Marching as to War
The Siege of Jericho (I)
Joshua 6
Good morning! I invite you to turn with me in your bibles to Joshua 6. The long awaited day has finally come. We are ready to begin our advance on Jericho. We’ve been waiting for this since chapter 1. For us it’s taken about 2 months (that’s how long we’ve been in this series so far). But for the Israelites it has been about a week, maybe a week and a half at the most.
This morning I’d like us to read the entire chapter. But we’re probably only going to focus upon the first few verses of the chapters in our message.
[Read Joshua 6] Let's pray...
Introduction
This morning, as we look at the siege against Jericho, what I’d like you to keep in mind is that this is a mini apocalypse. What we have in the taking of Jericho is something of a foretaste of the Lord’s second coming. This has, throughout the history of the church, been recognized as a parallel or a type of what shall happen at the Last Great Day, when Jesus returns.
It is a reminder to us of God’s great victory; the sure guarantee that the Lord Jesus will come in power and His kingdom will find its culmination on the earth.
But there are many things in this passage that are noteworthy. You’ll notice that we did not read the whole of the chapter. We are not going to cover the whole siege here this morning. As a matter of fact, we are only going to deal with the march on Jericho. We are going to look at everything leading up to the fall of the walls and the subduing of the city.
That may seem a little disappointing. We’ve been waiting all this time for it. But that is the majority of the passage. The majority of the chapter deals not with the attack on the city, but with all the details that lead up to it.
The passage spends a great deal of time talking about how the Israelites were to march around Jericho for 6 days and then on the seventh day they were to march around it 7 times. And they were to march in a certain order, with the priests and the ark of the covenant.
There are a lot of details here, but there are some good things to take away. Let’s just begin by thinking about Jericho and what it means to march around it.
Jericho was only about 6 acres in its entire expanse. I know that when I imagine Jericho and this mighty city, I often think about some gigantic metropolis like Cleveland or Columbus. But if you want to visualize it, take 6 football fields and line them up next to each other. Or, imagine going from Rt. 42 out there, down Baney, around to Claremont Ave, and back through the Hedstrom access road out here. That’s approximately how big Jericho is. So, if you really think about it, it would have been a little less than a mile in circumference.
Of course, you want to keep some distance from the city so you don’t get shot by an arrow. So we may have about a 2-3 mile march, depending on how far away from the city you go. Remember too that you have a march of about 2 miles from Gilgal and two miles back. So each of the 6 days they are marching around I’d say 6-7 miles. That’s a pretty good hike. It’s probably going to take you a couple hours. And, if you do that for 6 days straight, you’re probably going to be a little tired.
Then on the 7th day, they march 2 miles up from Gilgal and then you go 7 times around the city. So I’m guessing you’re looking at possibly 14-20 miles on the last day. That’s a ton of marching. Six or seven miles would have taken them a couple hours. To march 14-20 miles would have taken most of the day. And it would have been absolutely exhausting.
Especially for these men who were in their condition. Keep in mind that these men, just the week before, had undergone circumcision. Now, it takes a good 3-4 weeks to heal from that kind of procedure in our day and age, with our utensils and such. These men, just one week later are marching 6 miles a day. Just two weeks later they put in at least 8 hours on the pavement? This would probably have been a lot for these guys to hike this far each day.
It really puts into perspective what verse 2 says, “Behold, I have given the city of Jericho into your hand.” This was God’s gift. This was something that was effected by the Lord. The people of Israel simply had to receive it by faith.
A few weeks ago when I preached on the circumcision I mentioned that God loves to use the weak and the powerless. But here I’d like to mention that this is the way God brings about his promises. God gives people their inheritance when they are weak. When they are powerless. This is a good illustration of how salvation comes to us and how we enter into the kingdom of God. It’s not like we come marching in with all our strength and vitality. The promises are simply received by faith. While we were still weak (helpless, impotent) Christ died for us.
This is a testimony to God’s greatness in the life of his people and it is a reminder of what it means to be recipients of grace. God gives, we receive. God has a way of giving himself all the glory and keeping us humble.
Now, when it how this march was conducted, what can we say about it. Well, I want to point out a few things.
One thing that we can say was that this was a powerful military tactic. It was most certainly a profound means of psychological warfare. Can you imagine looking out your window every morning and seeing the people marching by. Or think how you would feel if you were out buying groceries and you heard the pounding of the feet of the Israelite army coming up from the river. For a couple hours you hear constant stomping around you each day. You look up and you see over the wall the cloud of dust rising up and floating into your city.
