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1. Read verses 1-5. What was the situation of Jericho? What direction did the LORD give to Joshua for the destruction of Jericho? Think about God’s strategy for the battle. 2. Read verses 6-11. What did Joshua say to the priests? How did he order the people? How was their marching position to be? What had Joshua commanded the people? Why? How did they finish their first day’s task? 3. Read verses 12-19. How did they do their task on the second day up to the sixth day? On the seventh day what did they do? The seventh time around on the seventh day, what command and instructions did Joshua give to the people? 4. Read verses 20-27. How did the city of Jericho fall? What did the Israelites do to the conquered city? How did Joshua save Rahab and her entire family? What oath did Joshua pronounce?

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Preparations for Inheriting the Land (1:1-5:15) Inheriting the Land (6:1-12:24) Apportioning the Land (13:1-21:45) Farewells (22:1-24:33) In chapters 1-5, God had prepared General Joshua and Israelites for the battles to inherit God’s promised land, west of Jordan. In chapter 6 we see in its detailed description the first battle against Jericho in conquering the promised land. The wall of Jericho was an invincible fortress that no human power would make it fall. But when the Israelites followed God’s instructions wholeheartedly, the wall of Jericho collapsed. May we learn how to fell the walls of Jericho in our personal lives and God’s ministry. That is to learn God’s timeless strategy for the unconditional victory. First, assurance of victory (1-2). Look at verse 1. “Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.” At Gilgal the Israelites were circumcised and kept the Passover and now came to Jericho. Jericho was a very beautiful city called, the City of Palms. And the land was so fertile that its production was self-supportive. Not only economically but also militarily Jericho was a very important city for the conquest of the west of Jordan. Jericho had a virtually impregnable double wall. The outer wall was 2m thick and 7-9m high, and 5m away from this outer one there was inner wall, 4m think and 9m high. And the walls were slanting at a 35-degree angle so that no one could climb the walls. When this city of Jericho was tightly shut up that no one went out and no one came in, it was in perfect defense. There would be no way to conquer this city. In this situation the LORD spoke to Joshua. What did the LORD say? Look at verse 2. “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.” The LORD is truly great. He has delivered such an invincible city as Jericho into the hands of Joshua and his people. The LORD did not say, “I will deliver…” No he said, “I have delivered...” The LORD gave General Joshua these words of sure promise so that he might fight with a sense of assured victory. How important it is to have a sense of victory before fighting! One can have a sense of being defeated and the other, a sense of being victorious before a battle. Then victory comes to the latter. In the battle being a loser means death and a winner means life and prosperity. Life is a spiritual battle. We are living in a time of uncertainty. Nothing is sure and certain in this world. Fear and worry for many things creep into the hearts of most people. It is really hard to have a sense of blessedness and victory before things happen. However, our God gives us the words of promise for blessing and victory so that we may have a sense of sure victory in him beforehand. Before God’s calling, Abraham lived his life in a sense of failure and curse and defeatism. But when God called him, God gave him the word of promise, “You will be a blessing” so that he might live with a sense of being blessed and being a blessing and victor in life. At the time of calling Simon Peter, Jesus helped him restore his failure from fishing and then gave him the word of promise, “From now on you will catch men”, so that he might live his life with a sense of victory and hope. Gideon was from the weakest clan and the least in his family. But God called him “…mighty warrior” so that he might be sure of himself and assured of victory over the multitudes enemy Midianites. It is not easy to keep a sense of victory because of self inefficiency, adverse situations, and repeated seeming failures. Yet, God wants us to newly have and keep a sense of assured victory so that we can in the end obtain victory in our lives. May God help us to form a sense of victory over any task by keeping personal word of God’s promise in our hearts. Second, God’s strategy (3-27). The LORD had said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands along with its king and its fighting men.” Then God gave Joshua a strategy how to vanquish Jericho. Look at verses 3-5. “March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of ram’s horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.” What a childish strategy! It is like an instruction for a children’s soldier game, not a military strategy for a real battle: marching and again marching around, blowing trumpets, and shouting, and then collapsing. Human logic fails in understanding God’s word and his instructions. But those who can go beyond human logic can see the world of God, its simplicity and depth, though it sounds ridiculous and nonsensical on the surface. It is really great that there is a way in God. There is a strategy in God for the felling of Jericho. Then, let’s study about God’s battle plan for the conquest of Jericho. “March around the city once with all the armed men.” “March around the city”: their target is very clear, the city of Jericho. “March around the city once…Do this for six days”: great work begins with once and is processed through repetition. They were to march around the city, not just for one or two days, but six days. Then God said, “Have seven priests carry trumpets of ram’s horns in front of the ark.” There were two kinds of trumpets in Israel: trumpets of silver and trumpets of rams’ horns. The trumpets of sliver were used for calling the community together and for having the camps set out (Nu 10:1). The trumpets of rams’ horns were used at the times of rejoicing, appointed festivals (Nu 10:10) and a jubilee, the fifth year (proclaiming liberty) (Lev 25:9,10). So blowing the trumpets of rams’ horns meant giving thanks and praise to God for his grace. They were to march around the city praising spirit with the seven priests blowing the trumpets of rams’ horns. It is a very particular scene to give singing and praise to God in a battle field. In this passage the phrase “blowing the trumpets” or its equivalent in marching are repeated (4,8,9,13). And verse 9b says, “All this time the trumpets were sounding,” and verse 13b says, “…while the trumpets kept sounding.” The constant trumpets’ sound praising God must have lifted up the moral of the people. They were joyful, thankful and praising to God. Power and strength are in it. Once, Paul and Silas were beaten much and put in jail in the course of preaching the gospel. Their feet were fastened in the stocks. In the prison with their feet fastened in the stock they were praying and singing hymns to