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Victory at Jericho
The Groundwork of Success
Joshua Lesson 7; Works with Jensen's Chapter 5

Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

Copyright - Lester Hutson - 1998
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.

JOSHUA CH.6

E. Having now established a base camp in the promised land, the people of Israel had to deal directly, with their first major obstacle to complete victory: Jericho:

1. Remember that Jericho was located 5 miles west of the Jordan River, & 2 miles west of the Israelis base camp at Gilgal. It was heavily fortified, & commanded the lower Jordan Valley, & the mountain passes into the Judean heartland. It's conquest was essential to Israel's further advance & conquest of the promised land.

2. Much excavation has been conducted on the site in modern times. In his historical writings on Joshua, pages 145-146, John Garstang, reports that excavation has revealed that there were two parrallel walls around Jericho. The outer wall was 6 feet thick, and the inner wall was 12 feet thick. At one joint the inner wall is preserved to a height of 18 feet. It is not dufficult to see how heavy defences & homes were built atop the walls, as in the case of Rahab, Joshua 2:15. With 18 feet of 18 foot high wal Is, with a space in between, Jericho was indeed a formidable fortress and as Joshua 6:1 says, "Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out. and none came in."

3. Although, Jericho was captured without a shot. No military strategy, nor human effort brought about Jericho's downfall. Joshua 6:3-5 gives God's plan. Once a day for 5 days, Israel's soldiers led by 7 priests blowing ram's horn trumphpets in front Of the ark of the covenant, were to march around Jericho. On day 7, they were to do this 7 times. At the end of the 7th time around, the priests were to blow a long blast on the trumpets, & the people were to shout. At that point, God promised, the walls would come down. Indeed, that is what did happen Joshua 6:12-16 records the story, and verse 20 says, "So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it come to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a qreat shout, that the wall fell down flat so that the people went up into the city: every man straiqht before him, and they took the city. Some modern skeptics have argued that the word "compass" means only "to encircle", & that the Israelites only formed a circle around the city, & just stood there all day as in a seige, although, the context readily defeats that concept. The priests leading & the soldiers following: and the 7 times around on the 7th day along with shouting at the end of the 7th trip, prelude the idea of a mere seige.

4. An interesting point about the falling walls should be noted. The walls fell; but not in'the sense that some of us have mentally pictured. The Hebrew word for "fall" is "Naphal" (Naw-fal')which has a large variety of applications. The word does not necessarily imply that Walls split, crumbled, & broke apart. "Fall" can mean that; but does not do so in every useage. For example, if a child falls he does not necessarily break apart; nor does a jack in the box break apart when he falls into the box.

Excavations show these walls of Jericho today to be fallen; yet largely intact. Neither the Outer or inner walls show much signs of transverse fracture. Some brick damage, particularly on the inner walls, is noticeable, but no more than would be expected from normal subsidence, & wear through the years. In thee few places where the inner face of the walls has been uncovered undisturbed, the greatest damage is between the walls & on the slopes outside the walls. The archaeological evidence indicates the walls to have sunken downward & outward without breaking up. This movement would have dumped the houses off the walls, destroying them in the process, with the houses on the inner 12 ft. wall lodging as debris between the walls. The debris is there today.

Also, by the walls sinking into the earth, the Israelites were able to go "up into the city, every man straight before him." as Joshua 6:20 says, With crumbled walls of 18 feet by 18 feet dimension, it would hardly have been possible for Israel to struqgle over them. Joshua 6;5 & 20 say the walls fell down "flat"."Flat" is from the Hebrew "Tachath" (Takl'ath) which implies, "depressed". It seems that God just miraculously tilted these walls outward & pushed them flat down into the ground, thus removing the main defence of the men of Jericho without presenting a junk pile barrier of debris for the men of Israel to overcome. When viewed from this prespective, which seems to be both theologically and archeologically sound, the miracles of Jericho becomes even more impressive.

5. At the fall of the mighty walls, the Israeli army marched straight forward and "utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man, and woman. young & Old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edqe of the sword," (Joshua 6:21) with the exception of Rahab the harlot & those who were in her house. Joshua 6:24 says "they burnt the city with fire & all that was therein: only the silver and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord, Mr. Garstang quotes a memorandum prepared by archaeologist excavators on March 2, 1930. The walls & the debris in the space between bear "traces of intense fire ... including, reddened masse of brick, cracked stone, charred timbers, & ashes. Houses alongside the wall are found burned to the ground, their roofs fall upon the domestic pottery within.",The Chronological Bible arranged by, Frank R. Klassen dates the marching as April 16-21, 1422 B.C., with the fall occuring April 22.

