Joshua 6

Israel's victory in Jericho here in chapter 6 is going to illustrate four principles for spiritual conflict and victory that are very important for us today, no matter what spiritual battle we're called to fight, no matter what "Jericho" may loom before us in terms of personal challenge:

1. Before the spiritual conflict, remember that we fight from victory, not just for victory.
2. During the spiritual conflict, remember that we overcome the enemy by faith.
3. After the spiritual victory, remember to continue to obey the Lord's direction.
4. After the spiritual victory, remember to give the Lord all the glory.

(1) Now the gates of *Jericho were tightly shut because the people were **afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in.

• *Jericho (Bet Yerah - "the House of the Moon God") was the capital of the strongest of the seven nations then occupying the land of Canaan. Jericho was apparently a center of moon worship. (Can you think of any other religion whose symbol is the moon?).
• A large spring and the fertile plain surrounding the city earned it the distinction "the city of palm trees" (Deuteronomy 34:3; 2 Chronicles 28:15).
• Jericho was more a military fort guarding the entrance to the center of Canaan than a true city - like the forts in the West set up for soldiers to sally forth but also a place of refuge for people in the area to run to in case of Indian attacks. That is why it's only around seven acres. By the time the gates were "tightly shut", it was filled with Canaanites from the area.
• Upon the sight of so many people, and the news of their previous victories, peoples from miles around would have fled to the city of Jericho for protection. The imminent battle of Jericho loomed over the region like a storm cloud. Though small in stature, Jericho possessed extremely heavy fortifications, and could have easily survived a siege of perhaps up to a year or so. Local village residents fared a much better chance of survival by fleeing to the protection of the walls of Jericho. The battle of Jericho would have influenced the entire region's political and social structure.
• It had an inner wall and an outer fortified wall, several feet thick, separated by a distance of about 15 feet, enclosing about nine acres. Jericho was a formidable, even impregnable, obstacle.
• The pattern of divine strategy for the conquest of Canaan was based on geographic factors. From their camp at Gilgal near the Jordan River the Israelites could see steep hills to the west. Jericho controlled the way of ascent into these mountains, and Ai, another fortress, stood at the head of the ascent. If the Israelites were to capture the hill country they must certainly take Jericho and Ai. This would put them on top of the hill country and in control of the central ridge, having driven a wedge between the northern and southern sections of Canaan. Israel could then engage the armies of the south in battle followed by the more remote enemy in the north. But first, Jericho must
  fall—and it would if Joshua and the people followed the Lord’s plan of action.
• Jericho was about six miles from the Jordan River and about 10 miles northwest of the Dead Sea, 670 feet below sea level.
• Satan knew God's promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that this land was their land and the land of their descendants. So, Satan filled Canaan with those who worshiped him to be an obstacle to the Israelites coming in. Since they are, in effect, Satan's agents, they
  all had to be eliminated to avoid another Balaam type attempt to subvert the Israelites.
• APPLICATION: The first impediment put in our way by Satan is an apparently impregnable fortress, which it is impossible to enter or to quit: "None went out and none came in." What impediments and fortresses has Satan placed in your path to keep you from being successful in life as a
  Christian? He may have lost the war over you when you received Christ as Savior, but he doesn't give up that easily - he wants to ruin your
  life, ruin your family, ruin your reputation, rob you of your joy, rob you of your heavenly rewards, rob you of your witness, destroy your
  family, and take your life - he's a formidable, fearless, unforgiving, relentless, yet defeated, enemy. Never underestimate him and his agents!
• Archeology of Jericho:
  
  • Ancient Jericho is a mile down the road from modern Jericho. Its ruins include a round tower with a spiral staircase inside.
  • Kenyon, one of the Archaeologists exploring the ruins of Jericho 1952-1958, had this to say about its walls: “The walls were of
    a type, which made direct assault practically impossible. An approaching enemy first encountered a stone abutment 11 feet high, back and up from which sloped a 35 degree plastered scarp reaching to the main wall some 35 vertical feet above. The steep, smooth slope prohibited battering the wall by any effective device or building fires to break it. An army trying to storm the wall would have found difficulty in climbing the slope and ladders to scale it could find no satisfactory footing.
    
