Joshua 6 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Josh 6:1-14

1 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March round the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Make seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march round the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, make the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.’

6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and make seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.’ 7 And he ordered the army, ‘Advance! March round the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.’

8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forwards, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. 9 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. 10 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!’ 11 So he had the ark of the Lord carried round the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.

12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forwards, 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. 14 So on the second day they marched round the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

A. Find out:

1. How many times were they to circle Jericho just once? v.3
2. How many times were they to on the 7th day? v.4
3. Who went ahead of the ark? v.4,7
4. Who followed the ark? v.9
5. How were the people to march first of all? v.10
6. When would Jericho fall? v.5

B. Think:

1. How do you think Israel felt on the 1st day?
2. How do you think they felt by the 7th day?
3. How do you think the inhabitants of Jericho felt?

C. Comment:

     It is difficult to know the answers to the above questions because we are not told. Jericho was a large town with a high, very thick wall surrounding it. It was, of course, their first obstacle in the land. Humanly speaking they might have gone out confidently on the first day and as each day went by the enormity of the task before them could have brought them to a sense of total inadequacy. However, experience shows, especially in prayer and spiritual warfare matters, that it works in the exact opposite way. When we start to pray about an “impossible situation” we start out with little confidence. As we progress and “go round it” time and time again in prayer, the sense of God in it becomes stronger and stronger and faith is released to believe it WILL happen.

     For the Israelites, obedience to God’s revealed strategy was the key. For us Jesus said, “If you love me you will obey what I command” (John 14:15) and “This is my command: love one another” (John 15:17). Our obedience flows out of our love for Jesus. That leads us into many things: persistent praying, caring, loving, opposing wrong. When we start out we have little faith, but it increases as we go until we are ready to shout to bring the opposition down.

D. Application?

1. Faith grows as we go.
2. Are we praying, persisting and persevering?

Passage: Josh 6:15-27

15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched round the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time round, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, ‘Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted[l] to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.’

20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.’ 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho – and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: ‘Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:

‘At the cost of his firstborn son
    he will lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
    he will set up its gates.’

27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

A. Find out:

1. Why were they to TOTALLY destroy Jericho? v.17a
2. Who alone were to be saved? v.17b
3. What would happen if they were disobedient? v.18
4. What should be saved for the Lord? v.19
5. When did the wall fall? v.20
6. What was Rahab’s end? v.25

B. Think:

1. “Devoted to the Lord” (v.17) could be interpreted “Given over to the Lord’s purposes”. How does this apply to Jericho?
2. Why do you think this was to be so?
3. How is faith and obedience seen to be justified at least twice here? 

C. Comment:

     Israel obediently do what they were told to do and the wall of Jericho falls as the Lord moves. Many theories can be put forward how and why the wall fell but at the end of the day it will still be a miracle that it fell as it did, leaving the way open for Israel to destroy it all, as they had been commanded to. Rahab and her family are spared, as promised, and live as part of Israel, to eventually become part of the Messianic line (Matthew 1:5). This is true grace!

     The destruction of Jericho was terrible, but we need to remember that the people of the land were willful idolaters and completely godless. Their presence in the land, worshipping demons, could have been a snare to Israel, enticing them into sin, as well as being a hindrance to the coming of the blessing and goodness of God into the land, through the godly lifestyle of Israel. Second, they could have repented, given up their idolatry or joined Israel. The Lord knew that they were not prepared to do any of these things and in the midst of destruction Rahab stands as a testimony to faith and grace, and as such she condemns the rest of the people who had lived in Jericho.

D. Application?

1. That we are NOT destroyed by God’s judgement is a miracle of grace!
2. Do we stand out as people of faith today?