6. In Joshua 6:26-27, Joshua placed a curse upon anyone attempting to rebuild & refortify Jericho. He predicted that man's oldest son would die in the foundation work, & his youngest in setting of the gates. Till this day, no one has prospered rebuilding Jericho; & though another Jericho was erected nearby, the ancient site is still ruins. I Kings .1,6:34. records the fact that during Ahab's later reign; Hiel the Bethelite fortified Jericho, but lost his two sons; just as Joshua predicted. "And Joshua, adjured them at that times sayinq, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it."

7. Before ending this ~esson on Jericho, let us take a few moments to draw from the spiritual pplications that are here:

a. Joshua 6:l opens with the declaration that, Jericho was there & must be faced. Everybody has Jerichos to face. Believer, even though you've been delivered from bondage (Egypt), & crossed your Jordan into the promised land, you have Jerichos. Your Jericho or fortified enemy, may be within you: some weakness of temperment or character, a bad habit, an evil word or deed on your record, or an unwholesome desire or attitude. Or, your Jericho may be without: a situation in your home which appears impossible, a person in your life with whom you are in conflict, or a situation at your job or church, which seem unresolvable.

b. Fellow believer, it takes faith to conquer the Jerichos in your life.

Joshua & Israel had to believe God before the walls of Jericho fell. The miracle did not occur until after the faith. They made 13 trips around Jericho before the walls fell. No doubt, to them, marching & blowing trumpets didn't look like any reasonable way to remove 18' X 18' dual walls. Only faith could believe this method would succeed. In Joshua 6:10, Joshua told the people to march in total "silence", only the trumpets were to sound. An army in total silence marching in open view for 7 days must have looked very absurd to the people of Jericho, as well as to the Israel is.

Yet, by faith, they did it; and it is Hebrew ll:30 which declares "BY faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days"

Believer, you will never see the Jerichos in your life crumble until you prove your faith. The way to overcome greed, stinginess, coveteousness; and materialism is to give, Luke 6:38. You will never overcome these Jerichos in you until you exercise your faith by giving. God's method of economic deliverance is to cut off credit buying & giving to the Lord's work & to the poor, to invest, & to look to Him as the giver, & owner, & supplier of all material goods. Most of us want victory over our economic Jericho, without the faith to try the plan. The way to solving offenses & conflict is forgiveness, humility, & a surrendering of personal rights to God. We want the victory without the faith to try the plan victory. The reality is we want the walls to fall without any of that absurd marching. But Jerichos fall after faith; not before; and as this incident at Jericho proves, faith involves legs. And therein lies the answer to why some of you have never gotten past the Jericho in your life. Jesus said in Matthew 9;29, "According to your faith, be it unto you'; There are 3 kinds of faith; faith that reposes on the promises of God, faith that reckons or counts on the promises, & faith that risks upon the promises. God give us a faith that risks.

c.And, once there was faith, 'look who gave the victory. It was obviously of God. No human power was involved. Joshua 6:11 says, "So the ark Of the Lord compassed the city". God did it: it was his power that brought victory, it always is. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord Of hosts,", Zechariah 4:6. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves; to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; II Cor. 3:5. Mister believer, don't get to thinking you're the source of victory: that it's by human ingenuity or finesse. "Thanks be unto God, which qiveth US the victorv through our Lord Jesus Christ," I Cor, 15;57,

d. And, one other thing believer. Don't lose hope. Galatians 6:9 says, "And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not, Joshua & Israel marched around 13 times before victory came. But, as Heb.10:23 says "HE iS faithful that promised" and that is still true today!

QUESTIONS ON JERICHO

1. Name Israel's first major obstacle in the promised land.

2. What does the presence of Jerchio say to every believer?

3. Why was victory at Jericho vital to Israel?

4. Describe the walls of Jericho·

5. What military strategy did Israel employ in conquering Jericho?

6. How many trips did Israel make around Jericho?

7. What were the Israelites to do at the end of the final trip?

8. In light of Joshua 6, explain the meaning of "Compass."

9. In what sense did the walls of Jericho fall?

10. In view of the size of the fallen walls, how could the Israelites advance straight forward?

11. What did Israel do with Rahab & her family?

12. What happened to the gold, silver, & iron of Jericho?

13. What did Israel do to the city after conquest?

14. Who experienced the curse of Joshua on Jericho?

15. Name some of your Jerichos.

16. How do you conquer your Jerichos?

17. Which came first, Israel's faith or the miracle of fallen walls?

18. Name a few of God's prescribed methods for victory over specific Jerichos.

19. What does the ark of the covenant circling Jericho say about the source of victory?

20. What lesson of hope is in the story of Jericho?

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"