Joshua
7 - Chapter 6
In this sixth chapter of Joshua we come to one of the best known stories in the Bible, the battle of Jericho. If it were set in modern times we would call it a victory without a shot being fired. By the mighty hand of God the city was taken when its walls collapsed and its defences were thrown wide open.
Looking through the chapter we learn of the unusual campaign strategy that was given to Joshua by the Lord. All the armed men were to form a procession with the priests and the Ark of the Covenant following, and behind them the remainder of the Israelites. Each day they were to encircle Jericho once. That was to be done for six days, but on the seventh day they were to go round Jericho seven times.
When all that was completed, Joshua was to instruct the people, when the trumpets sounded, to give a mighty shout. When they did that the walls collapsed, the Israelites entered, destroying all before them, except the household of Rahab according to their promise. The city was burnt, vessels made of metal were saved to be put into the house of the Lord, and the city was pronounced accursed, a place never to be built again.
That gives us a brief summary of what we find in Joshua chapter 6. Now we need to look at it in more detail. There are four items we need to consider and they all begin with the letter "C" to assist our memory.
The first thing is the CITY, Jericho itself. There it stood as a barrier to the progress of the children of Israel and it had to be taken. By modern standards the city was small, as excavations have shown. It measures roughly 400 by 200 metres and stands on the packed ruins of earlier settlements that are about 20 metres thick. It stood about fifteen hundred metres from the mountains of Judea to the west. That way lay the central passes into the heart of the land of Canaan.
From the walls of the city the massive crowd of Israelites would easily be seen. One circuit around Jericho could soon be completed. But how was the city to be taken? The captain of the Lord's armies had nothing to Joshua about making scaling ladders, or building a bank of earth to get over the walls. It certainly was a formidable obstacle.
You and I face Jericho in one form or another if we are in the army of the Lord. Something blocks our way into our inheritance, our true freedom as sons and daughters of the living God. Maybe you feel as though you are always on the borders of Canaan, but you never seem to enter the land fully. Look again at the city of Jericho that bars your way. Is it some habit? Some pastime? Some friendship or relationship? Some business entanglement? You know what it is and it constantly stops you enjoying a rich, full Christian life and effective service for the Lord.
Don't be satisfied with camping on the very edge of the Promised Land. Don't let your particular Jericho seem to rise up to the clouds like some impossible problem. There is One who will give you strength to put things right and break from these hindrances. He is the very same God who told the Israelites that the city would not stand in their way.
We grieve over many other strongholds that seem to stand in the way of the Christian church and mock her efforts. The powerful drug and drink empires, the vast machinery of pornography in its many forms, the sneering cynicism of those whose trust is in science or their personal wealth. Even in the church we see apathy, unbelief and materialism. All these confront us, but when God's people have conquered Jericho and are moving into the heart of the Promised Land, then their strength gathers and other strongholds collapse. When the church is pure, Bible- believing and prayerful, then the enemies of the cross are driven back.
So much for the city, now we need to look at the CIRCUITS. The children of Israel were told to make a circuit or go around Jericho once each day for six days, then seven times on the seventh day. That was a total of thirteen circuits in all.
How foolish it must have appeared to many within the ranks and in the tents. No battering ram against the gates, no arrows against defenders on the walls, no giant catapults hurling boulders. Just the men of war going silently around the city ahead of seven priests blowing on rams' horns, followed by four priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, with a rearguard of soldiers following.
The instruction given by the Lord concerning these circuits required faith, patience and obedience. That included Joshua as well as the people. He was a soldier. He knew about battle strategies, methods of attack and defence. But, more importantly, he knew how to obey. He knew how to believe also, for after all had he not met with God's commander, as we discovered in chapter 5? Did he recognise the significance of the number seven, always associated with divine activity? Seven priests with rams' horns, seven circuits on the seventh day. God was surely going to act!
How are we to obtain victory over seemingly invincible enemies? It will certainly not be with weapons forged by our earthly wisdom. It will be like Jericho all over again, those thirteen circuits. We are to do as God tells us in His Word. We are to work in the ways that He marks out for us. It will mean doing things that, may seem as foolish and as ineffective as the circuits will have appeared to the Israelites.
