A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

described as a savior meeting the Saviour. Joshua was on holy ground in his meeting with Jesus
and removed his shoes as instructed. Then he received God’s battle plan for the conquest of
Jericho.
Israel was instructed to march around the city silently and leave the site. This practice
was to be repeated each day for six days. On the seventh day, they were to march around the city
seven times. But on their seventh pass around the city, the priests were to blow their shophars
and trumpets, and the people were to shout as loudly as they could. If the nation did as they were
commanded, God promised the wall of the city would fall. This does not mean the entire wall
necessarily would collapse, only that enough of the wall would fall to leave the city defenseless
against the army of Israel.
The battle plan would have had a devastating effect on the people of the city
psychologically just as the subsequent victory affected other city-states in the same way. They
were already fearful of the Israelites even before they crossed the Jordan River. Seeing the army
approach their city and silently march around the wall would have served to intensify that fear.
When they saw their walls collapse on the seventh day, they would have been stunned into
shock. This would make it easier for the soldiers as they actually destroyed the city.
This first city was to belong completely to God much as the firstfruits of the harvest were
given to God under the legal code of Israel. As a result, looting of the city was strictly forbidden.
In other cities the soldiers would be free to share in the spoils of war, but at Jericho, everything
but Rahab and her family was accursed and Israel was specifically instructed to avoid contact
with it. The only exception to this general rule was that the silver and gold should be collected
along with any bronze and iron vessels and consecrated to the Lord and added to the treasury. of
the tabernacle (6:17-19).
Scholars try to explain in different ways how the walls fell. The “Break Step” explanation
says the vibrations of the march cracked the masonry causing the collapse of the walls. The
“Sonic Shout” explanation indicates a half million screaming Jewish soldiers, plus the ram’s
horn (perhaps a discord) caused the collapse. The “Earthquake Theory” suggests God used an
earth tremor to collapse the walls. Finally, the “Sapping Theory” suggest the march around the
city was to divert attention while soldiers dug under the walls causing them to fall outward.
While God sometimes uses natural means to accomplish supernatural results, perhaps the wall
fell at Jericho for no other reason than God intervening without using natural means.
God gave Israel a great victory at Jericho as part of His commitment to give them the
land. Jericho was not the greatest city of that day, but as the apparent oldest it had come to
represent something of the stability of the land. When Jericho fell, other kings would have
known intuitively they could not resist the power of God nor the invading army of Israel.
Achan: the troubler of Israel (7:1-26)
But all was not well in Israel in the victory over Jericho. One man named Achan, most
often described in Scripture as the troubler of Israel, took “a beautiful Babylonian garment”
which should have been destroyed, and “two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold
weighing fifty shekels” which should have been added to the tabernacle treasury (v. 21).
According to U.S. standards of measurement, Achan had stolen about twenty ounces of gold and
eighty ounces of silver from the treasury of the tabernacle in keeping the precious metals he
found in Jericho. But no man sins alone. The sin of Achan became the sin of Israel. His sin
affected his society.