Jericho

Coming up today on Renewing Your Mind, Joshua and a famous battle where the walls come tumbling down. After Moses died, Joshua took over as the leader of Israel. They were on the cusp of entering the promised land, but something stood in their way, a walled city called Jericho. The people wondered how they were going to conquer such a daunting foe, and the way God accomplished it, well, it was nothing short of astonishing.

Here's Dr. R.C. Sproul to continue his study through the book of Joshua. One of the rich heritages that we enjoy in this nation is to be the beneficiaries of a whole genre of music that has been traditionally labeled spirituals. It's the music that came out of the black community chiefly during the period of slavery in earlier times. Songs like Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Go Down Moses and a host of other songs that have enriched the repertoire of American music. But of course, one of the most famous of those old spirituals is the song Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. In fact, so well known is that spiritual that even people who have never read the Old Testament have heard of Joshua and of the Battle of Jericho if for no other reason than having heard the lyrics of that particular spiritual. One of the things I ought to say in passing is that if you pay attention to the sound of that genre of music and pay close attention to the lyrics, you will hear music that expresses a couple of things. One is pain, the pain of people who groan under the burden of slavery, but also the music expresses hope. Swing Low Sweet Chariot, you know, I looked over Jordan and what did I see? Coming for to carry me home. What does the person see?

An angel coming to take him home. There is a strong accent on heaven and a strong accent on the Old Testament and of the work of God in delivering an oppressed people there. Moses and the Exodus figures prominently in the music of these people during the time of their captivity and their bondage, their slavery.

And so why would they sing about Jericho? Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho, Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down. What the Negro slave saw in the story of the Battle of Jericho was the hand of God redeeming his people as he had promised them. And so also the black slave looked for the days when the walls of his prison would be torn down by the intervention of the God of heaven who would break the barriers and break his shackles and chains and give him freedom. Well, with that background, let's look at the narrative of this event in the life of the people of Israel. We find it in the sixth chapter of the book of Joshua. We read these words, Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel.

None went out and none came in. Now what this describes in the opening of chapter 6 is a city that is barricaded and prepared for a common method of military activity in the ancient world, namely the siege. Jericho was a walled city. It was a fortress, and in a sense it was the fortress because it guarded the entranceway to the entire land, something akin to the Siegfried Line that the Allies had to cross before they began the invasion of Germany in World War II.

And so this outpost, this fortress stands as a formidable point of defense for the whole country. If the Israelite army is going to be successful in their effort to conquer Canaan, first of all they have to take Jericho. And Jericho has heard the reports of this massing army against them, and so the walls are shut, the doors are sealed, the defenses are put in place. The army that is inside is on battle alert, and no one is allowed to enter the city and no one is allowed to leave the city because they are preparing for an all-out assault against their walls or a protracted siege.

It's usually a combination of these two techniques that we encounter in antiquity. And so after we read this introductory statement, we read in verse 2, And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into your hand. It's king and the mighty men of valor. Well, take that statement literally, that's not what Joshua would see. All he would see would be the formidable walls of that city standing there, and he hadn't taken a single person captive yet. But God says, I have already delivered the city into your hand.

It's soldiers, it's king, it's whole inhabitation. Then comes the strange instructions in verse 3, You shall march around the city, all you men of war. You shall go around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

And what it seems to say here is that God gives these strange instructions. I want the whole army to march around the city once a day for six days. And then on the seventh day, I want you to march around the city seven times.

You wonder, what is going on here? What's all this parade and display of the strength of the Israelite army that they just simply march around the walls? I mean, at best, all that can do is show the inhabitants of Jericho the strength of the Jewish multitude that is invading them, and perhaps provoke them to fear or carelessness. But in any case, then God says, But the seventh day you march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout, then the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him. Now, this is an unprecedented ploy of military invasion, but already Joshua has come to be convinced that God is with him.

And so when the Lord gives him these seemingly bizarre instructions for this military tactic, he acquiesces to the command. And we read in verse 6, Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord. And then he said to the people, Proceed and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord. And so it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark while the priests continued blowing the trumpets.

Now, do you see what's going on here is this time instead of the ark of the covenant being in front of the army, it is placed in the middle of these advancing troops where you have one group of men walking in front of the ark and another group, a rear guard, following after the ark, and the throne of God now is in the midst of the advancing army. Now Joshua had commanded the people, verse 10, saying, You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you, Shout, then you shall shout. One of the memories that I have as a boy growing up outside of Pittsburgh was our Christmas Eve candlelight ceremony. It was a tradition in our church. The service always started at 11 o'clock, and the service would rise to a crescendo at about 15 minutes to 12 when the minister would give the same homily.

It was a brief one where he read a letter from an Irish priest to a policeman, and he would read this letter every Christmas Eve, and he would always finish the letter—I don't know how he did it—at about 20 seconds or so before midnight. And then he would pause, and the church would be dark except for the candle that was lighting the podium or the pulpit where he was. And we had a carillon in the church, and sometimes the bells could be played not only outside, but you could hear them inside. And so the organist at about 20 seconds to 12 would begin to hit the bells and have the bells strike 12 times.

It was very dramatic. And then we would listen to the bells, and everybody would be counting them silently to themselves—1, 2, 3, 4. And as soon as it got to 12 and the carillon stopped, the pastor would say to the congregation, It's Christmas, and may I be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. And that was the tradition.

It was a wonderful thing, and we all just couldn't wait for that moment of the striking of the 12th bell. And then would come the candle lighting ceremony. The candles would be lit. We would sing Silent Night. And in that situation, in that tradition, there was a congregational recessional where everybody filed out of the church carrying their lighted candle.

