The Successor Joshua - # 7

The Lord said to me…”I will test my people with a Plumbline, Amos 7:8 (TLB)

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The Successor Joshua - # 7

Precious & Eternal

Joshua 6:1-5 (MSG) 1 Jericho was shut up tight as a drum because of the People of Israel: no one going in, no one coming out. 2 GOD spoke to Joshua, "Look sharp now. I've already given Jericho to you, along with its king and its crack troops. 3 Here's what you are to do: March around the city, all your soldiers. Circle the city once. Repeat this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry seven ram's horn trumpets in front of the Chest. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, the priests blowing away on the trumpets. 5 And then, a long blast on the ram's horn—when you hear that, all the people are to shout at the top of their lungs. The city wall will collapse at once. All the people are to enter, every man straight on in."

The strategy of the conquest of Jericho (6:1-7)

Jericho was a beleaguered city. Orders had been given to close all the gates, and no traffic was permitted in or out. As Rahab had disclosed to the spies (2:11) the residents of Jericho were filled with terror because of the advancing Israelites (cf. 5:1). But there this impressive fortress stood, in full view of Joshua whose conversation with the Commander of the Lord’s army continued. This Commander, the Lord Himself, promised victory to Joshua and announced that He had given Jericho into his hands. The city, its king, and its army would all fall to Israel. The tense of the Hebrew verb is prophetic perfect (I have delivered), describing a future action as if it were already accomplished. Since God had declared it, the victory was assured.

The battle plan Joshua was to use was most unusual. Ordinary weapons of war such as battering rams and scaling ladders were not to be employed. Rather Joshua and his armed men were to march around the city once a day for six successive days with seven priests blowing trumpets preceding the ark of the covenant. On the seventh day they were to circle Jericho seven times and then the wall of Jericho would collapse and the city would be taken.

In the Bible the number seven often symbolizes completeness or perfection. There were seven priests, seven trumpets, seven days, seven circuits of the wall on the seventh day. Though God’s plan of action may have seemed foolish to men it was the perfect scheme for this battle.

What was the significance of the blaring trumpets? These instruments were “jubilee trumpets” (lit. Heb.) used in connection with Israel’s solemn feasts to proclaim the presence of God (Num. 10:10). The conquest of Jericho was not therefore exclusively a military undertaking but also a religious one, and the trumpets declared that the Lord of heaven and earth was weaving His invisible way around this doomed city. God Himself, in effect, was saying in the long blasts of these priestly trumpets, “Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in” (Ps. 24:7). When Christ returns, He, the King of glory, will enter cities in triumph. The conquest of Jericho was a similar kind of triumphant victory.

No battle strategy appeared more unreasonable than this one. What was to prevent the army of Jericho from raining arrows and spears down on the defenseless Israelites pursuing their silent march? Or who could stop the enemy from rushing out of the city gates to break up Israel’s line, separating and then slaughtering them? Joshua was an experienced military leader. Certainly these and similar objections to the divine strategy flashed into his mind. But unlike Moses at the burning bush who argued with lengthy eloquence against the Lord’s plan (cf. Ex. 3:11-4:17) Joshua responded with an unquestioning obedience. He lost no time in calling together the priests and soldiers, passing on to them the directions he had received from his Commander-in-chief. Adapted from the Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty.