As we come to our next section of Joshua, we are presented with yet another seemingly familiar story - the battle of Jericho. Just like the crossing of the Jordan River (which we looked at last week), this battle is one that is engraved on the mind of almost everyone in the church - from the young to the old. That said, just like with the Jordan River last week, I fear that our familiarity with the story of Jericho has brought about in us a lack of awe at the awesome nature of the event. I fear that in place of reverence, we have placed familiarity. And in place of fervent worship, we have placed a children's song that may not even focus on the right character (\"Joshua fought the battle of Jericho...\").
As we come to Joshua 5:13-6:27, we enter a new section of the book of Joshua. Thus far, the author has been describing for us the incredible process of Israel's entrance into the land - along with all of the miracles and ceremonies that accompanied that crossing. As we have seen in these first five chapters, the main performer of the action was God himself. He was speaking to His people often about His work on their behalf as well as how they should respond to that work. Moreover, he was performing his miraculous works before their very eyes - demonstrating to them His incredible power, His continual presence and His faithfulness to His promises. With our text this morning, the emphasis moves from Israel's entrance into the land to their actual taking of the land. The focus of the text moves from preparation to action. As we will see today, many of the same themes are reiterated in these incredible stories of battle while new realites and exhortations are brought to the forefront as well.
With that in mind, we will simply walk through the story this morning - reminding ourselves (because of our sinful tendency to forget) of the incredible aspects of this story and examining the ways in which the details of this story can still speak to us so many thousands of years later.
The first, and perhaps main, reality of our text this morning is that this battle that is about to take place is not between Israel and the people of Jericho. Rather, the text makes very clear that this is a battle between the Lord and Jericho. There are a number of ways that we see this reality in our text.
First, the interesting - and somewhat perplexing - story of Joshua's interaction with the commander of the Lord's army makes this clear to us. Our text this morning begins by recounting this story for us: \"When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, 'Are you for us, or for our adversaries?' And he said, 'No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.' And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, 'What does my lord say to his servant?' And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, 'Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.' And Joshua did so\" (5:13-15). At first glance the story seems a bit perplexing because the man did not answer Joshua's question - at least not directly. It is clear from the rest of the Old Testament that God was fighting for Israel, so why would the angel not simply say that he was on Joshua's side? The answer to that question is that this man was making the very point that I have just made - this battle was not Israel's; it was the Lord's. And the commander of the Lord's army had not arrived to serve under Joshua and aid him but to do his duty on behalf of the Lord. It was almost as if the angel was declaring that there are three sides in this fight - that of Jericho, that of Israel and that of the Lord. Without explicitly stating such, the man was actually turning Joshua's question back upon Joshua himself. He made clear his identity and then left Joshua to decide if Joshua was for the Lord or against Him. This was the Lord's battle and the Lord was there to fight and accomplish His will.
Second, we see very clearly that this battle was the Lord's by looking at the way the battle was supposed to be fought. After highlighting the impregnable nature of Jericho at that time, the Lord says to Joshua (most likely through the commander described in 5:13-15, though that reality is somewhat obscured by the chapter division): \"See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him\" (6:2b-5). Here, in these instructions, we see very clearly that this was a battle in which the Lord was doing the work. In fact, the people of Israel - while they stayed busy marching and blowing trumpets - did not actually accomplish anything with regard to taking the city. As we will see in a moment, their role was to believe and obey while it was the Lord's role to accomplish. Once again, we see that this was the Lord's battle, and even the way the battle was fought was meant to reflect that - and highlight the might of God.
third and final way in which we see this point is through the central role of the Ark of the Covenant. As we saw last week, the Ark itself symbolizes the presence of God. Just as the centrality of the Ark was crucial to the crossing of the Jordan (because it was God who parted the waters), so the centrality of the Ark at Jericho was crucial to victory (because it was God who won the battle). The Ark of the Covenant is mentioned 10 times from 6:4-6:13. Everything that Israel does centers on it: the people do not go up to Jericho unless the Ark goes, and the Ark resides in the center of the people – as the focal point. In fact, the author goes so far as to say, “So he [Joshua] caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp” (6:11). Here, it seems as if the focus was on the fact that the Ark circled the city – the people just happened to be circling the city with it. Once again, we see that this was the Lord’s battle – His presence took center stage, symbolized by the presence of the Ark.
