Joshua 6

ItahaVs house was left standing, which mado the thing more remarkable. And thus God demonstrated, that it was his wonderful power which overthrew the city, against which they brought no engines nor battering rams, &c. aXXa n6vi) <(><ovi) adXTTiyyoc Kepartv^Ct *ai f^X 1 ^ SiKafov, &C. as Epiphanius speaks, Hoeres. lxvi/n. 83. Ver. G. And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant.] This is • the second time that the priests are ordered to carry the ark, which belonged to the office of the Kohathites. (Sec iii. 3.) And let, seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.] As the Lord commanded, ver. 4. UPON JOSHUA. Only on that day they compassed the city seven times.] For so the Lord ordered, ver. 4. Ver. 10’. And it came to pass at the seventh time.] As soon as they had ended the seventh circuit. When the priests blew with the trumpets.] Such a long sound as is mentioned, ver. 5. Joshua said unto the people.] By such officers as he had appointed to give the order, when they heard that unusual sound of the trumpet. Shout.] In assured hope of victory, as it follows in the next words, for the Lord hath given you the city.

Joshua 6:1

liOW Jericho wasstraitty shut up, because of the children of Israel. The Targum understands it as if he spake of the strong fortifications of Jericho, which made it needful Joshua should be encouraged in his enterprise against it. But the words in the Hebrew are literally (as is noted in the margin of our Bibles) did shut up, and was shut up, which plainly relates to the strict guards which were kept, that none could get, into the City, nor get out of it: so it is explained in the next words. None went out, and none came in.) They shut up their gates so close, that nono could go out to carry intelligence to Joshua; and they were blocked up so close by the Israelites (to tvhich the latter part of the foregoing words may perhaps refer), that none could get in to bring any intelligence or relief to the inhabitants of Jericho.

Joshua 6:2

And the Lord said unto Joshua. The same person speaks to him (all agree) who is called the Prince of the Lord’s host in the foregoing chapter; and here is called Jehovah. Which shews he was not a created angel, but God himself; who alone could promise and perform what follows. See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.] Who were gathered together in this place out of several nations: it being a frontier city, which they made as strong as they were able, and defended by the most valiant men they had in the country. (See xxiv. 11.) For we are to suppose that they had refused the offers of peace, which God ordered to be first sent unto them, (Deut. xx. 10.) and, trusting to their forces, took up a desperate resolution not to yield upon any terms.

Joshua 6:3

And ye shall compass the city,’ all ye men qf war, and go round the city once. At such a distance, I suppose, that they could not reach them from the city, with their arrows or stones slung against them. Thus shall ye do six days.] Once every of those days, in such order as is described, yer. 6 — 9. This looked not like making war; but appeared to the besieged, it is probable, as a pastime. -Ver. 4. And seven priests shall bear before, the ark seven trumpets of rains’ horns.] Such trumpets as they used to blow withal in the year of jubilee, (Lev. xxv. 9.) for so the phrase is in the Hebrew, trumpets ofJobel: and I have observed elsewhere, that rams’ horns not being hollow, trumpets could not be made of them. - * * And the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times.] The seventh day’s march differed in two things from the other six; that they compassed it but once on other days, and made not the least noise, but now seven times, and made a great shout at the end of the last circuit. Concerning this number seven, see Drusiusupon this place, and upon Lev. iv. 6. Grotius saith of it, in short, (upon 2 Chron. xxix. 21.) heptas sacris propria; the number seven is proper to sacred things: as appears by the seven angels and seven trumpets, (Rev. viii. 2.) And the priests shall blow with the trumpets.] All the time they marched so often round the city. (See Tertullian, lib. ii. adv. Marcion, cap. 21.)..

Joshua 6:5

And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the rams 9 horns. A loud sound, protracted after a rustic manner, as Bochart interprets it in his Hierozoicon, par. i. lib. ii. cap. 43. And when ye hear the sound of the trumpet.] And were commanded by Joshua to shout, (ver. 1G.) All the people shall shout with a great shout.] Such as soldiers use when they make an onset upon a place, or when armies meet to give battle. And the wall of the city shall fall down flat.] Or, fall under it, as it is in the Hebrew; which seems to signify, that the foundations of the wall were subverted, so that it sunk and fell into the ditch, or (as the Jews explain it) sunk into the very ground on which it stood, so as to leave no ruins, as in the common fall of walls; in which they suppose another miracle. And the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.] The whole wall did not fall down, for Rahab’s house stood, which was upon the wall, (ii, 15.) But such wide breaches were made every where round about, that the Israelites went straight forward, and found an easy entrance into this city, which the amazed inhabitants had no heart to defend; or rather, the whole wall sunk into the earth, only

Joshua 6:7

And he said unto the people, Pass on and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass before the ark of the Lord. This explains ver. 3. where he seems to command only the men ofivar to compass the city. But the meaning is, that the whole body of the people should march in this circuit, the men of war going before the ark, and the rest of the people following it, as it is explained ver. 9.

