Joshua 6 (5)

So the people shouted when the priestsblew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, “Go into the harlot’s house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.” And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Joshua 6.20-25

Reflect.
1.  Resounding trumpets, people shouting the Lord’s victory, walls of resistance against the coming of God’s rule tumbling down all around – Jericho, right? Or is this Revelation? Or our own day?

2.  With the exception of Rahab and her household, the destruction of Jericho was total. Why was this necessary?

Think about it.
Everything goes according to plan. The long trumpet blast, the loud cries of the people of Israel, and the walls of Jericho crumbling. The people rush forward with courage and conviction: they went up to the city, “every man straight before him.” No hedging or hesitating. Straight to the task. Just as we should do each day.

The defeat of Jericho is recalled in the book of Revelation where a series of seven trumpets announces the judgment of God and, ultimately, the fall of the City of Man to that greater Joshua Who rides the white horse of His people, conquering and to conquer, as He extends His rule on earth as it is in heaven. And when He finally comes again, to the shouts of men and angels, nothing will be able to stand against Him, and those who oppose or otherwise resist Him will call upon the crumbling mountains to bury them.

Joshua sees to it that the promise to Rahab is faithfully fulfilled. She is incorporated into the people of God and, ultimately into the lineage that leads to Jesus (v. 25; cf. Matt. 1.5). The mention that Rahab dwells within Israel “to this day” lets us know that the book of Joshua was written by a contemporary, and not some later writer. 

We note the explicit mention of the plunder of the city being delivered to “the treasure of the house of the LORD.” That’s not the whole story, however, as we shall see.

Meditate and discuss.
1.  How can we reconcile the destruction of Jericho with the God of love? Are God’s love and God’s wrath of equal importance in glorifying Him? Explain.

2.  Is there an analogy between God’s destruction of Jericho and the attitude we should maintain toward sin (cf. Ps. 97.10)? Paul calls us to “put to death” anything in us that harbors sin (Rom. 6). What does that require? 

3.  Would Israel have been able to be a holy people unto the Lord if they merely defeated the people of Jericho and other Canaanite cities, but did not destroy them utterly? How does Israel’s subsequent history throughout the period of the Old Testament lead us to answer that question?

“So the walls of that city, called Jericho, which in the Hebrew tongue is said to mean moon, fell when they had been encircled seven times by the ark of the covenant. What, then, does the announcement of the kingdom of heaven portend—signified by the encircling of the ark—except that all the battlements of mortal life, that is, all the hope of this world, which is opposed to the hope of the world to come, will be destroyed by the sevenfold gift of the Holy Spirit, working through the free will?” Augustine (354-430AD)

Help me to hate the sin in my life, Lord, and to confess and repent of any sin You bring to mind, and…

Pray Psalm 124.
As you pray, ask the Lord to show you the potential temptations and snares that lie ahead of you. Seek His presence and devote yourself anew to Christ and His Kingdom.

Psalm 124 (Neumark: If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee)
If You had not been with us, Jesus – 
Let all who love You say with pride – 
When foes rose up to fright and seize us, 
They would have swallowed us alive!
Refrain v. 8
Our help is in Your Name, O Lord, 
Who made creation by Your Word.

When all their anger flared against us, 
The flood would us have swept away; 
Torrents and waters sore had drenched us, 
Were not You all our hope and stay!
Refrain

Blessed be the Lord who has not given 
Us to our foes to be devoured.
We shall escape and rise to heaven
By His eternal grace and power.
Refrain

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).