Joshua 6

The Conquest Begins!

You are but a poor soldier of Christ if you think you can overcome without fighting, and suppose you can have the crown without the conflict.”
The courageous Syrian preacher and martyr John Chrysostom (347–407) said that, and he was right; for the Christian life involves challenge and conflict whether we like it or not. Our enemies are constantly waging war against us and trying to keep us from claiming our inheritance in Jesus Christ. The world, the flesh, and the devil (Eph. 2:1–3) are united against Christ and His people just as the nations in Canaan were united against Joshua and the Jewish nation.

It’s unfortunate that many of the “militant songs” of the church have been removed from some hymnals, apparently because the idea of warfare disturbs people and seems to contradict the words and works of Jesus Christ. But these zealous editors with scissors seem to have forgotten that the main theme of the Bible is God’s holy warfare against Satan and sin. In Genesis 3:15, God declared war on Satan, and one day He will declare the victory when Jesus comes as Conqueror to establish His kingdom (Rev. 19:11–21). If you eliminate the militant side of the Christian faith, then you must abandon the cross; for it was on the cross that Jesus won the victory over sin and Satan (Col. 2:13–15).

A pastor attended a court hearing to protest the building of a tavern near his church and a public school. The lawyer for the tavern owners said to him, “I’m surprised to see you here today, Reverend. As a shepherd, shouldn’t you be out taking care of the sheep?”

The pastor replied, “Today I’m fighting the wolf!”

Too many Christians cultivate only a sentimental emphasis on “peace and goodwill” and ignore the spiritual battle against sin; and this means they’ve already lost the victory and are working for the enemy. We must never forget Paul’s warning about the savage wolves that are ready to destroy the flock (Acts 20:28–29).

The Christian’s warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against enemies in the spiritual realm (Eph. 6:10–18); and the weapons we use are spiritual (2 Cor. 10:3–6). Satan and his demonic armies use people to oppose and attack the church of God; and if we don’t take our stand with Christ, we’ve already lost the battle. In the army of Jesus Christ there can be no neutrality. “He that is not with Me is against Me,” said Jesus; and He spoke those words in the context of spiritual warfare (Matt. 12:24–30). Since the Apostle Paul often used the military image to describe the Christian life, we dare not ignore the subject (Eph. 6:10ff; 2 Tim. 2:1–4; Rom. 13:12; 1 Thes. 5:8).

Israel’s victory at Jericho illustrates three principles of spiritual conflict and victory applicable to our lives today, no matter what challenges we may be called to confront.

1. Before the challenge: remember that you fight from victory, not just for victory (Josh. 6:1–5)

The Christian soldier stands in a position of guaranteed victory because Jesus Christ has already defeated every spiritual enemy (John 12:31). Jesus defeated Satan not only in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–11), but also during His earthly ministry (12:22–29), on the cross (Col. 2:13–15), and in His resurrection and ascension (Eph. 1:19–23). As He intercedes for His people in heaven, He helps us mature and accomplish His will (Heb. 13:20–21); and “if God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). 

Consider the factors involved in Joshua’s victory:

The fear of the Lord (Josh. 6:1). The land of Canaan was divided up among a number of “city states,” each ruled by a king (see 12:9–24). These cities were not large; Ai, which was smaller than Jericho (7:2–3), had about 12,000 people (8:25). Excavations at Jericho indicate that the city covered perhaps eight acres and was protected by two high parallel walls, which stood about fifteen feet apart and surrounded the city. It was the sight of cities like Jericho that convinced ten of the Jewish spies that Israel could never conquer the land (Num. 13:28).

But the news of Israel’s exodus from Egypt and their recent victories east of the Jordan had already spread to Canaan and put the people in panic (Josh. 2:9–11; see Deut. 2:25; 7:23; 11:25; 32:30). “I will send My fear before you,” God had promised; “I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you” (Ex. 23:27, NKJV).

It was said that Mary Queen of Scots feared John Knox’s prayers more than she feared an enemy army. But is society today afraid of what God’s people may do? Probably not, and it’s mainly because the church hasn’t done very much to display the power of God to a skeptical world. The church is no longer “terrible as an army with banners” (Song 6:4, 10). In fact, the church is so much like the world that the world takes little notice of what we do. We imitate the world’s methods; we cater to the world’s appetites; we solicit the world’s approval; and we measure what we do according to the world’s standards. Is it any wonder that we don’t gain the world’s respect?

