Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 36 – September 1989

 

The Fall Of Jericho

 

Sermon by Rev. L. Douma on Joshua 5:13 – 6:27

Reading: Revelation 22:12-21; Joshua 5:13 – 6:27

Singing: BoW Hymn 10:1,3; BoW Psalm 47; BOW Hymn 504;
                        Psalter Hymnal 467; Psalter Hymnal 490.

 

I want you to imagine Joshua standing on a hill, looking across at the city of Jericho.  Joshua has a problem.  He has been instructed by God to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land.  They are to go into Canaan and conquer it.

But, to get into the land they have first to deal with this city of Jericho, which stands at the entrance to the land of Canaan.  It is the first city over the river Jordan, but it is not a city as we know cities.  It is rather a huge fortress.  It is a town built up on a hill with huge solid walls around it.  The walls are over five metres thick; wide enough to build their houses on.

Now, how is Israel going to conquer this place?  A siege would take years.  The inhabitants have plenty of food, and there is a well inside the walls.  Scaling the wall would be almost impossible, with the steep slope of the hill and then those huge walls.  Jericho was an example of an almost perfect defence system of the times.  Just trying to get up the walls would cost thousands of lives.

Joshua was deep in thought.  This is a real problem.  How will he and the army of Israel overcome this masterpiece of human achievement and power?

He is about to find out!  Joshua looks up and suddenly he sees a warrior standing in front of him.  There he is with his sword in his hand ready to fight!  But who is he?  Joshua wants to know.

The reply is that he is the commander, the commander of the army of Jahweh, of the Lord God!  This commander is no ordinary man, because like Moses, Joshua is told "Take your shoes off you are standing on holy ground.  You are in the presence of God Almighty".  God Himself is here!  It is the Son of God, taking on a human form as He did with Abraham and Jacob.

The commander has a plan for Joshua.  The fortress can and will be taken, for God Himself will take this city.  You see God is here to make a point!  For you notice that His sword is drawn.  He is ready to strike.  He has come in judgement.  Notice that he says.  "I have now come."  That is standard language for the arrival of judgement.

We must understand that this war that Israel is waging against the Canaanites is not just another war between nations; one trying to overcome another in order to obtain land.  This war is about God bringing His judgement on a people who refuse to repent of their vile ways.  Their religious acts included involvement with the temple prostitutes and the sacrificing of their children.

Israel, in this war, is not acting on its own, but as God's servant.  It is doing His task of bringing about His punishment.  In a sense, we can say, that God is here giving a picture of the final judgement.  He is making very clear what the consequences are for sin.  Theologians have called this event here an eschatological intrusion.  That is, the judgement of the last day is being displayed in this period of history.

We must understand this, that God has put the city of Jericho under His ban.  That is, everything and every person belongs to Him.  So the people of Jericho cannot take any of Jericho's riches and make it their own.  God, as punishment on these people, is claiming their lives and goods.

We must understand this, otherwise the complete destruction of the entire city seems so barbaric and violent.  But God as the giver of life, is also the one, the only one, who can demand it in return as His judgement.

The destruction of Jericho as the first city of Canaan, was to be such that all the rest of the people in the land were very aware that this was no ordinary war situation.  The punishment of God had come.  The atrocities of these people would be tolerated no more.

So the way in which this city was taken, had to make it very clear that God was involved.  It had to be clear that He was working by His power, bringing His judgement.  So the Lord says in effect to Joshua, "Don't worry about those walls.  I personally will deal with them.  The whole land of Canaan will shudder when they hear how Jericho is delivered into your hands.  "They will see that I have come!  My sword is drawn!!"

The plan...?  It is very simple.  Walk around the city walls, once a day for six days.  Then seven times on the seventh day.  The seventh day, the Sabbath, is actually the sign of the covenant between God and Israel.

We sign our contracts.  In those days they would make a mound of rocks as a sign.  Israel's sign that she was the special people of God was her day of rest.  That day is symbolic of the fact that their God was the creator who has rested from His work, and also that He was the God who delivered them from Egypt.

That is, their God and covenant partner is the creator of all, and the God of grace.

Now on this special day that symbolizes their partnership with God, the Israelites are to walk around the walls seven times.  Then on the last round they are all to shout and blow their trumpets.  Then the walls would collapse!

To any army officer, experienced perhaps in the engineering knowledge of the day, and therefore knowing the strength of these walls, this plan seems absurd!

But that is precisely the point.  For then, when the walls collapsed, it would be very clear that the walls did not in any way fall by human ingenuity.  It would be recognized as an act of God.  Not just an accident, but exactly at the time when the people shouted.