    Image from www.truthnet.org/biblicalarcheology/6/conquestcanaan.htm
  • Jericho has undergone massive excavation work over the years. The finds were a city wall 4 1/2 feet wide attached to a monumental round stone tower. They are some of the earliest fortifications known to mankind. Its outer city wall appears to come from the late Middle Bronze age (2000-1550 BC) whereas the inner city wall dates to the Early Bronze Age (3200-2200 BC).
  • Over the past century four prominent archaeologists have excavated the site: Carl Watzinger from 1907-1909, John Garstang in the 1930's, Kathleen Kenyon from 1952-1958, and currently Bryant Wood. First, they discovered that Jericho had an impressive system of fortifications. Surrounding the city was a retaining wall fifteen feet high. At its top was an eight-foot brick wall strengthened from behind by an earthen rampart. Domestic structures were found behind this first wall. Another brick wall enclosed the rest of the city. The domestic structures found between the two walls is consistent with Joshua's description of Rahab's quarters (Joshua 2:15). Archaeologists also found that in one part of the city, large piles of bricks were found at the base of both the inner and outer walls, indicating a sudden collapse of the fortifications. Scholars feel that an earthquake, which may also explain the damming of the Jordan in the biblical account, caused this collapse. The collapsed bricks formed a ramp by which an invader might easily enter the city (Joshua 6:20). Of this amazing discovery Garstang states, "As to the main fact, then, there remains no doubt: the walls fell outwards so completely, the attackers would be able to clamber up and over the ruins of the city." This is remarkable because when attacked city walls fall inward, not outward. A thick layer of soot indicates that the city was destroyed by fire as described in Joshua 6:24. Kenyon describes it this way. "The destruction was complete. Walls and floors were blackened or reddened by fire and every room was filled with fallen bricks." Archaeologists also discovered large amounts of grain at the site. This is again consistent with the biblical account that the city was captured quickly. If it had fallen as a result of a siege, the grain would have been used up. According to Joshua 6:17, the Israelites were forbidden to plunder the city, but had to destroy it totally.
  • In Joshua 2:15 we see that Rahab's house was "on the city wall." Wood explains how excavations in 1907-1909 give evidence of how her house could have been spared during the collapse. "On the north a short stretch of the lower city wall did not fall as everywhere else. A portion of that mudbrick wall was still standing… What is more, there were houses built against the wall!" These houses were located "on the north side of the city only a short distance from the hills of the Judean wilderness where the spies hid for three days (Joshua 2:16-22)."
  • The importance of the walls falling in and not out is, that an army besieging a town and trying to break into a city would leave a breach with rubble on the inside of the walls. But in Jericho, the evidence shows the walls fell outward. This is taken to demonstrate a direct divine intervention in the destruction of the walls, rather than a human-powered effort.
• **afraid: Deuteronomy 11:25: No one will be able to stand against you, for the Lord your God will cause the people to fear and dread you, as he promised, wherever you go in the whole land.

(2) But *the Lord said to Joshua, “**I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors.

• *the Lord (YHWH): The "Commander of the Lord's army" is continuing his talk with Joshua. Jesus, Yeshua, was given "the name
  above all names" (YHWH - the Great I AM) per Philippians 2:9.
• **I have given you: Notice that this in the past tense - the battle had already been won - by the Lord, not by Joshua. Only if you
  already have something can you "give" it! Satan thought the town was his. All Joshua and the people had to do was to claim this promise and obey the Lord and follow His strange plan.
  
  • We too have already won the victory and Satan has already been defeated. When was Satan defeated? When was Hitler defeated? Germany was defeated long before they admitted it and surrendered.
    
    • Romans 8:37-39: No, despite all these things,
      overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below - indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
    • Hebrews 2:14-15: Because God’s children are human beings - made of flesh and blood - the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
    • 1 John 3:8: But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the
      beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.
    • We have in this a reminder of 2 Corinthians 10:3-4: We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

(3) You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days.

• But, why not simplify the path - why make it so complicated with so much "show"? Why all these complications? Why go round the city every day, and seven times the seventh day? Why this procession with the ark and trumpets? Faith does not ask, "why"? Faith does not question the means God chooses to use; it accepts them, enters into them, and obtains the victory instead of being beaten by the enemy. It was the same at the first Passover and at the Red Sea. Is faith without intelligence and my understanding - is it "blind" faith? Faith will tell you the reason of the seven days, the ark, the procession, the trumpets, and the shouts of joy, but it will only tell you after submission to them, otherwise it would be intelligence and not faith.
• There must be patience; the people had to march thus during six days, and then patience must have her perfect work. God wants to teach
  us patience (one of the fruits of the Spirit) - He works slow but sure.
• God’s methods are not at all what man’s reasoning and wisdom would suggest to be done. God loves "impossible" situations where you have finally given up and come to acknowledge not only the problem but the fact that you're incapable of solving the problem. But, our ego often keeps us trying and trying and trying until we finally surrender to His plan.
  