But not so with Joshua and Israel! They were a conquering people who made no compromise with the enemy but trusted God to give them the victory. Theirs was a march of triumph that put the fear of God into the hearts of the enemy.

The promise of the Lord (Josh 6:2). It’s possible that the Lord spoke these words to Joshua when He confronted him at Jericho (5:13–15). The tense of the verb is important: “I have given Jericho into your hand” (6:2, NKJV, italics added). The victory had already been won! All Joshua and his people had to do was claim the promise and obey the Lord.

Victorious Christians are people who know the promises of God, because they spend time meditating on God’s Word (1:8); they believe the promises of God, because the Word of God generates faith in their hearts (Rom. 10:17); and they reckon on these promises and obey what God tells them to do. To “reckon” means to count as true in your life what God says about you in His Word.

“Be of good cheer,” Jesus told His disciples; “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). Christ has conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil; and if we reckon on this truth, we can conquer through Him. It’s possible to believe a promise and still not reckon on it and obey the Lord. Believing a promise is like accepting a check, but reckoning is like endorsing the check and cashing it.

The instructions of the Lord (Josh. 6:3–5). “Joshua did not take the city merely by a clever, human military tactic,” wrote Francis A. Schaeffer. “The strategy was the Lord’s.”

No situation is too great for the Lord to handle, and no problem is too much for Him to solve. When He saw more than 5,000 hungry people before Him, Jesus asked Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Then John adds, “But this He said to test him; for He Himself knew what He would do” (John 6:5–6, NKJV). God always knows what He will do. Our responsibility is to wait for Him to tell us all that we need to know and then obey it.

At the close of the last chapter, I quoted J. Hudson Taylor’s words about three different ways to serve the Lord: (1) to make the best plans we can and hope they succeed; (2) to make our own plans and ask God to bless them; or (3) to ask God for His plans and then do what He tells us to do. Joshua received his orders from the Lord, and that’s why Israel succeeded.

God’s plan for the conquest of Jericho was seemingly foolish, but it worked. God’s wisdom is far above ours (Isa. 55:8–9) and He delights in using people and plans that seem foolish to the world (1 Cor. 1:26–29). Whether it’s Joshua with trumpets, Gideon with torches and pitchers (Jud. 7), or David with his sling (1 Sam. 17), God delights in using weakness and seeming foolishness to defeat His enemies and glorify His name. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him” (2 Chron. 16:9).

God’s instructions were that the armed men march around Jericho once a day for six days, followed by seven priests each blowing a trumpet. The priests carrying the ark of the Lord would come next, and the rear guard would complete the procession. The only noise permitted was the sound of the trumpets. On the seventh day the procession would march around the city seven times, the priests would give a long blast on the trumpets, and then the marchers would all shout. God would then cause the walls to fall down flat so that the soldiers could easily enter the city.
In this plan the emphasis is on the number seven: seven priests, seven trumpets, seven days of marching, and seven circuits of the city on the seventh day. The number seven is written clearly into the life of Israel: The Sabbath celebrated on the seventh day of the week; seven weeks from Passover is Pentecost; the seventh year is the Sabbatical Year; and after forty-nine years (seven times seven) comes the Year of Jubilee. Three of Israel’s feasts fall in the seventh month: the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16), and the Feast of Tabernacles. (For details about this remarkable calendar, see Lev. 23.)

In biblical numerology the number seven represents completeness or perfection. The Hebrew word translated “seven” (shevah) comes from a root that means “to be full, to be satisfied.” When God finished His work of creation, He rested on the seventh day and sanctified it (Gen. 2:3); and this helped give the number seven its sacred significance. The Jews noted that there were seven promises in God’s covenant with Abraham (12:1–3) and seven branches on the candlestick in the tabernacle (Ex. 37:17–24). Anything involving the number seven was especially sacred to them. It spoke of God’s ability to finish whatever He started.