God. It was about midnight, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Then suddenly there was a earthquake and the prison was shaken (Acts 16:25,26). All the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. What power of praising God! God was there in their praising and displayed his power. Merlin Carothers was a fugitive soldier and ruffian, but he was changed to be a chaplain. In his book, “PRISON TO PRAISE,” he said, “Prayer in praise is the best way to communicate with God and brings power in our lives. Praising God is not the matter of the feeling of rejoicing but our obedience to God. When we praise God with great decision and endurance, the power of God will gradually work in us to become like a stream for the healing of our wounds and scars.” Praising God has a mysterious power. When we sing praises to God, evil spirits flee away from us and light and life fill our hearts. When we praise God, unbelief and fear are driven out and peace and courage and hope arise from our hearts. It is noticeable that there were seven priests blowing seven trumpets. In the Bible “seven” is a perfect and complete number. Our giving thanks and praise to God should be perfect and absolute regardless of our human conditions. So Paul said, “…giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus“ (1 Th 5:18). When we think of his perfect goodness, we can thank and praise him in all things, for “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according his purpose” (Ro 8:28). What a wonderful life it is when one thanks and praises God for everything happening around himself/herself. Seven trumpets daily blown by seven priests was God’s strategy for the fall of Jericho. God had said to Joshua. “Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark…” Then Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” And he ordered the people, “Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD.” Here we see the array of the marching band, the armed guard, seven priests carrying the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD. This array is described in verses 8-9 with clarity: “When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD’s covenant followed them. The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark.” We clearly see the marching order: the armed guard, the trumpet blowing priests, the ark of the LORD and the rear guard. The ark of the LORD was in the centre guarded by the armed guard in the front and rear. The ark of the LORD represented God himself. God was in the centre of the march of the army of God’s people. When they marched having the words of God’s promise in their hearts, God himself was in their midst as their invisible commander. Who can defeat this army that has God as their commander-in-chief? We all experience that when the word of God is kept in our hearts and in our midst, we see that the living God is in and among us and we become undefeated. But there is Satan who takes away the word of God from our hearts, seizing the opportunities at all times. So the words of God must be guarded in us. This is our real spiritual battle to guard and hide the word of God in the treasury of our hearts. This is the reason God said to Joshua in chapter 1, “…Do not turn from it to the right or to the left…Do not let this Book of the Law from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” May God help us to win this spiritual battle so that God be in the centre of our lives and God’s ministry. Look at verse 10. “But Joshua had commanded the people, ‘Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout…” This is a command with triple emphasis: complete silence training for six days. They could have been tempted to complain at following the unrealistic and unreasonable command repeatedly in the same situation. Complaint could have spread like a fire. Then the whole community would collapse before the destruction of Jericho. 38 years before, Joshua and the people experienced this terrible consequence in the desert. Now each one of the people had to fight inwardly against Satan’s doubt and complaints rising in them. In our times nothing seems to work without complaints. But the spiritual world is quite different. It is a wonderful thing that complaining or troublesome topics can be prayer topics. As they marched around the city silently and quietly according to General Joshua’s direction, each one’s heart could be prayerful. Then this would be the powerful united prayer in absolute silence. Their silence marching around the city having the ark of the LORD in the centre of their marching band would be a very powerful factor for the battle. Prayerful marching army of God’s people in deep trust in God is truly great and mighty, for God abundantly blesses their complete silent prayers. We believe that a prayerful heart in quietness wins over oneself and can win the violently shaky and noisy world. Isaiah 30:15 says, “In quietness and trust is our strength.” In this formation of the array, the people of Israel had to march around the city for six days. It was their daily marching until the seventh day. Look at verses 15-16. “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 they 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.’” Always, final finishing is very important. The final blow finishes the work. How difficult it must have been to march around the city seven times! They had to march the whole day. But they did it. Then at the last and long blast of the trumpets, all the people shouted. Verse 20 says, “When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the walled collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.” God’s strategy was true. The wall of Jericho collapsed. Our God is the God of the start and the God of the finish. He wants us to finish strong, even making seven times more effort. When the Israelites followed God’s strategy with absolute obedient faith, God made the walls of Jericho collapse. Hebrews 11:29 says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.” Third, the salvation of the Rahab’s house (22-27). As we studied, the walls of Jericho fell. It was God’s miracle. Another miracle was that Rahab’s house which was part of the city wall was not destroyed. Right before the destruction of Jericho Joshua had said to the Israelites, “Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared.” According to this promise, miraculously Rahab’s house was ruined. So after the destruction Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” So they went into the house and brought Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. Then they burned the whole city. Thank God who is the God of judgment and salvation. He keeps his promises and saves those who put their faith in the promises of God. Thank God for teaching us how to fell the impregnable walls of Jericho. He wants us to have a sense of victory before fighting with faith in his words of promise. And we must know that daily spiritual life with praise and God’s word and prayer lays a solid ground for all success and victory. May we learn complete obedience to God’s battle plan so that we may see the walls of Jericho fell in our personal lives and in the pioneering work of U of T.

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