Jericho Falls & is Devoted to God
The Siege of Jericho (II)
Joshua 6:15-27
Good morning! Will you please turn with me in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 6.
Last time we were together we began marching against Jericho. I thought about assigning you the task of marching 6 miles a day last Sunday. Just to see if we could replicate the siege on Jericho. But then you’d have to go out today and march between 15 and 20 miles today. I didn’t think that would go over too well, especially in July.
But last time we were together we saw that a good deal of this chapter has to do, not so much with the actual attack on Jericho, but with all the things that led up to the attack. There was a whole week dedicated to marching and tooting their horns. You may say that the siege of Jericho only took a couple of hours. Once the attack actually began, it was brought to an end rather quickly. But the Lord required them to spend a week parading around the city.
We looked at all those details and we learned a lot about what was really going on. One of the things we learned was that this city was a gift given by God to his people. We noted that these soldiers would have been close to exhaustion with all the marching they did. It could have been anywhere from 14-20 miles that they put in on the last day alone. They could have spent 8 or more hours out there marching along. And the city’s being taken was a testimony of what God had done. It was a testimony that God was giving his people the land.
We also talked about how this would have been a form of psychological warfare. The people of Jericho were likely put into fits having to hear the soldiers marching and the horns blowing each day. And we made the point that those who do not fear the Lord and submit to him, will be made to fear the Lord. They will be stricken with terror as God comes against them in his wrath and displeasure.
We also say that God was showing his steadfast mercy to the people of Jericho. Each time they marched around that city, it was as if God was providing them another opportunity to repent of their sins and turn to him. He was giving them every chance to cease their wicked ways, break with their gods, and gain the life He offers.
We talked about more things. But what’s important to note now is that we never actually got to the fall of Jericho. As I just mentioned, we started the siege, but we never actually got to the battle and all that transpired afterwards.
That’s what we are going to study today. So, if you would, please follow along as we read again Joshua chapter 6.
[Read Joshua 6] Let's pray together...
Introduction
The battle of Jericho is one of the most familiar Bible stories in all of Scripture. There are a few stories that are your “go to” passages for Sunday School and Bible stories. Pretty much everyone knows about Noah and his ark, David and Goliath, and most people will have heard about Daniel and his lions den. And of course, Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho is among the top 5. He’s even got his own theme song.
But you’ll probably hear the story of Jericho and about how massive the battle was.
It is interesting though that the battle only takes about a half a verse. The whole siege of Jericho is summed up in the second part of verse 20 and the Holy Spirit only used about 20-25 words to describe it. There are 27 verses in the whole chapter, and only a half of a verse contains information on the actual battle that took place.
The rest of the chapter is spent telling us about all the other things that took place. Those, of course, are some of the most important things. The battle itself is important, but there’s so much more to the story. The only thing important thing about the battle is that God won.
We are going to continue looking at these different details surrounding the battle today. But I want to give you another little bit of background on the city of Jericho and what may have likely happened in the attack.
I want you to consider something about the actual fall of Jericho because it highlights just how amazing God is and how he did “give them the city.” I have two pictures for you to look at on the overhead. Each of these pictures shows you what the fortification structure of the walls at Jericho looked like.
Now, notice there are actually 2 walls. You probably didn’t know that. But there were two walls: One wall went around the city, and another wall encircled that wall. The space in between those two walls is where Rahab would have lived. As a matter of fact, a lot of people would have lived in this area.
But you’ll see that there was a retaining wall at the first level. That wall would have held back dirt and rock upon which the city was built. This retaining wall would have been about 15 feet high.
Then on top of the retaining wall was another wall that jetted up above. It would have been about 20-25 feet high. So you already have about 35-40 feet of walls.
Then there would have been an embankment up to the second wall. The base of that embankment was about 45 feet. So the embankment is almost double the height of the first wall. And then the second wall (i.e. the inner wall) would have stood another 20 feet high or so. So think that the highest point is about 60-70 feet. That’d be a 6-7 story building.
So when we say the walls were humanly impossible to scale, you understand why. But here’s what happened. Archeology tells us that the walls fell out. Usually walls fall in because siege works are pushing them in. But these fell out. And what happens is that the rubble comes to form a natural embankment for the soldiers to climb up into the city.
