The Battle of Jericho

If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Joshua, chapter 5. Joshua, chapter 5. Before we get into the message tonight, just a quick little announcement. Rick is going to be doing another outreach this weekend in Dexter. Saturday evening. And he could use some help setting up some tables for that outreach. So, if you are able to help, sometime Saturday, I'm assuming afternoon, late afternoon, early evening,

setting up some tables out there, just go talk to Rick after we're done here. And he can give you all the info that you need. So, all right. Tonight, we come into Joshua, chapter 5. The title of the message is, The Battle of Jericho. Now, what's been going through my head all week is the song. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down.

But we're not going to sing that tonight. At least, I don't think so. I don't know how the mood is going to strike me later when the chapter is done. But we'll see. But there's a couple of different things we'll cover tonight. As we look at this battle of Jericho, chapter 5 is going to tell us about the preparation for the battle. Chapter 6 is going to actually tell us about the battle itself.

And so, this preparation is so important. And again, we still can't start fighting yet. We're five chapters into the book of Joshua. The promise has been made. You know he has to be going, Is it today, Lord? Do we get to do it today? But it's still not time yet. As a matter of fact, there's still more waiting to be done because there's still more preparation to be done.

So, as we pick up in chapter 5, verse 1, it says this. Now, it came about when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how the Lord had dried up the land. And they said, So, once again, the stage is set for us. We knew that they were fearful about what God had been doing.

But now they've seen what God has done in drying up the waters of the Jordan River as they crossed. It was no secret. People saw this take place. People knew this took place. And now everybody is even more fearful. They're more fearful than they were before because they know what's coming. But before the battles can begin, the people need to be prepared. So, that's the first thing that takes place in this chapter is God is going to prepare the people.

And there's three things that he's going to do to prepare these people. And so, we pick up in verse 2, and this is what it says. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again. The sons of Israel the second time. So, Joshua made himself flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath, the rest of that name.

This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, died in the wilderness along the way. Actually, they came out of Egypt. For all the people who came out were circumcised, but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out, had not been circumcised. For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, that is the men of war,

who came out of Egypt, had perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord had sworn that he would not let them see the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us, the land flowing with milk and honey. Their children, whom he raised up in their place, Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been along the way. And when they had finished circumcising all the nations, all the nation, they remained in their places until they were healed. Then the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.

So the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. Now, I'm no military man. I never served in the military, but I've watched a lot of war movies. And I know that the element of surprise is one of the greatest things you're looking for when you're going to attack, especially when you're going to attack a group of people. You're going to attack a group of people.

You're going to attack a group of people. You're going to attack a great enemy who is surrounded by great walls. Now, everything is in favor of the nation of Israel at this point in time. God has just done something miraculous, so they have all the momentum. All of the people are fearful, so they have all of the momentum. Everybody's excited because they've just crossed the Jordan River.

They have all the momentum. Everything would say that the best thing that they could do is get to the other side, form their ranks, and go attack. But as God often does, he says, Great. Now, hurry up and wait because you're not ready yet. You're not ready for battle because, though, from the world's perspective, everything may be going your way, your heart's not there.

Your heart's not in the right place yet for you to win this victory. And so God does something very interesting, and God does something very, from the world's standpoint, foolish. He tells Joshua to take all of his fighting men and do something interesting. He tells them to, to circumcise all of them. In other words, create an injury that they'll have to heal from.

A healing that will take a little bit of time, meaning that they will be delayed, they will lose their momentum, and they actually put themselves at the threat of being attacked. After all, we've seen what a few people can do when an entire city is circumcised and is healing from that. They are easy to go in and take over because we saw that in the book of Genesis. Remember that story?

And so, he puts them at the greatest disadvantage possible. But a disadvantage from the world's perspective is always an advantage from God's perspective because when our hearts are in the right place, when our hearts are faithful and obedient, then we are always the strongest that we could possibly be no matter what the world says around us. So, God tells Joshua, make yourself a flint knife, and I want you to perform the act of circumcision, the sign of the covenant, on all of the fighting men. Now, the question is, why did he have to do that?