Now, the tradition was this. The minister would say that we are to recess from the sanctuary in absolute silence. And if possible, we asked you to keep your candle lighted until you enter into your home. And we asked that you keep a vigil of silence until you arrive at home. And that was part of the tradition.

That we would go out sometimes into the cold night, the wintry air, try to keep the candle lighted. But the basic thing was to maintain silence. And I remember as kids how hard it was for us to keep quiet, just leaving the church until we got home. Now, what God is commanding the people of Israel to do here is a vigil of silence, a protracted period of silence where we read, "'You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you, shout.'" And so, during this whole ritual of marching around the city of Jericho, the people of Israel were to keep a vigil of silence with their lips. They couldn't talk to each other. They weren't responding to taunts from the enemy. There were no war cries or battle cries, and God said, "'You keep still, you keep absolutely silent until I say, shout.'" And then all the noise that you've saved up inside of yourself all this time can come out with one gigantic shout when I give the command.

Alright, so then we continue to read. So he had the ark of the Lord circle the city, going around at once. And then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose up early in the morning.

The priest took up the ark of the Lord. And then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns went before the ark of the Lord. And they went on continually and blew with the trumpets, and the armed men went before them. And so we read that the second day they marched around the city and returned. And so they did this six days. And then verse 15, But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. And verse 16 says, And the seventh time it happened.

Isn't that interesting? The seventh time it happened. Well, what is it that happened? When the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, and all who are in it.

Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take out the accursed things and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, the vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord.

They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. Now what this little passage does here is very important to the whole history of the book of Joshua. What God is doing here in these words is instituting what was called the ban, or in Hebrew, the harem.

The harem was an element in the Old Testament identified with and associated with holy war. This is a Jewish jihad that is being carried out here, where God is not only giving the territory to Israel as their inheritance and as His gift to them, but He is also using the army of Israel as an army of vengeance and destruction and judgment against the pagan Canaanites. And so God commands that when they conquer the city that they are to destroy it utterly. They are to kill everybody there, man, woman, and child, all the lives, everything. And they are to lay waste to the city. Now this on the surface seems completely barbaric to us.

And let me just say in response to that two things. One, this was not uncommon in war in the ancient world. If you study the Jewish wars written by Josephus and the conquest of Palestine in the first century by the Roman armies, that you will read there that before the destruction of Jerusalem takes place, there is the systematic conquest of village after village and town after town from the borders of Palestine until the Roman armies reach Jerusalem. And they slaughtered multitudes of people in the cities. In fact, Josephus himself was one of only two people who survived the slaughter of a little village of three or four thousand people. Well, it's actually a town. It's more than a little village.

But in any case, this was something that was commonplace with armies in the ancient world. But in addition to that, you have the mission of Israel that God gives to them that they are to be a holy nation. They are to be completely separate and apart from the pagans whose land God has given to them.

God wants no pagan influence to penetrate the culture of His chosen people. And so He orders that all of the inhabitants, with the exception of Rahab and her family, be slain and everything is put under the ban. Now, the booty that is taken is to be given to the treasury of the Lord.

No personal booty is to be appropriated by the soldiers. No souvenirs, no spoils given to the victor. And so we read in verse 20 that the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat. And the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city, and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. And then, of course, we read that the family of Rahab was spared. And so verse 26, Joshua charged them, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, who rises up and builds this city Jericho.

He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread out throughout the country. Some have speculated on what really took place here. Some argued that the walls were weak and that it was a combination of all this noise of the blowing of the trumpets and the shouting of the people caused a massive shock of sound waves that dislodged the mortar and disrupted the building of the walls. And that could be.

I don't doubt the possibility of that explanation. But again, the timing of it was incredible that without having to throw a spear or shoot an arrow, the walls of Jericho came down, and the people of Israel took possession of this fortress. Well, of course, this is a familiar story, so we're not surprised by the outcome. We know that God knocked the walls down with trumpets and shouting.

But you know what? We should be astonished. Imagine the Israelites' reaction.

God fought the battle for them, and He won. It's just one of the miraculous events we find in the book of Joshua. And as you join us each Saturday here on Renewing Your Mind, we will continue through Dr. R.C.

Sproul's series in this book. If you'd like to continue your own study, we'll send you all ten messages for your gift of any amount to Ligetier Ministries. Just request the book of Joshua. We'll send it to you on MP3 CD.

You can reach us by phone at 800-435-4343 or online at renewingyourmind.org. And in advance, let me thank you for your generous gift. Much of the Christian life is learning how to live out what we find in Scripture. In today's message, for example, we learn about trusting our sovereign God. We also need to learn about forgiveness, spiritual disciplines, prayer, and resisting temptation. When you download the free Ligetier app, you'll find articles along with video and audio resources on these topics and many more.

Just search for Ligetier in your app store. And before we go today, let's listen to a final thought from R.C. There's a passage in the Old Testament that is one of the most misunderstood passages that we read. The passage is this.

You've all heard it. Be still and know that I am God. In the liturgy of the church, that passage from the Psalms has frequently been applied to our practice of maintaining a calm, serene attitude and posture of patience. That in the midst of trouble, in the midst of anxiety, where we're restless and frightened, we are to be still, that is calm and quiet, and to reflect and meditate upon the sweetness of God. Now, all that sort of thing is a wonderful thing, and the Bible enjoins us to do that sort of thing from time to time. It's not the point of that text. The force of the words would be better translated in this language, shut up, or be quiet, hold your mouths, and know that I am the Lord.

It is a call to silence, not calmness, silence in the presence of the power of God, to be quiet so that we can hear the truth of God. And here we see that lived out in the battle of Jericho. Next Saturday, the Israelites will learn a hard lesson. Following their victory over Jericho, they must be taught about the seriousness of sin. I hope you'll join us again next week for Renewing Your Mind. .