So there is a little insight into what happened when the walls fell. The Lord caused these impenetrable walls to become the very means by which the Israelites would conquer them. These walls were looked to as a strong defense, but they became God’s tools in taking the city.
I’m sure there’s a lesson in that, something about what we trust in can be used against us or how the impossible becomes God’s possible. But that’s not specifically in the text. So I’m not going to preach that.
But let me turn now to talk about this concept mentioned in several of the verses. It’s the concept of the city being “devoted to destruction.”
Devoted to destruction
You see it mentioned in verse 17. Joshua tells the people that everything must be “devoted to destruction.” And it tells us that all the people were put to the sword and everything else was burned with fire. Some of the gold was kept for the Lord’s treasury, but everything else was to be destroyed. Nothing was to be spared or kept. Everything was off limits and was to be obliterated.
This is a concept that many people have taken offense. They say that it is utterly evil that the Lord would annihilate these people. People in our modern times cannot even begin to comprehend this kind of thing. So I want to take a second to clarify the meaning and purpose of it.
Let’s first just think about the term “devoted to destruction.” The word in the Hebrew is the word “cherem” and it is used numerous times in the OT. The ESV rightly translates it “devoted to destruction.” There are other translations that can translate it “put under the ban.” The KJV uses the word “accursed.” Some versions say “Utter destruction.”
The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the OT. And the Septuagint translates this word as “anathema.” We’ll come back to that in a moment.
The term is used about 80 times in the OT. Many of the uses are in these chapters of Joshua. The term is actually one of the last words of the OT. In Malachai God threatens to come and utterly destroy the land (and I believe it’s implied that the people of that land will be utterly destroyed.). There’s also a sense too in which the sacrifices of Israel are “put under the ban” because they are utterly destroyed and devoted to the Lord for destruction by fire.
But in the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord commands the Israelites that they must put the Canaanite peoples under the ban. They are to be utterly destroyed.
The idea of the cherem is that something is so heinous that it needs to be away from us. It must be given over to God and (in so doing) it comes under his wrath and indignation.
So when the Israelites devote the city of Jericho (with all its people and cattle and livestock), they are getting rid of all that would defile them. They are saying, “This is of no use. It is completely perverted. So I am giving it over to God to be destroyed.”
So you see, it is a sign of God’s judgment. It is recognized by God as needing to be gotten rid of. That’s why in the book of Galatians Paul says that anyone who preaches a different gospel, let him be “anathema.” That’s the Greek word that is used there. That is, let him be “put under the ban.” Paul is saying that anyone who preaches any kind works in salvations is accursed. He should be excommunicated and everyone should separate themselves from that false teacher.
And the Canaanites were put under this ban. They were to be exterminated because they were so perverse.
Now remember that they had 400 years of filling up their wickedness. I’m not going to go into it now. But these people had become degraded in their moral dealings and they were full of idolatry.
But there are people today who look at this and say, “The God of the Bible is a mass murderer. He is evil because he commands the extermination of whole peoples.” They will call him a genocidal maniac. But you have to understand that this is an expression of His justice. These people are destroyed because God, in His absolute holiness, cannot bear with them any longer. He must purge them from the face of the earth.
And really, this is ultimately what all who are apart from God will face. The Bible even says that the earth will be cleansed with fire. That is to say, the earth will go through a purging. All the unbelieving, all those who have not looked to Christ, will be judged and cast into hell. They will be devoted to the Lord; devoted to destruction. There’s going to be this separation because God is Holy.
We as Christians do not need to fear this cherem though. That’s because Christ was put under the ban on our behalf. He was devoted to destruction. There on the cross as God’s wrath fell upon him. That is the only reason why we are able to escape and enjoy the blessing of life.
But the principle still remains for us of purity of life. The idea is that we are separated from anything that may defile us. We must excommunicate people (i.e. put them under ecclesiastical ban). And in so doing we separate ourselves from them, lest we become corrupted.
And we recognize that there are things that we should turn over to God. There are certain things from which we should distance ourselves for the sake of purity. Pornography, games, music, clothes. These may not be bad in themselves, but they may be causing us to sin. So we separate ourselves from these things, giving them over to the Lord, because we are called to the higher life of holiness. We don’t play around with temptation because we know how infectious it is. In our personal lives we should want to distance ourselves from the people, places, and things that would detract us from walking in the ways of the Lord.
