The Lord Himself had given explicit instructions to Joshua that demanded implicit obedience [see Joshua 6:2-10]. They detailed the order and conduct of the famous procession around Jericho. The precise order was: soldiers, then seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns called shofars, then the Ark of the Covenant on the shoulders of more priests, then the people, and finally the rearguard of soldiers. The conduct of this unusual procession was likewise carefully specified, maintaining absolute silence while the priests blared intermittently on their shofars. On the seventh day they were to maintain silence while they circled the walls seven times – until Joshua gave the command to “shout” – v. 10.
By any outside estimation these instructions were ridiculous! The uniform witness of military history is that the foe is conquered by force. City walls are cleared by bombardment. Then they are scaled by ladders and ropes. Gates are smashed by battering rams, troops taken by sword. Cities do not fall by mystics making bad music on rams’ horns! When the Canaanites got a good look at the procession, they undoubtedly exploded in incredulous laughter and then hoots and catcalls. They could not believe their very eyes. What fools these Israelites were – utter clowns! And secretly some of the Hebrews agreed.
But though the instructions looked foolishly contrary to conventional human wisdom, Israel, as a corporate body, believed. Why their uncharacteristic faith? Obviously because of their recent experience in watching the Jordan dry up when the Ark penetrated its boundary. The freshness of that recent miracle made them receptive to faith. The other reason, already mentioned in the preceding blog, was the faith and character of Joshua.
Thus, Israel really did believe God was going to give them Jericho. When the writer of Hebrews says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell,” he means that the Israelites actually did have faith. They were not pretending to believe. Theirs was not a bogus faith. As they marched silently around the wall, they did believe that the walls would come tumbling down! Their faith pleased God because they were believing that “He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” [Hebrews 11:6].
The evidence that they believed God’s Word was that they obeyed it. It was a little after dawn. The sun had lifted just above the horizon. Joshua had assembled his elders and had given them the instructions of the divine “commander.” Now they were moving quickly throughout the camp, calling the people together. Soon a long procession began to wind from the camp. Though it was vast in number, it did not include all the people, but involved a representative delegation from each tribe.
The ordered procession made its way toward the walled city in silence, broken only by the discordant, elephantine blasts of the shofars. The trip from Gilgal to Jericho took about two hours, although Jericho was encircled in about 25 to 30 minutes. Joshua kept Israel well beyond the range of Jericho’s archers, but, of course, not beyond the taunts of the increasing number of her inhabitants who lined her walls. Yet Israel never broke silence. The strange parade continued its absurd procession for six consecutive days. The Amorites shouted on, but the grim silence of the circling fools certainly began to wear on them.
The enduring object lesson here is that a life of faith is evidenced by a life of obedience to God’s Word, even when it seems absurd. Consider Paul’s comments in 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.” To the unbelieving mind, the Christian’s weapons appear not only impotent but ridiculous. Who ever stormed a walled city wearing truth for his war belt, righteousness for a breastplate, the good news for shoes, faith for a shield, salvation for a helmet, the Bible for a sword? Come on now! This is the armament of clowns – fools’ armor. But God often gives us directions in His Word on how to meet our Jerichos that are folly to human logic: that we should not hide our income as a shield to paying taxes [when “everyone else does it”] causing our tax liabilities to rise and us to have to radically trust God to provide for us; when we could easily cheat in a class to raise our grades just enough to get into grad school when we are borderline candidates, but instead trust Him with our futures and look away from the answers available right in front of us; for not repaying evil with evil when we are wronged by our enemies; I could go on and on.
The Scriptures reveal a spiritual law: disobedience reveals our unbelief, but obedience to God evidences our faith. When difficult circumstances assail us, unbelief draws from the arsenals of the world, whereas faith causes us to take up the armor of God and join the absurd march around Jericho.
The first great dimension of Israel’s victorious faith was their obedience and the second factor was the focus of their faith. The centerpiece of the narrative in this passage of Scripture is the golden Ark of the Covenant – God’s very presence. The account mentions the Ark no less than eleven times! The Ark was borne, as stated above, in the exact middle of the procession, with the priests’ horns blasting constantly, as heralds of God’s presence. This is what shofars were used for – just as they had earlier been sounded at Mt. Sinai to announce the presence of God [see Exodus 19:16]. It was God’s presence that circled Jericho those seven days, and it was His presence that would bring its fall.
This is what enables us to conquer any evil opposition that confronts us as well – a sense that God is especially with us. If on a given Sunday morning we suddenly had the ability to see the unseen, we would see angels among us – maybe sitting next to us in human form. Perhaps if the preaching were good, we might see angels with their Bibles out listening intently, for Peter tells us that “even angels long to look into these things” [1 Peter 1:12]. The Greek gives the idea of them bending over or stooping to search the mysteries of God’s Word. And the writer of Hebrews says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” [1:14].
As the Israelites encircled Jericho, the Canaanites saw nothing more than a ragtag people carrying a golden box, but the Israelites saw the unseen. Their focus was on God, and they knew God’s special presence went with them. This is faith’s focus. This is what brings down enemy walls!
It must have been very difficult for the Israelites to keep silent during those first six days. Their enemies likely practiced no restraint. Moreover, not one stone in the walls had loosened, there were no cracks in the city “wall up to heaven,” and the citizenry was far from crying “uncle.” It must, then, have been a great relief on the seventh day when Joshua ordered them to rise early and circle Jericho seven times, finishing with a great shout at his cue. Vv. 15-17, 20 describe the climactic event: “On the seventh day they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day the circled the city seven times. The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, ‘Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all the people who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.’”
When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted. And at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed, every man charged in, and they took the city. That was the voice of faith. It was the outward expression of the Israelites’ inward confidence in the power of God. Conquering faith declares itself. Faith that does not do so is not faith at all. “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” [Romans 10:10].
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