Battle at Jericho: Picture from Bible and Spade 12:2 (1999), pg. 36. Permission granted

Battle at Jericho

 

 

Joshua 6:1-7, 15-16, 20.

1 Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in.
2 And the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.
3 "And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days.
4 "Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
5 "And it shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead."
6 So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD."
7 Then he said to the people, "Go forward, and march around the city, and let the armed men go on before the ark of the LORD."
(Joshua 6:1-7).
15 Then it came about on the seventh day that they rose early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times.
16 And it came about at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city.
(Joshua 6:15-16).

20 So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and it came about, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.

Thoughout the scriptures we find that God fights battles differently than man. Let's read the story of Joshua and the fall of Jericho.

• No experience

The Israelites had fought wars but not against cities. These cities were livable fortresses.

• No retreat

They had no where to run. They could be easily discouraged with defeat.

• No ability

They had developed no plans to attacked these cities. They had no weapons to demolish the 46 foot high wall!

Jericho's wall falls

Archaeologists have discovered a retaining wall 12-15 feet high. On top of that was a 6 foot thick mud brick wall at about 20-26 feet high. The Israelites then were looking at a wall roughly 46 feet above the ground level. God took them to this city because it was humanly impossible to occupy Jericho!

Overcome Anxiety: Finding Peace, Discovering God - a bookThe land and the city was given to them but there seemed to be a problem convincing the enemy of that!

They had to fight but how?

Let's now look at the specific battle plan God has in mind for us.    -> Next page


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