Imagine the terror that would come upon you when you heard and saw all that. This would be frightening. It would be a daily indicator that you know your time is coming. I mean they are already shaking with fear. Their hearts have melted and they are holed up in their city because they are overcome with dread. Now you have this marching all around, which would have only added to their torture.
I mean it’s a lot like Russian Roulette. You what that is, you take the revolver and put the bullet in the chamber. Then you spin the revolver, put the gun to the head of your hostage, and then you pull the trigger. You don’t know if that bullet is going to fire or not. That’s maddening.
That’s what is happening to the people of Jericho. When they hear that army marching, they don’t know if today’s the day or not.
This can be considered some of the pangs that God sends upon the wicked. Mind you, that hell is not just a place of physical torture. Hell is a place of madness. It is a place of mental torture. It is a place of regret, of self pity, of fear. It is a place of anguish in every possible way.
In the day when Christ comes people will be driven to madness. They will run to the caves and hope that the rocks fall in upon them. They will shake with fear because God will come upon them and they will have no escape.
Thus, you should understand that those who do not fear the Lord, will end up being struck with nothing but the fear of the Lord. Those who do not seek him, will be sought by him and they will come to find that they are paralyzed by their impending doom.
But this is more than just a military strategy to further strike fear in the hearts. I want you to think of this as a God’s way of extending his mercy. God gives these people the opportunity to repent.
Think about it: These Israelites marched for 7 days. And on the 7th day they marched 7 times. He did not just come out on the first day and pummel them. He gave them a whole week to think about what was going to happen. He gave them multiple opportunities to reconsider. So they could have surrendered. They could have done what Rahab did and aligned themselves with the God of Israel. This is displaying the fact that God is merciful. He offers peace and is slow to bring about his wrath. There’s a sense in which God is offering them the chance to do what is right.
This is the same that the Lord did with the Prophets. The Lord didn’t just bring his judgment upon Israel the first time they sinned. He took a long term approach and he would send them prophets who would warn the people and call them to repentance for years and decades. God desired that they wouldn’t perish, but that they would turn and live.
The same is true when it came to the Jewish people in the New Testament times. Jesus went to great lengths to warn the Pharisees and Sadducees of their sins and the coming judgement. Then after he died and was resurrected, he spared them for about 40 years. It wasn’t until 70 AD that he came and brought judgment upon Jerusalem. Think about that. For 40 years you had Christians in the city of Jerusalem proclaiming the mercies of God and calling people to repentance. But when it was evident that they were hardened in their unbelief, God sent the Roman Army in and utterly laid waste to them. The temple and the city were completely demolished.
Peter also says in that the Lord is not slow as some count slowness. But rather, he is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The Lord doesn’t just up and strike. That’s what he should do. That’s what we deserve to have done to us. But God doesn’t operate that way. He always extends the olive branch. He always waits and holds out the opportunity for people to repent.
That’s why we shouldn’t get upset when people won’t listen with us when we try and share the gospel. God is very patient.
And that should help us to realize why Scripture says that “today is the day of salvation.” There’s a reason why fire isn’t pouring out of heaven right this minute. God’s giving men the opportunity to repent and turn to him. This is the prime opportunity to get your life right with him. It’s time to respond to the gospel and put away your life of sin.
For we know, just as it did right here for the people of Jericho, God’s patience does run out. Time ran out for the people in Jerusalem. And who knows how long we have here? What we do know is that God has given us today. And that’s why today is the day of salvation and it is urgent that we not wait any more to look to him.
Joshua and his army keeps on marching and marching and marching. And each step, each day, each hour, is an expression of God’s willingness to forgive. It is an opportunity afforded to them to choose the way of life.
Here’s a third thing that’s happening: They are flaunting the fact that the Lord is the one who is coming against the city.
This wasn’t so much a battle formation as it was a religious parade. Yes, there were soldiers in formation, but the prominence is put upon the priests and the ark that was being carried. The Canaanites would be seeing how central the Lord is and the Israelites themselves would be encouraged to know that the Lord was marching along with them into battle. This was all about flaunting the Lord and making sure everyone knew that the Lord was supreme one in Israel.
Couple this fact with the fact that there are so many 7’s mentioned. There are seven priests and seven trumpets, and seven days of marching, and on the seventh day they march 7 times around the city. Why is it that there is such an emphasis on the number 7?
