The Walls of Jericho: Joshua 6:1-27
by Lynn Jarvis

The story of Joshua and the falling of the walls of Jericho, is an appropriate story to read and analyze during this season of Lent leading up to Easter. At first reading, it seems like a short, simple story about God providing a win for his followers. However, with a deeper look, we learn that it is a story full of meaning, promise, certainty, faith, and fulfillment. It is directly relatable to the story of Jesus and his resurrection. How, you might ask? Old Testament v. New Testament? Jesus holds meaning for so many, when so few even know who Joshua was. Jesus is the son of God sacrificed for all of our sins while Joshua certainly did not do anything to help those of us living today.

This is how I see a unified theme. The story of Joshua is a story of God fulfilling his promises to his chosen people after decades of having them wander around in the desert while he taught them how to be in good relationship with him and enter into a covenant with him through his protection, feeding, and support of them; God showing them he loved them and would always protect them; that he only wanted good things for them; and promised to give them the best land and life that the region had to offer, fulfilling his promises to them as he had promised Abraham.

Through Jesus, God promises to forgive our sins, shows us that he wants us to live in relationship with him, shows how much he loves us and protects us, and wants to give us the best, not only that the region has to offer, but the best, most magnificent everlasting life imaginable. Do you see where I am going with this?

So, before we get to Jericho, we need to know where the story takes place in history. At this point in time, the Israelites, direct descendants of Abraham, had been freed from slavery in Egypt, had been saved from Pharoah’s army by the parting of the Red Sea, had received the Ten Commandments and established a covenant with God, had learned who God was and had learned to love, trust, and follow him. They had wandered through the desert for 40 years following Moses on their way to the Promised Land and had experienced the death of Moses.

The story of Joshua explains why they had to wander in the desert so long. All the men of military age that started the journey from Egypt had disobeyed God to the point that God told them they would not see the Promised Land – the land flowing with milk and honey. God had them wander until all of them were dead from old age or other causes. Their sons, born on the journey, had replaced them as grown men charged with fighting for the Israelites. The Israelites, still led by Moses, had arrived at Shittim, an encampment approximately 10 miles from the River Jordan. It was there that Moses died – fulfilling God’s punishment that even Moses would not see the Promised Land.

The Israelites had been through very hard times and had learned very hard lessons, but they persevered. In the story of Jericho, we see the beginning of God’s fulfillment of all that he had promised them. They were about to be given the reward they had heard about and worked so hard to see. Can you imagine how tired they were from the decades-long journey wondering if they would ever reach this place? Can you imagine how eager they were to see this new land - a land rich in food from nutritious soil, grazing lands for the herds, and plentiful fresh water? After wandering in the desert for 40 years, could it really be true that this land was theirs?!! This land was part of the Fertile Crescent full of farmers, not shepherds, fertile land beyond anything the Israelites had ever seen!!

We learn in the first five chapters of Josuha that God still required very specific actions from the Israelites - one being that they must follow all of the laws he had given them through Moses, without straying, before God would implement his plan. God chooses Joshua to replace Moses as the leader of the Israelites and tells him to be strong and courageous because God will never leave him nor forsake him. Spies are sent into Jericho, and Joshua learns that the people, army, and king of Jericho are terrified of fighting the Israelite army because of the victories that God has given the Israelites on their journey. A woman named Rahab, a prostitute and her family, are promised that their lives will be spared from the wrath on Jericho because she protected and helped the spies.

Joshua and all of the Israelites set out from Shittim for the banks of the River Jordan, and Joshua reveals God’s plans for battle with Jericho. Joshua tells the Israelites that the priests, the Israelite army, the Ark of the Covenant, the rear guard army, and all of the Israelites will camp on the banks of the Jordan to rest for three days and consecrate their bodies for battle. On the third day, God tells Joshua that “today, I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they know that I am with you as I was with Moses.” As God had instructed, Joshua told the priests to take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass on ahead of the people. When the priests reached the edge of the Jordan’s waters, they stood in the river, which was at flood stage because it was the time of the harvest. As soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant touched their feet to the Jordan, the water from upstream stopped flowing and piled up in a heap a great distance away. The water flowing downstream was completely cut off all the way to the Dead Sea. The priests holding the Ark of the Covenant stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all of Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. Once all the Israelites had safely crossed, Joshua called the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant up on the bank. As soon as they priests feet touched the bank, God released the water, and the Jordan returned to flood stage. God performed this miracle to let all the people of the earth know that God is powerful and so that they might always have awe and respect for God’s holiness and power.

After camping on the bank of the Jordan for three days, on the tenth day of the month, the Israelites moved to Gilgal where Joshua created a stone monument representing the twelve tribes of Israel so that all their descendants would know the miracle God had performed by holding back the waters of the Jordan showing that he was with the Israelites. All the kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard of God’s miracle and were too afraid to attack the Israelites. At Gilgal, every male was circumcised as none had been circumcised on the journey, distinguishing them from the men that were not allowed to enter the Promised Land, and marking them as men belonging to God. Once the males had been circumcised, God said “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” The Israelites celebrated Passover on the fourteenth day of the month and that next day, they ate some produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna they had eaten throughout their entire journey stopped the next day and for the first time, they ate the food from the land, and that year they ate the produce of Canaan.

This bit of history brings us chronologically to the battle of Jericho. A lot has happened in these prior five chapters as we have mentally prepared to delve into the deeper meanings behind the upcoming battle and the victory that is fulfilled, but we are not there just yet.