Now, let’s move to the next part of our passage. Here you see the good news in all this. While the city is destroyed, the passage points out that there is (at the same time) a rescue mission.
Rescue of Rahab
Now, for those of you who may not have been here, back in chapter 2 we studied the faith of Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute who converted to the Lord. She forsook the Canaanite gods and put her faith in the true and living God. And she showed that faith by hiding the spies and taking care of them. And the spies promised her that they would save her and her family alive when they advanced against Jericho.
That’s exactly what we find in verses 22-23. Joshua tells the two spies who had lodged in her house to go in and bring her and her family out. And they went in and performed an evacuation mission bringing all of her family out to safety.
Now this is a beautiful testimony of what faith in the Lord really looks like. As you put your faith in Christ, he promises that you will not fall under this ban that we just talked about. He promises to save you from you sins and give you eternal life.
Make sure you let that set in. That’s exactly why this passage is here. It is here to be a further confirmation that God is loyal to his word. You could be a fiendish as a Jericho prostitute, but that doesn’t matter. God’s promise is as good as gold.
Just think about why this passage is here. Someone might easily say, “Well, we’re going to knock off a bunch of pagans in Jericho, what’s one more?” Or someone could say, “She’s just another prostitute. We don’t need to keep that promise.” Or perhaps you could blame it on the chaotic nature of warfare. The fight had ensued. There were people running here and there. Swords were clashing and people were being executed. In the midst of all the confusion of the battle, well, we just forgot about Rahab and her family.
But you’ll notice that such is not the case. The text makes it plain that this family was not only saved, but they were assimilated into the life of Israel. They got to enjoy all the covenant community and all the privileges and rights as a member of God’s family.
That’s the blessing of turning to Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter how bad you are. It doesn’t matter where you are. God will save you from your sins and he will give you a place in his kingdom, in the midst of his family.
Jesus Christ rescues you from the wrath and cherem. Instead of becoming devoted to the Lord for destruction, you become devoted to Christ for glory and life. You become an heir of God and co-heir with Christ for all eternity.
This is just a reaffirmation of the surety of God’s promise to encourage your faith in God.
Now, there’s one last thing in this passage. It is found at the end of the chapter. You see that Joshua puts a curse on the city. He says, “Anyone who tries to rebuild this city will have some bad things happen to him.”
“At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation and at the cost of his youngest shall he set up its gates.”
Two quick things to note about this: First, God did not want this city rebuilt. Why is that? It is because this city was a major defensive position for the land. It would be logical to rebuild it because it was strategic for keeping the defense of the land.
We hear a lot in our day about building walls and keeping bad people out. Well, God did not want these walls erected. You know why? It is a testimony to the Israelites that God would be their protection. As long as they put their faith in the Lord, God would keep them from harm. No one could invade because they had something that was much more powerful protecting them.
You’ve hear the Scripture which says, “Put no confidence in princes, nor for help on man depend.” This is telling us that we should not put our trust in bricks or fences. Our protection in life is found, not so much in the fortifications we make (or even in the monetary fortifications we try to accumulate), but it is found in the preserving hand of Almighty God. By his Providence he keeps our enemies at bay. And we should always put the fear of him first and regard it as our chief means of protection in this life.
But then there is this curse. Joshua gives another anathema of sorts. He pronounces a death sentence against anyone who defies this order. And in 1 Kings 16 we read about the wicked king Ahab. During his reign he ordered Jericho rebuilt. And he hires a fellow by the name of Heil to do it. And the Scripture says that he lost his firstborn when he tried to lay the foundation and when the gates were erected, he lost his youngest.
Later in 2nd Kings, we read about how the drinking water in Jericho was poisoned. In 2nd Kings 2 we are told how the women of Jericho were having miscarriages and the land was unfruitful. I believe that that was a further fulfillment of this curse.
Those incidents reminds us that God’s word is true. What God says is rock solid. Anyone who doesn’t listen to the Word of God, they are going to find that there are consequences. They will find that they are cursed because they did not listen to the Lord.
This points out how important it is to take heed to God’s Word and not think that any of this can be sloughed off. It’s not a bunch of fairy tales. It is more solid than the concrete of Jericho’s walls. Cities and men will come and go, but the word of God endures forever. And we must give our utmost attention to it and apply its truth to our lives.
