Joshua 6

The taking of Jericho (vs. 1-27)—The city of Jericho was apparently preparing for a siege by the Israelites: “Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in” (v. 1). Such wasn’t what the Lord had in mind, however. Jericho would be taken, without a fight, as a gift of God (v. 2). The instructions from Jehovah were for the men of war were to walk around the city once for six days (v. 3). Seven priests would “bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark” (of the covenant, v. 4). On the seventh day, the men would walk around the city seven times, the priests would blow their trumpets, the people would shout “with a great shout” (v. 5), and the wall would fall down (v. 5). Joshua passed that information along to the priests and people (vs. 6-7). The Lord’s instructions were followed (vs. 8-21). The people were to keep silent until the seventh day when Joshua told them to shout (v. 10). Rahab the harlot and her family weren’t forgotten (v. 17). And the people were take no booty when they entered the city; the silver, gold, bronze, and iron items were all “consecrated to the LORD; [and] they shall come into the treasury of the LORD” (v. 19). This command, as we shall subsequently see, was not fully obeyed. Every living thing—human and animal—was to be “utterly destroyed” (v. 21). Once Israel had completed Lord’s directive, then, as He promised, “the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city” (v. 22). Never before or since has a city been captured by the means employed here; it was, of course, a miraculous gift from God. But without faith and obedience, that wall would never have fallen (Hebrews 11:30). Interestingly, the text speaks twice of the “wall,” not “walls,” of the city. It was one continuous structure surrounding the city, and it all came crashing down at once.

Joshua sent the two men who had spied out the city to go into Jericho and bring out Rahab and her family. She had been able to convince “her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had” (v. 23). She, too, is commended for her faith in Hebrews 11:31. The city was subsequently burned (v. 24), only the commanded articles were spared to put into the treasury. The chapter closes with Joshua placing a curse on anyone who tried to rebuild the city of Jericho. “He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates" (v. 26). This is exactly what happened some 500+ years later. I Kings 16:34 reads, “In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, according to the word of the LORD, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.” So the “curse” Joshua placed on the rebuilding of the city was actually “the word of the Lord.” The taking of Jericho, not surprisingly, enhanced Joshua’s reputation throughout Canaan (v. 27).