  
• The Lord chooses completely unconventional means for accomplishing victories for His people so that after He has shown Himself strong on their behalf that all of the praise and the glory for the victory can only go to Him.
• Each time that the children of Israel marched around the city they must have come to a greater realization that if the city were to be taken that it was going to have to be the Lord who was going to do it. Each trip around those impregnable walls helped the Israelites see how impossible the task of taking Jericho was - only God could do this! Thus, this memory was burned into their brains that they could do
  nothing without Him.
• In Joshua’s day there were 5 accepted ways to capture a walled city (but, God’s plan wasn’t one of them):

1. An army could go over the wall using ladders or ramps.
2. Or, they could dig a tunnel under the wall.
3. They could smash a hole through the wall.
4. An army could lay siege until the city starved into submission.
5. Or they could try what the Greeks tried - subterfuge - the Trojan horse thing.

(4) *Seven priests will walk ahead of the **Ark, each carrying a ***ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town
seven times, with the priests blowing the horns.

• *Seven:
• We find seven angels with trumpets of warning beginning in Revelation 8:2: I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.
• The number seven figures prominently in this chapter. In fact, it is used eleven times. Seven priests, with seven trumpets were to
  march around the city seven days with seven trips around the city on the seventh day.
• The number Seven signifies perfection or completion.
• Here, the emphasis on the number 7 - the horns - the priests - leading the ark - 7 days - 7 times around on the 7th - all that is to impress us with the reality that this isn’t just a military campaign. This is a religious event. This is a battle - victory fought for and already assured by the "Captain of the Lord's Army". God’s battle plan. God’s victory.
• **Ark: Without the ark, there could be neither warfare nor victory. Notice in this chapter that the ‘Ark of the covenant’ which contained the two tablets, Aaron’s rod and a jar of manna, is in the center of all that God is doing, being mentioned 8 times.  We saw in the story of the crossing of the Jordan River how the ‘Ark’ was central to chapters three and four also, being mentioned 16 times there. The Ark represented God's presence with them. We don't need an "ark" today - the Holy Spirit resides within us instead. So, wherever we go, He is with us. Knowing that, knowing that we are part of the Church which is His body, knowing that He wants to be with us at all times and
  everywhere we go, shouldn't we be careful where we go and what we do?
• ***ram’s horn: Trumpets of Jubilee, of long sound:
  
  • Exodus 19:13: No hand may touch the person or animal that crosses the boundary; instead, stone them or shoot them with arrows.
    They must be put to death.’ However, when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, then the people may go up on the mountain.” - a foretaste of the rapture?
  • Numbers 10:9: “When you arrive in your own land and go to war against your enemies who attack you, sound the alarm with the trumpets. Then the Lord your God will remember you and rescue you from your
    enemies.
  • The rabbis stipulate that this must be the left horn of a male flat-tailed sheep. It was used to remind the synagogue of the lamb that God used to provide as a substitute for Isaac, Genesis 22:13. It was primarily not a musical instrument, but a loud blast for religious and at times, military purposes.
  • The shofar is a Jewish instrument most often made from a ram’s horn, though it can also
    be made from the horn of a sheep or goat. It makes a trumpet-like sound and is traditionally blown
    on Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. In terms of its Jewish history, the shofar is often mentioned
    in the Tanach, Talmud and in rabbinic literature. It was used to announce the start of holidays,
    in processions and even to mark the start of a war. Perhaps the most famous biblical reference
    to the shofar occurs in the Book of Joshua, where shofarot (plural of shofar) were used as part
    of a battle plan to capture the city of Jericho.

(5) When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”

• Now, if the walls simply collapsed straight down, they'd actually make it difficult to scramble over the bricks and enter the city. Instead, as we know from archaeological findings, they fell outward, making it easy to enter the city.
  
  

(6) *So Joshua called together the **priests and said, “Take up the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a ram’s horn.”