Well, 7 is the number that has to do with creation. A week is seven days. The seventh day is the Sabbath, or the Lord’s Day. And I think that this is a reminder that the God of creation, with all his power and might, is acting on the behalf of his people. Here is the God who created all things out of nothing in the span of a week and He is the one who is now bringing that power to bear on His enemies.
This would be something that inspires his people. They would remember that their God had all the resources of creation at his disposal.
Now you understand that these walls were probably around 6 feet thick and 15 or more feet high. And there’s not just a wall to be reckoned with, there was a large ditch cut through solid rock around the outside of the wall for further protection. The ditch would have been 9 feet deep and over 25 feet wide. So it was like a moat without water. So there was really no human way to get into the place. There was no battle work that they could build to scale the ditch and make it up over the wall.
So you can imagine walking around that city 6 or 7 times. You’d be convinced that there’s really no way in. You got to survey the lay of the land and see every inch of the thing. And at the end you’d throw up your hands and say, “That’s impossible.”
This is why the emphasis is on the 7. It was to point them to the all supreme power of God. This is their only hope. The God of all creation; the God who has command over the earth, he is the one who will give the city into the hands of his people.
The last thing that I want to mention is the blowing of the trumpets. There were 7 priests and each of these priests had 7 trumpets that they were to blow. They were not allowed to talk or shout until they were given the order to do so. So the only things you would hear would be the stomping of the feet and the loud blasts of these trumpets.
Just think how this would add to the mental upheaval of the people inside of Jericho. Here go those horns again! For a couple hours each day you hear that noise. We have around Ashland the monthly test of the tornado sirens. That lasts a few minutes the first Wednesday of the month. Imagine that going on for a full hour and a half.
But there’s more to it than that. Trumpets in the bible were blown on certain occasions. They were blown when the people of Israel were to assemble before the Lord. They were blown on certain holidays. These horns were blown when they were called out to and entered into war. The Bible never really gives a specific reason why, but this is my take: These horns were blown to announce the Lord’s presence. He came to his people when they assembled. He came with them into war to fight on their behalf. He was in their midst as they celebrated their feasts.
And in the New Testament it tells us that when Jesus comes back there will be a loud shout and a trumpet blast from heaven. (1 Thess. 4). That shout and horn are an indication of Christ entering into this world for the work of establishing his kingdom and judging the nations. It is an announcement that he comes in power.
As we read of this apocalypse, we are reminded of the coming of Christ. The land will be ours. The Lord will reign. The kingdom will come. And Christ will be victorious.
This morning I’d like us to read the entire chapter. But we’re probably only going to focus upon the first few verses of the chapters in our message.
[Read Joshua 6] Let's pray...
Introduction
This morning, as we look at the siege against Jericho, what I’d like you to keep in mind is that this is a mini apocalypse. What we have in the taking of Jericho is something of a foretaste of the Lord’s second coming. This has, throughout the history of the church, been recognized as a parallel or a type of what shall happen at the Last Great Day, when Jesus returns.
It is a reminder to us of God’s great victory; the sure guarantee that the Lord Jesus will come in power and His kingdom will find its culmination on the earth.
But there are many things in this passage that are noteworthy. You’ll notice that we did not read the whole of the chapter. We are not going to cover the whole siege here this morning. As a matter of fact, we are only going to deal with the march on Jericho. We are going to look at everything leading up to the fall of the walls and the subduing of the city.
That may seem a little disappointing. We’ve been waiting all this time for it. But that is the majority of the passage. The majority of the chapter deals not with the attack on the city, but with all the details that lead up to it.
The passage spends a great deal of time talking about how the Israelites were to march around Jericho for 6 days and then on the seventh day they were to march around it 7 times. And they were to march in a certain order, with the priests and the ark of the covenant.
There are a lot of details here, but there are some good things to take away. Let’s just begin by thinking about Jericho and what it means to march around it.
Jericho was only about 6 acres in its entire expanse. I know that when I imagine Jericho and this mighty city, I often think about some gigantic metropolis like Cleveland or Columbus. But if you want to visualize it, take 6 football fields and line them up next to each other. Or, imagine going from Rt. 42 out there, down Baney, around to Claremont Ave, and back through the Hedstrom access road out here. That’s approximately how big Jericho is. So, if you really think about it, it would have been a little less than a mile in circumference.
Of course, you want to keep some distance from the city so you don’t get shot by an arrow. So we may have about a 2-3 mile march, depending on how far away from the city you go. Remember too that you have a march of about 2 miles from Gilgal and two miles back. So each of the 6 days they are marching around I’d say 6-7 miles. That’s a pretty good hike. It’s probably going to take you a couple hours. And, if you do that for 6 days straight, you’re probably going to be a little tired.