Why did he have to do this? Well, it says that this was now the second time that this would take place. Apparently, while wandering through the wilderness, they were unfaithful in this way, which would make sense because who were all of the ones that were leading them through the wilderness? It was all of the unbelieving Israelites, right? It was all of the unbelieving fathers

that were the ones in charge of the nation as they walked through the wilderness. And so, this was an area where they had been living in sin as a nation. It was an area where, had been living in unfaithfulness as a nation. And so for them to go in and take the promised land, they first had to make sure that their hearts were faithful before the Lord. And so he tells

them to do this. And I think what's interesting is that we see no delay or questioning on the part of Joshua. We see nothing in him that says, does this seem like a good idea to you, God? I want to point out how this could be a bad idea. Maybe we take Jericho and then we do this, right? Because that's what we like to do. We like to bargain and say, Lord, I understand you want

me to be obedient in this area. I understand you want me to do this, but I really think if I do this first, obedience will come easier later. Here's the thing. If we're not obedient in the beginning, we won't be obedient if we wait. And so he tells them to do this and Joshua's obedient immediately. And so they perform this second circumcision. Now, I think that there's three

things that we should pay attention to about why God has them do this, because there's three interesting things that we should pay attention to about why God has them do this, because there's about what this sign of circumcision is for the people and why it's important that this take place right now. Number one, circumcision was a sign of the covenant. It goes all the way back to Abraham, right? It goes all the way back to the sign of the covenant people. And what is the

covenant always representative of? The faithfulness of God, because they are reminded in this place, as they perform the sign of the covenant, they are reminded that the covenant, the God, the covenant making covenant keeping God is the God that they are following. And so as they perform this act, this thing that makes no sense from the world's perspective, it is one of the greatest reminders of the faithfulness of the God who has kept his promise all of these hundreds of years. It was a sign of the covenant. Number two, it was a sign of identification. It was a sign of

identification. And in order for them to be those who would follow the covenant, they were to be those who would follow the Lord. They needed to identify themselves with the Lord. Their identity had to be wrapped up in God, not even themselves as a nation. Their identification had to be with the covenant keeping covenant making God. And then, of course, the third thing that we pay

attention to about this sign is that it is always a picture of the putting away of the flesh. It's always a picture of the putting away of the flesh. And in order to live in the land of promise, you have to put away the things of the flesh. Too many of us as believers in Jesus Christ want to live in the promise while living in the flesh. And this was going to be the perfect picture to the nation of Israel to say, if you're going to

live in the land of promise, then you have to be set apart from the world, which is why I believe God tells them in verse nine, So the place is called Gilgal to this day, which literally means to roll off or to roll away. Because the reproach of Egypt is none other than the flesh itself, because Egypt in scripture is always representative of the world. And while living in Egypt, they had not kept the sign. But when they left Egypt, they kept it. And now that they'd wandered

through the wilderness all these years, they hadn't kept the sign. They hadn't kept the sign. They hadn't kept the sign. They hadn't kept the sign. They hadn't kept the sign. They hadn't kept the sign. They hadn't kept the sign. And so this was the perfect picture of them saying, the world is no longer my identity. My identity is with God. And so God, before the people can

begin to take the land, he has to prepare the people. And the first thing that he does is have them perform the act of circumcision. The second thing that we pay attention to is the Passover. Notice what it says in verse 10. While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal, they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. It was the evening of the fourteenth

day of the month. Isn't it kind of fascinating that the time when the nation of Israel was coming into the promised land, the time right before they were to start taking the promised land, was the time to celebrate the Passover. It's almost like God didn't move them into the land too late, and he didn't move them into the land too early. He moved them in right on time.

Because the very thing that brought them out of the nation of Egypt is the ceremony that they would perform as they come into the promised land. Because Passover always spoke of two things. It spoke, first of all, of redemption. There had to have been some of them that were alive, that remembered as kids that very first Passover that took place in Egypt. That very first Passover that happened while they were there.

