Joshua 6

Joshua 6:1-5

In this chapter we have, 1. The directions and afterwards which the captain of the Lord’s hoft gave Joshua concerning Jericho, viz. 1—5. 2. The trial of the people’s obedience in walking round the city

city for days, ver. 6—14. 3. The wonderful delivery of it into their hands the seventh day, with a fawn charge to them to use it as a devoted thing, ver. 15—21; and ver. 24. 4. The preservation of Rabab and her rations, ver. 22, 23, 25. 5. A curly pronounced upon the man that should dare to rebuild this city, ver. 26, 27. An abstract of this glory not find among the trophies of faith, Heb. xi. 30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

NOW Jericho + was straitsy shut up, ‘because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2. And ’the LORD said unto Joshua, See, ‘I have given into thine hand Jericho, and ’the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3. And ye shall ‘compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once: thus shall thou do six days. 4. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ‘rams horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city ‘seven times, and the priests shall ‘blow with the trumpets. 5. And it shall come to pails, that when they make a long blag with the rams horn, and when ye hear the found of the trumpet, all the people shall ‘shoot with a great shout: and the wall of the city shall fall down ‘flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

Jericho was now close befriended without, and close shut up and guarded within, by the strength of the fortifications and the number of the inhabitants; but the captain of the Lord’s hosts assures Joshua the place was his own: and, to try the obedience to the people, as well as to spread the terror of such a scene wide through the land, he insists a strange order. No military attack need be made, no engines drawn to the walls, but only the ark of God be carried in solemn profession six days round the city, by the priests, blowing with rams horns, accompanied by all the people; on the seventh day the city must be compassed seven times, when at the signal given of a long blag of the trumpets, the people must shoot together, and the walls shall fall down flat, so that every man may go up instantly, and smite the inhabitants, surprised and defenceless. Note, Though the sinner’s heart be walled and barred as fast as Jericho, the word of God, spoken by his ministers, hath mighty power to cast down the strong-holds of Satan; and if the instruments seem weak as these rams horns, that divine power is with them, which nothing can resist.

6. ¶ And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven ‘priests bear seven trumpets of rams horns before the ark of the LORD. 7. And he said unto the people, Pals on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pals on before the ark of the LORD. 8. ¶ And it came to pals when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams horns, passed on ‘before the LORD, and ‘blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. 9. ¶ And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the ‘rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. 10. And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until ’the day I bid you shout, then shall ye shout. 11. So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. 12. ¶ And Joshua ‘rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13. And ‘seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams horns before the ark of the LORD, went on ‘continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them, but the renewed came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. 14. And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days. 15. And it came to pals on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.

Joshua 6:6-15

Joshua hesitates not at the strange order, but infrequently hasteens in faith to put it in execution, and all the people readily obey him. The priests take up the ark, the armed hosts go before to prepare the way, the people follow, moving in so-

lemen silence, whilst nothing is heard but the blasts of the trumpet, terrible to their enemies, and inspiring Israel’s armies with martial ardor. Six days they repeat the journey, the seventh morning dawns, they arise and seven times surround the walls, and by this time perhaps the men of Jericho were lulled into security, little apprehension of any consequences which could endanger them from such a procedure: but when sinners are most secure, then judgment overtakes them, as forever comes upon a woman in travail. Note, (1.) We must patiently persevere in the use of the means of grace, though we see not their immediate good effect. (2.) As one of these days was a debath, perhaps the last, it teaches us, that when we are called of God to labour on that day for his glory, it is no breach of the holy rest. (3.) Wherever the ark goes, and the word of God leads, we must follow it. (4.) They who do so will surely speed at last, and see the great salvation of God.

16. And it came to pals at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua had unto the people, Shout, for the LORD hath given you the city. 17. ¶ And the city shall be ‘accurved, even it and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rabab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because ‘she hid the messengers that we sent. 18. And you in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD. 20. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pals when the people heard the loud of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down ‘flat, so that the people went up into the city every man straight before him, and they took the city. 21. And they ‘utterly destroyed all that war in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and all, with the edge of the sword. 22. But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ‘ye swore unto her. 23. And the young men that were spies, went in, and brought out Rabab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had: and they brought out all her kindred, and left them ‘without the camp of Israel. 24. And they burnt the city with fire, and all that war there: in: only the silver and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25. And ‘Joshua saved Rabab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had: and she ‘dwelteth in Israel even unto this day: because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 26. ¶ And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: ‘he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his younger son shall he set up the gates of it. 27. So the LORD was with Joshua, and ‘his fame was raised throughout all the country.

Joshua 6:16-27

Now is the hour of Jericho’s destruction come. At Joshua’s command the hosts of Israel shout aloud; at the signal given by the trumpet’s long blag, and according to their faith, this proud city’s walls fall down before them. Such will be the triumphant shout of the Israel of God, when under the conduct of the divine Joshua they shall, in the last hour of their warfare, see all their foes laid low before them, and with their expiring breath triumph over death, their last enemy, and march through the breaches of the grave to the possession of the city of the living God.

Several directions are here given for the people, all which were punctually executed. 1. The city must be devoted to utter destruction, the palaces confessed with fire, not a creature suffered to live, neither man nor beast; they are sacrifices to divine justice, and the severity executed on them shall increase the terror of their neighbours. Note, (1.) Whatever God does, terrible as it may appear to us, he will ever be seen to be just in his judgments. (2.) They who hasten their hearts in opposition to God, will too late find their ruin inevitable. 2. The gold and silver, brass and iron, are to be reserved purely for the use of the sanctuary. The first-fruits of their spoils must, in gratitude, be consecrated to God, whose arm alone won for them the city; and to take the last trifle in forbidden, as far to bring a curse upon the camp, and ruin upon the sacrilegious

1417. periton. Note, (1.) That silver and gold is well employed which is devoted to the immediate service of God’s sanctuary. (2.) None ever robbed God’s altar and prospered. 3. Rahah and her family, and all that she hath, are preferred amidst the general desolation; her house, if it was upon the town wall, was probably left standing when the rest of the wall fell, and the two men, whose lives were preserved by her kindness, and who were under an oath to her in behalf of the people, are sent to take care of her, and of all her relations who took refuge with her. For a time they were placed in safety without the camp, and provided for; but it is presumed, on becoming probity, were incorporated with Israel, and Rahah herself obtained the high honour of becoming the wife of Bahama, a prince of Judah, and killing a remarkable place in the genealogy of the Redeemer. Note, (1.) They who have pious relations often fare the better for their sake. (2.) God can make those who, in their characters, have been the foremost in sin, as eminent for his gifts and graces, as they were infamous before for their abominations. 4. A curse is pronounced on the builder of Jericho. It must remain a heap of ruins, for a memorial to probity, and he that would rear its walls, must do it at the ruin of his family: the effect of this adjuration, five hundred years or more afterwards, appeared in Hell, who attempted to rebuild it, 1 Kings xvi. 34. after it was built it became a flourishing city, for many ages, but now, with the rest of the land, is returned to its former desolation. 5. Joshua’s fame was spread abroad; respected by his people and dreaded by his enemies, it was manifest God was with him; and he is great indeed, whom the Lord honours with his presence and blessing.