What weapons do we have? Only those that the Lord has given us. In Act 6 verse 4 the apostles declared that they would give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. It doesn't sound very exciting does it? Yet a few verses later we read that the Word of God spread or increased and many more people became Christian believers.
For you to be strong as an individual Christian it will mean simple things. Break off contact with anything sinful, seek God in prayer and hear Him speak to you through the Scriptures. You will become stronger in your Christian life, casting down one stronghold after another. The same lesson applies to the Christian church as a whole. It is not a matter of image, or public relations, or hitting it off with the world, glamorous buildings and high powered advertising. It is a matter of the thirteen circuits, simply doing in faith what God has told us to do. That is to live for Him, to worship Him, to proclaim His Word faithfully in prayerful dependence upon his blessing. It may look weak, but it draws down power!
Looking further in Joshua chapter 6 we discover the CIRCUMSTANCES. What exactly were the circumstances of the attack on the city of Jericho? It was not a massed assault on the walls, but simply a mighty shout followed by entrance into the city through the breaches in the walls. Further guide-lines were given over what they found in the city itself. Only destruction awaited the inhabitants and their possessions. Metal which could be purged through fire was to be set aside for future use in Israel. Pretty well everything else was tainted and defiled through the worship of the false God Baal and the evil lifestyle it brought.
These circumstances speak of the principles in our holy warfare against evil. One is proclamation and the other is separation. When the people of Israel gave that mighty shout as the trumpets of the priests sounded out they were proclaiming something. They were letting it be known that they were on the victory side. After all, you don't shout if you have lost the battle and you are being led away in long lines of prisoners.
It may well have been that roughly two and a half million people giving one colossal roar of triumph set up some kind of acoustic shock wave. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility and god could have used that to break down the walls. It may have been something for which we have no scientific explanation. The thing is the mighty shout preceded the crumbling of Jericho's walls.
So it will be when God works in and through His people. There has to be that clear, strong proclamation, declaring the victory over sin and Satan. What is needed is for God's people to declare His Word boldly and without apology. Did anyone apologise for the noise they were about to create outside the walls of Jericho? I should think not!
That proclamation needs to be done in a united way, just as everyone on that distant day joined voice to voice in the triumphant shout. Sadly today people hear contradictory messages from the churches. There needs to be a return to proclaiming the historic Christian message concerning sin, salvation through the death of Christ and the necessity for the new birth if anyone is to become a child of God.
In the circumstances of that attack on Jericho there was also the principle of separation. The people were to keep themselves separate from anything that would harm or defile them. They were not to go looting through the city. The whole place was to be purged. God had decreed that it was an accursed place. At the end of Joshua 6 it makes clear that anyone attempting to rebuild Jericho would bring sorrow on himself and his family. We read of a tragic fulfilment of this in a man called Hiel in 1 Kings 16 verse 34.
So it is for God's people today. As they face the strongholds of evil it is not for them to look at what the world has, to be envious, to be covetous, to reach out and take what is on offer. That is how many a Christian and many a church has been defiled and lost its spiritual power and testimony. Be careful over what you watch on television and what you read by way of magazines and books. Be careful over the company you keep and how you spend your leisure time, and where you spend your money. Are you partaking of the accursed thing over which the Israelites were warned? "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you." You will find that quoted by Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:17.
Our final point of consideration, and very briefly is CERTAINTY. Look at the certainty of assurance given to Joshua in verse 2. The Lord told him, "I have given Jericho into your hand and its king and its warriors." In verse 16 he in turn inspired the people when he told them to shout, for the Lord had given them the city. It was theirs to claim.
We need to conduct out spiritual warfare with certainty also. We need to remember that out Lord Jesus has conquered Satan. He has been judged and cast out (John 12:31 and 16:11). His power has been destroyed (Hebrews 2:14). Christ has triumphed over him and his forces (Colossians 2:15). One day he will be cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:10).
This is the way we can labour and battle with certainty. The outcome is not in doubt. We know how it will turn out, just as the Israelites we told: "The city is yours." So take heart and face whatever Jericho you have to with confidence. The Lord promises you victory!