The second time they celebrated Passover was when they were at Sinai, but they haven't celebrated it since. And now that it's time for them to move into the land, it's time for them to remember the redemption that God had purchased them with, that they were a people who had been purchased by God. And they were a people that belonged to God. But you know, the Passover not only spoke of redemption, the Passover spoke of obedience. Because in order to be redeemed, they had to make sure that they

faithfully obeyed all of the directions of the Passover meal, of the Passover ceremony. And so it spoke of both redemption and obedience. And isn't it kind of interesting that in order to prepare the people, God had them perform these two acts. It's interesting, I believe it was David Guzik in his commentary that said, the Lord was calling the nation back to the basics of relationship.

He was calling the nation back to the basics of relationship. And can I say, as God calls us deeper into our walk with him, as God calls us deeper into a place of victory, into the place of promise, as God calls us deeper into the place of promise, as God calls us deeper into the place of ministry, deeper into relationship, deeper into understanding, he will always remind us of the basics, of our redemption, and of our separation from the world. God does not like to reinvent the wheel for us. He always just takes us back to the two basic things. I've redeemed you, now separate

yourself from the world. And when we do those two things, it's amazing what God is able to do in and through us. But there's one more way that God's going to prepare the people. Notice what it says in verse 11. It says,

But they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year. The next thing is just fascinating. They began to eat of the fruit of the land. What had they been doing for the last 40 years? For the last 40 years, they were living in the wilderness where there was nothing. And so every morning they'd wake up and they'd go out and they'd find the what is it on the ground, right?

Because that's what manna means. What is it? They find the what is it on the ground. I love that because they did not get creative at all in what they named manna. Like, what is it? I don't know. Let's call it what is it. Let's pick up some what is it and eat it. That'd be great. So they've been doing that for 40 years. And now they come into the land. And the

first thing they do is they say, there's food to eat. And so they gather some grain, perhaps from the area where they're staying there, just outside of Jericho. And they're able to make some cakes of the parched grain. Then they begin to eat and they say, ah, the fruit of the land. Because remember what God called the land? It's a land flowing with milk and honey. In other words, a land of plenty.

It'll have everything that you need. And the day after they ate of the fruit of the land, the manna ceased. Because God didn't need to provide manna for them anymore. Because now the promised land would provide the manna. Isn't that great? And so God prepares the people by getting their hearts in the right place of reminding them that he is the God of redemption, that they are set apart

unto him, and that he is the God of provision. But now it's time to prepare. Joshua. It says in verse 13, It came about that when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and he looked. And behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? He said, No. Rather, I indeed come

now as captain of the host of the Lord. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth. And bowed down and said to him, What is my Lord to say to a servant? The captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you're standing is holy. And Joshua did so. Now, I'm going to paint just a little bit of a picture for you,

if I can, without getting too much outside of the biblical bounds, because I want you to picture this. Now, Joshua is a military leader. He's been doing this for a really long time, right? When they first came out of Egypt, they had to face battle. And as they faced, battle, Moses held up his hands. And as he held up his hands, they were winning. But who was down there in charge of the people? It was Joshua. Joshua was a military leader.

Then as they come to the edge of the promised land, and they have those battles against Og and Sihon, who was the one who was leading them? Who was the one who was the field general leading them? It was Joshua. Joshua was a military man, a humble servant, but a man that knew military actions. But Joshua was not willing to go out on his own. You see, there was probably a

for Joshua at this point in time right now. God had told him, I've given you the land. God had told him, be strong and courageous. God had given him all of this encouragement, and he'd led the people across the flooded Jordan River on dry ground. The danger at that point in time is for Joshua to now get ahead of God and say, I have a plan, and to go and take the land. But he doesn't

do that. What does he do? He waits. Because you see, the last direction that God had given him was to go across the Jordan River. And then God said, the people. And then God said, celebrate the Passover. And then God said, that's not God, right? And then God said, nothing. He waited. And so you can picture, if you will, Joshua is pondering all of these things. And probably from the plain outside of Jericho, he's looking and he