The Jews used two different kinds of trumpets, those made of silver and those made of ram’s horns. The silver trumpets were used especially by the priests to signal the camp when something important was happening (Num. 10). The ram’s horns were used primarily for celebrations. The common Hebrew word for “trumpet” is shofar; for “ram’s horn,” it is jobel, which is the root of the word jubilee. The “Year of Jubilee” was the fiftieth year after seven Sabbaticals, and was a special time of celebration in Israel (Lev. 25; 27:14–17). The priests blew the ram’s horns to “proclaim liberty throughout all the land” (25:10).

The priests didn’t use the silver trumpets in this event because Israel was not declaring war on Jericho, for there was no war! The Jews were announcing the arrival of the “Year of Jubilee” for Israel in their new land. God’s people today can march in triumphal procession because of the victory of Jesus Christ over all the enemies of God (Rom. 8:37; 2 Cor. 2:14; Col. 2:15). We should be living like victors, not victims.
“The wall of the city shall fall down!” (Josh. 6:5) was God’s promise, and His promises never fail (21:45; 23:14). God’s people don’t simply fight for victory but from victory, because the Lord has already won the battle. Reckon on His promises and obey what He tells you to do, and you shall have the victory.

2. During the challenge: Remember that you overcome the enemy by faith (Josh. 6:6–16, 20)

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days” (Heb. 11:30). “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4, NKJV).

Faith is not believing in spite of evidence, for the people of Israel had been given one demonstration after another proving that God’s Word and God’s power can be trusted. The Lord had opened the Red Sea, destroyed the Egyptian army, cared for His people in the wilderness, defeated great kings, given Israel their land, opened the Jordan River, and brought His people safely into the Promised Land. How could they do anything other than believe Him!

Joshua first shared the Lord’s plan with the priests. It was important that the ark of the Lord be in its proper place, for it represented the presence of the Lord with His people. When Israel crossed the river, the account mentions the ark sixteen times (Josh. 3–4); and here in 6:6–15, the ark is mentioned eight times. Israel could march and the priests blow trumpets until all of them dropped from weariness; but if the Lord wasn’t with them, there would be no victory. When we accept God’s plan, we invite God’s presence; and that guarantees victory. (See Ex. 33:12–17.)

Then Joshua instructed the soldiers. He probably didn’t enlist the entire army for this important event; for that would have involved far too many people. According to the military census of Numbers 26, there were over 600,000 men able to bear arms. Think of how long it would take that many men to march around the city walls! And when the walls fell down, Joshua certainly didn’t need hundreds of thousands of soldiers to rush in and overcome the people. The men would have been falling over one another!

Over 2 million people were in the nation of Israel, and marching all of them around the city of Jericho would have been time-consuming and dangerous. The people no doubt watched in silence from a distance and then participated in the great shout on the seventh day. It was a victory for Israel and Israel’s God, and not just for the priests and soldiers.

It’s important that leaders receive their orders from the Lord and that those who follow them obey their instructions. As with the crossing of the Jordan River, so also the conquest of Jericho was a miracle of faith. Joshua and his people listened to God’s orders, believed them, and obeyed; and God did the rest. When God’s people rebel against spiritual leadership, as Israel often did in the wilderness, it leads to discipline and defeat.

The activities of the week were a test of the Jewish people’s faith and patience. No doubt some of them were anxious to get on with the invasion so they could claim their inheritance and settle down to enjoy the rest God had promised them (Josh. 1:13). To some of them, it may have seemed a futile waste of time to devote an entire week to the taking of one city. Impatience was one of Israel’s besetting sins, and God was helping them learn patient obedience; for it’s through “faith and patience” that God’s people inherit what He has promised (Heb. 6:12). God is never in a hurry. He knows what He’s doing, and His timing is never off.

If the week’s schedule was a test of their patience, the divine command of silence was a test of their self-control. People who can’t control their tongues can’t control their bodies (James 3:1–2), and what good are soldiers whose bodies are not disciplined? “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). In the Christian life there’s “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecc. 3:7); and wise is the child of God who knows the difference. Our Lord is the perfect example of this (Isa. 53:7; Matt. 26:62–63; 27:14; Luke 23:9).