In Chapter 6, we experience the leadership of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. Jericho was the gateway city for the land of Canaan, so overtaking the city of Jericho was essential for claiming all of Canaan as the Israelites new land. As Joshua approached Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua asked the man “are you for us or for our enemies”? The man replied, “neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, worshiping God, and asked him “what message does my Lord have for his servant”? The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” So, Joshua removed his sandals.

Jericho was shut up tightly because the Israelites were outside its walls. No one went out and no one came in. The Lord told Joshua “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.” Joshua was instructed to march around the city with armed men, seven priests carrying trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the Ark of the Covenant, a rear guard protecting the Ark of the Covenant, followed by the people. The priests were to blow their trumpets while they marched around the walled city, but no one was to give a war cry, raise their voice, or utter a word until Joshua gave the command. The group circled the city one time each day for six days and then returned to camp for the night.

Don’t you wonder what the people inside the walls of Jericho were thinking? They had to be terrified - even more than before - knowing that God had stopped the flow of water in the Jordan to let the Israelites cross on dry land. The military experts inside this fortress had to be prepped and ready that first day when the procession circled the walls of the city. Then, when the Israelites did not attack, don’t you imagine they were scratching their heads thinking how strange everything seemed and getting more worried because they did not know what was happening or when the Israelites would attack. They had to be strategizing and re‑strategizing each day and night after seeing that army of approximately 40,000 soldiers, priests blowing trumpets carrying the Ark of the Covenant, plus the entire nation that would become Israel walk, silently without a word, no sound except for the blaring of trumpets, around the city, a second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth day – just like the day before. Not seeing any armies from either the west or the coastline attack or even approach had to be utterly unnerving. Despite all usual methods prescribed for battle, Joshua led the army, priests, the Ark of the Covenant, and the people of the nation of Israel around the walls of Jericho following God’s instructions precisely.

On the seventh day, the Israelites rose at daybreak and marched around the city in the same manner, except, on this day, they circled the city seven times. The army inside the walls of Jericho watched this procession and realized that today, something different was happening. The Israelites behavior was identical to the other six days, except they did not stop after one time around, or a second time around. They did not stop until they had made seven full circles around the city when, all of the sudden, the trumpets blasted even louder, and Joshua commanded the people “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!”

The sheer volume of that shout had to be deafening and absolutely shocking to the people inside the walls of Jericho, including their military and king. Then, before they even knew what was happening, the walls of their fortress collapsed exposing them to all-out war – a total onslaught of every man, woman, child, and animal, not targeting just the soldiers. Joshua sent the two spies to protect and bring Rahab and her family out of the city as promised, but the scripture says that everything else, except articles of silver, gold, bronze and iron, was burned to the ground. The fine metals were placed into the treasury of the Lord’s house, but everything else was taken down to smoldering ash.

Once every living thing was killed and the whole city burned, Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jerico. And the story ends with “So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.” God had kept his promise to Abraham and the Israelites giving them the land of Canaan.

After reflecting on this story, in context with the history of the Israelites, and the days leading up to the processions around Jericho, I can see several modern day lessons we can take from this story and the deliverance of the Israelites. First, God keeps his promises and protects us, but he expects us to fulfill our obligations to him. It is a two‑way relationship.

Second, God understands human strength, frailty, and emotions. In initial conversations with Joshua, God tells him to be strong and courageous because God is with him and will not forsake him. God understood that Joshua might be scared facing such a daunting task and he understands when we are scared or when we cocoon inside our feelings, but he wants us to trust him and face down our fears, believing that God is with us and will not forsake us. Fulfilling his promise to the Israelites gives us proof that God is a promise-keeper and protector of his believers.

Third, worship encompasses movement. God had the Israelites move from Shittim to the bank of the Jordan, then rest; cross the Jordan with his miraculous help, then rest; and move to Gilgal, build a monument to the crossing of the Jordan, and circumcise all males, then rest and heal. God introduced Joshua to the Commander of God’s army to which Joshua fell on the ground and worshipped God. God had the whole of Israel walk around the walls of Jericho in silence day after day in obedience to his instructions and had the priests blast trumpets during every walk. Worshipping God happens in every direction – looking up to the heavens, bowing our heads, falling down in reverence, moving in the right direction, kneeling to pray, walking on the path he has for us, being still and listening, and raising our voices and arms in praise - even in changing courses when led by God in a different direction. The story of Jericho teaches us that true movement and victory in life, including spiritual warfare, begins with worship in its many forms and reliance on God’s power, not human strength or tactics.

And in closing, the fifth lesson we can learn from Joshua is how his story compares with the story of Jesus and his resurrection. Interestingly, the names, Joshua and Jesus both mean “Yahweh saves” or “The Lord is salvation.” Both Joshua and Jesus led the people of God to a promised land with Joshua leading the Israelites to Canaan, the land promised to Abraham for his descendants by God, and with Jesus leading God’s people to a spiritual promised land, Heaven, through salvation to eternal life.

Now, I know there is no way any mortal can really be compared to Jesus, but through Jesus, we know that God keeps his promises, that God understands the human condition because he became man and physically walked among us, that God welcomes our worship and praise of him because God’s wants us to follow his ways and be in relationship with him, and that God understands and encourages our need for rest so we can hear his still small voice when he speaks to us and so we will have the energy and stamina to carry out his tasks while on this earth. So, in the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho, we see these lessons brought to fruition in concrete ways that strengthen our faith in the promises of Jesus.

As we celebrate this Easter season, let us remember the lessons we learned about God’s love from Joshua and be ever mindful of all the grace, promises and wonders Jesus brings us through his life, death, and resurrection. God is with us and will not forsake us.

Blessings to all our readers!