can see the city. He can see this walled city that we're going to find out in just a minute is completely sealed up. He knows how everybody feels about them. He knows that the people in Jericho are scared, and he's just waiting. He's waiting to find out what the plan is going to be. Because if Joshua has learned one thing from Moses, if he has learned one thing from the time in the wilderness, it's that if God doesn't

speak, he's not going to move. So he's waiting to hear what God has to say. And brothers and sisters, can I tell you, the best place that you can be is in a place where even though you know what the battle looks like ahead of you, you still will wait for God's word before you move. But once you've received God's word, it's time to move. So he's waiting. And as he's waiting,

you can picture him sort of hanging out, staring off at the city, thinking, maybe praying, perhaps meditating on scripture. It says, and there he was, and he lifted up his eyes. And behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. Now, Joshua's the guy in charge of the military, and there's a guy with a sword drawn. Nobody's supposed to be standing like that.

No military men are supposed to be ready for battle yet. So Joshua wants to know what's going on. And so he asks the natural question. He says, are you for us or for our adversaries? Who are you? Who are you for? And I love the way that this person with the drawn sword answers. He says, no. You know why I like that? Because it's not about whether or not God is on our

side. It's about whether we are on his side. That's one of the greatest things that we can pay attention to here. He goes, no, rather, indeed, I come now as the captain of the host of the Lord. Friends, I'm afraid oftentimes as Western culture Americans, we can find ourselves thinking that God is always on our side. And I think that we need to understand something.

We need to be on God's side. Because God doesn't have a nationality. God stands in holiness. And he is looking for people who will stand on his side, no matter whose side that is. So Joshua says, are you for us or for our adversaries? And he says, no, I'm the captain of the host of the armies of the Lord. Now, I fully believe that this is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. Not an angel of the Lord, the angel of the Lord.

And there's two reasons why I think this. Number one comes at the end of this verse, end of verse 14. It says, Joshua fell down on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him, what has my Lord to say to his servant? Now, from our study in Revelation, what happened every time John fell down at the feet of the angel? The angel said, no. Don't do that. I'm just a servant of the Lord too. Don't bow down and worship me.

This captain of the host of the army of the Lord, he receives worship from Joshua. The second thing I take note of is this. It says, the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, remove your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy. We've heard that one other time, haven't we? We heard that at the burning bush. With Moses. And it was none other than the Lord himself in the appearance of a burning bush

talking to Moses. You know what I think? I think Moses had told Joshua that story more times than Joshua cared to hear, right? Yes, Moses, I remember. Nope. Tell me again. I want to hear it again. No, I love it. I love it when you tell this story. Let me guess. You were in the wilderness with your sheep. That's where it started, Josh. I was in the wilderness with my sheep.

And all of a sudden I look, burning bush. There was a bush, but it wasn't consumed. And it was burning, but it wasn't consumed. Go on. And he said, come near, but take off your shoes for this place is holy. And then what happened? And then he told me to go and speak to the people, right? You know, we heard that story a lot of times. So what's the very verbiage that God uses with him?

He uses the verbiage that was familiar to him. It says, take off your sandals for the place where you stand. It's holy. But it's not just because it was familiar to Joshua. It's because God is still holy. And there was nothing, there was to be nothing man-made between him and God. There was no effort of man that was to be an advocate between him and God. And so he says,

take off your sandals for this is holy ground. And so Joshua did so. I think that this was a good reminder for Joshua that though he was a militant, he was a militant. He was a militant. He was a military leader. He was not in charge. Though he was the one that would lead them into battle, he was not in charge. Though he was the one that led them across the Jordan River,

he was not in charge. God was. And the battle would belong to the Lord. We goes on now to give him the battle plan. Notice what it says. Chapter six, verse one, it says, now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel. No one went out and no one came in. And so he said, take off your sandals for this is holy ground. And so Joshua did so. I think the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and the

valiant warriors. You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city. Once you shall do so for six days, seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. Then on the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times and the priests shall blow. The trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn and when you hear