Last time we were together we began marching against Jericho. I thought about assigning you the task of marching 6 miles a day last Sunday. Just to see if we could replicate the siege on Jericho. But then you’d have to go out today and march between 15 and 20 miles today. I didn’t think that would go over too well, especially in July.
But last time we were together we saw that a good deal of this chapter has to do, not so much with the actual attack on Jericho, but with all the things that led up to the attack. There was a whole week dedicated to marching and tooting their horns. You may say that the siege of Jericho only took a couple of hours. Once the attack actually began, it was brought to an end rather quickly. But the Lord required them to spend a week parading around the city.
We looked at all those details and we learned a lot about what was really going on. One of the things we learned was that this city was a gift given by God to his people. We noted that these soldiers would have been close to exhaustion with all the marching they did. It could have been anywhere from 14-20 miles that they put in on the last day alone. They could have spent 8 or more hours out there marching along. And the city’s being taken was a testimony of what God had done. It was a testimony that God was giving his people the land.
We also talked about how this would have been a form of psychological warfare. The people of Jericho were likely put into fits having to hear the soldiers marching and the horns blowing each day. And we made the point that those who do not fear the Lord and submit to him, will be made to fear the Lord. They will be stricken with terror as God comes against them in his wrath and displeasure.
We also say that God was showing his steadfast mercy to the people of Jericho. Each time they marched around that city, it was as if God was providing them another opportunity to repent of their sins and turn to him. He was giving them every chance to cease their wicked ways, break with their gods, and gain the life He offers.
We talked about more things. But what’s important to note now is that we never actually got to the fall of Jericho. As I just mentioned, we started the siege, but we never actually got to the battle and all that transpired afterwards.
That’s what we are going to study today. So, if you would, please follow along as we read again Joshua chapter 6.
[Read Joshua 6] Let's pray together...
Introduction
The battle of Jericho is one of the most familiar Bible stories in all of Scripture. There are a few stories that are your “go to” passages for Sunday School and Bible stories. Pretty much everyone knows about Noah and his ark, David and Goliath, and most people will have heard about Daniel and his lions den. And of course, Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho is among the top 5. He’s even got his own theme song.
But you’ll probably hear the story of Jericho and about how massive the battle was.
It is interesting though that the battle only takes about a half a verse. The whole siege of Jericho is summed up in the second part of verse 20 and the Holy Spirit only used about 20-25 words to describe it. There are 27 verses in the whole chapter, and only a half of a verse contains information on the actual battle that took place.
The rest of the chapter is spent telling us about all the other things that took place. Those, of course, are some of the most important things. The battle itself is important, but there’s so much more to the story. The only thing important thing about the battle is that God won.
We are going to continue looking at these different details surrounding the battle today. But I want to give you another little bit of background on the city of Jericho and what may have likely happened in the attack.
I want you to consider something about the actual fall of Jericho because it highlights just how amazing God is and how he did “give them the city.” I have two pictures for you to look at on the overhead. Each of these pictures shows you what the fortification structure of the walls at Jericho looked like.
Now, notice there are actually 2 walls. You probably didn’t know that. But there were two walls: One wall went around the city, and another wall encircled that wall. The space in between those two walls is where Rahab would have lived. As a matter of fact, a lot of people would have lived in this area.
But you’ll see that there was a retaining wall at the first level. That wall would have held back dirt and rock upon which the city was built. This retaining wall would have been about 15 feet high.
Then on top of the retaining wall was another wall that jetted up above. It would have been about 20-25 feet high. So you already have about 35-40 feet of walls.
Then there would have been an embankment up to the second wall. The base of that embankment was about 45 feet. So the embankment is almost double the height of the first wall. And then the second wall (i.e. the inner wall) would have stood another 20 feet high or so. So think that the highest point is about 60-70 feet. That’d be a 6-7 story building.
So when we say the walls were humanly impossible to scale, you understand why. But here’s what happened. Archeology tells us that the walls fell out. Usually walls fall in because siege works are pushing them in. But these fell out. And what happens is that the rubble comes to form a natural embankment for the soldiers to climb up into the city.
So there is a little insight into what happened when the walls fell. The Lord caused these impenetrable walls to become the very means by which the Israelites would conquer them. These walls were looked to as a strong defense, but they became God’s tools in taking the city.