How did the people in the city of Jericho respond to this daily procession around the city? It’s likely that the march on the first day frightened them, for they probably expected the army to raise a siege against the city. But the Jews neither built ramps against the walls nor did they try to batter down the gates. When the marchers returned to camp after making only one circuit of the walls, the citizens must have felt greatly relieved. However, as the march was repeated day after day, tension must have grown in the city as the people wondered what would happen next. They knew that the God of Israel was a “great God of wonders,” whose power had defeated Egypt and the kings east of the Jordan. What would Jehovah now do to Jericho?

When the procession went around the walls seven times on the seventh day, the tension within the city must have increased to frightening proportions. Then came the blast of the trumpets and the victory shout of the people, and the walls fell down flat! All that the soldiers had to do was rush into the city and take over.

The Holy Spirit directed the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews to use this event as one of the “by faith” examples in Hebrews 11. The fall of Jericho is an encouragement to God’s people to trust the Lord’s promises and obey His instructions, no matter how impossible the situation may appear to be. You and I may not capture a city as Joshua did, but in our everyday lives we face enemies and high walls that challenge us. The only way to grow in faith is to accept new challenges and trust God to give you victory. “Do not pray for easy lives,” said Phillips Brooks; “pray to be better men and women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for power equal to your tasks.”

3. After the victory: Remember to obey God’s commands and give Him the glory (Josh. 6:17–19, 21–27)

Let me quote again Andrew Bonar’s wise counsel: “Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.” Because one soldier didn’t heed this warning, Israel’s next challenge in Canaan turned out to be a humiliating defeat. Joshua gave the soldiers four instructions to obey after they had taken the city.

Devote the entire city to God (Josh. 6:17–19). This meant that everything was dedicated to the Lord—the people, the houses, the animals, and all the spoils of war—and He could do with it whatever He pleased. In this first victory in Canaan, Jericho was presented to God as “the firstfruits” of the victories to come. Ordinarily the soldiers shared the spoils of war (Deut. 20:14), but not at Jericho; for everything there belonged to the Lord and was put into His treasury (Deut. 13:16; 1 Kings 7:51). It was this command that Achan disobeyed, and his disobedience later brought Israel defeat and disgrace and brought Achan and his family death.

Rescue Rahab and her family (Josh. 6:22–23, 25–26). When the walls of the city fell down, it appears that the section of the wall that held Rahab’s house (2:15) didn’t fall down! It wasn’t necessary for the spies to look for a window with a red cord hanging from it (vv. 18–19), because the only house that was preserved was the house in which Rahab and her family waited. When the spies made their covenant with Rahab, they didn’t know exactly how God would give them the city.

God saved and protected Rahab because of her faith (Heb. 11:31); and because she led her family to trust in Jehovah, they were also saved. These Gentile believers were rescued from a fiery judgment because they trusted the God of Israel, for “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). They were “afar off” as far as the covenants were concerned (Eph. 2:11–12), but their faith brought them into the nation of Israel; for Rahab married Salmon and became an ancestress of King David and of the Messiah! (Matt. 1:5)

Rahab and her relatives were put “outside the camp” initially because they were unclean Gentiles, and “outside the camp” was the place designated for the unclean (Num. 5:1–4; 12:14; Deut. 23:9–14). The men in the family would have to be circumcised in order to become “sons of the covenant,” and all of the family would have to submit to the Law of Moses. What grace that God spared Rahab and her loved ones, and what abundant grace that He chose her, an outcast Gentile, to be an ancestress of the Savior!

Like Jericho of old, our present world is under the judgment of God (John 3:18–21; Rom. 3:10–19); and His judgment will eventually fall. No matter what “walls” and “gates” this present evil world will try to hide behind, God’s wrath will eventually meet them. God has given this lost world plenty of evidence so that sinners can believe and be saved (Josh. 2:8–13; Rom. 1:18ff). The tragedy is, lost sinners willingly reject the evidence and continue in their sins (John 12:35–41).

Destroy the people (Josh. 6:21). It disturbs some people that God commanded every living thing in Jericho to be killed. Isn’t our God a God of mercy? After all, it’s one thing for the Jews to kill the enemy soldiers; but why kill women, children, and even animals?

