Monday, September 20, 2021

The Book Of Joshua. Day 12, The Battle Of Jericho, Part One

The Lord gave Joshua an unusual battle plan in yesterday's portion of Scripture. It's unusual but it's going to be successful. 

"When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord's covenant followed them." (Joshua 6:8) The sight of the ark of the covenant is a reminder that the Lord is in their midst. He does not live inside the ark, of course, but the sight of the ark reassures the people that He is with them and that He is for them.

"The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding." (Joshua 6:9) The citizens of Jericho must have thought attack was imminent. They heard the blowing of the trumpets. The guards on the walls saw the approaching multitude. Yet no attack came. "But Joshua had commanded the army, 'Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!' So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there." (Joshua 6:10-11)

Imagine how strange this must have seemed to the people of Jericho! They must have readied themselves for battle but no battle came. All they heard was the sound of the trumpets. All they saw was the silent marching of Israel's soldiers. We don't know how long it took the soldiers to march around the city but all during that time the men of Jericho must have been standing with their weapons ready, tense and anxious with their blood racing and the sound of their heartbeats pounding in their ears and the nervous sweat running down their faces. How do we know they were afraid? Because Rahab, the former prostitute of Jericho who hid the Israelite spies, told the spies that the hearts of the people of Jericho were melting in fear of the Israelites. Everyone in the region had heard of the power of Israel's God. Another piece of evidence regarding their great fear of Israel (and of Israel's God) is that they didn't shoot a single arrow at the Israelites as they marched around the city. The Israelites were in a vulnerable position but no one attempted to harm them. 

I dare say that even after the Israelites finished circling the city and went back to their camp, the people of Jericho remained on high alert. They must have thought this unusual display was some sort of trap. They must have thought it was intended as a distraction so they could be attacked from some other direction. But what the Israelites did was go back to camp and sleep peacefully through the night. The next morning they got up and did the same thing again. "Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days." (Joshua 6:12-14)

These six days of marching around the city was a form of psychological warfare upon the citizens of Jericho. Imagine how much the anxiety of Jericho's king and soldiers grew each time they heard the loud trumpets, each time they beheld the Israelites encircling the city, each time they witnessed the Israelites leaving the city without attacking it. The fear and dread which we've been told they already felt toward Israel and towards Israel's God must have increased a thousandfold during those six days. They must have woken up each morning wondering if the Israelites would come back and whether they would simply encircle the city again or whether this would be the day they began to wage war. They may have sensed that the Israelites were expecting their God to do something huge (for the people of Jericho and many of the people of the promised land had heard how the Lord parted both the Red Sea and the Jordan River) but the people of Jericho had no idea what the Israelites expected God to do. The people of Jericho didn't know if God was really going to do something or when He would do it or how He would do it. They didn't know what direction it was going to come from or what form it was going to take. 

I'd be willing to bet that the citizens of Jericho barely slept a wink that whole week and that the strain of waiting took a very heavy toll on their nerves and on their courage and on their ability to adequately stand up to the invasion when it came. I picture the guards and soldiers standing at the ready twenty-four hours a day, trembling with fatigue and fear, with many of them wishing they could just run away. But the soldiers, along with all the citizens, were held inside the city by the gates they themselves had barred against the enemy. They were as effectively trapped as if the Israelites were laying siege to them. Even while the Israelites slept soundly in their camp, no one from Jericho stepped foot outside the city, though in reality they could have opened the gates and gone running for the hills. But their fear was too great. They were imprisoned by it far more than they are imprisoned by walls and gates.

The heathen idolaters of Jericho are shaking in their boots because, as the Bible says, evildoers are "overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous". (Psalm 14:15) The Bible says that sometimes evildoers are overwhelmed with dread even when nothing actually happening to them. (Psalm 53:5) The Bible tells us that, "The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." (Proverbs 28:1) The Lord has given the nations of the land of Canaan hundreds---perhaps even a thousand or more---years to repent and turn back to Him. But they have not listened. They have not forsaken their sin and given their hearts and lives to the holy God who created them. Now judgment is at hand and it's coming from the hand of the One whose laws they've broken and it's coming from the hands of the Israelites who have given their hearts and lives to the Lord. But even in the six days before the wrath of God falls on the city of Jericho, and even while their hearts quake with fear, the people of that city do not repent. Had any of them done so, I believe the Lord would have shown them the same mercy He's shown all of us when we repent. He would still have made them subject to Israel, but He would have spared their lives. However, even in this dire situation we don't find them turning from idols to the living God. Therefore, on the seventh day, the wall will fall.



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