I’m sure there’s a lesson in that, something about what we trust in can be used against us or how the impossible becomes God’s possible. But that’s not specifically in the text. So I’m not going to preach that.
But let me turn now to talk about this concept mentioned in several of the verses. It’s the concept of the city being “devoted to destruction.”
Devoted to destruction
You see it mentioned in verse 17. Joshua tells the people that everything must be “devoted to destruction.” And it tells us that all the people were put to the sword and everything else was burned with fire. Some of the gold was kept for the Lord’s treasury, but everything else was to be destroyed. Nothing was to be spared or kept. Everything was off limits and was to be obliterated.
This is a concept that many people have taken offense. They say that it is utterly evil that the Lord would annihilate these people. People in our modern times cannot even begin to comprehend this kind of thing. So I want to take a second to clarify the meaning and purpose of it.
Let’s first just think about the term “devoted to destruction.” The word in the Hebrew is the word “cherem” and it is used numerous times in the OT. The ESV rightly translates it “devoted to destruction.” There are other translations that can translate it “put under the ban.” The KJV uses the word “accursed.” Some versions say “Utter destruction.”
The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the OT. And the Septuagint translates this word as “anathema.” We’ll come back to that in a moment.
The term is used about 80 times in the OT. Many of the uses are in these chapters of Joshua. The term is actually one of the last words of the OT. In Malachai God threatens to come and utterly destroy the land (and I believe it’s implied that the people of that land will be utterly destroyed.). There’s also a sense too in which the sacrifices of Israel are “put under the ban” because they are utterly destroyed and devoted to the Lord for destruction by fire.
But in the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord commands the Israelites that they must put the Canaanite peoples under the ban. They are to be utterly destroyed.
The idea of the cherem is that something is so heinous that it needs to be away from us. It must be given over to God and (in so doing) it comes under his wrath and indignation.
So when the Israelites devote the city of Jericho (with all its people and cattle and livestock), they are getting rid of all that would defile them. They are saying, “This is of no use. It is completely perverted. So I am giving it over to God to be destroyed.”
So you see, it is a sign of God’s judgment. It is recognized by God as needing to be gotten rid of. That’s why in the book of Galatians Paul says that anyone who preaches a different gospel, let him be “anathema.” That’s the Greek word that is used there. That is, let him be “put under the ban.” Paul is saying that anyone who preaches any kind works in salvations is accursed. He should be excommunicated and everyone should separate themselves from that false teacher.
And the Canaanites were put under this ban. They were to be exterminated because they were so perverse.
Now remember that they had 400 years of filling up their wickedness. I’m not going to go into it now. But these people had become degraded in their moral dealings and they were full of idolatry.
But there are people today who look at this and say, “The God of the Bible is a mass murderer. He is evil because he commands the extermination of whole peoples.” They will call him a genocidal maniac. But you have to understand that this is an expression of His justice. These people are destroyed because God, in His absolute holiness, cannot bear with them any longer. He must purge them from the face of the earth.
And really, this is ultimately what all who are apart from God will face. The Bible even says that the earth will be cleansed with fire. That is to say, the earth will go through a purging. All the unbelieving, all those who have not looked to Christ, will be judged and cast into hell. They will be devoted to the Lord; devoted to destruction. There’s going to be this separation because God is Holy.
We as Christians do not need to fear this cherem though. That’s because Christ was put under the ban on our behalf. He was devoted to destruction. There on the cross as God’s wrath fell upon him. That is the only reason why we are able to escape and enjoy the blessing of life.
But the principle still remains for us of purity of life. The idea is that we are separated from anything that may defile us. We must excommunicate people (i.e. put them under ecclesiastical ban). And in so doing we separate ourselves from them, lest we become corrupted.
And we recognize that there are things that we should turn over to God. There are certain things from which we should distance ourselves for the sake of purity. Pornography, games, music, clothes. These may not be bad in themselves, but they may be causing us to sin. So we separate ourselves from these things, giving them over to the Lord, because we are called to the higher life of holiness. We don’t play around with temptation because we know how infectious it is. In our personal lives we should want to distance ourselves from the people, places, and things that would detract us from walking in the ways of the Lord.