the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout. The wall of the city will fall down and the people will go ahead. Every will go up. Every man straight ahead. This is a pretty interesting battle formation that's given a pretty interesting battle plan that's given. You can imagine how Joshua would have thought at this point in time. First of all,

we're given the reminder that Jericho is completely shut up tight. There's no way in, no way out of the city. There's no way out of the city. There's no way out of the city. There's no way out of the city. It's impenetrable, if you will. We do need to remember that this was a serious situation that they were facing. We know the end of the story. We've heard the end of the story. But the walls

of Jericho were formidable. As a matter of fact, militarily speaking, that would not have been the first place that you would have wanted to take because it would have been one of the more difficult places to take. As a matter of fact, fear will spread throughout the entire land because of their victory over Jericho. But you would think you would want to start your people off a little bit small to where they really can get a little confidence boosted underneath of themselves.

But interestingly enough, God knows exactly what he's doing because they would take Jericho, which is right in the center, and then they would take Ai and they would split the land in half. Then there would be a southern conquest. Then there would be a northern conquest. God did know what he was doing. But initially you find yourself going, this seems like a bad plan.

You can picture Joshua taking notes, right? And him going, okay, Joshua, here's the plan. You're going to go and you're going to march around the city once a day for six days. And then on the seventh day, you're going to do that seven times in the same day. And then at the end, blow the trumpet. And everybody shouts. And then you're going to take the city. And then we take the city. Come again. That doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

Joshua doesn't do that. That's what I would have done. That is exactly what I would have done. Lord, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm not saying you're right, because that doesn't make any sense to me. But there was an interesting phrase that God started off using. Did you take note of that phrase in verse two? The Lord said to Joshua, which by the way, if there's any question whether

or not this angel of the Lord is the Lord, notice that the word Lord is in all caps, meaning it's YHWH. The Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand. That's past tense. It's something that's already taken place. That means that whatever plan God gives next is going to work. Why? Because I have given Jericho into your hands. It's a foregone conclusion.

All that's left now is for Joshua to believe God and follow the instructions. Trust and obey. So, God lays out the plan for him. And the plan looks like this. Priests will carry ram's horns. They'll be right in front of the ark. And then when everybody shouts, God will knock the walls down. Now, it's interesting because the trumpets that these priests were supposed to carry,

when you do a little bit of research on the trumpet, you find that this trumpet is the same that they would blow in the year of Jubilee. It was a trumpet that spoke of the presence of God. And what was to go around the city with them? The ark of the covenant, which represented the presence of God. Because the presence of God would go with them, which is exactly what he

said would happen. I will go with you and I will give you victory. That presence of God would be with them. And it reminds us that this battle over Jericho was not just a physical battle. It was a spiritual battle. Everything about the city of Jericho and really the entire land was opposed to the presence of God. It was completely opposed to the presence of God. As a matter of fact, they had all of their

own gods. But the presence of God would be what would defeat the people. And so it's now time for the battle to take place. So it says in verse 6, Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priests and said to them, take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord. He said to the people, go forward and march around the city.

Let armed men go before the ark of the Lord. And so it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord went forward and blew the trumpets and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpet and the rear guard came after the ark while they continued to blow the trumpet. But Joshua commanded the people, you shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, nor let a word proceed out of your mouth until the day that I tell you, shout, then you shall shout. And just let it all out. I'm sorry, it's terrible.

And these are the things we can do without. So I want you to picture the formation here, okay? An armed guard, picture a long parade of people that are going to end up circling this city. First of all, you have an armed guard that is in front of the priests. Then you have seven priests that each have the formidable weapon of a ram's horn in their hand. After the priests with the

ram's horn, seven of them, then came the ark of the covenant. Are you picturing how this parade would have worked? And then after the ark of the covenant came another armed guard plus the rest of the army trailing behind. This is the way that they would have gone. They would have left their encampment this way and they would have gone and they would have marched around the city. Now, as they marched

around the city, it was important that no words came out of their mouth. It was to be completely silent except for one noise. And that was the sound of the trumpet declaring what? The presence of God. Nothing of man was involved. It was only the presence of God. And so this is what they did. And so the armed men went before the priests, verse 9, who blew the trumpets and the rear guard

