Joshua's Miraculous Victory at Jericho -- the lessons of Joshua 6:12-25
- mww
- 1 day ago
- 14 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
Real victory comes from obedience, not ingenuity.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Joshua 6:12-25
While Jericho trusted in its massive walls and defenses, Joshua trusted in the power of God. Joshua's obedience, faith, and commitment to honor God's promises (especially in the rescue of Rahab and her family) provided a striking example of the kind of leadership God honors. God will both judge rebellion and extend grace to all who place their faith in Him.
Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. (6:16)
Getting Started: Things to Think About
America 250
Happy birthday, America! Coming off of last week's "monuments" discussion, you can go two totally different directions this week:
what happens to those people who obey God (Joshua and the Jews)
what happens to those people who oppose God (Jericho)
One thing that's important to me: don't let your group say things like "America is the new Israel" or "God has chosen America". Those things are not true, and we made that clear last quarter when we studied the Gospel of Matthew. God no longer works through "nations" -- He works through people, individuals who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and can be found in every nation and tribe around the world. What has made America great are the Christians who have impressed biblical values on our society and the Christians who have lived out those values faithfully in neighborhoods and workplaces.
With that said, this topic could be something as simple as "what are the prayers you have for our country for the next 250 years?" A different topic I'm still workshopping is something like "what would those early American Christians -- people like Jonathan Edwards and Roger Williams -- think about our country today? What would impress them? What would worry them?"
And finally, obviously, you want to make sure to spend plenty of time voicing those prayers for our country.
Following Instructions
This one is a classic (and it would help you know if anyone in your group also reads my posts). Go to this site and print the included test:
Give it to your group, and see what happens!
Obviously, this is just a silly way of illustrating how well you do (or don't) follow instructions.
The Strangest Instruction You've Received
I'll date myself by admitting that this topic always makes me think of The Karate Kid.
What's a weird instruction you were given? Ideally, it eventually made sense. If it was just a waste of your time, I don't think it's a good illustration for God's instruction to Joshua.
If anyone in your group doesn't know the story of Jericho, then this could be doubly effective. What God tells Joshua to do is exceedingly strange; a big part of this week's lesson is the why.
(In other words, truly pointless instructions have nothing to do with this week's passage.)
Getting a Large Group of People to Carefully Follow Instructions
I can barely get a small group of people to follow instructions, let alone a massive group of people and weird instructions! There's a yahoo in every group.
But some of y'all are really good at this. What does it take to actually get a large group of people to follow detailed instructions, no matter how strange?
In this week's passage, Joshua gets countless thousands of young men to perfectly follow detailed instructions without fail. It's amazing. Miraculous, even?
When Warfare Changes
If you have military buffs in your group, this might connect with them. Ask if anyone has been keeping up with Russia's immoral war in Ukraine. How has the smaller nation of Ukraine been able to rebuff the very large, militarized Russian army? Drone warfare.
Ukraine changed the rules of engagement to give themselves a fighting chance in this very unequal conflict. It's been so effective that other conflicts have started doing the same thing. Drug cartels are now using cheap drones to wreak havoc around them and demoralize the people who oppose them.
Militaries are struggling to catch up with this dramatic change in armed conflict.
What's my point? Jericho believed in a form of warfare that basically said they were invincible -- no standard military (of that day and place) could conquer them. (Note: the invention of explosives pretty much ended the reliance on walled fortifications; that's a fascinating history if you're into that sort of thing.)
Jericho was not prepared for God to change the rules of warfare.
To be sure, the real lesson is that God cannot be defeated in any conflict --
Ps 20:7 Some take pride in chariots, and others in horses, but we take pride in the name of the Lord our God. 8 They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand firm. 9 Lord, give victory to the king! May he answer us on the day that we call.
Anyone who depends on any human or earthly strength or ingenuity to "defend themselves" from God Almighty will always be disappointed.
But the secondary lesson is a bit more metaphorical: what are you putting your faith in to get through life? A retirement account? Healthy eating and dietary supplements?
Just as Jericho was foolish to believe that their walls could defend them from the will of God, anyone who thinks they have a defense against mortality and judgment is wrong.
Where We Are in Joshua
Last week, we studied the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land and God's command to create a memorial altar as an opportunity to tell their children what God had done for them here.
But before we get to this week's chapter and the first conquest on their list, God commanded the Israelites to re-consecrate themselves. For whatever reason, the Israelites had not circumcised the baby boys while wandering in the wilderness, and they needed to do that -- "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." And they waited there until the men were healed (thanks for that).
But here's a really cool note --
5:10 While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. 11 The day after Passover they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land. 12 And the day after they ate from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. Since there was no more manna for the Israelites, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
The last of the manna! The people had been eating miraculous manna and quail their entire lives, but now they were entering a land where its produce would support them.
And then there's a very cool encounter between Joshua and an angel of God that serves as his "burning bush" moment -- in every way, God had chosen Joshua to succeed Moses.