Now, let’s move to the next part of our passage. Here you see the good news in all this. While the city is destroyed, the passage points out that there is (at the same time) a rescue mission.
Rescue of Rahab
Now, for those of you who may not have been here, back in chapter 2 we studied the faith of Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute who converted to the Lord. She forsook the Canaanite gods and put her faith in the true and living God. And she showed that faith by hiding the spies and taking care of them. And the spies promised her that they would save her and her family alive when they advanced against Jericho.
That’s exactly what we find in verses 22-23. Joshua tells the two spies who had lodged in her house to go in and bring her and her family out. And they went in and performed an evacuation mission bringing all of her family out to safety.
Now this is a beautiful testimony of what faith in the Lord really looks like. As you put your faith in Christ, he promises that you will not fall under this ban that we just talked about. He promises to save you from you sins and give you eternal life.
Make sure you let that set in. That’s exactly why this passage is here. It is here to be a further confirmation that God is loyal to his word. You could be a fiendish as a Jericho prostitute, but that doesn’t matter. God’s promise is as good as gold.
Just think about why this passage is here. Someone might easily say, “Well, we’re going to knock off a bunch of pagans in Jericho, what’s one more?” Or someone could say, “She’s just another prostitute. We don’t need to keep that promise.” Or perhaps you could blame it on the chaotic nature of warfare. The fight had ensued. There were people running here and there. Swords were clashing and people were being executed. In the midst of all the confusion of the battle, well, we just forgot about Rahab and her family.
But you’ll notice that such is not the case. The text makes it plain that this family was not only saved, but they were assimilated into the life of Israel. They got to enjoy all the covenant community and all the privileges and rights as a member of God’s family.
That’s the blessing of turning to Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter how bad you are. It doesn’t matter where you are. God will save you from your sins and he will give you a place in his kingdom, in the midst of his family.
Jesus Christ rescues you from the wrath and cherem. Instead of becoming devoted to the Lord for destruction, you become devoted to Christ for glory and life. You become an heir of God and co-heir with Christ for all eternity.
This is just a reaffirmation of the surety of God’s promise to encourage your faith in God.
Now, there’s one last thing in this passage. It is found at the end of the chapter. You see that Joshua puts a curse on the city. He says, “Anyone who tries to rebuild this city will have some bad things happen to him.”
“At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation and at the cost of his youngest shall he set up its gates.”
Two quick things to note about this: First, God did not want this city rebuilt. Why is that? It is because this city was a major defensive position for the land. It would be logical to rebuild it because it was strategic for keeping the defense of the land.
We hear a lot in our day about building walls and keeping bad people out. Well, God did not want these walls erected. You know why? It is a testimony to the Israelites that God would be their protection. As long as they put their faith in the Lord, God would keep them from harm. No one could invade because they had something that was much more powerful protecting them.
You’ve hear the Scripture which says, “Put no confidence in princes, nor for help on man depend.” This is telling us that we should not put our trust in bricks or fences. Our protection in life is found, not so much in the fortifications we make (or even in the monetary fortifications we try to accumulate), but it is found in the preserving hand of Almighty God. By his Providence he keeps our enemies at bay. And we should always put the fear of him first and regard it as our chief means of protection in this life.
But then there is this curse. Joshua gives another anathema of sorts. He pronounces a death sentence against anyone who defies this order. And in 1 Kings 16 we read about the wicked king Ahab. During his reign he ordered Jericho rebuilt. And he hires a fellow by the name of Heil to do it. And the Scripture says that he lost his firstborn when he tried to lay the foundation and when the gates were erected, he lost his youngest.
Later in 2nd Kings, we read about how the drinking water in Jericho was poisoned. In 2nd Kings 2 we are told how the women of Jericho were having miscarriages and the land was unfruitful. I believe that that was a further fulfillment of this curse.
Those incidents reminds us that God’s word is true. What God says is rock solid. Anyone who doesn’t listen to the Word of God, they are going to find that there are consequences. They will find that they are cursed because they did not listen to the Lord.
This points out how important it is to take heed to God’s Word and not think that any of this can be sloughed off. It’s not a bunch of fairy tales. It is more solid than the concrete of Jericho’s walls. Cities and men will come and go, but the word of God endures forever. And we must give our utmost attention to it and apply its truth to our lives.