came after while they continued to blow the trumpets. And Joshua said, let no shout come out, verse 11. So he had the ark of the Lord taken around the city, circling at once. And then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Now, put yourself in the position of the people of Jericho. You are locked up tightly inside your city, right? Like the signs all over

the city say, no one leaves, right? Shelter in place. Because we know that the armies of God are coming and we don't know how hard it's going to be. We will position men on the wall. And the children of Israel show up. You can picture embracing themselves for battle, right? They're all getting excited for battle and the children of Israel show up and what do they do? They just walk. They just walk around the city, right?

I don't know if y'all ever seen the VeggieTale version of this, but they throw Slurpees at them while they're walking around the city. I fully believe that potential was there if there was a Slurpee machine. You know what I really do think happened? I think they were probably like, is this the battle? Is this all that there is? Is this all we have to fight, walking people? Like, this is ridiculous.

Oh, guys, let's just wait this thing out. Now, I want you to think about how vulnerable the people are at this point in time. They are at a lower elevation. Anybody on the wall could have done several things. They could have shot arrows at them. They could have thrown boulders on them. There's any number of things they could have done to defend themselves. This was an incredible act of faith on the part of fighting men to leave themselves open and

vulnerable to attack from the enemy. They had to wholeheartedly know the plan and wholeheartedly believe in God at this point in time in order to do what God had said. And you know there was ridicule coming from the people. And how hard is it sometimes to keep your mouth shut when you're being ridiculed? But they had to. And so they go, they walk around the city, and they come back, and they spend the night.

Hey, good battle today, guys. High fives all around. So we come to verse 14. It says, Thus the second day, they marched around the city once and returned to the camp, and they did so for six days. Then on the seventh day they rose early at the dawning of the day. They went to the camp, and they did so for six days. Then on the seventh day they rose early at the day. And marched around the city in the same manner seven times. Only on that day

that they marched around the city seven times. At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, shout, for the Lord has given you the city. The city shall be under the ban. And it and all that is in it belongs to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot, and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them. And take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed, and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord. They shall go into the treasury. Of the Lord. All right, it's time for some action now, right? So they get up early in the morning. Now,

from what I have read about this, I try to decide if I thought, I didn't do as much reading on the size of the city as I would have liked to. But I'm going to tell you what the preliminary things from like Bible knowledge commentary and some of the things like that that I read were. Because I'm going, okay, our city's not a real big town, but I don't know that you could walk all the way around it with that many people seven times in one day. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm a slow walker.

But this can't be a huge town. Bible knowledge commentary, commentary said that the town was probably around nine acres big. And it could be walked around in less than an hour one time. That was the only thing that I read on it. I wanted to do a little bit more research, but I just plain ran out of time. So that's a preliminary thing that I read on the size of the city. The walls would have been formidable, although I didn't read anything on the

size of the walls. But no matter what, what they were doing doesn't knock walls down. So they wake up really early in the morning, and they walk all the way around the city, only this time they walk around it seven times. Now, I don't know what the people of Jericho would have thought. They're like, oh, great. They're walking around the city again. Wait, wait for it.

Time number two. Somebody keep count. How many times are they going to go around the city? I've got money on seven. I've got money on eight. I think only five, right? I don't know what they all said. But anyway, that's my thought. So they're walking around the city, and they just keep going around the city. The only thing blowing is the trumpet blast. I think every time that they

walked around the city, probably marking, I would have forgotten how many times. Was that six? I don't know how many times we've walked around the city now. I'd have had a whole finger up. Anyway, so they're walking around the city all these times. Seventh time they walk around the city, and Joshua shouts. Now, I think he probably gave these instructions not in the

middle of them shouting like it sounds like here. I think it was probably just a good time for him to insert that. But there's specific instructions about the city, instructions that we need to pay attention to that will really come into play next week. The whole city was under, the New American Standard translates it, the ban. If you're reading another translation, it probably says,