Joshua 6:8

And it came to pass, ivhen Joshua had.spoken unto the people. By the priests,. as the LXX. understand it. That the seven priests, bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns, passed on before the Lord, and blew with the tmmpets,.and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.] According to the direction given

Joshua 6:9

And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets. Here the order of their march explains the command, ver. 7. And the rear-ward came after the ark.] That is, the rest of the people who had no arms, old men, women, and children, came in the rear of the ark. Concerning the word measseph (which we translate rear-ward), see Numb. x. 23. ■From whence may be gathered, that by this rear-tvard is meant the tribe of Dan; as the Targum, Rasi, and Kimchi, understand it; who by the armed men beforementioned, understand the Reubenitcs, Gadites, and Manassites, who were engaged by Moses to go " armed before the Lord to war," Numb, xxxii. 20. and renewed this engagement to •Joshua, i. 12, &c.. The priests goin<j on, and blowing with the trumpets.] The words priests is not in the Hebrew, which made the Vulgar to translate the words in such a manner as if the whole multitude beforementioned made a sound with trumpets, " Buccinis omnia concrepabant." But there being no order for any to blow with trumpets but only the priests, our translators have done well to supply that word from ver. 4. as they do also ver. 13. where this is again repeated.

Joshua 6:10

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. They were not to talk to one another as they went along, but march in a profound silence, before and after the Lord, waiting on Jiim, to see what he would do for them. Until the day Ibid ye shout, then shall ye shout.] That is,:on the.seventh day, after they had compassed the city seven times.

Joshua 6:11

So the ark of the Lord compassed the city, going about it once. It is uncertain upon what day they began j to do this; but it is very probable (as the Jews say in their larger Chronicle) that it was the next day after the seven days of unleavened bread were ended. And they came into the camp, and lodged in the campj] They spent the rest of the day in the camp to refresh themselves, and lay there the following night.

Joshua 6:12

And Joshua rose up early in the morning. viz. That morning of the first day. of compassing the city. And thepriests took up the ark of the Lord.] These words, and those that follow in the next verse, give a particular account of what was done the first day, according to that which was said in general, ver. 8, 9.

Joshua 6:13

And the seven jmests, bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord, went on continually. Without resting or making any stop, in a continued motion, till they had finished their circuit. And blew with the trumpets.] As soon as they began their motion. And the armed men went before them, but the rear-ward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.] Till they had ended their circuit.

Joshua 6:14

And the second day they compassed the city once. In the same order before described. And returned into the camp.] As they had done the first day, (ver. 11.) And so they did six days.] The remaining four days were spent in the same pompous show, without striking a stroke, or speaking a word, that the subversion of the city might be ascribed wholly to the power of God, which secretly undermined the walls, and threw them down.

Joshua 6:15

And it came to pass on the seventh day. The Jewish writers say this was the sabbath, as llaymundus observes in his Pugio Fidei, and Jos. de Voysin in his Annotations upon him, p. G25. But I shall only mention the words of Kimchi, which are these: " The ark of the Lord compassed the city the first time, on the first day of the week: so our doctors, of pious memory, have delivered, that the seventh day whereon the city was taken was the sabbath, though they killed and burnt upon that day; for he that commanded the sabbath to be observed, commanded it now to be profaned for the destruction of Jericho, as ho commanded burnt-offerings to be sacrificed on this day:" which is the very instance whereby our blessed Saviour justifies his doing some works upon the sabbath-day. And here I cannot but note, that it was Jehovah, according to this explication, who gave this command to compass the city on this day as well as any other. That great Lord who gave the command to keep the sabbath now dispensed with it: he that spake from Mount Sinai was the person who appeared to Joshua: for, whether this day was the sabbath or not, it is certain, one of the seven days wherein they were thus employed was the sabbath, and consequently their resting on that day was dispensed withal, by the same authority that made the law of the sabbath. That he rose early about the dawning of the day.] All the six days, I suppose, they rose early, as they did upon the first; (ver. 12.) but upon this day, very early, as soon as they could see, because they had seven times as much work to do as they had upon the other days. And compassed the city after the same manner seven times.] Not with a continued motion, I suppose, but resting awhile (perhaps after each circuit) to refresh themselves; otherwise, by such motion, they might have been dispirited, and unfit to attack Jericho, when the wall of it fell down before them. Microsoft®