• *So: Unlike Moses, who at the burning bush argued at length with the Lord about His plan (Exodus 3:11 - 4:17), Joshua obeyed without
  question and without hesitation. But, remember, Moses' exposure to God at the burning bush was his first time. Joshua is by now a veteran at walking with the Lord and seeing what God could do and what happens if you go against His plan.
• **priests: Unlike a normal battle, this strange covered box carried by the priests called the "Ark of the Lord’s Covenant" is the carried symbol, not a flag or battle pennant.

(7) Then he gave orders to the people: “March around the town, and the armed men will lead the way in front of the Ark of the Lord.”

• "With wonder and alarm the watchmen of the city marked every move, and reported to those in authority. They knew not the meaning of all this display; but when they beheld that mighty host marching around their city once each day, with the sacred ark and the attendant priests, the mystery of the scene struck terror to the hearts of priest and people. Again they would inspect their strong defenses, feeling certain they could successfully resist the most powerful attack. Many ridiculed the thought that any harm could come to them through these singular demonstrations. Others were awed as they beheld the procession that each day wound about the city. They remembered that the Red Sea had once parted before this people, and that a passage had just been opened for them through the river Jordan. They knew not what further wonders God might work for them." (Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets page 448.)
• Evidently the whole Israelite nation did not march around the walls of Jericho. Only warriors and priests circled the city. The "people" referred to in the context were these people, not all the Israelites. Probably representatives of the tribes participated in this march rather than all the soldiers of Israel. The line of march was as follows: soldiers, priests, the ark and more soldiers (verses 6-9, 13).

(8) After Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests with the rams’ horns started marching in the presence of the *Lord, **blowing the horns as they marched. And the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant followed behind them.

• *Lord: The terms "Lord" (YHWH) and "ark" occur interchangeably here. The Lord was over the ark, and the ark represented the Lord's presence.
• **blowing their horns: The first time that we read of a trumpet-blast is at Sinai, where the Lord announced His descent upon the mount to the people assembled at the foot to receive Him, not only by other fearful phenomena, but also by a loud and long continued trumpet-blast (Exodus19:16 & 19; 20:14). If, therefore, the blast of trumpets was the signal to the congregation of Israel of the gracious arrival of the Lord its God to enter into fellowship with it, no less did it proclaim the advent of judgment to an ungodly world.

(9) Some of the armed men marched in front of the priests with the horns and some behind the Ark, with the priests continually blowing the horns.

(10) “Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!”

(11) So the Ark of the Lord was carried around the town once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night in the camp.

(12) Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests again
carried the Ark of the Lord.

(13) The seven priests with the rams’ horns marched in front of the Ark of the Lord, blowing their horns. Again the armed men marched both in front of the priests with the horns and behind the Ark of the Lord. All this time the priests were blowing their horns.

(14) On the second day they again marched around the town once and
returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.

(15) On the *seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around the town seven times.

• *seventh day: Presumably, this was the Sabbath. Were they "working" on the Sabbath?

(16) The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded
the people, “Shout! For the Lord *has given you the town!

• Hebrews 11:30: It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.
• *has given: Notice the tense of the verb. Notice that Joshua is making sure the
  soldiers and the people and the priests clearly understand that this is not their victory achieved
  by their efforts, but it is God's victory, not theirs. How does this apply to our lives?

(17) Jericho and everything in it must be completely *destroyed as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies.

• *destroyed:
  