To begin with, this commandment was not a new one. The Lord had given it to Moses years before. In the “divine law of war” found in Deuteronomy 20, the Lord made a distinction between attacking cities that were far off (vv. 10–15) and cities in the land of Canaan where Israel would dwell (vv. 16–18). Before besieging a city afar off, the Jews were to give that city an offer of peace; and if the city surrendered, the Jews would spare the people and make them subjects. But the people in the cities in the land of Canaan were to be destroyed completely, and their cities burned.

Why? For one thing, the civilization in Canaan was unspeakably wicked; and God didn’t want His holy people contaminated by their neighbors (7:1–11). We must never forget that God put Israel in the world to be the channel for His blessing (Gen. 12:1–3), which involves, among other things, the writing of the Scriptures and the coming of the Savior. Read the Old Testament record, and you will see Satan doing everything he could to pollute the Jewish nation and thus prevent the birth of the Messiah. When the Jewish men married pagan women and began to worship pagan gods, it was a threat to the purposes God had for His chosen people (Neh. 13:23–31). God wanted a “holy seed” (Mal. 2:14–15) so that His holy Son could come to be the Savior of the world.

“God is perpetually at war with sin,” said G. Campbell Morgan. “That is the whole explanation of the extermination of the Canaanites.” Because the Jews didn’t fully obey this commandment in later years, it led to national defilement and divine chastening (Ps. 106:34–48). The Book of Judges would not be in the Bible if the nation of Israel had remained true to the Lord (Jud. 2:11–23).

There is a second consideration: The people in the land had been given plenty of opportunity to repent and turn to the Lord, just as Rahab and her family had done. God patiently endured the evil of the Canaanites from the time of Abraham (Gen. 15:16) to the time of Moses, a period of over 400 years. (See 2 Peter 3:9.) From the Exodus to the crossing of the Jordan was another 40 years in Israel’s history, and the Canaanites knew what was going on! (See Josh. 2:8–13.) Every wonder that God performed and every victory that God gave His people was a witness to the people of the land, but they preferred to go on in their sins and reject the mercy of God. Never think of the Canaanites as helpless ignorant people who knew nothing about the true God. They were willfully sinning against a flood of light.

We should also keep in mind that these historical events were written “for our learning” (Rom. 15:4) as we seek to live for Christ today. In the destruction of Jericho and its population God is telling us that He will tolerate no compromise with sin in the lives of His people. To quote Campbell Morgan again: “Thank God that He will not make peace with sin in my heart! I bless His name for the thunder of His authority, and for the profound conviction that He is fierce and furious in His anger against sin, wherever it manifests itself.”

When I was a child in Sunday School, the superintendent often chose the song “Whiter Than Snow” for us to sing in general assembly. While we sang “Break down every idol/Cast out every foe,” I confess that I didn’t understand at the time what I was singing; but now I understand. The Lord will not share my life if there are rival gods in my heart. He will not permit me to compromise with the enemy. When you grasp this truth, you also better understand His admonition in 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1.

Burn the city (Josh. 6:24). “Thy God is a consuming fire” was spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy 4:24 long before it was quoted by the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 12:29. Moses was warning the Jewish people against idolatry and the danger of following the religious practices of the people in Canaan. Moses added a phrase that isn’t quoted in Hebrews but is still important for us to know: “even a jealous God.” God is jealous over His people and will not permit them to divide their love and service between Him and the false gods of the world (Ex. 20:5; 34:14). We cannot serve two masters.

Jericho was a wicked city, and sin is only fuel for the holy wrath of God. Jesus compared hell to a furnace of fire (Matt. 13:42), fire that is eternal (25:41, 46); and John compared it to a lake of fire (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14). John the Baptist described God’s judgment as “unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:12). The burning of Jericho, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7), is a picture of the judgment of God that will fall on all who reject the truth.

Even after he had burned the city, Joshua put a curse on Jericho. This would warn any of the Jews or Rahab’s descendants who might be tempted to rebuild what God had destroyed. The curse was later fulfilled in the days of evil King Ahab (1 Kings 16:34).

As He promised, God was with Joshua (Josh. 1:5, 9); and God magnified Joshua’s name in the land (v. 17; 3:7; 4:14). God’s servants must never magnify themselves; and if the Lord magnifies them, they must be careful to give Him the glory. It’s when we are strong that we get overconfident and forget to trust the Lord (2 Chron. 26:15). Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Strong (pp. 67–81). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.