Joshua 6:17

And the city shall be accursed. All the commands given in this, arid in the two following verses, could not be delivered just before he bade them shout; but they.had been given some time before they began to march the seventh time about the city. - And if any thing of these matters was repeated now, it was very briefly, by bidding them remember the orders they had received concerning the city and all that was therein. I have observed elsewhere, that this w r ord cherem (which we translate accursed) signifies sometimes the. gift itself, which is devoted to God for his uses, (Lev. xxvii. 24.) sometimes that which is devoted to perpetual destruction, by the right which God hath to punish capital enmities to him, as here in this place. And thus, Mr. Selden observes, the great Sanhedrin might devote those to destruction, who in war did not observe such charges as were given them; of which they find an instance in Judg. xxi. 5. (See him, lib. iv. de Jure Nat. et Gentium, cap. G.) Even it and all that are therein to the Lord.] As the first-fruits of their victories, in the land of Canaan. All whose inhabitants God ordered to be exterminated; but thought fit to make such an example of the first that refused to submit, as to raze their very city, and command it never to be built again: for that this was done by a particular order from God, appears from 1 Kings xvi. 34. Thus he commanded even such cities in Israel to be destroyed, as should hereafter revolt to idolatry, Deut. xiii. 15 — 17. Only llahab the harlot shall live, she. and all that are tvith her in the house.] Which is explained in the execution of this order, ver. 23. Because she hid the messengers.] Who swarc unto her that she should be preserved: and therefore, both in justice and gratitude, Joshua was bound to take care of her; and, no doubt, had order from God to make good the’oath of the spies. That we sent.] This seems to import, that Joshua sent the spies by the advice or consent of the elders; though it may signify no more but that he sent them upon a public account. (See chap. ii. 1. 23.)

Joshua 6:18

And you, in any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing. Take heed, lest you meddle with any of the spoils which are devoted to God, and appropriate them to your own use… Lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing.] Bring yourselves under the same sentence of being devoted to destruction. And make the camp of Israel a curse.] And, more than that, expose the whole camp to the same danger. For many times God takes occasion to punish the whole body of a people for their other sins, when some of them only have hig ly offended him. vol. n. And trouble it.] Disturb the course of their victories.

Joshua 6:19

But all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron. And other inetals, I suppose. Are consecrated to the Lord.] Except the gold and silver of their images, which were utterly to be destroyed, according to an express command of God, Deut. vii. 25, 2G. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord.] Which was in the tabernacle. To the service of which such things were wholly appropriated, and might not be applied to any other use. But it is very probable, that before such things were put into the treasury they were purified, by making them go through the fire: according to the law, Numb. xxxi. 22, 23. The Jews think these things were given to God, because the city was taken on the sabbath.

Joshua 6:20

So the people shouted, when the priests blew with the trumpets. As they had been commanded, ver. 1G. And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout.] This is repeated to shew, that this was all that the people contributed to the expugnation of this city: which they wholly ascribed unto God. That the wall fell down flat.] As the Lord had promised, ver. 5. So that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.] As it was easy to do, when the garrison was in such a consternation, at the sudden fall, of the wall, without any visible force to throw it down; that, in all likelihood, they could make little or no resistance.

Joshua 6:21

And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the siuord. See Deut. xx. 1G, 17. Some have observed that there are no earned. here mentioned, which were not commonly bred in this country; much less mules, which were not known in the land of Israel till the days of David. As Bochart concludes from the mention, upon several occasions, of oxen, sheep, and asses; but never of these creatures till his time. But if there were any other animals in Jericho besides these here named, they were all killed; for that was the law of the cherem. As for their killing of infants and women, see Grotius, lib. iii. de Jure Belli etPacis, cap. 4. sect. 9. And it must also be remembered, that they were a people guilty of such foul idolatry, that it was fit the whole race of them should be destroyed, as Sodom was; where all the children perished, as well as others. And this was a type of the entire destruction of New Babylon, mentioned in the Revelation.

Joshua 6:22

But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country,. He had given this order before the falling of the wall; when they begfan their march on the seventh day, the seventh time, and before they shouted. Go into the harlot’s house.] Which, by the wonderful providence of God over her, was left standing, with part of the wall upon which it w r as built, when the rest sunk into the ground. And bring out thence the woman, and alt that she hath.] With her in the house. As ye sware unto her.] Chap. ii. 14.