Having seen that this battle belonged to the Lord, it is important for us to see one other crucial point: the Lord won the battle. Once the people marched the Ark around the city once a day for 6 days and then 7 times on the seventh day, they blew their trumpets and shouted, and the Lord won the battle of Jericho. This is crucial because it is not just enough to know that the Lord fights and works; we must also understand that He wins and accomplishes. This was the Lord’s battle, and He accomplished the victory.
Before moving on, we need to understand the importance of this reality for us. It is, no doubt, tempting for us to think that if God would speak to us in person, like He did with Joshua, we would be easily convinced that God was at work. We are tempted to think that if God was so bold in demonstrating Himself to us, we would have no problem seeing His plans and following them. Such an attitude, if we subscribe to it, demonstrates a profound ignorance with regard to the Scriptures. You see, God has made his plan crystal clear for us. Just like He did for Israel on that day, we can be certain that God is at work to accomplish His purposes and carry out His plans. In a very real sense, the battle is His, and we know about the nature of this battle.
Colossians 1:16 makes clear that all things were created by Jesus Christ. It also makes clear that all things were created for Jesus Christ. In fact Paul also told the Ephesians that God has made his will for the world clear: it is “to unite all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph. 1:10). This world was created for Christ, but this world rebelled against Him. The wages of this rebellion is death, so it seems that God’s plan is thwarted. How can God unite all things in Christ when the world has rejected Christ? Paul made clear to the Galatians that this problem of sin did not thwart God’s plan but paved the way for the fulfillment of it. Paul writes, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4). But how did God do that through Christ? He accomplished it through the death and resurrection of Jesus, as Paul told the Romans, Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Jesus paid for our sins by his death and achieved our justification by being raised from the dead. And when He was raised from the dead, God “highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-10). So, right now, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God “waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet” (Heb. 10:13). And one day Jesus will return to earth to gather his people and then deliver “the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (1 Cor. 15:24). At that point, the wicked will be judged and God’s people will live forever and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14).
This is the glorious work and plan and “battle” of God. First of all, we should ensure that our lives are centered around this plan and not a plan of our own making. If we delude ourselves into thinking that our goals and hopes and plans, or those of someone else, should take precedence over the plan of God to save sinners through their faith in His Son so that Jesus might be exalted and He might be glorified, then we deceive ourselves. We should be consumed by the same passion and desire that drives God himself. The Israelites were reminded, through the man who appeared to Joshua, that God was working His plan. It was up to them to follow that plan.
Moreover, for those of us who are trying to follow and devote ourselves to the primacy of God’s plan and mission, we should be careful to avoid taking credit for the work that God does. Just as it would have been foolish after this battle of Jericho for any of the Israelites to claim that their hand had won this victory, so it would be foolish for any of us to claim credit for ourselves for any of our labors when it is always “God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). It is God who does this, and all praise is due to Him.
Obedience is vitally important for God’s people (6:8ff; 18-19, 24b).
Having seen that this grand battle ultimately was the Lord’s battle, we would be terribly remiss if we failed to notice the vital importance of Israel’s obedience in this entire endeavor. Indeed, though the Lord was fighting this battle, He was very clear about the role that Israel was supposed to play. As God’s people, God was going to use them in this battle to accomplish His purposes. As we have seen, in this battle, God had his people play a more secondary role, but they did have a role nonetheless.
We should notice, first of all, that the people of Israel did faithfully obey God’s instructions. Because of our familiarity with the story, it is easy to forget that God’s instructions regarding how to take the city were just as “ridiculous” then as they would be today. The conventional way to take a city was not to march around it for seven days and then blow trumpets and yell and hope that the city surrendered. Nonetheless, despite what must have seemed like absurd instructions, Israel obeyed exactly. God told them to march around the city in a particular way (6:3-4) and the people did (6:8-15). God told them to shout on the seventh day after marching around the city 7 times (6:5) and the people did (6:16, 20). And God said that if they did these things, the wall would fall down flat (6:5) and it did (6:20). The people obeyed and were blessed by God for their obedience by taking part in the victory over the city.
We should also notice the warning that is contained in Joshua’s instructions to the people if they disobey. As they are about to plunder the city, Joshua tells the people, “But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it” (6:18). Sadly, as we will see next week, not all of Israel was as faithful to obey this command as the other commands in this chapter. But even without knowing that this command was broken, we see a stark contrast with the victory that permeates the rest of this chapter. Indeed, it is very clear that if Israel obeys, they will be blessed – just as we see in this battle that they obey God’s instructions and they have victory. It is also very clear, from Joshua’s warning, that if the people do not obey, Israel will become “a thing for destruction” and that there will be great trouble on the people. Obedience is crucial, and a lack of obedience will be punished.
