Showing posts with label Jericho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jericho. Show all posts

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Jos. 6: Jericho Falls

Joshua 6:20 "When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city."

This is Joshua's famous "Battle" of Jericho. The way chapter 6 reads, it was basically a massacre. And it opens with a rather unorthodox way of taking a city.

For six days, the armed men, the priests and the ark are supposed to march once around the city. That's it. On the seventh day, with a trumpet blast and a shout, the wall will collapse, and then the Israelites can storm the city.

So they do this. Except the priests blow the trumpets during the first six days...and while there was no specific instruction not to do this, I would have thought they weren't supposed to. I thought it was supposed to be silent. But maybe it was only supposed to be the people being silent, not giving their war cry.

Then on the seventh day, they march around the city seven times as commanded, then the trumpet blast and the shout, and sure enough, God brings down the walls. I say God brings down the walls, because...well, I'm no scientist, but to crumble a stone wall...how loud would that shout have to be?

Joshua gives specific instructions before the slaughter not to steal any of the "devoted things." Since this city was the first to be conquered, it was like it was the firstfruits. The plunder went to the LORD.

Of course Rahab was spared, since she helped out the spies.

Then the destroyed city was burned.

Then cursed.

Joshua pronounced this curse on Jericho.

"Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:
'At the cost of his firstborn son
will he lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
will he set up its gates.'"

So, I wonder if historical record will bare that out. Jericho is up and running today. I'm no historian, so whether the current Jericho was made out of the ancient Jericho, or if Israel destroyed a certain section of Jericho...or if there was a territory of Jericho...who knows. But that is a curiosity.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Jos. 2: I Spy

Joshua 2:11 "When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below."

One of the first cities Israel set its sights on was Jericho. Joshua sent two spies to go check it out. And these spies go and stay at the house of a prostitute. Did they choose this house of ill repute? Maybe it was the only place to stay...maybe it was more like a hotel. At any rate, the concern for their reputations was dwarfed by their need to see what the city was like. I also find it very interesting that the king of Jericho sent a message to Rahab, the prostitute, telling her to be on the lookout for spies that are in the area. Why would the king send a message directly to her? Was she singled out? Maybe all the hotel owners got this message, I don't know. Maybe she was the most well known...hostess.

I also don't know why she helped the spies. She misdirected the king's messengers, while hiding the spies under some flax on the roof. That night, she goes up to the roof to tell the spies about how the entire city is in fear of Israel...as God promised Israel would happen. Israel's military exploits and miracles had preceded them. Rahab figures she can make a deal with these spies that when (not if) they destroy the city, Israel will leave her and her family alive...provided she places a scarlet cord in the window as a sign of an oath. The spies are then let down through a window with a rope. They went to Joshua after a few days when everything settled to tell him the news. It made Joshua happy to know that the people were "melting in fear" because of them.

And this scarlet cord...we have seen that before...Around the wrist of the twin who busted out first but was born second in Genesis 38, woven into the tabernacle curtains in Exodus 26, and used in the process of cleansing...whether from infectious skin diseases or mildew in the home in Leviticus 14. The latter probably the most related to the sign of the oath Rahab and the spies made.