Most of us are familiar with the story of Jericho.
How Joshua and the Israelites marched around the city over and over and the
city walls fell. But let’s take a close examination this popular story and see
what truths lay there for us to discover!
“Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the
children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to
Joshua: ‘See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men
of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all
around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear
seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall
march around the city seven times and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It
shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when
you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great
shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go
up every man straight before him.’ Then Joshua the son of Nun called the
priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven
priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.’ And he
said to the people, ‘Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is
armed advance before the ark of the Lord.’” (v. 1-7)
So first notice that the Lord speaks to Joshua and
then the very next verse it says “Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests
and said to them”. Joshua listens to what the Lord had to say and then he
quickly relayed the Lord’s commands. He did not give it thought or consider the
wisdom of God’s plan; he passed the plan on. Complete trust.
Jumping down to verse 12, we see “And Joshua rose
early in the morning” again. This is a common trait for Joshua. He was always
up early ready to put the Lord’s plan into action.
In verses 13 and 14 we see that the Israelites march
around the city once for six days. They had established a pattern. But our Lord
is a God who doesn’t fit into a mold. He does what He wishes when He’s ready,
but it seems to me that He wants to test the faith of His people. He could have
knocked down the wall after they had circled the city once. But he had them do
it six times, once a day. Then in verse 15, we see an even more difficult
pattern. They are commanded to march six times around the city in one day! This
is quite a journey! You can imagine the effect this has on Israel’s army. They
do not fight as well tired, yet the Lord ensures that they are close to
exhaustion before He acts.
The people do a seventh circle around Jericho, but
when they had completed the circuit, they gave a great shout and the Lord
knocked Jericho’s wall to the ground! Then the army moved in and “utterly
destroyed all that was in the city both, man and woman, young and old, ox,
sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.” (v. 21)
Now please get this. The Lord directed them to this
conquering. This was HIS plan. To kill every man, woman, child, and animal in
the city, was God’s command. When the Lord leads you to overcome a spiritual
stronghold in your life, you cannot leave any survivors. No mercy when it comes
to the enemy (which is your flesh and Satan himself). When dealing with these
things, no mercy is allowed. God gives none. He knew that if they were kept
alive, they would cause trouble for Israel later. So He had them destroyed. We
should assume the same attitude towards the enemy.
Then Joshua had the two spies honor their promise
and bring out Rahab and her family and then they burned the city to the ground.
They did not attempt to dwell there; they destroyed it all. And in verse 27, we
see “So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the country.”
Why did his fame spread? Because he was totally obedient to God. We can learn
from Joshua’s submission to his Master.
No comments:
Post a Comment