Joshua 6:23

And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out llahab, and her father,, and her mother, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred. By Microsoft® [CHAP. V1J. this it appears, that all related to her, who took shelter under her roof, were preserved from destruction. Such is the great clemency of God, who, for the sake of one excellent woman, spared a great many that had nothing to deserve his favour. And left them without the camp of Israel.’] They were brought out of the house, because it was to be burnt, with all the rest of the city: which was to be laid desolate without inhabitant. And they were carried without the camp of Israel, because it was holy by the presence of the Lord there: which made it unlawful for them to enter into it, till they had abjured their gentile superstition; and by 1 circumcision (and by baptism, as the custom was in aftertimes, if not now) admitted into the body of the Israelites. Vcr. 24. Jind they burnt the city ivith fire, and all that was therein.] By the just judgment of God upon it, for the horrible wickedness committed therein. (See Grotius, de Jure Belli et Pacis, lib. iii. cap. 12. sect. 2.) Only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass, and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.] As had been enjoined before they took the city, vcr. 19.

Joshua 6:25

And Joshua saved llahab the liarlot alive, and her father s household, and all that she had. It is likely her father and his household gave credit to what she said; and consequently were converted, as she was, to the true religion, by what they had heard before, and now saw with their own eyes, of the wonderful works of God. And she dwelleth in Israel unto this day.] Was incorporated with the Israelites, and made a member of their body; as all her kindred, it is likely, were: at least, they became proselytes of the gate (as they called those who renounced idolatry, and worshipped the God of Israel), though they were not circumcised. Concerning this phrase unto this day, see before, iv. 9. Because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.’] Which proceeded not merely from her humanity, but was a noble act of courageous faith.

Joshua 6:26

And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying. He made the elders and heads of their several tribes (I suppose) bind themselves by a solemn oath, and they took the same security of all the people; adding a curse upon themselves and their posterity, if any of.them broke this oath. Cursed be the man before the Lord.] This shews that this cherem, whereby he adjudged him and his family to destruction who should rebuild Jericho, was a sentence pronounced by the Lord, and not by Joshua, without his order. And so we read expressly in the first book of the Kings, xvi. nit. See concerning this cherem, Mr. Selden, lib. iv. de Jure Nat. et Gent. cap. 7. p. 505. That riseth up and bnildeth this city Jericho.] Whose ruins God would have remain, as a perpetual monument of his power and of his severity. So Maimonides, in his More Nevochim, par. iii. cap. 50. " This anathema (saith he) was pronounced, that the miracle of the subversion of Jericho might be kept in perpetual memory: for whosoever saw the walls sunk deep into the earth (as he understands it), would clearly discern that this was not the form of a building destroyed by man, but miraculously thrown down by God." He shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born.] That is, in the death of his first-born. And in his youngest son shall he set np the gates of it.] The meaning is, in the progress of the work, the rest of his children should die: and when \c had finished it (which was when he set up its gates) he should lose the last of them. Which was fulfilled exactly in the days of Ahab, as wo read in the place beforenamed, (1 Kings xvi. 34.) Which, by j the way, shews this book of Joshua to have been older. than the book of the Kings. We are not to imagine that this anathema reached any farther, than to the builder of Jericho and his family; not to those who should inhabit it after it was rebuilt. For there was a company of prophets who made no scruple to settle here in future times, (2 Kings i. 15.) And if it had been built in any other. place, and not on the ruins of the old city (though they had given it the name of Jericho), one cannot think he that built it would have fallen under this curse. Which either he did not mind, or did not believe, otherwise he would not have adventured to restore this city: unto which he was tempted by its pleasant situation, (2 Kings i. 19.)

Joshua 6:27

So the Lord was with Joshua. Thus God made good his promise to him, i. 5. 9. where the Targum, as I observed, hath it, The Word of the Lord thy God shall be thy helper. And so theso words run in that paraphrase, And the Word of the Lord helped Joshua: that Divine Person who appeared to him, and encouraged him in this undertaking, chap. v. 13, 14, &c. And his fame teas noised throughout all the country.] There was no part of the country which did not hear of their. wonderful entrance into it over Jordan; and of the miraculous taking of Jericho; and the execution done there; which made the name of Joshua famous among them, as a captain before whom rivers fled, and the strongest w r alls fell down fiat