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The Fall of Jericho

Joshua 6:1-5

Jericho was shut tight. No one was coming or going. An eerie silence must have blown with the wind through the empty hills surrounding the city as God laid out the plan for Joshua.

Joshua was to lead the army of Israel in a walk around the city once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day. After their final lap, they would blast their trumpets and shout as they watched the massive double walls crumble to the ground.

No clever Braveheart-esque tactics. No mighty siege against the walls. They would attack the city of Jericho by walking...

Therefore, when faced with a problem of any sort in your life, walk around it several times and then shout. Lock the keys in your car? Walk around it and shout. A difficult person at work? Walk around him or her and shout.

This is a perfect example of how not to interpret Old Testament narratives like Joshua. We cannot take what God said to a man in a certain point in time and apply it immediately to ourselves. There is, however, a principle to observe here. We catch a glimpse of God's character as He works in the lives of His people. Here's one thing we can learn from Joshua 6:

God's ways are not our ways.
Isaiah 55:8-9 states that His ways are higher than our ways just like the skies are higher than the earth. This plan is clearly different from what Joshua would have come up with on his own. We can recognize at least three characteristics of God's way from this episode:

1. God's way cultivates faith in His people.
Following such a bizarre plan meant that each step around Jericho was an act of faith in God's wisdom.

2. God's way brings Himself glory.
Their victory could not be accounted to their weaponry or skill. All they did was walk and shout. It was God-wrought.

3. God's way is initiated by His Word.
The path that cultivates faith and glorifies God is found only by using God's Word as a map.

In Joshua 1, God tells Joshua to be courageous and meditate on the law. Then Joshua would have success in his endeavors, including the Jericho attack. In other words, God laid out the blue print in Joshua 1. Joshua followed them and built the structure in Joshua 6.

How can we walk in God's ways if they are so high and lofty compared to our ways? By meditating on His Word and responding in obedience.

We so desperately want the historical story of Jericho to teach us that God will miraculously break through the walls of our struggles. That's not what it communicates. It communicates that God will accomplish His purposes for His glory and will allow those who faithfully meditate and obey His Word to participate.

Many want to see their problems crumble to the ground at their feet. But few apply themselves diligently to studying, meditating, thinking through, and aligning themselves with His word.

We cannot read Joshua 6 and walk away with the erroneous conclusion that God will destroy our personal Jericho that we have built brick-by-brick with sinful and foolish decisions made outside of the counsel of His Word.

We must plug ourselves into His Word. We must plug our families into His Word. We must align ourselves with His Word.