  • The city of Jericho is actually handled differently than any other city in that everything in the city is under the ban. This occurred because the city of Jericho was the “first fruits” of their land, and the Lord was always supposed to get the “first fruits”.
  • God gave His people under Joshua no command to conquer the world with the sword but a particular, limited mission - unlike in Islam. The conquered land itself would not become Israel’s national possession by right of conquest, but it belonged to the Lord. So, the land had to be cleansed of all remnants of paganism. Its people and their wealth were not for Israel to seize as the booty of war from which to enrich themselves (as Achan tried to do, chapter 7) but were placed under God’s ban (were to be devoted to God to dispense with as He pleased). On that land, Israel was to establish a commonwealth faithful to the righteous rule of God and be a witness (and a blessing) to the Gentile nations. If Israel became unfaithful and conformed to Canaanite culture and religion, it would in turn lose its place in the Lord’s land - as Israel almost did in the days of the judges, and as it eventually did in the exile.
  • One of the main themes in the Scriptures is God's holy warfare against Satan and against sin, beginning right after the fall. In Genesis 3:15 God declared war on Satan. The destruction of Jericho is just another chapter in this war that continues to this day. And, one day, God is going to declare ultimate victory when Jesus returns. There is a powerful picture in Revelation 19 of Jesus riding a white stallion, coming back as the conquering general, defeating all opposition.
  • If we eliminate this militant reality of our Christian faith, then we have to abandon the cross, because it was on the cross that
    Jesus won the victory over sin and Satan. In Colossians 2:15, Paul talks about the meaning of the crucifixion of Jesus: "In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross."
  • Every living thing in the city was totally destroyed, men, women, children and animals, except for those people in Rahab's house. This may seem appalling to us today (genocide) and the UN would probably be appealed to and NATO would be called upon to repel the Israelites, but we must remember that the inhabitants of the land (including Jericho) had been completely given up to demon worship. Baalbek, which is a temple site in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, has three temples on one huge site - a large temple complex - all dedicated to Baal. The relief work is all male genitalia. In Jericho - same god - same worship. A religion that included child sacrifices and homosexuality and ritual prostitution. The culture of the city was wicked and debased - hung up on sex (like today's society). The literature we have from that day is sexually explicit - pornographic. They had little figurines - that have been found all over - that were explicitly sexual. The songs they sang were about sex. In many ways, not unlike today. America is going to be judged, abortionists are going to be judged, child predators are going to be judged, purveyors of porn are going to be judged - all of Western civilization is on the edge of God's judgment (and deserves it) - God is holding back because of the small minority of real Christians in the midst of all this national sin approved by and encouraged by most of its political leaders. Jericho was perhaps the most twisted and vile culture of the ancient near east. It was singled out by God for destruction. First on the list of cities to be destroyed. For 685 years - from the time Abraham entered the land - till the destruction of Jericho - God had been patient. But, their sinfulness had reached the limit of what God would allow. God has His timing. There are limits that He sets. According to His justice, He brings about punishment. (Genesis 15:16: After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”)
  • The Hebrew term used here (kherem) refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them
    or by giving them as an offering; similarly in 6:18, 21.
  • Deuteronomy 20:16-17: In those towns that the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites,
    Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you.
  • The inhabitants of the land of Canaan that the children of Israel never fully conquered were always leading them astray throughout
    their history.
  • This did not apply to cities outside of the Promised Land:
    
    • Deuteronomy 20:10-15: “As you approach a town to attack it, you must first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the Lord your God hands the town over to you, use your swords to kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the plunder from your enemies that the
      Lord your God has given you. “But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of the nations in the land you will
      enter."

(18) “Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring
*trouble on the camp of Israel.

• *trouble: The name "Achan" may have come from the Hebrew word translated "trouble."

(19) Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is *sacred
to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.”

• *sacred: As the first fruits. The principle helped the people remember that all they had came from the Lord.

(20) When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.

• 1 Thessalonians 4:16: For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
  with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves.
• Revelation 11:15: Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: “The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”
• The 7th angel, the trumpet and the loud voices show there is a deliberate connection between the victory over Jericho and the victory of Christ over the world in prophecy! This is precisely when Christ invades planet Earth and sets up his Kingdom reign.  In other words, it is his SECOND COMING!!!
• King James Version: So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound
  of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
• The Bible text seems to indicate the walls as fallen more than is indicated by the illustration. The illustration by Gene Fackler
  reflects archaeological findings. A lower wall with houses built against it was found to have been on the north side of the city. Part of it did not fall. Image © 2002 by Associates for Biblical Research, (717) 892-1044.

(21) They completely destroyed everything in it with their swords - men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys.

• Deuteronomy 20:16-18: In those towns that the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. You
  must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the Lord your God.

(22) Meanwhile, Joshua said to the two spies, “Keep your promise. Go to the prostitute’s house and bring her out, along with all her family.”

(23) The men who had been spies went in and brought out *Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel.

• *Rahab: Matthew 1:5: Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. Because Rahab, at this point, was still a Canaanite, and, therefore, ceremonially unclean, she was removed from the holy people for a time. However, verse 25 shows that she was later fully included in the covenant community.

(24) Then the Israelites burned the town and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept for the
treasury of the Lord’s house.

(25) So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua
sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day.