Then on the 7th day, they march 2 miles up from Gilgal and then you go 7 times around the city. So I’m guessing you’re looking at possibly 14-20 miles on the last day. That’s a ton of marching. Six or seven miles would have taken them a couple hours. To march 14-20 miles would have taken most of the day. And it would have been absolutely exhausting.
Especially for these men who were in their condition. Keep in mind that these men, just the week before, had undergone circumcision. Now, it takes a good 3-4 weeks to heal from that kind of procedure in our day and age, with our utensils and such. These men, just one week later are marching 6 miles a day. Just two weeks later they put in at least 8 hours on the pavement? This would probably have been a lot for these guys to hike this far each day.
It really puts into perspective what verse 2 says, “Behold, I have given the city of Jericho into your hand.” This was God’s gift. This was something that was effected by the Lord. The people of Israel simply had to receive it by faith.
A few weeks ago when I preached on the circumcision I mentioned that God loves to use the weak and the powerless. But here I’d like to mention that this is the way God brings about his promises. God gives people their inheritance when they are weak. When they are powerless. This is a good illustration of how salvation comes to us and how we enter into the kingdom of God. It’s not like we come marching in with all our strength and vitality. The promises are simply received by faith. While we were still weak (helpless, impotent) Christ died for us.
This is a testimony to God’s greatness in the life of his people and it is a reminder of what it means to be recipients of grace. God gives, we receive. God has a way of giving himself all the glory and keeping us humble.
Now, when it how this march was conducted, what can we say about it. Well, I want to point out a few things.
One thing that we can say was that this was a powerful military tactic. It was most certainly a profound means of psychological warfare. Can you imagine looking out your window every morning and seeing the people marching by. Or think how you would feel if you were out buying groceries and you heard the pounding of the feet of the Israelite army coming up from the river. For a couple hours you hear constant stomping around you each day. You look up and you see over the wall the cloud of dust rising up and floating into your city.
Imagine the terror that would come upon you when you heard and saw all that. This would be frightening. It would be a daily indicator that you know your time is coming. I mean they are already shaking with fear. Their hearts have melted and they are holed up in their city because they are overcome with dread. Now you have this marching all around, which would have only added to their torture.
I mean it’s a lot like Russian Roulette. You what that is, you take the revolver and put the bullet in the chamber. Then you spin the revolver, put the gun to the head of your hostage, and then you pull the trigger. You don’t know if that bullet is going to fire or not. That’s maddening.
That’s what is happening to the people of Jericho. When they hear that army marching, they don’t know if today’s the day or not.
This can be considered some of the pangs that God sends upon the wicked. Mind you, that hell is not just a place of physical torture. Hell is a place of madness. It is a place of mental torture. It is a place of regret, of self pity, of fear. It is a place of anguish in every possible way.
In the day when Christ comes people will be driven to madness. They will run to the caves and hope that the rocks fall in upon them. They will shake with fear because God will come upon them and they will have no escape.
Thus, you should understand that those who do not fear the Lord, will end up being struck with nothing but the fear of the Lord. Those who do not seek him, will be sought by him and they will come to find that they are paralyzed by their impending doom.
But this is more than just a military strategy to further strike fear in the hearts. I want you to think of this as a God’s way of extending his mercy. God gives these people the opportunity to repent.
Think about it: These Israelites marched for 7 days. And on the 7th day they marched 7 times. He did not just come out on the first day and pummel them. He gave them a whole week to think about what was going to happen. He gave them multiple opportunities to reconsider. So they could have surrendered. They could have done what Rahab did and aligned themselves with the God of Israel. This is displaying the fact that God is merciful. He offers peace and is slow to bring about his wrath. There’s a sense in which God is offering them the chance to do what is right.
This is the same that the Lord did with the Prophets. The Lord didn’t just bring his judgment upon Israel the first time they sinned. He took a long term approach and he would send them prophets who would warn the people and call them to repentance for years and decades. God desired that they wouldn’t perish, but that they would turn and live.
The same is true when it came to the Jewish people in the New Testament times. Jesus went to great lengths to warn the Pharisees and Sadducees of their sins and the coming judgement. Then after he died and was resurrected, he spared them for about 40 years. It wasn’t until 70 AD that he came and brought judgment upon Jerusalem. Think about that. For 40 years you had Christians in the city of Jerusalem proclaiming the mercies of God and calling people to repentance. But when it was evident that they were hardened in their unbelief, God sent the Roman Army in and utterly laid waste to them. The temple and the city were completely demolished.