As we apply this reality to ourselves, we find that the jump to our day is not too difficult. Just like with Israel at the battle of Jericho, our obedience to God and what he has commanded is absolutely crucial. God has given us, as His people, numerous commands – some of which, in our opinion, may seem just as ridiculous as the command to march around Jericho without talking for seven days. But, as God’s people, we must fight to remember and remind ourselves, and each other, that our responsibility – just like Israel that day at Jericho – is not to help God plan or scheme but merely to obey. God’s plan is perfect, and so our responsibility is to do what He commands.
The difficulty comes when God’s commands do not seem to make sense to us or when we feel that we can accomplish the desired end some other way. And so, because of our fear that church discipline might hurt someone and cause them to hate us, we might be tempted to let the sin remain in the church. But God has made clear that the way to deal with unrepentant sin is to confront it and, if necessary, to discipline the individual – so we must obey. Or, more personally, we might be tempted not to confront a brother or sister who has sinned against us for fear of offending them. But God has made clear that “If your brother sins, rebuke him” (Luke 17:3) – so we must obey. Or we might be tempted, once someone is rebuked and repents, to harbor our resentment against him because he deserves it. But God has made clear that “if he repents, forgive him” (Luke 17:3) – so we must obey. Or we might be tempted to be anxious because we need provision that does not seem to be coming. But God has told us, “…seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself” (Matt. 6:33-34a) – so we must obey. Or we might be tempted to remain distant from other people in the church because we have been hurt or fear getting hurt. But God has commanded us to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2) – so we must obey. Or we might be tempted to hold on to our money – storing it up because we do not know what the future holds or how bad the economy will be. But God has said, “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (Rom. 12:13) – so we must obey. In all of these areas, and many more, obedience could be hard and even costly, but it is not our job to judge whether obedience is worth it or not. It is not our job to judge the merit of a command. It is our job to obey.
This reality – though it is probably the hardest reality seen in the text – is abundantly clear. It is clear, from the instructions given to the people of Israel, that everyone and everything in the city is to be absolutely destroyed. First, we see this declaration in very general terms as Joshua declares, “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction” (6:17a). This declaration is not too difficult to swallow because it is so general, but the text eventually gets more specific about this devotion to destruction: “Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword” (6:21). Here is an explicit statement of destruction: the people of Israel killed with the sword every person – of any age – and every animal – of any kind – in the city of Jericho. Later in the text, we read that the people burned everything in the city to the ground (6:24a), and we see Joshua pronounce a curse on the children of anyone who attempts to rebuild the city (6:26-27). The only thing that was not destroyed were the precious metals that could be brought into the house of the Lord (6:19, 24b). The destruction was fierce and comprehensive.
Now, on face value, Joshua 6 does not explain the reason for such utter destruction of people and animals and objects. We could be tempted to imagine the blood-thirsty Israelite army storming into the city and mercilessly slaughtering everything that moves in order to assuage some wicked, vengeful thirst for blood. We could be tempted to imagine the innocent people of Jericho going about their business and being cut down in their streets and houses and businesses by this rabid Israelite army. We could be tempted to think these things – except this is not the picture of the Canaanite people that the Old Testament gives us. Deuteronomy 9 makes clear that God did not randomly single out some innocent people in Jericho to destroy. Rather, the Lord said it was “because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you” (Deut. 9:5). Later in Deuteronomy, the Lord is even more specific as He tells the people, “But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your god is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God” (Deut. 20:16-18). Here is the Biblical portrait of Canaan and Jericho: wicked people who had rejected the Lord and would readily lead God’s people to do the same. This was no neutral people but a people who had utterly rejected God.
In this light, the command of total destruction that we find in Joshua 6 takes on a new color – rather than being the terrible but necessary action of war, the slaughter of every man, woman, child and animal was the divine judgment of God upon sin. The people of Israel were serving as the death angel of God to punish the iniquity of these people who had rejected God and refused to worship Him – setting up themselves or some other deity on the throne that is to be occupied by God alone. This is a serious transgression, and it is judged with equally serious punishment – death.