• This exception, being mentioned a few times, is intended to impress us with the reality of the grace of God in His willingness to save souls, even though God had decreed the destruction of the city and the entire country. Just so, today God has decreed the judgment of the
  world (Acts 17:31), yet in grace He is saving souls out of the world when in faith they receive the Lord Jesus as Savior.

(26) At that time Joshua invoked this curse: “May the curse of the Lord fall on anyone who tries to rebuild the town of Jericho. At the
cost of his firstborn son, he will lay its foundation. At the cost of his youngest son, he will set up its gates.”

• After Joshua destroyed it, it was abandoned until a new settlement was established by Hiel the Bethelite in the ninth century BC in Ahab's reign. The city was captured by the Herodians in 3 BC and rebuilt by Archelaus (2 AD). Then, that city was destroyed by Vespasian
  68 AD.
  
  • 1 Kings 16:34: It was during his reign that Hiel, a man from Bethel, rebuilt Jericho. When he laid its foundations, it cost him the life of his oldest son, Abiram. And when he completed it and set up its gates, it cost him the life of his youngest son, Segub. This all
    happened according to the message from the Lord concerning Jericho spoken by Joshua son of Nun.

(27) So the Lord was with Joshua, and his reputation spread throughout the land.

• Jericho is the type of the world ripe for judgment. The high walls are types of the walls of unbelief, apostasy, wickedness and self-security. Seven days Israel had to march around the walls. Seven priests with seven trumpets were there. On the seventh day they had to march around seven times and blow the seven trumpets. Note the number "seven." It stands for divine completion. How it all reminds us of the last book of the Bible with its seven seals, seven trumpets and seven vials. The trumpets, however, in Joshua are the trumpets of jubilee. The great jubilee, the time of blessing for this earth comes, when judgment is executed. As the walls of Jericho fell, so comes the day, when all the high and exalted things will be laid low (Isaiah 2:10-22) The stone will fall out of heaven (Christ in His second coming) smiting the image, representing the world-power. Complete ruins will be the result, never to be built again; but the smiting stone becomes a mountain, filling the earth. It is the prophetic picture of the coming kingdom.
• The enemies in the land of Canaan which the children of Israel fought symbolize for the Christian today his struggle with enemies of
  the world, the flesh, Satan.
• What are the Jericho's that are in your life? Are there areas in your life that you have been struggling to get victory over, and yet
  have found yourself failing time and again?  Does victory seem impossible to you?
• Romans 8:37: No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory
  is ours through Christ, who loved us.:
• "Do we really know what it means to be more than a conqueror? To be more than a conqueror means that before you ever get a problem, you already know that whatever problem comes your way, you can overcome it through Christ. You live with confidence that God loves you no matter what and He will never leave you nor forsake you. And when you have this kind of relationship with Christ, you aren’t constantly
  afraid of bad news or of things that may happen that aren’t in your plan. When the unexpected happens or you’re disappointed, you won’t be devastated by it. There is nothing that can happen that’s more than you are because there’s nothing that’s too much for Him! 1 John 4:4 confirms it: But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. It’s  important for us to get this truth down in our hearts and see ourselves as more than conquerors through Christ Jesus because if we don’t, then our enemy, Satan, will be able to confuse us and keep us from victory. And all the enemy wants to do is kill, steal and destroy what God wants us to have. He wants to diminish you – make you small-minded and small in spirit so you’ll live a small, frustrated life. But we don’t have to live that way. Every person who confesses that Christ Jesus is Lord, repents of their sin and gives their heart to God is a child of God and belongs to Him. And in Christ, we are made right with God, we are His righteousness, and we have the power of Christ in us to live right. Do you realize what this means? It means that as we spend time with God in prayer and studying the Bible, we can access the wisdom and strength we need to make right choices and behave right. It doesn’t happen all at once or overnight, but we will make progress every day that we seek God this way. Whatever your situation is today, God knows about it. He sees you and hears the cry of your heart. And if you will give Him your
  problems and do what He tells you to do, you will access His overcoming love, grace and power and be more than a conqueror. Because in Christ,
  as He is, so are we in this world!" The Reality of Being More Than a Conqueror in Life by Joyce Meyer: www.christianpost.com/news/the-reality-of-being-more-than-a-conqueror-in-life-58254/

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NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation.

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NOTE: Sources and References are on line at: http://joshua-biblestudy.blogspot.com/2011/07/joshua-references-and-sources.html