Then finally, God gives detailed instructions for the people to follow in conquering Jericho. Our passage picks up with the people actually carrying out those instructions.
These are some of the questions you might want to get your group thinking about:
why does the ark go first?
why march around the city once six days in a row?
why march around the city seven times
why shout?
This Week's Big Idea: Jericho
I said a bit about Jericho a few weeks ago when we talked about Rahab and the spies. Jericho is one of the oldest cities in history. It is certainly the oldest walled city in the world. It had a strong natural spring that kept the entire surrounding area irrigated which in turn kept the climate mild -- an oasis in the desert. The double walls were 15' to 20' high, more than tall enough to dissuade most armies from attempting to storm the city.
Excavations suggest that the city was at most 9 acres, making the wall only 1/2 mile long. (The ark would definitely meet the column on its way back to camp.) In normal times, maybe 1000 people lived there. With the ominous threat of the Israelites, the nearby people probably swelled the population.
Here is an interesting article that offers way more detail about the archeology at Jericho (and also concludes an early date for the conquest):
Let me remind that anyone who chose to "defect" to God would have been accepted. The people who sought to resist God's army in the "safety" of a walled city were those lost.
Bonus Big Idea: Joshua's Obedience
This might get missed. Twice now (the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 5) we have heard that the inhabitants of Canaan were "melting in fear" because of the Israelites.
Might that have given Joshua the boldness to take the conquering into his own hands? After all, he was a very successful military commander.
Of course not! Joshua had committed to following God and not trusting in his own capabilities. Plus, Joshua had personal experience with the alternative:
Num 14:36 So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land— 37 those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord. 38 Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land. 39 When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief. 40 They got up early the next morning and went up the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Let’s go to the place the Lord promised, for we were wrong.” 41 But Moses responded, “Why are you going against the Lord’s command? It won’t succeed. 42 Don’t go, because the Lord is not among you and you will be defeated by your enemies. 43 The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The Lord won’t be with you, since you have turned from following him.” 44 But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord’s covenant and Moses did not leave the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them as far as Hormah.
Following God's instructions = success.
Ignoring God's instructions = failure.
Part 1: Following the Weird Instructions (Joshua 6:12-14)
12 Joshua got up early the next morning. The priests took the ark of the Lord, 13 and the seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns marched in front of the ark of the Lord. While the rams’ horns were blowing, the armed men went in front of them, and the rear guard went behind the ark of the Lord. 14 On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
Here's a reminder of those questions:
why does the ark go first?
why march around the city once six days in a row?
why march around the city seven times
why shout?
The way Joshua wrote these verses seems to suggest how tedious these days were. I have a hard time even imagining what I would have felt like while doing this day after day.
Somehow, Joshua got the massive group of people to understand the entire assignment. No one shouted out of turn. No one responded to the inevitable cat calls from the soldiers on the walls.
Your discussion would be both about the "why?" and the "how did Joshua get the people to obey?"
Part 2: Final Instructions (Joshua 6:15-19)
15 Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times. 16 After the seventh time, the priests blew the rams’ horns, and Joshua said to the troops, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. 17 But the city and everything in it are set apart to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will live, because she hid the messengers we sent. 18 But keep yourselves from the things set apart, or you will be set apart for destruction. If you take any of those things, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and make trouble for it. 19 For all the silver and gold, and the articles of bronze and iron, are dedicated to the Lord and must go into the Lord’s treasury.”
Yes, "seven" symbolizes completion. I love the "early in the morning" comment -- this day's instructions were going to take a while to complete.
I have to assume that the column looped around on itself multiple times. Did they count the seventh loop based on the ark or on the rear guard? (The ark, almost certainly, but don't be a stickler.)
I asked ChatGPT to turn this scene into an illustration --
This isn't far off from what I had in mind. Ignore the fact that they're all just kind of standing there and the ark is just now showing up. And the gate is open. I reached my limit of free image generation for the day. First, I don't think the army would have been so close to the walls -- remember that arrows were a thing! Second, I actually think the army was bigger than this (I'm not counting heads), but this gives us a potential glimpse into what the people of Jericho were seeing.
If you really want to let your mind get blown, how did Joshua say this extremely detailed instruction to the entire army that was surrounding a 9-acre city? Miracle, possibly, but I think it's more likely that Joshua had drilled these instructions into the soldiers' heads every day that week so that all he really needed to say was "Shout!" That would have spread around quickly and easily.
I think the topic you'll need to focus on is the concept of "holy war" (see below).
Verse 18 is an ominous warning that sets up chapter 7, which we study next week.
We don't exactly know what the "Lord's treasury" was at this point, but we do know that the priests needed to be fed, the tabernacle needed routine repair, and the rituals of worship needed replenishing. It only makes sense that Joshua had set up a safe place for the supplies or funds.
