Believers Score in Battle Over the Battle of Jericho” by John Noble Wilford, Published: February 22, 1990.

www.nytimes.com/1990/02/22/world/believers-score-in-battle-over-the-battle-of-jericho.html

The miracle of those walls as they came down was the miracle of faith:

Hebrews 11:30 (ESV) By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

1 John 5:4 (NASB) For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

These instructions must have seemed odd to Yehoshua, as well as the Hebrew people; but they operated in trust to El Hay- The Living God. We must trust Elohim in the present, even when His instructions run counterintuitive to our own understanding.

Isaiah 55:8-11 (KJV) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NASB) for we walk by faith, not by sight—

The victory at Yericho was carefully planned to give the credit for victory to HaShem. Moreover, there is always war in the heavens whenever we struggle here on earth.

Revelation 12:7 (ESV) Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,

Daniel 12:1 (ESV) “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.

Daniel 10:13 (ESV) The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia,

Joshua 6:7-8 (ESV) And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.” And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them.

The accomplishment of the plan given Yehoshua by Elohim Tsebaoth- Lord of the Hosts was most likely an integral part of both human and angelic victories for Elohim BaShamayhim- God in Heaven. While very humbling to those who did as instructed, their trust and obedience brought the victory.

Joshua 6:16-19 (ESV) 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. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”

My guess is that the instructions given here as part of the command to attack would have been given in formation before the battle, and probably earlier to just his lieutenants, who would have passed them on to those they commanded. An order to attack is usually terse as well as abrupt: “Attack!” “Charge!” “Sick’m!” “Mak’sher!” Regardless, the walls came down when the shofars sounded and the people shouted; and the Hebrews took the city.

Joshua 6:20-21 (ESV) So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

“Silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron;” these metals are valuable, and along with Rachav’s family were to be the only booty taken from Yericho for Elohim Machase Lanu- God of Our Refuge. These all were given over to use for HaShem, being kadosh. Even Rachav, as she was slowly integrated into Hebrew culture and then into the lineage of Melech Dovid.

Here we see the practice of “harem (cherem);” the complete, irrevocable destruction of the enemy and all he has. The idea here is that everything, which would usually be taken as spoils of war, was consecrated to El Gibor- The Mighty God who gave them the victory. The inhabitants had been proscribed by Elohim Shophtim Ba’aretz- God Who Judges in the Earth. They were judged and their sentence given and carried out.

Leviticus 27:28-29 (NASB) ‘Nevertheless, anything which a man sets apart to the Lord out of all that he has, of man or animal or of the fields of his own property, shall not be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the Lord. No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.

Joshua 6:24-25 (ESV) And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

These people had the same chance and the same choice as did Rachav and her family. Elohim Shophtim Ba’aretz had been patient with them. They knew judgement was coming yet still they hid behind their walls, fighting against Elohe Chaseddi- The God of My Mercy, right up to the end:

Genesis 15:13,16 (ESV) Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. … And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

El Emunah- The Faithful God had been patient. The inhabitants of Yericho had had four hundred years to repent. They had heard of and now themselves seen the wonders Elohim did for His people. They knew their land was promised to the Hebrews as an eternal inheritance. Yet they did not repent. God is only patient for so long, then His judgement is swift and sure.

Joshua 2:9-11 (ESV) and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Yehoshua, remembering the promise made by the two spies sent them to secure the safety of Rachav and her household:

Joshua 6:22-23 (ESV) But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel.

Rachav is a type for all Gentiles later to be brought into HaShem’s family. Impure and ignorant, she was adopted because of her trust in El Elohe Yisra’el. She would have been given instruction, learning as she went along. At some point she must have been acceptable enough to marry into Avraham’s line because she was one of only four women mentioned by name in the lineage of haMoshiach. FB Meyer put it very well when he wrote “It is not the amount of truth we know that saves us, but the grasp with which we hold it.” Rachav knew only that El Elohe Yisra’el was the One true God. She held firmly to that, her works proving her faith and trust. She marked her house, gathered her family and waited for deliverance.

Joshua 6:26 (ESV) Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. “At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.”

This curse of a possible future rebuilder of a city is unique in the TNK. To rebuild Yericho is symbolic of rebuilding what El Rai- God Who Sees Me has torn down. Yet we do this in our hearts all the time by reverting to old habits and “secret sins;” those things which we previously gave up to Elohim, yet later return to. It is a kingdom principle that the establishment of the kingdom of Elohim is always preceded by the destruction of those people, things or attitudes which stand in opposition to YHVH El Elohim- The Lord God of gods. Those walls must come down!

Matthew 11:12 (KJV) And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

It has always been the same; the walls of our strongholds must be breached. The healing of old hurts which cause us to retreat behind our walls is an act of violence, as those hurts must be relived. But YHVH Rophe- The Lord Our Healer wants to help us overcome those old wrongs done by men, at the behest of the enemy of our souls. By violence those walls come down, but those who trust are, like Rachav, preserved. We can only guess at the eagerness, the rush, the probable stampede by which she and her family fled the doomed city; and the joy of their own salvation.

It was necessary that Yericho be entirely devoted under cherem not just that day, but forever. As the first fruits of the conquest of ha’eretz- this city, this place by rights belonged to El Hay- The Living God. The curse was realized when Hiel later rebuilt the city:

1 Kings 16:34 (ESV) In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Joshua 6:27 (ESV) So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

This verse stands in contrast to the next verse and the next chapter in our narrative. Along with 6:26 it forms a bridge joining the lessons in this chapter to the next.

Joshua 7:1 (ESV) But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

The two chapters thus connected are a lesson to us of one of the primary principles in the Bible: Obedience brings blessings, disobedience brings punishment and a curse.

Dan C

Resources: JPS Study TNK, W Wiersbe, F Meyer, F Unger, Edersheim, Pastor B Best, Pastor Ed Cole, J Eldridge, A Fruh, an internet search of archaeology of Yericho, Rav S, my father, my old notes and many others.

Related: theloveofgod.proboards.com/thread/3920/genesis-38-tamar