As we contemplate this sobering reality, it should drive home to our hearts the seriousness of sin. In our modern, 21st-century, American minds, we have come to accept that grace is the rule while this sort of judgment on sin is the exception and is therefore horrendous to us. In reality, the rule in regard to sin is that its consequence is death. Any grace that is shown by God is a gift and should therefore cause us unspeakable joy and gratitude. I fear that, even in the church, we have lost the idea that sin deserves judgment. We still feel this way about gross sin (murder, rape, genocide), but we fail to recognize the same entirely just punishment that should fall on “minor” sins (lying, lust, gluttony, gossip). The Scriptures are clear that the wages of sin is death – not just the wages of major sins but of sin as a whole. The punishment poured out on Jericho in Joshua 6 shocks us because we have grown accustomed to sin, and we have grown accustomed to grace – as if it is owed to us.
Contemplating the truly horrible nature of sin and the just judgment it deserves should cause us to live radically different lives. First of all, it should cause us to be overwhelmed with joy and gratitude and love to God our Father who has forgiven our sins and to Jesus Christ who has made that forgiveness possible. It should cause us to fight sin in our own lives because we understand just how wretched sin really is – it is a slap-in-the-face to God. It is seeking to rip him off of His throne and place ourselves there, as if we are fit to run the universe and be served by all things. It should cause us to warn those around us to flee from sin and from the judgment that it always carried with it. This is our message in taking the gospel: “Your sin is going to kill you because God’s judgment is going to rain down on your head, so flee from your sin and flee from the wrath to come and be saved!” Without this proper understanding of the odious nature of sin and the perfect holiness of God that must punish that sin, we will forever live lives of servitude to sin and to our worldly passions and to the god of this world.
The final thing that we see very clearly in our text is that alongside God’s judgment on unrepentant sinners shines His gracious mercy to those who turn to Him with faith. And this point is made by reminding us of a character to whom we have already been introduced: Rahab. As we saw in chapter 2, Rahab – in faith – hid the spies that Joshua sent into the land. She submitted herself to God and pleaded for mercy from Him. And, as we also saw in chapter 2, God promised her, through the spies, that because of her faith and obedience, she would be delivered from the judgment to come. In our text today, we see the fulfillment of that promise. First, we see Joshua tell the people, “Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent” (6:17b). We see that this instruction was fulfilled later in the text, “But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.’ So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel” (6:22-23). Gloriously, and in stark contrast to her countrymen who were being slaughtered in the midst of Jericho, Rahab was saved. She was spared from the just judgment that rightly rested on her because of her sin.
And in a glorious culmination to her story, we read – at the end of our text, “But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho” (6:25). Here is an incredible reality that we have already seen in chapter 2 but that is worthy to be seen again: Rahab was saved – not to be slave or some second-class citizen among the Israelites but to be fully one of them. She was not an ethnic Israelite, but by her faith she was grafted into the people of God, and she lived among them for the rest of her life.
We do not need to think hard to see how this reality relates to us. For, in all reality, we are all exactly like Rahab. We are Gentiles who, by the blood of Christ, have been grafted into a tree from which we did not spring. Jesus Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility so that we who were once separated from Christ and alienated from the people of God and strangers to His promises could be fellow heirs, members of God’s household and partakers of God’s promises. The glorious mercy shown to Rahab has been shown to all of us who have placed our faith in Christ, and so we are able to understand and know at least the basics of what Rahab experienced on that day when she was set free from the judgment of her sin and redeemed to be a part of the people of God. It is a glorious reality that should cause us to break out in praise to our God and our Savior.
As we come to the end of our time together this week, we will come to the Lord’s Table to celebrate. If you are not a Christian, I plead with you to repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and as the Lord of your life. Believe in Him and submit to Him, and you will be saved. If you do not do this, God will judge your sin – it will be horrible and it will be entirely just and entirely deserved. God’s wrath is upon you, but there is a way for that wrath to be turned away – trust in Christ. Follow the example of Rahab and not the many others who perished in their sins on that day spoken about in Joshua 6.
For those of us who are believers, this text reminds us again of so many wonderful realities. Our God is in control, and He will accomplish His purposes. Our obedience to Him is crucial because obedience brings blessing but disobedience brings judgment. Our sin is terrible, and we should fight it with every fiber of our being. But we can fight knowing that we are not condemned because of our sin due to the incredible mercy of God and the incalculable sacrifice of Christ. As we come to the table, we rejoice together in our mighty and merciful God. Amen.