Aside: Holy War -- "Set Apart for Destruction"
We probably don't really understand this today. In that day, pretty much every war was a "holy war" -- a war enacted in the name of that army's god (or God, in the case of the Israelites). When the Israelites fought in the name of God, they were fighting against the false gods of the world that enslaved those people and condemned them to an eternity in hell. (We still fight that battle today, but we fight it entirely "spiritually", not using the weapons of the world.)
The conquest of the Promised Land was a symbolic act of God "clearing out evil" so that He could give His people a place to live and thrive, a "home base" from which they could launch His mission to extend His truth to all the peoples of the world.
Because the conquest was a Holy War, there's a key consequence:
there are no spoils of war or prisoners of war -- only objects for destruction.
This is where we get into the ethical challenges of Joshua and why so many people today are uncomfortable with it. But let's consider this in terms of a "Holy" war.
Spoils of War. God did not send His people to war to enrich them but to pass judgment on the evil in the land. If He allowed them to keep the spoils, they would have misunderstood the purpose of the war and developed a mercenary mindset. (Note: things went downhill anyway, but not because of this.) (Double note: Achan violated this rule in chapter 7; you can read how that turned out.)
What about the gold? Some objects cannot be destroyed. Those things could be redeemed of purpose by entering the treasury and used for repairs in the tabernacle and such.
Prisoners of War. This is the hard one. The people in Jericho (and the other few cities God declared this type of destruction) were servants of a false god and enemies of the true God. They would only exist to lead God's people astray into bad morality and false religion. To demonstrate how serious God was about His people's holiness, those Canaanites could not be allowed to live, even as prisoners in the camp. (This has already happened in Numbers 25.)
I'm not saying this to make anyone happy about these events, just to explain how any war can be considered "holy".
Part 3: The Walls Come Tumbling Down (Joshua 6:20-21)
20 So the troops shouted, and the rams’ horns sounded. When they heard the blast of the ram’s horn, the troops gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The troops advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city. 21 They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword—every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey.
Could God have used an earthquake to cause a landslide to dam the Jordan River? Yep. Could God have caused an earthquake to bring down the walls? Sure. Doesn't change the miracle. And in this case, there's no mention of the cause (unless you want to read from this that the trumpets were special resonating sonic weapons). From Joshua's perspective, when the people obeyed the last of God's orders, God brought the walls down.
I asked ChatGPT to illustrate this (ChatGPT gives me needed levity in serious passages):
I really like how the walls of Jericho were entirely built out of Rubik's cubes. To actually be a stickler, I think that wall is about 8 feet too short. I also don't think the scarlet cord was hanging like Rapunzel's hair. But that's not important. It's a fun illustration.
But I also really like the humorous implication -- "Don't harm Rahab or her family." "Which house is Rahab's?" "Guess."
The city's defenses were built around a wall. With the wall gone, there was no defense. The hand-to-hand combat that must have ensued would have been very one-sided. The people of Jericho were already demoralized; now, they would have been despondent. This doesn't make the idea of killing children and animals any easier to stomach.
Part 4: Promises Kept (Joshua 6:22-25)
22 Joshua said to the two men who had scouted the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out of there, and all who are with her, just as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel. 24 They burned the city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 However, Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, and all who belonged to her, because she hid the messengers Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and she still lives in Israel today.
This might be my favorite part of the story. This flies in the face of the narrative that Joshua (or God) were bloodthirsty fanatics bent on destruction. God accommodated His plan for the fall of the city with the promises made by the spies to Rahab. And Joshua honored those promises -- even in the heat of battle, he remembered them.
And how cool must this have been for those spies! They didn't know for certain how this would go; their mouths wrote checks that they didn't have the full rights to cash. But it did all work out. God allowed them to keep their promise.
I think we can read verse 23 as a kind of "quarantine" for Rahab's family. Joshua didn't know anything about them, so he was watching out for his people. But verse 25 implies that they were accepted into the camp eventually.
This is a good start to Joshua's leadership --
Jericho has been conquered, and
Rahab has been saved.
Obedience and grace. This will characterize Joshua (and his lieutenants). Really, we are supposed to recognize that Joshua is truly a fantastic leader. You might take some class time to have your group list the different things that stand out about Joshua.
For your big emphasis, you could focus on obedience, or you could focus on grace in the midst of disaster.
Save the shocking events of chapter 7 for next week.
Closing Thoughts: A Curse on Jericho
This is another thing I find interesting -- read Joshua 6:26-27. But wait! Isn't Jericho prominently mentioned in the New Testament? What gives?
Really, the area of Jericho is resettled almost immediately (see chapter 18 and esp. Judges 3). It seems that the curse is specifically related to the walls. (God wasn't going to prevent people from settling in a fertile oasis.) In 1 Kings 16:34, someone does rebuild the walls, and God brings this curse upon that person.
But Jericho is eventually rebuilt fully, and Herod the Great was responsible for the city in Jesus' day. My take is that when the Jews ultimately rebelled and were exiled from the Promised Land, this curse became defunct. There was no more "lesson" to be learned. And certainly once we get to Jesus' day, there would be no need for the curse to be enforced.