it has been devoted to destruction. That's the idea. The entire city was to be devoted to destruction. They weren't to keep anything. The only things that could survive the city were Rahab and anybody in her house, because she hid the spies. Everything else was to be destroyed. Any of the silver and gold that could survive a fire was to be put into the treasury of the Lord. I believe there were two reasons behind this. Number one, which I think

is the main reason, is because this city was to be the first fruits of the land given to the Lord. It was to be the first fruits of the land given to the Lord. The second reason, though, I believe is that I think there was an evil about Jericho that we've not even really read that much about in scripture. There's a reason why God chose it first, and I don't think it had anything to do with military strategy. I think it's because it was a stronghold of sin, unlike anything else in

the land. A stronghold that had to be taken down. A stronghold that had to be taken down by faith and obedience, because there was something about Jericho, that could not last. There was something about Jericho that could not be transferred to the people, and so everything was to be destroyed. Everything was under the ban. Did you notice the extra caveat he put in there? Beware lest you covet the things in the land, and then you take

any of those things, and you bring a curse on the people. Again, that's an important thing to remember for the next chapter. The orders to them only, remember, take care of Rahab. So seventh time around, verse 20, so the people shouted, the priests blew the trumpet, and when they heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. That word, to fall down

flat, literally means, I wrote it down, where did it go? It literally means, it fell in its place. The idea is that the walls imploded and just went straight down, which is interesting, because you've got a whole bunch of people around there that you've got the potential of falling debris, right? God wasn't about to let that happen. So the walls fell straight down, probably the greatest implosion anybody has ever seen in

their life. There's actually one commentator that I read that said there was a theory at one point in time amongst Bible teachers that perhaps God even acted, allowed the ground to act like an elevator, and just sucked the walls into the ground. He then followed that by, probably not real plausible, but it has been said in the past. I still think that everything just hit the ground, except for one thing. Do you remember whose house

was in the wall of the city? Rahab's house. The only thing left standing from all those walls was the house of Rahab. Why? Because a promise was made, and a promise was kept. Those walls fell down, and they were able to go in with no hesitation into the city. Notice what it says. Verse 21. So they utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman,

young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword. And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, go into the harlot's house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her. So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all that she had. They also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside of the camp of Israel. I hadn't intended to make this point, but I can't help it. I just

have to. God spared Rahab, but he also spared everybody in her circle. Did you notice that? Look at that list of people again. I think it's important to pay attention to. Rahab, verse 23, her father, her mother, her brothers, all that she had, also all her relatives, indicating that she packed that house as full as she could of the people that she loves. Now, I want to point out a contrast here. There's another story in the book of Genesis about a time

when God brought judgment on a city. And that story has to do with Sodom and Gomorrah. I think a city probably not unlike Jericho. And the only people that survived were Lot and two of his daughters. That's it. Lot had seen the promises of God. Lot had heard the stories of Abraham and he knew all about faith. And his circle was so much smaller. And here you have Rahab, a harlot,

whose circle of people is so small. And Lot's circle of people is so small. And his circle of people is so small. people that she brought to the saving knowledge of God far extended anything probably that Joshua even imagined. Friends, your circle is important. You have a circle of influence that you don't even realize. You have a circle of influence that you're not even aware of. And you have two things

you can do with that circle of influence. You can ignore it, or you can embrace it. If you ignore the circle of influence, you'll still be saved. But if you embrace the circle of influence, you don't know who you'll take with you. You don't know who you will bring into the family of God by simply embracing the circle of influence that you have and doing the best that

you can with it. My circle of influence has kind of changed, especially when it comes to young people. Because I just like working with young people so much. And my circle of influence changed. I was a youth pastor for a really long time, and now I still work with youth, only it's different. Now I work with the youth that my daughters bring around. And now I know that my circle of influence looks

different. And so I've extended it now to them. And now I unleash on them all of the biblical truth that I can every time they come to my house. And I ask them all of the hard questions that I can every time they come to my house, which is why they're more like daughters to me than they are my daughter's friends, is because that's now my circle of influence. And you have the same

kind. And it'll change over the years. But I want you to look at what Rahab did with hers. Because she brought her mother and her father and her siblings and all of her relatives, and they all came to faith. Which indicates to me, as a good reminder, that God's default is always mercy. The entire city is destroyed. Except for Rahab and her entire circle of influence.