"Let it be known, Canaan, God almighty is with His people.  He is their strength.  Nothing can stop them in their task.  Repent or face the judgement!”

So Joshua takes this plan from the supreme Commander and instructs the people.  I wonder what the people thought of this plan when Joshua told them.

Perhaps they thought: "What a strange way to fight a war!!"

But then again, it was the instruction of Jehovah Himself.  Hadn't they as the children of the Israelites, who came out of Egypt, grown up on that manna from heaven during their forty years in the desert?  Hadn't they just recently crossed the flooding Jordan River, by walking on dry ground?  So if Jehovah said it they will do it.  In faith they obey!

There they go, marching around this fortress.  Seven priests carrying seven trumpets, with the armed men marching in front, and also forming a rear guard.  In the middle there are those carrying the Ark of the Covenant.

If they had felt worried or foolish, that fear was taken away seeing the Ark there.  For the Ark was the symbol of God's presence.  In the box were the covenant documents, the declared promise that Jehovah was their God, and they were His people.  They were His treasured possession.  Look out for any nation that tried to harm the Bride of God.

We can well imagine the people of Jericho beginning to relax behind their huge solid walls.  They had been petrified, hearing of what these people and their God had done to the Moabites.  But now these Israelites seem to have run out of ideas.  Maybe they haven't experienced this sort of massive fortification.

The people in Jericho probably began to treat the whole affair as a joke.  Maybe even taunted the Israelites walking around the wall.  "They can't do anything.  They are going silly, in circles!!  The Israelites may have wondered themselves.  "This seems silly.  Why go on?  But God has given His word, and as the days wear on, the Israelites in faith steadily go on, knowing the victory is theirs.

This continued determination begins to worry the people of Jericho.  An eerie silence begins to fall on the place.  "Those Hebrews seem sure of what they are doing.  But what is it?  It's very strange!"  The Ark of the Covenant is there all the time so God is present.  The sword is in His hand.  "I have now come!"

And He shows it.  On the last day, on the seventh round the trumpets blast and the people shout, and God shows His power!  Those huge walls collapse and the Israelites go in and destroy Jericho and its inhabitants.

Notice though the one exception.  In the midst of this terrible destruction the grace of God still shines through!!  Rahab and her family are spared.  Not because Rahab was better than the rest in the town.  She was one of the town's prostitutes.

But she was saved because she had faith in the God of Israel.  She had hidden the two spies who had come to check out the defences of Jericho.  By that act she had committed herself to the Hebrew people and their God.  In fact the grace of God shines even more when we realize that Rahab is listed as being an ancestor of the Christ (Matthew 1:5).

So while the righteous anger of God is displayed in this act of judgement on this sinful people, His amazing grace is also seen, as one sinner is saved by grace through her faith.

Now what is the significance of this event in history for us today?  Well, we have said that this event is an eschatological intrusion.  It is an example of what God's attitude towards the sin of man is and how He will deal with it.

We must be very aware that God holds the whole world accountable for its sin.  Sin must and will be dealt with!

This battle of Jericho is one scene in the drama of salvation history.  God gathers for Himself a people, and brings them to a land.  From that land and that people will come the Christ, the perfect covenant partner of God.

In Jesus, God becomes man for always, and as the Commander of His people, He himself fought the powers of Satan and evil.  It seemed a strange way to fight giving His own life on the cross.  But He emerged the conqueror, rising from the dead, demonstrating that He had the power of God.

On the cross we see the punishment of God because of sin.  But we also see there the amazing grace of God as He punished His own Son, in the place of those who really deserved it!

This Jesus Christ now rules and He comes with His sword in his hand!  The two-edged sword which is the Word of God.  By the reading of the Bible, by the preaching and teaching of it, people are either saved or condemned, depending on how they respond.

Christ the Commander has a plan for us.  We as His people are to witness about Him.  We are to show His love even to our enemies, to bless those who curse us.  We are to conquer the world by grace, humility and service.  The plan may seem absurd: "How can you conquer the world that way?"

We may be ridiculed, but it's God's way, to show not our power and our ingenuity, but to show God's power and His grace.  It is He who converts and forgives, or judges and condemns.  We are simply to be faithful and obey His orders and carry out his plan.

Let us never fear, but remember God is in our midst.  He is all powerful.  What He says He does.  Judgement is coming to the earth.  Let no one make any mistake about that!  The church, as God's people, is now carrying out God's judgement.  Those who believe are saved; those who don't are condemned.

The ruins of Jericho are a clear reminder of the judgement and grace of God.  Jesus Christ, the Commander of the church, has His sword in His hand and says "Behold I come!"

AMEN