Monday, January 21, 2013

Reflections on Joshua 6


    Joshua 06 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. Meanwhile, the people of Jericho had been locking the gates in their town wall because they were afraid of the Israelites. No one could go out or come in.
  2. The LORD said to Joshua: With my help, you and your army will defeat the king of Jericho and his army, and you will capture the town. Here is how to do it: March slowly around Jericho once a day for six days.
  3. (SEE 6:2)
  4. Take along the sacred chest and have seven priests walk in front of it, carrying trumpets. But on the seventh day, march slowly around the town seven times while the priests blow their trumpets.
  5. Then the priests will blast on their trumpets, and everyone else will shout. The wall will fall down, and your soldiers can go straight in from every side.
  6. Joshua called the priests together and said, "Take the chest and have seven priests carry trumpets and march ahead of it."
  7. Next, he gave the army their orders: "March slowly around Jericho. A few of you will go ahead of the chest to guard it, but most of you will follow it. Don't shout the battle cry or yell or even talk until the day I tell you to. Then let out a shout!" As soon as Joshua finished giving the orders, the army started marching. One group of soldiers led the way, with seven priests marching behind them and blowing trumpets. Then came the priests carrying the chest, followed by the rest of the soldiers.
  8. (SEE 6:7)
  9. (SEE 6:7)
  10. (SEE 6:7)
  11. They obeyed Joshua's orders and carried the chest once around the town before returning to camp for the night.
  12. Early the next morning, Joshua and everyone else started marching around Jericho in the same order as the day before. One group of soldiers was in front, followed by the seven priests with trumpets and the priests who carried the chest. The rest of the army came next. The seven priests blew their trumpets while everyone marched slowly around Jericho and back to camp. They did this once a day for six days.
  13. (SEE 6:12)
  14. (SEE 6:12)
  15. On the seventh day, the army got up at daybreak. They marched slowly around Jericho the same as they had done for the past six days, except on this day they went around seven times.
  16. Then the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua yelled: Get ready to shout! The LORD will let you capture this town.
  17. But you must destroy it and everything in it, to show that it now belongs to the LORD. The woman Rahab helped the spies we sent, so protect her and the others who are inside her house. But kill everyone else in the town.
  18. The silver and gold and everything made of bronze and iron belong to the LORD and must be put in his treasury. Be careful to follow these instructions, because if you see something you want and take it, the LORD will destroy Israel. And it will be all your fault.
  19. (SEE 6:18)
  20. The priests blew their trumpets again, and the soldiers shouted as loud as they could. The walls of Jericho fell flat. Then the soldiers rushed up the hill, went straight into the town, and captured it.
  21. They killed everyone, men and women, young and old, everyone except Rahab and the others in her house. They even killed every cow, sheep, and donkey. Joshua said to the two men who had been spies, "Rahab kept you safe when I sent you to Jericho. We promised to protect her and her family, and we will keep that promise. Now go into her house and bring them out." The two men went into Rahab's house and brought her out, along with her father and mother, her brothers, and her other relatives. Rahab and her family had to stay in a place just outside the Israelite army camp. But later they were allowed to live among the Israelites, and her descendants still do. The Israelites took the silver and gold and the things made of bronze and iron and put them with the rest of the treasure that was kept at the LORD's house. Finally, they set fire to Jericho and everything in it.
  22. (SEE 6:21)
  23. (SEE 6:21)
  24. (SEE 6:21)
  25. (SEE 6:21)
  26. After Jericho was destroyed, Joshua warned the people, "Someday a man will rebuild Jericho, but the LORD will put a curse on him, and the man's oldest son will die when he starts to build the town wall. And by the time he finishes the wall and puts gates in it, all his children will be dead."
  27. The LORD helped Joshua in everything he did, and Joshua was famous everywhere in Canaan.

    Conquering Jericho was one of Israel's highest points. Through it God was teaching Israel an important lesson in their relationship with Him. The question is how well they learned it. The main role Israel played in taking the city of Jericho was obedience. God did the rest. There could not have been a clearer demonstration of God's intervention on their behalf. Though Israel played a signficant hands-on role when they marched into the city, after the walls fell, and destroyed everything, even this was made easier by God. They encountered little resistance due to the enemy being immobilized by terror because of the Lord's actions.

    Had Israel learned the intended lesson for them in this and all their interaction with God, they would seek God's directions in everything they did, especially in their conquest of Canaan, walking with the Lord by faith in everything they did. We have such difficulty, however, consistently walking by faith. We prefer walking by sight, clearly seeing the next step before taking it. It is uncomfortable for us to take steps of faith without exerting some measure of control over how those steps are taken and where they take us. Because of our lack of comfort we are prone to systematize our faith walk into a formula so that we are doing the same thing in each conquest with God with the same anticipated results.

    Israel saw what God did to Jericho when they marched around the city as prescribed. They might have been tempted, as we are tempted, to anticipate that the next city would be conquered in the same way. Another temptation, though, is to assume that God is on our side and we need simply to make our plans and do it and He will bring the victory. In either case, we reserve for ourselves some measure of control giving us a greater comfort level but reducing our chances for success.

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