It says in verse 24, They burned the city with fire and all that was in it, only the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. However, Rahab, the harlot, and her father's household and all that she had, Joshua spared. And she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

And Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, Cursed be. Cursed before the Lord is the one who rises up and builds this city, Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn, he shall lay its foundation. And with the loss of his youngest son, he shall set up its gates. Interestingly enough, when you don't pay attention to the warnings of God, you deal with the consequences of not paying attention to the warnings of God.

You don't need to turn there, but you might mark or you might write in the margin of your Bible, 1 Kings 6. 1634. 1 Kings 1634. Because we're told in the days of Ahab, and the guy's name just totally went out of my head, that this guy rebuilt Jericho. And when he rebuilt Jericho, he lost his firstborn in the laying of its foundation, and he lost his youngest son in the setting up

of its gates. And if you read in 1 Kings 1634, it says, even as Joshua the son of Nun said. If you don't pay attention to the warnings of God, you deal with the consequences of not paying attention to the warnings of God. And so it wraps up with this. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land. Isn't that great? When you humble yourself before the Lord, he lifts you up.

Now, I want to give you two closing thoughts, okay? Two closing thoughts that have to do with what I think we learn in our understanding of the battle of Jericho that will be so key for the overtaking of the kingdom of God. And I want to give you two closing thoughts that have to do with the entire rest of the land. And quite frankly, as New Testament believers, the absolute keys in our becoming who God has created for us to be. Number one, faith. These aren't real creative,

but it's what's there. Faith. They had to believe what God had to say. Because listen, everything about God's battle plan does not make sense. Everything about God's battle plan was utterly ridiculous. It was utterly foolish. Foolish in the eyes of the world. Foolish in the eyes of military leaders. Foolish in the eyes of anybody that was watching. Foolish in the eyes of the people of Jericho. Until the walls came

tumbling down. And then all of a sudden, the foolishness of God became the most wisdom they had ever seen. But they had to believe. And the only way that we can believe is if we know what he says. Friends, everything about God, everything about the gospel, everything about what he calls us to as believers in Jesus Christ is foolishness in the eyes of the world. But it doesn't matter if it makes sense. You have to believe. God will call us to do things,

and we just have to believe that it's true. You're like, but that doesn't make any sense. But that's not what makes sense. Doesn't have to. If that's what God's calling, you need to believe. But you know how do we show that we believe? When we obey. Because faith and obedience always work together. You see, Joshua could believe all that he wanted to, that God would knock down the walls. But until he was willing to strap up his men,

until he was willing to put them in the most ridiculous formation ever, we'll just do it. Because that's what he told us to do. And you know, on day six, Joshua was like, did I really hear this right? Was it really a guy with a sword? Or was that just bad pizza that night? Right? Was it a bad falafel? I don't know. He just had to believe, and then he had to obey. Because that's the key to being who God has called

for us to be. And I have a challenge for you. You should go read Hebrews chapter 11 this week. Because Hebrews chapter 11, which by the way, references this battle, tells all about those two things, faith and obedience. There's a great old hymn that we used to sing when I was a kid. And it goes like this, trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Amen? Would you bow with me?

Father, we come before you, and Lord, I pray that you would give us listening ears. Father, I pray that you would give us discerning hearts. Lord, I pray that you would give us the grace to believe and the faith to obey. Lord, I thank you for this beautiful picture of Joshua, who was willing to do the most ridiculous thing in the world because you called him to do it. And I pray that you would give us the grace to

do it. And I pray that you would give us the grace to believe and the faith to obey. And Lord, you always proved yourself faithful. And Lord, we know, we know that you will never let your word fail. So Lord, help us to rest in it. Help us to believe it. Help us to obey it by your grace. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.