The Story, Chapter 7: Part 2

The major theme in this chapter has to be courage. “Be strong and courageous!” Did anyone notice how often this phrase pops up? It’s said at least 6 times in this one chapter. This is important because not having courage, not trusting, not having faith is why they’ve been wandering around in the desert for 40 years. Now that that’s behind them and they are getting ready to actually engage in God’s plan to obtain the Promise Land they need to be reminded constantly to stay strong, have courage, don’t be afraid, etc. So here they are, just about to cross the Jordan River and looking at the land that will soon be theirs. The problem is it’s already inhabited and the first city they’re going to have to fight to take the land is Jericho. Let’s look at Jericho from a few angles.

Jericho: The Problem
Have you ever been in a situation that scared the pudden’ out of you? Have you ever been in a situation in which you are absolutely positive there’s no chance you’ll come out unscathed? Have you ever gone through something (or maybe you are going through it right now) where the most common thought is “There’s no way I can do this”? This is the situation Israel is in. They are finally ready to go into the land God promised them and Jericho is right in the way. Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world. Some archaeologists put its origin at 9,000 B.C. The city itself isn’t very big (about 9 acres) and only had a few thousand people, but several things made the city very intimidating. Scripture says Jericho had men of valor. That means even though there weren’t very many, they knew how to fight. It’s possible that the people of Jericho were much bigger than the Israelites. Remember the spies who said there were giants in the land? Lastly, the most intimidating thing about Jericho was the wall. Technically, there were two walls. Jericho was built on a mound, or small hill. At the base of the hill was a wall about 6ft wide and 20ft high. Then 15ft further up the hill was another wall about 15ft wide and at least 30ft high. This is a problem. There’s a reason such a small town has existed for thousands of years. They know how to defend themselves, and everyone knows Jericho cannot be taken.

Jericho: The Plan
The normal means of taking a city like this would be to surround it and starve the people out then invade the city with siege ramps. The normal plan would take 6 months to a year. God’s plan was to take the city in about a week and involved no actual fighting. God’s plan was absolutely ridiculous: Walk around the city quietly once everyday for 6 days, then 7 times on the 7th day blowing horns, and then everyone yell and boom! Roasted. There’s really not much else to say about this. The clear point is…the plan is weird.

Jericho: The Purpose
Why do you think God threw out such a crazy plan for taking the city? Here’s something to think about: Israel had about 2million people with 600thousand in the army. Jericho had about 2 thousand people with maybe 500-600 eligible fighters. Maybe God designed such a ridiculous plan because even when things seem impossible we tend to rely on our own abilities and resources. “Oh no, I need to figure this out, I need to work harder, I need to overcome this, I need to…I need to…” I think God tells Israel to take the city this way to exaggerate the point that God is doing it. This plan requires total dependence on God, zero dependence on their own ability. With this plan the fact that they vastly outnumbered Jericho became pointless and there was no way they could claim credit for the victory. It is a misnomer to say Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, or even to say Israel fought the battle. They didn’t. They were just present when God did all the work.

Here’s another neat thought: the walls crumbling was not the most miraculous thing about this story. God spoke everything into existence, knocking down a wall is clearly nothing to him. The most amazing part of this story is that the Israelites were able to keep their mouths shut for six days. Think about how monumental that fact is. Since the day they left Egypt they have been complaining and doubting God. They cross the Red Sea, then Moses takes too long on the mountain so they complain and make an idol. They’re following a miraculous pillar of fire around in the desert and they complain that God led them out to let them die. God makes miraculous bread fall from sky every day and they complain that they don’t have meat. They get to the edge of the Promise Land and freak out because the people living there are taller than them, and so on and so on. They’ve been complaining and grumbling the entire time in the midst of miracles and divine providence. Now they are told to march around the hot desert every day for a week, and this is somehow supposed to win a huge battle…and they don’t say a word!

You would expect them to be murmuring things quietly to each other like:
-It’s too hot to do this.
-I’m too tired to march all the way around a city.
-Didn’t we just do this yesterday?
-How is this supposed to bring down a city?
-I think we should impeach Joshua.
-Isn’t this breaking the 10 commandments? What about the Sabbath?
But no, for the first time in over 40 years they simply shut up and obey. That trusting obedience was the key in Jericho falling. There was nothing special about the act of marching or playing trumpets or shouting. Hebrews 11:30 points out that it was “by faith the walls of Jericho fell”.

After this Israel goes on to take city after city until they had the land God promised. God continues to tell them over and over to be courageous and not to fear.

What does all this mean to us? When God asks you to do something it is often something bigger than you, and the way he wants you to do certain things is often not what most people would call logical. For example, I have known since high school God wants me to be in ministry. So joining the Marine Corps seemed like the least obvious ministry decision, especially enlisting in the infantry instead of commissioning as a chaplain. I doubted. I wondered if I was making some really wrong decisions and often thought I wasn’t hearing God’s voice correctly. Now that I’m on the backside of it I know that is exactly what God’s plan was.

You need to be reminded often to have courage and have faith. Towards the end of the chapter Joshua recounts everything that has happened in the last few years and issues an in-your-face challenge. He basically says, “Here’s everything God has done for us. Decide if you’re going to serve him whole-heartedly or not. If all this stuff doesn’t seem good enough, then go do whatever you like. But my family is going to serve God.” That is the exact same challenge before us today.