Peter also says in that the Lord is not slow as some count slowness. But rather, he is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The Lord doesn’t just up and strike. That’s what he should do. That’s what we deserve to have done to us. But God doesn’t operate that way. He always extends the olive branch. He always waits and holds out the opportunity for people to repent.
That’s why we shouldn’t get upset when people won’t listen with us when we try and share the gospel. God is very patient.
And that should help us to realize why Scripture says that “today is the day of salvation.” There’s a reason why fire isn’t pouring out of heaven right this minute. God’s giving men the opportunity to repent and turn to him. This is the prime opportunity to get your life right with him. It’s time to respond to the gospel and put away your life of sin.
For we know, just as it did right here for the people of Jericho, God’s patience does run out. Time ran out for the people in Jerusalem. And who knows how long we have here? What we do know is that God has given us today. And that’s why today is the day of salvation and it is urgent that we not wait any more to look to him.
Joshua and his army keeps on marching and marching and marching. And each step, each day, each hour, is an expression of God’s willingness to forgive. It is an opportunity afforded to them to choose the way of life.
Here’s a third thing that’s happening: They are flaunting the fact that the Lord is the one who is coming against the city.
This wasn’t so much a battle formation as it was a religious parade. Yes, there were soldiers in formation, but the prominence is put upon the priests and the ark that was being carried. The Canaanites would be seeing how central the Lord is and the Israelites themselves would be encouraged to know that the Lord was marching along with them into battle. This was all about flaunting the Lord and making sure everyone knew that the Lord was supreme one in Israel.
Couple this fact with the fact that there are so many 7’s mentioned. There are seven priests and seven trumpets, and seven days of marching, and on the seventh day they march 7 times around the city. Why is it that there is such an emphasis on the number 7?
Well, 7 is the number that has to do with creation. A week is seven days. The seventh day is the Sabbath, or the Lord’s Day. And I think that this is a reminder that the God of creation, with all his power and might, is acting on the behalf of his people. Here is the God who created all things out of nothing in the span of a week and He is the one who is now bringing that power to bear on His enemies.
This would be something that inspires his people. They would remember that their God had all the resources of creation at his disposal.
Now you understand that these walls were probably around 6 feet thick and 15 or more feet high. And there’s not just a wall to be reckoned with, there was a large ditch cut through solid rock around the outside of the wall for further protection. The ditch would have been 9 feet deep and over 25 feet wide. So it was like a moat without water. So there was really no human way to get into the place. There was no battle work that they could build to scale the ditch and make it up over the wall.
So you can imagine walking around that city 6 or 7 times. You’d be convinced that there’s really no way in. You got to survey the lay of the land and see every inch of the thing. And at the end you’d throw up your hands and say, “That’s impossible.”
This is why the emphasis is on the 7. It was to point them to the all supreme power of God. This is their only hope. The God of all creation; the God who has command over the earth, he is the one who will give the city into the hands of his people.
The last thing that I want to mention is the blowing of the trumpets. There were 7 priests and each of these priests had 7 trumpets that they were to blow. They were not allowed to talk or shout until they were given the order to do so. So the only things you would hear would be the stomping of the feet and the loud blasts of these trumpets.
Just think how this would add to the mental upheaval of the people inside of Jericho. Here go those horns again! For a couple hours each day you hear that noise. We have around Ashland the monthly test of the tornado sirens. That lasts a few minutes the first Wednesday of the month. Imagine that going on for a full hour and a half.
But there’s more to it than that. Trumpets in the bible were blown on certain occasions. They were blown when the people of Israel were to assemble before the Lord. They were blown on certain holidays. These horns were blown when they were called out to and entered into war. The Bible never really gives a specific reason why, but this is my take: These horns were blown to announce the Lord’s presence. He came to his people when they assembled. He came with them into war to fight on their behalf. He was in their midst as they celebrated their feasts.
And in the New Testament it tells us that when Jesus comes back there will be a loud shout and a trumpet blast from heaven. (1 Thess. 4). That shout and horn are an indication of Christ entering into this world for the work of establishing his kingdom and judging the nations. It is an announcement that he comes in power.
As we read of this apocalypse, we are reminded of the coming of Christ. The land will be ours. The Lord will reign. The kingdom will come. And Christ will be victorious.